Obama Administration’s Small Business Administrator Maria
Contreras-Sweet to Present on Growth Opportunities for LGBT-Owned
Business
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) today will host more than 200 LGBT
owned businesses to discuss the historic national initiative to remove
barriers and increases access to strategic growth opportunities for
Northern and Central California’s LGBT business owners.
“Supporting equality is good business. We’re proud to have to expanded
the diversity of our suppliers and in doing so have been able to help
thousands of minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT-owned businesses
flourish throughout our service area. Through programs like the LGBT
Business Builder, we hope to create new opportunities that will promote
the LGBT business community, create jobs, improve our company and help
build a better California,” said Des Bell, senior vice president, Safety
and Shared Services for PG&E who oversees supplier diversity.
The LGBT Business Builder event will include presentations by Maria
Contreras-Sweet, who heads the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)
and serves in President Obama’s Cabinet, Justin Nelson, co-founder and
president of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC),
and PG&E executives who will discuss the company’s supplier diversity
programs impact on small businesses and the larger community.
Workshop attendees will learn how to grow their business with NGLCC LBGT
Business Enterprise certification, leverage resources provided by the
SBA and take advantage of emerging procurement opportunities available
in California as a result of enactment of Assembly Bill 1678.
Specifically, PG&E will work with attendees to help their businesses
navigate the process of becoming a supplier for the utility.
PG&E has a long history of working towards equality within corporate
America. The Pride Network, the company LGBT employee resource group, is
the oldest such organization in the country. PG&E has provided $300,000
in scholarships for students throughout Northern and Central California
who demonstrate extensive service to the LGBT community. For the past 12
years, PG&E has received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights
Campaign’s Corporate
Equality Index and Kent Harvey, PG&E’s senior vice president and
chief financial officer, recently was named Outstanding
Corporate Leader of the Year by the NGLCC.
Today’s event is sponsored by the NGLCC and the SBA, in partnership with
the Golden Gate Business Association, the California Public Utility
Commission and PG&E.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E
Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas
and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco,
with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the
nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and
Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/
and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.
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Source: Pacific Gas and Electric Company