Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) today will host more than 200 LGBT owned businesses to discuss the historic national initiative to remove barriers and increases access to strategic growth opportunities for Northern and Central California’s LGBT business owners.

“Supporting equality is good business. We’re proud to have to expanded the diversity of our suppliers and in doing so have been able to help thousands of minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT-owned businesses flourish throughout our service area. Through programs like the LGBT Business Builder, we hope to create new opportunities that will promote the LGBT business community, create jobs, improve our company and help build a better California,” said Des Bell, senior vice president, Safety and Shared Services for PG&E who oversees supplier diversity.

The LGBT Business Builder event will include presentations by Maria Contreras-Sweet, who heads the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and serves in President Obama’s Cabinet, Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), and PG&E executives who will discuss the company’s supplier diversity programs impact on small businesses and the larger community.

Workshop attendees will learn how to grow their business with NGLCC LBGT Business Enterprise certification, leverage resources provided by the SBA and take advantage of emerging procurement opportunities available in California as a result of enactment of Assembly Bill 1678. Specifically, PG&E will work with attendees to help their businesses navigate the process of becoming a supplier for the utility.

PG&E has a long history of working towards equality within corporate America. The Pride Network, the company LGBT employee resource group, is the oldest such organization in the country. PG&E has provided $300,000 in scholarships for students throughout Northern and Central California who demonstrate extensive service to the LGBT community. For the past 12 years, PG&E has received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and Kent Harvey, PG&E’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, recently was named Outstanding Corporate Leader of the Year by the NGLCC.

Today’s event is sponsored by the NGLCC and the SBA, in partnership with the Golden Gate Business Association, the California Public Utility Commission and PG&E.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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