Month: April 2025

• HERO Grant Program will pay for training, equipment and new technology to aid in response to weather-related disasters
• Giving exceeds $2 million total through fourth year of the program

GREENVILLE, S.C., April 4, 2025 /3BL/ – South Carolina government agencies and nonprofits can now apply for grants up to $20,000 to fund training, life-saving equipment and innovative technology to aid in weather-related disaster planning and recovery operations.

What’s happening: Duke Energy Foundation is offering $500,000 through the 2025 Helping Emergency Response Organizations (HERO) Grant Program to support severe weather emergency preparedness across the Palmetto State.

Why it matters: Hurricane Helene’s impact on South Carolina was historic, widespread and deadly – forever changing lives and landscapes. The storm also forced communities and their first responders to rethink how they prepare for future severe weather events. Duke Energy Foundation microgrants will help local governments and nonprofits improve their planning and responses.

How it works

Application process: South Carolina nonprofits and governmental agencies can apply for individual grants up to $20,000 through April 25.

Eligible projects: Funding is available to support equipment upgrades, communication tools, specialized training, planning initiatives, severe weather materials and kits, storm shelters and preparedness activities that benefit low-income communities.

More info and application: Go to duke-energy.com/SCHEROgrants for complete details.

By the numbers

• This is the fourth year of the $500,000 microgrant program – bringing total support to $2 million.
• Since 2022, Duke Energy’s HERO Grant Program has funded 99 microgrants, delivering critical support to nonprofits and local agencies across South Carolina.

What they’re saying

• Tim Pearson, Duke Energy’s South Carolina president: “This year’s HERO grants are designed to help fill gaps identified when responding to historic storms like Helene and will provide tools and training to our fellow first responders to handle whatever Mother Nature throws our way in the future.”
• Jim Baber, chief of the Hodges-Cokesbury Fire Department in Greenwood County: “We originally anticipated using our UTV purchased with grant funds from Duke Energy Foundation for wildland fires and EMS purposes. However, during our response to Hurricane Helene, it proved invaluable in getting crews and tools to places that our trucks could not reach. We used it for tree removal as well as delivering food, water and other necessities to residents that otherwise would have been unable to get these supplies.”
• Mac McMakin, chief of the Travelers Rest Fire Department: “Last year’s grant from Duke Energy Foundation helped purchase new protective gear for cutting trees and performing extrications. This gear made it easier for our responders to work efficiently and safely during recent storms and the brush fires that have impacted our area. Small but impactful improvements in equipment like this have a tremendous return in terms of responder performance, safety and morale.”
• Joshua Hawkins, director of emergency management for Anderson County Sheriff’s Office: “The radio equipment acquired through last year’s Duke Energy Foundation grant allowed our crews to prioritize and coordinate response activities, which was a key element in getting our community back up and running after Hurricane Helene. We are genuinely appreciative of Duke Energy’s commitment to the communities they serve.”

Duke Energy Foundation

Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million annually in philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation is funded by Duke Energy shareholders.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an ambitious energy transition, keeping customer reliability and value at the forefront as it builds a smarter energy future. The company is investing in major electric grid upgrades and cleaner generation, including natural gas, nuclear, renewables and energy storage.

More information is available at duke-energy.com and the Duke Energy News Center. Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, and visit illumination for stories about the people and innovations powering our energy transition.

Contact: Ryan Mosier
24-Hour: 800.559.3853

View original content here.

Las Vegas Sands

During Women’s History Month 2025, Sands is featuring women who help drive the company’s success and exemplify its culture of advancement. Penny Lo joined Marina Bay Sands in 2010 as associate general counsel and now serves as vice president and deputy general counsel, data protection officer.

Over the years, she has held different roles on the legal team including interim chief compliance officer and interim general counsel. Her current scope of work covers all non-gaming contracts and projects, business unit legal, HR issues, development contracts related to Marina Bay Sands’ expansion and certain gaming regulatory matters. She also serves as data protection officer for the resort and works closely with the cybersecurity and IT teams in this area.

What is your background at Marina Bay Sands?

“I had worked in Shanghai from 2004 to 2009 in an Asia Pacific attorney role and was traveling regionally for my job. When my second child was about to arrive, I felt it would be easier to raise my two children with the support of my extended family in Singapore. My then-boss Faris Alsagoff had joined Marina Bay Sands in 2010 and asked me if I was interested in an opening at the resort. It was a great opportunity to join an exciting new industry in Singapore and with less travel involved so I could be home more for my kids.

“In the early years I worked mostly on gaming-related legal and compliance work. I would not have been able to survive if not for the generosity of much more experienced people in casino management who spent many hours explaining the inner workings of a casino to me.

“After Faris left the company, I took on two portfolios – running the legal department and the surveillance department. It was the toughest part of my career because I was thrust into the deep end. On top of that, I decided to have my third child.

“Eventually, Faris came back to Marina Bay Sands. Running the legal department with him for the last 14 years has been a fulfilling experience, especially when it’s a department where people are happy and stay for many years.”

What resources and experiences helped you build a successful career?

“I think ‘success at work’ is a combination of a multitude of factors, not all of which are under one’s control and some of which are really because people helped and gave me opportunities. So much of it is also by chance. For example, who would have thought I would have the opportunity to help build the legal department from scratch in 2010 to what it is today and to do it for a company like Marina Bay Sands? It only happened because I was there at the right time, and Faris and former managing director George Tanasijevich gave me an opportunity.

“From a training standpoint, I would not be where I am today without the eight years I spent working at Drew & Napier training under two amazing partners in the corporate department. They had extremely high standards of work and they taught me so much about how to analyze problems. In those years, legal associates worked 12-hour days, which also taught me the value of hard work.

“Another turning point was when I decided to pursue a master’s degree in business administration in France at INSEAD. The year in France really opened up the world to me and made me much more intellectually curious. After INSEAD, I joined a London marketing/brand strategy consultancy and worked for their Shanghai office where I helped write a book on Chinese brands in the early 2000s when China was just opening up. I was not in comfortable territory, but I did these things because I was exploring. I would tell myself, ‘There’s no magic to it, even the most experienced person has to start from ground zero’.

“When I went to Shanghai to work in a regional legal role for a U.S. multinational corporation, I spent a lot of time doing mergers and acquisitions work – divesting large global business divisions and handling environmental issues in China and India. Again, this was not something I had any experience in, but I learned a lot. I think that when you have diverse experiences like these, you are constantly learning. Later on, these experiences give you insights that can be applied to solving other problems.

“My takeaway is that it’s important to not be too linear in one’s approach to life and career. As long as you are growing and learning, you will be fine!”

What are your ideas for empowering women in their careers?

“It really is down to dealing with the individual. In the same way that my boss has given me opportunities, we also have to proactively give opportunities to women when we see the potential in them.

“As an older executive, I have the experience to see what a younger person is lacking, and I can see when I am in a position to help that younger person build what she lacks so that she gets even better. For example, I could have someone working for me who is technically very capable but lacking in public speaking skills. So what I might do is work with her on an important presentation; make her deliver it; then I give feedback, and we do it again at the next opportunity. When she eventually nails it, I tell her how great she was.

“You have to do this in many ways – including when you see that you can help them move on to another portfolio and that it would really boost their career even if it means they leave you. But it also takes two to tango; the younger person has to have enough trust in you to take on your advice and feedback. How do you build that trust? That’s the most difficult piece. It is built over the thousands of small interactions where you hope that she sees you have her best interests at heart.

“I also like to tell the women who work for me not to shy away from projects and new pieces of work. I try to tell them not to regard it as work but as another chance to learn something new and create something useful. It may even generate new options for them. Ultimately if nothing else, you become more skilled, more experienced. Everything you experience brings with it greater wisdom.”

What advice do you have for women or anyone who wants to advance in their careers?

“I have this little line: ‘My life is not my CV’. Because we spend so much time at work and work is so encompassing, it can take over your life. But your life is not your CV, and it shouldn’t be. It’s important to ensure you know who you are and that it is not just an identity that is associated with who you are at work. This makes everything much more balanced. It also allows you to manage your CV so that it fits the life you want to lead and not the other way around.

“As one of the founders of EmpowHER, I try to encourage the other women at Marina Bay Sands not to be afraid – if you don’t step up, no one will notice you, and you will not have an impact. If you do step up, unfortunately you do have to do more work – everything comes with a trade-off. It’s up to you – what do you want to do with your time at Marina Bay Sands?”