EEI Names 2018 Business Diversity Award Winners
The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) today (5/29) announced the winners of its 2018 Business Diversity Awards. Presented annually, the awards recognize companies for their outstanding efforts in advancing purchasing opportunities for diverse suppliers, including minority, women, veteran, and LGBTQ-owned businesses within the electric power industry.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) earned the industry's overall Excellence Award for its efforts to improve business diversity and inclusion. BGE has displayed key commitments to supplier diversity through partnerships with government agencies and outreach initiatives that streamline procurement processes and provide resources to help diverse suppliers compete for sourcing opportunities. In 2017, the company surpassed its diverse business firm spend goals to reach nearly 29 percent of its total spend dollars. This represents $283 million in contracts with diverse business firms, many of which are local business owners within BGE's service area.
"Congratulations to BGE for winning this year's Excellence Award for the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion," said EEI President Tom Kuhn. "BGE's support of minority-owned businesses illustrates that the company truly values a diverse supplier base that reflects the communities it serves."
"We are honored to be recognized by the Edison Electric Institute for our work to increase engagement with diverse suppliers. This is significant because it helps us serve our customers better and also strengthens our community," said Calvin G. Butler Jr., chief executive officer for BGE. "As we've grown our network of suppliers, BGE has recorded its best performance in reliability, safety, financials, and customer satisfaction. It's an investment worth making and I would strongly encourage other companies join our efforts."
DTE Energy was awarded EEI's Innovation Award. The award is given to a company that promotes supplier diversity by any new approach through technology, software, project management, or outreach efforts that result in increased business development of its suppliers or if its efforts make a substantial economic impact. In addition to new initiatives, DTE Energy has promoted contemporary business events, such as supplier summits and business mixers, while surpassing its supplier diversity financial targets.
"DTE Energy is committed to enhancing relationships with diverse business groups," said Kuhn. "Congratulations to DTE Energy's outstanding team for their innovative outreach efforts to promote supplier diversity."
"Our focus on supplier diversity is about inclusion and creating meaningful business partnerships," said DTE Energy chief procurement officer Tony Tomczak. "Our approach to supplier mentoring and outreach is bringing jobs back to our neighborhoods, lifting up local families and building stronger communities. We see this as core to our company's mission. It's an honor to be recognized by EEI for these efforts, and we remain deeply committed to continuing this transformative work."
Think Power Solutions is the recipient of EEI's Diverse Business Award, which is given to a company that displays support of business diversity through development initiatives. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Think Power Solutions is a technology-driven field services and consulting company that provides practical solutions to challenging issues in the electric power industry and has displayed great leadership in supplier diversity. The company works to ensure the safety and reliability of Oncor's transmission projects and prompts innovative uses of services and technology to assist in Oncor's construction management, project management, storm response and emergency preparedness.
"EEI applauds Think Power Solutions for its tremendous leadership supporting diversity through its project execution and business development programs," said Kuhn. "Think Power Solutions is very deserving of this award, and we congratulate them on their success."
"Think Power Solutions is honored to be a recipient of EEI's Diverse Business Award for our work with Oncor," said Hari Vasudevan, founder of Think Power Solutions. "Our industry-leading technology-driven field services and consulting services addresses key construction management and project management challenges in the electric power industry. We help electric companies collect, process, and interpret data, as well as provide actionable intelligence to drive process improvement. We will do our very best to continue to serve Oncor and all other electric companies to the high standards that they have come to expect from Think Power Solutions."
The Prime Supplier Award was awarded to CLEAResult, an energy solutions company headquartered in Austin, Texas, that helps its clients incorporate new programs and technologies into their energy efficiency and demand side management plans. This award is given to a company that displays diversity efforts through its business practices and economic impact. In only two years, CLEAResult has grown its development and spend with diverse suppliers by 300 percent, supporting more than $40 million in contracts with diverse vendors.
"Through CLEAResult's foundational principles of recruitment, education, application, certification, and historical tracking, the company has shown tremendous leadership within its supplier diversity program," said Kuhn. "Congratulations to CLEAResult for winning this year's Prime Supplier Award."
"At CLEAResult, an integral part of our success derives from diversity throughout our organization," said CLEAResult Senior Manager of Supplier Diversity Bobby Johnson. "Our Supplier Diversity Program is committed to promoting and empowering diverse suppliers in order to meet and exceed client expectations. We're proud to support diverse businesses and honored to be recognized by our industry."
EEI is the association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies. Our members provide electricity for about 220 million Americans, and operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. As a whole, the electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. In addition to our U.S. members, EEI has more than 60 international electric companies, with operations in more than 90 countries, as International Members, and hundreds of industry suppliers and related organizations as Associate Members.
