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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) CEO Scott Drury was honored Wednesday with the Shift Diverse Business Solutions (Shift DBS) Transformative Leader Award at their annual Investor-owned Utility Supplier Summit. The event celebrates suppliers in the utility space, bringing together the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), prime suppliers, subcontractors, diverse businesses and some of California's utility leaders including San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), AT&T and SoCalGas.

"We are honored to present Scott Drury with the Shift DBS Transformative Leader Award for his exceptional leadership in sustainability, safety and supplier diversity," said Sherry Shafiei, CEO at Shift DBS. "His dedication to creating opportunities for suppliers of all sizes and backgrounds has helped reshape the way the industry approaches supplier diversity. Known for being a humble and people-centered leader, Scott has made a lasting impact on his organization and the broader community. His influence extends to suppliers, communities, and industries across the board. This is why Shift DBS is proud to recognize Scott, as his visionary leadership continues to inspire the entire industry."

Shift DBS partners with diverse and non-diverse suppliers to offer tailored development programs, strategic guidance and collaborative opportunities to work with major corporations.

In 2023, SoCalGas exceeded the CPUC's diverse spending goal* for the 31^st consecutive year, purchasing 44% of all goods and services from diverse businesses. SoCalGas has spent almost $6 billion over the past seven years with diverse business enterprises owned by minority, women, disabled veteran, persons with disabilities and/or LGBT-owned businesses.

"Scott Drury's leadership at SoCalGas is transformative," said California State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena). "As a strong supporter of diversity, I commend his dedication to sustainability, safety, and supplier diversity, which strengthens our local economies and sets a high standard for the utility sector. Congratulations to Scott on receiving the Transformative Leader Award. His work continues to positively shape California's energy future."

Under Drury's leadership, SoCalGas' ASPIRE 2045 sustainability strategy includes the goal of achieving 45% spending with diverse business enterprises by 2025. In addition, ASPIRE 2045 sets forth SoCalGas' goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the company's operations and delivery of energy by 2045, as well as establishes goals related to safety, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace, and investment in underserved communities.

"Supplier diversity can drive innovation, benefit local economies, strengthen the supply chain, and help accelerate California's clean energy transition," Drury said. "SoCalGas' achievements in supplier diversity and cleaner energy innovations are driven by our determination to deliver energy for our customers that is reliable, affordable and increasingly sustainable. As we pursue our mission to build the cleanest, safest, and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America, we are proud that our supplier network reflects California's diversity."

The DOE's Office of Energy Justice and Equity recognized SoCalGas's successful Supplier Diversity Program and selected SoCalGas to host its Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) Connect Summit in April at SoCalGas' Energy Resource Center in Downey, Calif. The summit connected MBEs with the DOE, more than 40 state and federal agencies and prime government contractors involved in the allocation of $400 billion in federal contract opportunities. Eight hundred representatives of diverse businesses from 33 states attended, more than 1,600 unique business matchmaking sessions took place and attendees engaged with financial institutions, private sector companies and nonprofits for learning and business opportunities.

This week, in Riverside, Calif., the CPUC held a Small and Diverse Business Expo and the 22^nd annual GO 156 Supplier Diversity En Banc, a public forum to hear representatives from California's investor-owned utilities discuss supplier diversity programs and contracting opportunities. Drury participated in an energy panel discussion, "Driving Utility Performance Through Technology and Innovative Strategies," moderated by CPUC Commissioner John Reynolds.

To learn more about SoCalGas' supplier diversity programs, visit https://www.socalgas.com/doing-business-with-us/supplier-diversity.

*California Public Utilities Commission Supplier Diversity Program, see General Order 156

About SoCalGas

SoCalGas is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States, serving approximately 21 million consumers across approximately 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California. SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest, and most innovative energy infrastructure company in America. SoCalGas aims to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly renewable gas service through its pipelines to help advance California's clean energy transition by supporting energy system reliability and resiliency and enabling the integration of renewable resources. SoCalGas is a recognized leader in its industry and community, as demonstrated by being named one of Reuters' Top 100 Innovators Leading the Global Energy Transition and Corporate Member of the Year by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra (NYSE: SRE), a leading North American energy infrastructure company. For more information, visit newsroom.SoCalGas.com or connect with SoCalGas on social media @SoCalGas.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about the future, involve risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. Future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

In this press release, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "contemplate," "plan," "estimate," "project," "forecast," "envision," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "in process," "construct," "develop," "opportunity," "preliminary," "initiative," "target," "outlook," "optimistic," "poised," "positioned," "maintain," "continue," "progress," "advance," "goal," "aim," "commit," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, priorities, strategy, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, intentions or expectations.

Factors, among others, that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement include: decisions, investigations, inquiries, regulations, denials or revocations of permits, consents, approvals or other authorizations, renewals of franchises, and other actions, including the failure to honor contracts and commitments, by the (i) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and other regulatory bodies and (ii) U.S. and states, counties, cities and other jurisdictions therein where we do business; the success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks related to (i) completing construction projects or other transactions on schedule and budget, (ii) realizing anticipated benefits from any of these efforts if completed, (iii) obtaining third-party consents and approvals and (iv) third parties honoring their contracts and commitments; macroeconomic trends or other factors that could change our capital expenditure plans and their potential impact on rate base or other growth; litigation, arbitration and other proceedings, and changes (i) to laws and regulations, including those related to tax and trade policy and (ii) due to the results of elections; cybersecurity threats, including by state and state-sponsored actors, of ransomware or other attacks on our systems or the systems of third parties with which we conduct business, including the energy grid or other energy infrastructure; the availability, uses, sufficiency, and cost of capital resources and our ability to borrow money on favorable terms and meet our obligations, including due to (i) actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or place those ratings on negative outlook, (ii) instability in the capital markets, or (iii) rising interest rates and inflation; the impact on affordability of our customer rates and our cost of capital and on our ability to pass through higher costs to customers due to (i) volatility in inflation, interest rates and commodity prices and (ii) the cost of meeting the demand for lower carbon and reliable energy in California; the impact of climate policies, laws, rules, regulations, trends and required disclosures, including actions to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas, increased uncertainty in the political or regulatory environment for California natural gas distribution companies, the risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets, and uncertainty related to emerging technologies; weather, natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, equipment failures, explosions, terrorism, information system outages or other events, such as work stoppages, that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities or systems, cause the release of harmful materials or fires or subject us to liability for damages, fines and penalties, some of which may not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or insurance or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the pipeline system or limitations on the withdrawal of natural gas from storage facilities; and other uncertainties, some of which are difficult to predict and beyond our control.

These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that the company has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on Sempra's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements.

Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company or Southern California Gas Company, and Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Infrastructure Partners, Sempra Texas, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the CPUC.

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SOURCE Southern California Gas Company