Forbes Names Avangrid Among America’s Best Employers for Diversity

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04/23/2024 - 12:54 PM

Selected for commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion best practices

ORANGE, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and a member of the Iberdrola Group, has been named to Forbes list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity 2024. This annual list researches and reviews companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) best practices and conducts anonymous employee surveys.

“We’re focused on creating a workplace where talented and committed employees build meaningful, long-term careers,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “We accomplish this by fostering a workplace culture that seeks out diverse perspectives, values continuous improvement, and recognizes and rewards behaviors and ideas that prepare our employees to meet the challenges of the future. Earning this honor from Forbes confirms that we are on the right path and that our actions are making a difference.”

To build, sustain and empower a diverse workforce with a rich mix of differences, Avangrid prioritizes DEI initiatives in three areas: increasing diverse representation, especially in leadership positions; promoting equitable opportunities to grow and develop; and establishing pathways for community and connection with others. To further this mission, last year Avangrid launched a DEI Executive Council to advocate for DEI across the organization. The company also introduced a required “Inclusion at Work” training course to empower Avangrid employees with the knowledge and skills necessary to foster an inclusive workplace.

Additionally, Avangrid has seven Business Resource Groups (BRGs) that provide spaces for employees from different cultures, ethnicities, identities and backgrounds to celebrate who they are while raising important issues in a supportive environment. BRGs are open to all employees, either as members or allies, and are actively involved in helping Avangrid build and sustain a diverse workforce with an inclusive culture. Avangrid’s BRGs are: Avangrid African American Council for Excellence (AAACE), Avangrid Coalition for Asian Pacific Americans (ACAPA), AVAN-Veterans, CARE (Avangrid Community for all Abilities and Resource for Excellence), HOLA (Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Awareness), Pride@Avangrid, and WomENergy.

“There is a shift happening in the utility industry,” said Kyra Patterson, senior vice president and chief human resources officer. “We must provide an environment that attracts diversity, offers development opportunities, promises career growth and nurtures employee engagement—thereby driving and delivering employee retention. We see ourselves as a destination employer, and we will continue to ask all to help create and support this focus. This will be critically important, not just for today, but also for our next 100 years as a leading clean energy company.”

Avangrid is also actively involved with key public memberships focused on DEI. The company signed onto Paradigm for Parity in 2021, a coalition of organizations dedicated to addressing the systemic gender and racial gaps in the corporate sector. Additionally, the company is part of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, pledging to support a more inclusive workplace for employees, communities and society at large. Avangrid has committed to several aspirational goals to build diversity in its workforce, including having 40% women in executive positions by 2025 and having 50% women in senior leader positions by 2030.

To create this seventh annual list, Forbes partnered with Statista, a market research firm that independently surveyed more than 170,000 individuals working for organizations with at least 1,000 employees within the United States. The participants were asked to anonymously rate their employers on the organization’s approach to diversity as it pertains to such criteria as age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and general diversity.

About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.