MEA and Energetic Women are proud to recognize CenterPoint Energy with the Excellence in Women’s Development Award for their active efforts in achieving diversity and inclusion success. The Excellence in Women’s Development Award recognizes a company in the energy delivery industry that valiantly champions diversity and inclusion efforts via resources and active talent management that supports women in non-traditional roles, including engineering and operations.
CenterPoint Energy’s focus on workforce diversity and respect is reflected in their Women in Leadership (WIL) Advisory Council. The Council was established in 2011 to increase female leadership development within all organizational areas of CenterPoint Energy, including operations and engineering. Recently, the WIL Advisory Council started a 'Pipeline to Purposeful Leadership' that provides opportunities to educate women on feeling confident in their pursuit of leadership and management positions.
"The WIL Council has created a safe space for diversity conversations," says Beverley Melchisedech, VP of Operations Support at CenterPoint Energy and member of the Council. “What started as a Council for directors and above has evolved to include managers, with the next phase planned to include supervisors. Our goal is to share as much information as we can to support our future leaders.”
CenterPoint President and CEO, Scott Prochazka, was shown, in a pre-recorded video, at the recent Energetic Women Conference congratulating CenterPoint Energy’s Women in Leadership (WIL) Advisory Council on their continued efforts to foster a culture of respect and diversity within their company and industry. Beverley Melchisedech and Shachella James accepted the award on behalf of CenterPoint Energy.
CenterPoint Energy offers a variety of internal professional growth programs and opportunities to bring female leaders and employees together to foster discussion, networking and relationship building. Support and funding, at the corporate level, of these highly attended programs is a testament to the company’s commitment to diversity. The result is a significant increase in female leaders, specifically in engineering and operations.
For more information about the Excellence in Women’s Development Award or Energetic Women, contact Stacey Bonine, staceyb (at) MEAenergy (dot) org, or (651) 289-9600 x114 or visit www.energeticwomen.org.
Ashley Babcock (center), Energetic Women Leadership Team, presents Shachella James (left) & Beverley Melchisedech (right) with the Excellence in Women’s Development Award for CenterPoint Energy.