MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In recognition of their efforts to champion lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality in the workplace, Dow executives Howard Ungerleider and Louis A. Vega, were named to the OUTstanding in Business list, which honors LGBT and straight ally business leaders who actively contribute to an environment where all employees feel safe and are able to bring their whole authentic selves to work.
“These accolades proudly display Dow’s core values in action and demonstrate that we are leading by example in helping to eliminate stereotypes and stigmas, demonstrate zero tolerance for discriminatory behaviors and create an environment where discussion about sexual orientation, gender identity and expression is irrelevant,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Dow’s Chairman and CEO. “We applaud Howard and Louis as advocates of our commitment to drive a culture which fosters inclusion and celebrates the diversity of differing experiences, backgrounds and perspectives, not just for the LGBT community, but for all.”
Howard Ungerleider, Dow’s chief financial officer and executive sponsor of the Company’s Gays, Lesbians and Allies at Dow (GLAD) employee network, was named to the Top 20 list of straight allies. As a member of Dow’s most senior executive committee, Ungerleider has long championed workplace diversity and has driven efforts to achieve unprecedented growth of the GLAD network. Inaugurated in 2000, and the chemical industry’s first LGBT employee resource group, GLAD now has participants at 97 Dow sites across 29 countries, and has grown more than fourfold during Ungerleider’s tenure – nearly doubling participation in one year alone.
Named one of the Top 100 inspirational LGBT business executives, Louis A. Vega, Dow’s chief of staff and newly-appointed vice president of Dow Olympic operations, works with the most senior leaders not only within the Company, but with other businesses, government entities and non-government organizations around the world. He always brings his ‘whole’ and open self to work not only driving toward business goals, but passionately advocating for workforce equality and representing Dow’s GLAD employee network as management sponsor. Vega is also a member of the board of directors of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute and partners with groups like GLAAD and Out & Equal, in both a personal and a professional capacity.
Dow is a long-time leader in championing a fully inclusive workplace. For more than a decade, Dow has offered best-in-class practices of LGBT inclusion including equal benefits to same-sex partners for everything from health, dental and life insurance to bereavement leave, relocation and dual career assistance. Dow also recognizes survivor benefits for its pension plan for LGBT, and began providing transgender benefits in 2010. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), only one in four FORTUNE 500 companies meet these collective criteria.
In addition to providing equal benefits for Dow employees, the company also takes a leading public policy advocacy position whose leaders have spoken on Capitol Hill on a number of occasions in support of LGBT policies, sponsoring and leading lobbying activities to bring fairness and equal treatment to all LGBT citizens, and most recently participating at a White House roundtable ahead of the Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.
In 2014, Dow was named the world’s second most gay-friendly company after IBM by Workplace Pride in their first Global Benchmark survey. Dow was also named one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT equality” for the ninth consecutive year, again earning 100 percent on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. Dow also continues to actively support numerous LGBT NGOs including HRC, PFLAG, Out & Equal, NOGLSTP, Freedom to Work and The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
About Dow
Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2013, Dow had annual sales of more than $57 billion and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 36 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.
About OUTstanding
OUTstanding is an executive level network for LGBT business people and straight allies, providing them with truly peer‐to-peer professional and social connections. It was founded by Suki Sandhu in June 2013 and exists to drive change in the business world by broadening the boardroom diversity debate beyond gender or race to include LGBT issues. Corporate members include BP, Barclays, EY and Google, American Express and BAE Systems. http://www.out-standing.org/ The list was compiled in collaboration with the Financial Times.
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