Month: September 2024

Napaporn Slattery is using DEI practices to advance innovation for Henkel brands through kindness, authentic leadership, and diversity of thought. She advocates for others, whether it be through leading the development of new products and solutions for the benefit of consumers, her work on Henkel’s DEI Council, or her volunteerism with the Alzheimer’s Association.

Our purpose is what unites us at Henkel North America: Pioneers at heart for the good of generations. Our pioneering spirit is reflective of the diverse backgrounds, experiences and talents of our employees and partners. They dare to make an impact on the world by collaborating to tackle challenges, find solutions and open new perspectives.

Their contributions allow us to deliver products, services and innovations that enrich and improve everyday life. We invite you to “meet” our pioneers in our series, “Pioneers for Good.”

Introducing Napaporn

As Director Research & Development, Henkel Consumer Brands, Napaporn Slattery works with her team to find new ways to elevate and advance Henkel brands and their products. She leads a team based in Trumbull, CT where they work on the front lines of new science and technology to deliver innovative breakthroughs and insights for consumer products.

Napaporn has been a dedicated employee for the past fifteen years and remains excited about the power of innovation and the vast opportunities at Henkel.

Powering Innovation through Diversity

Finding solutions that benefit the consumer is what drives innovation and Napaporn believes leveraging the power of diversity to bring new ideas to the table creates better ones. “It’s about including every idea or perspective that we have and combining innovative problem solving to achieve ‘diversity of thought.’” Fostering synergy between the different ideas, thoughts and perspectives has proven to be successful in R&D’s process while giving each team member the opportunity to be heard.

My leadership is anchored in kindness and authenticity. To me, this is so vital to create a culture of trust and open communication, the foundation for a high-performing team. Trust also promotes courage to take risks and challenge the status quo. Taking risks naturally comes with many failures; Thomas Edison once said, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’

Napaporn Slattery, Director Research & Development, Henkel Consumer Brands

Napaporn also serves on the North America DEI Council as the Consumer Brands Representative, where she is responsible to collaborate and develop DEI initiatives with business unit colleagues to strengthen inclusion in the workplace, in the community and in all we do. For example, she worked with Henkel’s DEI team to conduct focus groups encouraging a safe space for dialogue and collaborate with council members colleagues to develop a road map for embedding diversity of thought throughout the product development process.

Progressing Innovation in Alzheimer’s Research

Napaporn is an advocate for others around the clock. Since 2009, she and her family have been working with the Alzheimer’s Association to bring awareness to the community in honor of a family member who struggled with the disease. Her passion drove her to raise $15,000 within the past two years for the Association through Henkel’s Make An Impact on Tomorrow (MIT) program. She also volunteers her time to support the cause.

Innovation is at the heart of this work as well. “Fundraising efforts work towards attaining resources that drive innovation to identify and treat the disease early, put research into new drugs that can prolong the life of patients, prevent the disease, and find a solution to Alzheimer’s.”

Pioneering through Kindness

Reflecting on DEI, innovation, and advocacy, the thought of being a pioneer for the good of generations brings her back to the fundamental principle of kindness. Napaporn leads with empathy and humility, creating confidence with her team to be their true selves and do their best to drive success at Henkel. Trust is the foundation of everything we do, and without it, you’re not going to be sustainable, and to me, that stems from kindness and authentic leadership.”

Originally published in Quest Diagnostics’ 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report

Inclusion and diversity

The communities we serve at Quest are diverse in background, abilities, experiences, and cultures. We strive to build a workforce that reflects that diversity and supports all employees in achieving their goals and growing at Quest. In 2023, we continued to embed Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) into our organizational culture, processes, and leadership and development opportunities.

EMPLOYEE BUSINESS NETWORKS 
Our EBNs are a key part of our I&D strategy and help cultivate a culture of belonging. In 2023, membership in our EBNs grew by ~30%, with 2,000 new members and the launch of 4 new chapters, 3 in Mexico and 1 in Puerto Rico. By the end of the year, our 11 EBNs had ~8,000 active members comprising ~16% of our workforce. To provide additional structure and support for our EBNs, we also invested in leadership development, streamlined membership processes, and revamped programming to better align with employee interests.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS 
In 2023, Quest enacted several process improvements to better reflect our company values and further integrate I&D across our operations and consumer services.

We launched our Everyday Equity Council, which is comprised of EBN leaders and exists as a standing focus group for Quest employees to raise equity-related ideas, concerns, and questions. Whether they’re developing a process or preparing to release a product or service, employees can use the Council as a sounding board to determine whether their effort is inclusive and accessible. The Council can advise on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance, for example, or review training or development materials for culturally sensitive language.

In 2023, we worked to create a common understanding of gender identity and sexual orientation across our workforce. As employees voluntarily self-identify at Quest, we’ve expanded how we define gender and sexual orientation to better reflect our workforce composition. We introduced training to provide every Quest employee with the same baseline knowledge of what gender identity means—with 93% of employees completing the training. Additionally, we added an option for chosen names to be added to several internal platforms. We remain committed to creating a workplace where all employees feel supported to show up as their authentic selves.

Quest also spearheaded a working group to evolve our search, selection, and hiring practices. The group will leverage metrics and insights to inform process enhancements, assess strategies to attract diverse talent, and implement practices with the goal of increasing the diversity of candidate slates and interview panels. To further support this initiative, training programs for recruiters and hiring managers are being developed to advance skills in competency-based search and selection best practices.

PROGRAMMING 
We continued to incorporate I&D into our leadership and talent development efforts throughout 2023. In collaboration with McKinsey’s Connected Leader Academy, employees have an opportunity to participate in various programs based on leadership level. In addition to enhancing core business understanding and leadership strategies, participants are provided with a robust network of peers and experts with whom they may share cultural backgrounds and experiences. Over 350 employees participated in 2023, an increase from 58 employees in 2022.

We also launched our Inclusion Mentor Circles program, where leaders connect with frontline supervisors to share their expertise and hone the inclusive leadership skills needed to ascend at Quest. This new initiative is in addition to MentorQuest, a learning and development program designed to strengthen diversity in the leadership pipeline.

Aligning a diverse Board with a diverse workforce

We commemorated heritage months throughout the year with our EBNs and took the opportunity to hear directly from our Board of Directors. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, Board Director Tracey Doi spoke at an event hosted by our Pan-Asian Leaders EBN. Ms Doi served as CFO of Toyota North America for 20 years and has deep expertise in finance, strategic planning, and enterprise risk.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, our Hispanic/Latino EBN hosted an engaging talk with Dr Luis Diaz. Dr Diaz, a leader in advanced oncology research, joined the Quest Board in May 2023, and is head of the division of Solid Tumor Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Read more from Quest’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report, or click here to access the Inclusion and Diversity landing page on Quest’s website.

The clock is ticking for building owners in Cambridge and Boston, where if you haven’t already begun the process of obtaining a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) it may already be too late to avoid the impending 2025 penalties associated with BUEDO and BERDO regulations.

While avoiding any fees may not be possible, the sooner you set up your PPA the sooner you can move forward with compliance for these Massachusetts city ordinances. This will help alleviate accumulating too many fines, which over time can add up to millions of dollars.

What are BEUDO and BERDO?

Cambridge’s Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) and Boston’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure (BERDO) are two city ordinances that require large city buildings to reach net zero emissions by 2050, with strict benchmarks set to cut emissions every few years. The ultimate goal of both these ordinances is to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from large buildings, helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

While timelines vary for each ordinance, here’s a breakdown of what building owners need to prepare for.

BEUDO (Cambridge)

Emissions requirements are set based on the size of your building, with larger buildings (over 100,000 sq. ft.) reporting their first reductions in 2026. These buildings must reduce their emissions 20% by 2026, and reduce an additional 40% every five years until they reach net zero by 2035.

For buildings under 100,000 sq. ft., there is no immediate emissions requirement, but starting in 2030 they are required to reduce emissions by 40% and an additional 20% every five years until they reach net zero by 2050. The baseline for the program is the average of usage in 2018 to 2019. For buildings built after 2019, the baseline is the average of the first two full years of usage following construction completion.

Reporting on building usage and renewable purchases have already kicked in, with each report due on May 1 for the prior year.

BERDO (Boston)

Boston’s ordinance sets a schedule of maximum allowable emissions for buildings over 20,000 sq. ft., which will gradually decline to net zero carbon intensity by 2050. Enforcement of this schedule begins in 2025.

Annual compliance filings as well as 3rd party verification of building consumption and filing accuracy are required annually, with the first report due in 2022. Emissions can be offset by MA Class I RECs or renewable Power Purchase Agreements.

How steep are the fines?

In both Cambridge and Boston, customers that exceed the city’s emissions targets are subject to penalties of $234 per metric ton of CO₂, which can add millions of dollars annually to operating costs for some of the city’s largest consumers, beginning in 2026.

In addition to this, BEUDO sets a fine of $300 per day per building if it doesn’t meet any reporting, verification or emissions requirements while BERDO sets fines from $300 per day for failure to submit timely and accurate filings to $1,000 per day for failure to comply with the emissions targets.

While these may not sound like steep penalties, they add up quickly. For a representative 350,000 sq. ft. building in Cambridge, this would amount to approximately $200,000 in fines annually for 2026-2029, which increases to approximately $350,000 in fines annually for 2030-2034. For a representative 1,000,000 sq. ft. building in Boston, these fines would amount to approximately $1.5 million annually from 2025-2030, which would increase to approximately $3.5 million from 2030-2034.

How do Renewable Energy Certificates, Power Purchase Agreements and Carbon Offsets Factor into Compliance?

The ultimate goal of both these city ordinances is to achieve net zero. The most effective way to do that in the long term is to start with efficiency, waste reduction and reduced energy use across all aspects of your operations. This may not be feasible or cost effective in many buildings, particularly over the next decade, so Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) and PPAs can be used to offset your remaining emissions during the program compliance period.

Both BUEDO and BERDO have specific guidelines on what offsets and certificates are accepted. PPAs are likely the least costly mechanism for building owners to comply with these ordinances, especially in Cambridge where stand-alone RECs are not eligible for compliance.

Cambridge’s ordinance only allows RECs to be used if it comes from a project with additionality through a PPA, and a building cannot offset emissions using RECs purchased from the open marketplace. In addition, Cambridge allows carbon offsets to be used for buildings more than 100,000 sq. ft., but those buildings cannot report the offsets as part of their compliance until after 2030.

In Boston, your options are:

Purchasing MA Class I RECs from the open marketplace; Current market price is ~$40 per RECEntering into a PPA for MA Class I RECS; Price is ~$8 to $20 per RECPaying the $234 per metric ton penalty, thus doing nothing and spending more in the long runCarbon offsets are not allowed through BERDO

What should I do if I haven’t started preparing for BEUDO/BERDO?

If your building is in Boston or Cambridge and qualifies under the cities’ ordinances, you should already be submitting annual emissions reports. Now, with the first required reductions set for 2025 in Boston and 2026 for Cambridge, you should start tapping PPAs, RECs or carbon offsets to hit your target.

It is important to keep in mind that approximately two years of runway is needed for a PPA to successfully start. A PPA requires offtakers to be established before the project is built, so there will be approximately six months of contract negotiations needed to work out all the details. After negotiations, contracts need to be executed in tandem with other offtakers. Once contracts are executed, there will be approximately one and a half years of time needed for the project to be built, interconnected with the grid and fully certified before power will start flowing for it.

Because of these time constraints and the pending requirements from the ordinances, it is pertinent to start investigating options as soon as you can if you haven’t started. First, you’ll want to educate yourself on what specifics are required for your building, and working with a knowledgeable partner that understands the details of each ordinance will help you save time and money.