WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE<\/a>)– \nIn a conversation with Daniel Yergin, vice chairman, IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), Joni Davis, chief diversity and inclusion officer, Duke Energy, and Lee Jourdan, chief diversity officer, Chevron, discuss the impact that the events around race relations in 2020 have had on their companies; share the strategies to advance more inclusive and equity-focused agendas across their networks and stakeholders; explore workplace conversations around \u201cprivilege;\u201d and the efforts to recruit diverse workforces for the future.\n<\/p>\n \nThe complete video is available at: www.ceraweek.com\/conversations<\/a><\/p>\n Selected excerpts:<\/b><\/p>\n \nInterview Recorded Monday, November 30, 2020\n<\/p>\n (Edited slightly for brevity only)<\/i><\/p>\n <\/b>Joni Davis, Duke Energy:<\/i> \u201cWe\u2019ve focused on diversity, equity and inclusion at Duke Energy for many years now. When I came into the role, we jumpstarted several initiatives to really give us a keen focus on it. 2020 really catalyzed those efforts after George Floyd and the race equity movement. Diversity and inclusion were top of mind for so many of our employees and within our communities. I believe that 2020 ushered in the opportunity to accelerate and really sustain diversity, equity and inclusion like never before.<\/p>\n \u201c2020 has been a very emotional, thought-provoking, exhausting and very defining year. Most of us have looked in the mirror personally and organizationally to see what we\u2019re made of and who we are. From our perspective of how we processed it, it really personalized for us what diversity, equity and inclusion mean at Duke Energy.\u201d\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/b>Lee Jourdan, Chevron:<\/i> \u201cWe really increased the courageous conversations we\u2019ve had. We\u2019ve had in-depth conversations with our executive leadership teams and opened their eyes to things they weren\u2019t aware of before.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are, I think still, the only oil and gas company to use the term \u201cBlack Lives Matter.\u201d That was important to us because we recognize the true intent of that term. So, we became public in our support of what was happening in the black community. A number of our executives, starting with the chairman, were very public about how it personally affected them. We posted the comments both on our website and in social media. That set the tone for our organization to have more vulnerable conversations about what was going on, which built a foundation for sustainable conversations in the future. It has changed a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe became the epicenter for all the conversations around this. There were groups of people that thought we weren\u2019t talking about this enough and there were groups of people that thought we were talking about it too much. Being where we are, we had to manage all of that.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the most striking things to me [is] we\u2019re hearing the stories. All African American and people of color, or anyone in an underrepresented group, has their stories to tell. But you\u2019re really only aware of your own. We keep a lot of those to ourselves. But this brought all of them out. Hearing the stories of my colleagues and their reactions and things they had faced both outside of work and in the office were very impactful\u2014not just to me, but to those who hadn\u2019t heard them. That was the good thing\u2014those that hadn\u2019t been subjected to those things became aware that they occur on a regular basis. Although that was difficult, once we began to move through that threshold, we could have the conversations that we needed to have.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis:<\/i> \u201cAt the start of the race equity movement and George Floyd\u2019s murder, our CEO came out immediately and spoke to our values and the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion as a part of who we are as a company. We launched into our \u2018Pathways to Inclusion\u2019 conversation series. That was an opportunity for us to really get to the heart at what diversity means at Duke Energy, what inclusion means at Duke Energy, and what is our path forward from that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way that we chose to approach this was to give employees an opportunity to just have honest and open conversations in a safe place. We equipped our leaders to help facilitate, just for employees to have the opportunity to process their feelings, to talk about how they feel. Some wanted to talk and some just simply wanted to listen. It was such a wonderful opportunity for our entire team to build awareness.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exhausting, it\u2019s a labor of love, but it has been very meaningful. I really see the fruit of how we can make sustainable and impactful change as a result of this\u2014leveraging this momentum that\u2019s been built. It\u2019s been wonderful, but yet it has been exhausting\u2026recalibrating our strategies to be sure that we are serving the needs of our employees and our leaders in our communities at this juncture.\u201d\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/b>Jourdan:<\/i> \u201cPrivilege has become a four-letter word that is difficult to have a conversation around. I\u2019ve developed a way to talk about that that can remove some of that defensiveness and allow people to have a conversation about it and understand why it\u2019s important. Privilege, and typically we talk about white privilege, it doesn\u2019t mean that you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. It doesn\u2019t mean you didn\u2019t earn what you have. It doesn\u2019t mean you didn\u2019t have to overcome obstacles to get to where you are. It just means of those obstacles, none of them were based on the color of your skin. Everyone has some level of privilege.\u201d <\/b>Jourdan:<\/i> \u201cA lot of times you\u2019ll see data that has two categories: Women and minorities. In 2018 we began disaggregating the minority data in the U.S. by Asian-American, Hispanic-Americans and Black Americans. What we found is that there may be one of those groups that isn\u2019t doing as well, and you could bury that if you just talk about minorities. We became the first oil and gas company to start disaggregating that data publicly about two years ago. It\u2019s really been able to drive different conversations than we\u2019ve had in the past.<\/p>\n Davis:<\/i> \u201cFor several years we have disaggregated underneath minorities or people of color, different races and ethnicities. Beginning next year, we will also show that same data stratified at different leadership levels. As this journey is continuing, I think you\u2019ll start to see so many other companies that are beginning to provide much more transparency around their data at different levels, but also be able to chronicle their journey.\u201d\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/b>Davis:<\/i> \u201cWhen I look at the electric and gas industry compared to retail industries our diversity data does not seem to be as robust. I know we have work to do. We absolutely understand that. We have set a workforce representation target at Duke Energy at 25% female, 20% people of color. At the end of last year, we were about one percent away from that target\u2026we understand what the journey is. We\u2019ve got commitment from our leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Jourdan:<\/i> \u201cIt\u2019s been a challenge in the energy business to attract people from underrepresented groups and that has been a main focus of ours. Our goal is to reflect what the markets provide in terms of what\u2019s coming out of universities and what\u2019s available in the experienced market. We track those and set aspirational goals around where we want to be. Where we\u2019re challenged the most is in the area of engineering and analytics, STEM subjects. We\u2019ve invested a significant amount of time and effort in those spaces. We\u2019ve invested some $400 million since 2013 in STEM education.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis:<\/i> \u201cWe made a much more intentional focus around going places where we would be able to speak to diverse talent whether it be historically black college and universities (HBCUs), the Society of Women Engineers, National Association of Black Engineers and being very active in those spaces in order to tell diverse talent about our roles. A big part of it is around awareness of the roles that we have. The electric and gas industry feels a little stodgy for many of our talent that is coming out of colleges and universities\u2014they are looking at Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon. We were very intentional about trying to reach bright, wonderful and diverse candidates where they exist.\u201d<\/p>\n Jourdan:<\/i> \u201cWe recruited our first HBCU graduate in 1979 and he\u2019s been with us for 41 years. We recruit regularly from HBCUs. This year we invited the president of the Thurgood Marshall Fund, who oversees a network of HBCU presidents, to meet with our C-Suite. We sat down with them for an hour and a half and talked to them about what they need. Along with that we wanted to understand how we can become a better partner, what is it that you need, how can we expand this pipeline and get more involved in your programs from the ground up?<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, we\u2019re not just focusing on HBCUs. We look at PWIs\u2014Predominantly White Institutions. We develop programs with universities like the University of Illinois, Texas A&M and Mississippi State to provide a feeder pipeline from junior colleges and sponsor people from underrepresented groups into that pipeline so they have a stepping stone from those junior colleges into those larger universities and then from there we provide interviews for internships.\u201d\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n \nWatch the complete video at: www.ceraweek.com\/conversations<\/a><\/p>\n About CERAWeek Conversations:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n CERAWeek Conversations <\/i>features original interviews and discussion with energy industry leaders, government officials and policymakers, leaders from the technology, financial and industrial communities\u2014and energy technology innovators.\n<\/p>\n \nThe series is produced by the team responsible for the world\u2019s preeminent energy conference, CERAWeek by IHS Markit.\n<\/p>\n \nNew installments will be added weekly at www.ceraweek.com\/conversations<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \nRecent segments also include:\n<\/p>\n \nA complete video library is available at www.ceraweek.com\/conversations<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n \n####\n<\/p>\n About IHS Markit<\/span><\/b>(www.ihsmarkit.com<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n \nIHS Markit (NYSE: INFO) is a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 business and government customers, including 80 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world\u2019s leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth.\n<\/p>\n IHS Markit is a registered trademark of IHS Markit Ltd. and\/or its affiliates. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners \u00a9 2020 IHS Markit Ltd. All rights reserved. <\/i><\/p>\n View source version on businesswire.com: <\/span>https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20201210005813\/en\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \nJeff Marn \nPress Team KEYWORDS:<\/b> District of Columbia United States North America<\/p>\n INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:<\/b> Energy Professional Services Human Resources Oil\/Gas<\/p>\n
\nIn the latest edition of CERAWeek Conversations<\/i><\/a>, the chief diversity and inclusion officers of Chevron and Duke Energy discuss how the oil, gas and power industries have been fostering cultures of diversity and equity, and the initiatives they are taking to amplify those priorities in response to the events of 2020.\n<\/p>\n\n
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Jeff.marn@ihsmarkit.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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press@ihsmarkit.com<\/a><\/p>\n
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