Month: September 2024

Whirlpool Corporation recently was named to the 2024 Seramount 100 Best Companies for Working Parents list. Seramount, a strategic professional services and research firm, rates companies for programs in categories such as paid time off and leaves; benefits and work-life programs; and workplace best practices.

“For more than 100 years our success as a company can be attributed to one factor, our people,” said Carey Martin, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Whirlpool Corporation. “To ensure we have a talented, dedicated and diverse workforce, we must constantly evolve our programs to help improve the lives of our employees in and out of the office. We are honored to be recognized by Seramount as an organization leading the charge towards a more inclusive workplace, and we will continue to implement programs that support our organization’s working parents.”

The 2024 Seramount 100 Best Companies application includes more than 200 questions related to leave policies, benefits, childcare, advancement, flexibility, and more. It surveys the availability and usage of these programs, as well as the accountability of the many managers who oversee them. Company profiles and data come from submitted applications and reflect 2023 data.

To view the full list of Seramount’s 100 Best Companies winners, visit here.

About Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is a leading kitchen and laundry appliance company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home and inspiring generations with our brands. The company is driving meaningful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, JennAir, Maytag, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, and InSinkErator. In 2023, the company reported approximately $19 billion in annual sales, 59,000 employees, and 55 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com.

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AllianceBernstein is honored to be recognized as a Best Place To Work 24 for Disability Inclusion! We are proud to have earned high scores on the Disability Equality Index in both the U.S and the U.K.

Learn more about the Disability Equality Index via Disability:IN at https://disabilityin.org/what-we-do/disability-equality-index/

AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein (AB) is a leading global investment management firm that offers diversified investment services to institutional investors, individuals, and private wealth clients in major world markets. We believe corporate responsibility, responsible investing and stewardship are intertwined. To be effective stewards of our clients’ assets, we strive to invest responsibly—assessing, engaging on and integrating material issues, including environmental, social and governance (ESG), and climate change considerations in most of our actively managed strategies (approximately 70% of AB’s total assets under management as of March 31, 2024). We also strive to hold ourselves as a firm to similar practices that we ask of issues. Our stewardship practices, investment strategy and decision-making are guided by our purpose, mission and values.

Our purpose—pursue insight that unlocks opportunity—inspires our firm to act responsibly. While opportunity means something different to each of our stakeholders; it always means considering the unique goals of each stakeholder. AB’s mission is to help our clients define and achieve their investment goals, explicitly stating what we do to unlock opportunity for our clients. We became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2011. This began our journey to formalize our approach to identifying responsible ways to unlock opportunities for our clients through integrating material ESG factors throughout most of our actively managed equity and fixed-income client accounts, funds and strategies. AB also engages issuers when it believes the engagement is in the best financial interest of its clients.

Because we are an active manager, our differentiated insights drive our ability to deliver alpha and design innovative investment solutions. Material ESG and climate issues are important elements in forming insights and in presenting potential risks and opportunities that can affect the performance of the companies and issuers that we invest in and the portfolios that we build.

Our values provide a framework for the behaviors and actions that deliver on our purpose and mission. Values align our actions. Each value emerges from the firm’s collective character—yet is also aspirational.

Invest in One Another means that we have a strong organizational culture where diversity is celebrated and mentorship is critical to our success. When we invest in one another, we empower our employees to reach their potential, so that they can help our clients realize theirs. This enables us to partner with clients to design and deliver improved investment outcomes.Strive for Distinctive Knowledge means that we collaboratively identify creative solutions to clients’ economic, ESG and climate- related investment challenges through our expertise in a wide range of investment disciplines, close collaboration among our investment experts and creative solutions.Speak with Courage and Conviction informs how we engage our AB colleagues and issuers. We seek to learn from other parts of our business to strengthen our own views. And we engage issuers for insight and action by sharing ideas and best practices.Act with Integrity—Always is the bedrock of our relationships and has specific meaning for our business. Unlike many other asset managers, we’re singularly focused on providing asset management and research to our clients. We don’t engage in activities that could be distracting, or create conflicts—such as investment banking, insurance writing, commercial banking or proprietary trading for our own account. We are unconflicted and fully accountable.

As of March 31, 2024, AB had $759B in assets under management, $528B of which were ESG-integrated. Additional information about AB may be found on our website, www.alliancebernstein.com.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here.

ST. PETERSBURG and TAMPA, Fla., September 10, 2024 /3BL/ – While restoration is a critical part of Duke Energy Florida’s and Tampa Electric’s everyday work and hurricane response plans, this is the first time the two local utilities have combined resources to protect Tampa Bay’s ecosystems and increase environmental resilience within the region.

Today, more than 40 volunteers, employees and environmental experts from Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric, Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Florida, Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Land Management and Pinellas County’s Environmental Management Division, led a unique restoration project by simultaneously planting nearly 700 red and black mangroves at two locations impacted by tidal influence.

“Teaming up with our neighboring utilities, governmental leaders and key community organizations to prepare, protect and power our communities is not something new for our company and industry,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “As we’ve learned from decades of storm response and service, collaboration is essential to addressing our communities’ most pressing needs. Today’s event is no different. We thank Tampa Electric, CCA Florida, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, among the many others, who are dedicated to keeping our communities safe, resilient and thriving.”

The two locations, EG Simmons Regional Park and Keystone/Carlton Road in Northern Pinellas County, were selected based on need, environmental factors and consultation with Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Land Management and Pinellas County’s Environmental Management Division.

“This project is a win for the shoreline, a win for our partners, and it reflects our continued commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Archie Collins, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric. “We are delighted to collaborate with like-minded neighbors – including Duke Energy Florida – to complete this important coastal resilience project.”

Florida’s mangrove ecosystems serve a vital role in the overall health of the state’s coastal estuaries. Mangroves reduce coastal erosion caused by storm surges and improve water quality by absorbing excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Mangrove soils and roots also sequester carbon dioxide while providing habitat and refuge to a wide variety of fish and wildlife.

The mangroves are grown and donated by CCA Florida and the Duke Energy Crystal River Mariculture Center, a company-owned-and-operated environmental restoration and conservation center dedicated to rebuilding and maintaining Florida’s fish populations and habitats.

More than 30 years ago, the Duke Energy Crystal River Mariculture Center started as an environmental compliance requirement to operate nearby power plants and has since grown into one of Florida’s most successful fish hatcheries and conservation allies.

Instead of shutting down the operation when the power plants closed and the environmental requirement was no longer necessary, Eric Latimer, Duke Energy Florida’s manager of the Mariculture Center, found ways to work with nonprofits, universities and state agencies, like CCA Florida, among others, to rebuild and maintain Florida’s fish populations and habitats that were being impacted by declining water quality and disasters such as red tide and hurricanes.

To date, the Mariculture Center, with help from CCA Florida, has released nearly 5 million fish and crustaceans along Florida’s coasts and has donated approximately $200,000 worth of submerged aquatic vegetation for habitat restoration projects in lakes, springs and shorelines across the state.

For more information about the Duke Energy Crystal River Mariculture Center, click here.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Tampa Electric

Tampa Electric, one of Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, serves more than 840,000 customers in West Central Florida. Tampa Electric is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

CCA Florida

The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) was founded in 1977 after drastic commercial overfishing along the Texas coast decimated redfish and speckled trout populations. One of 19 state chapters, CCA Florida became the fifth state chapter in 1985. A 501(c)3 non-profit, the purpose of CCA is to advise and educate the public on conservation of marine resources. Through habitat restoration projects, water quality initiatives and fisheries advocacy, CCA Florida works with its over 18,000 members including recreational anglers and outdoor enthusiasts to conserve and enhance marine resources and coastal environments. Join the conversation on Facebook or learn more at ccaflorida.org.

Duke Energy Media Contact: Audrey Stasko 
Media line: 800.559.3853 
Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

Tampa Electric Media Contact: Cherie Jacobs 
Cell: 813.334.7779 
Email: CLJacobs@TECOEnergy.com

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