The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) honored Patricia A. Woertz, Chairman and CEO of Archer Daniels Midland; Ryan M. Lance, Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips; and Raj L. Gupta, Executive Chairman of Avantor Performance Materials and retired Chairman and CEO of Rohm and Haas Company, for advancing diversity in the engineering profession, at an AIChE awards gala held in New York City on Friday, December 5.
According to AIChE Executive Director June Wispelwey, the gala, built around the theme, “Engineering Diversity in the Profession, the Workplace, and the World,” raised more than $330,000. “These funds will support a number of critically important programs,” she added. They include scholarships for engineering students from underrepresented groups, K–12 and public outreach initiatives, support for engineers in international student chapters, and AIChE’s advocacy for recruiting and retaining women in the profession, and supporting their re-entry after family leave.
Organized by the AIChE Foundation, the event’s dinner chairs were John Y. Televantos, Partner at Arsenal Capital Partners; Todd A. Werpy, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Archer Daniels Midland; S. Shariq Yosufzai, Vice President for Global Diversity, Ombuds, and University Affairs at Chevron; and Karen A. Fletcher, Vice President for Engineering and Chief Engineer at DuPont. Televantos commended the honorees and their companies for making a diverse corporate culture a core value, and for tangibly demonstrating their commitments to inclusion.
“In a global economy, companies will only prosper if they give equal opportunity and reward, without regard to ethnic background, color, gender, religion, or sexual orientation,” said Televantos. He added that employers must pro-actively seek, recruit, and nurture talented people with diverse backgrounds and beliefs.
In honoring Woertz and Archer Daniels Midland for its diversity leadership in the agricultural processing industry, gala dinner chair Yosufzai mentioned the company’s recruitment of talented women through its Women’s Initiative Network, its outreach to candidates from underrepresented minority groups through its Campus Partnerships, and its other cross-cultural collaborations. Woertz, who Yosufzai commended for assembling a diverse board of directors and inclusive leadership team at ADM, said that “without the diverse backgrounds, perspectives and capabilities that define our organization today, it would be extraordinarily difficult — if not impossible — to do our job well.” She added, “diversity is what gives our work so much of its richness and meaning.”
Televantos said that ConocoPhillips and Lance are advancing engineering diversity in the energy industry with a variety of initiatives. Televantos noted ConocoPhillips’ development of cross-cultural employee networking groups; the company’s Jane Phillips Society, which engages in community activities; a Supplier Diversity Program that facilitates inclusion of minority-owned, small, aboriginal and indigenous businesses in its supply network; and a Patriot Employee Network that supports troops, injured soldiers, and their families.
Televantos also applauded Avantor’s Gupta for his career-long dedication to engineering diversity. At Avantor, Televantos noted, respect is one of five corporate values, and employees are required to treat others with dignity and honesty.
Gupta said that diversity is not only a key component of business success, but also “a moral and business imperative,” adding that diversity for diversity’s sake is not enough. “The real power of diversity, said Gupta, “comes from a diversity of ideas and perspectives and access to the best talent.” He said that organizations must make bold choices that demonstrate a commitment to diversity and that provide mentorship. Employees too, said Gupta, “must believe that their individual contributions will be recognized and rewarded.”
Reflecting on the industry’s progress in this area, AIChE Foundation Chair Peter Lederman said that the engineering profession has grown from only a handful of women and minorities working in the field to many women and minorities now in leadership roles, serving as role models and leaders in innovation. “Tonight’s honorees are among those who have led and continue to lead the way to the benefit of our country, industrial partners and our profession,” Lederman concluded.
A photo gallery for the gala is available on AIChE's Flickr page.
About AIChE:
AIChE is a professional society of nearly 45,000 chemical engineers in 100 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as energy, sustainability, biological and environmental engineering, nanotechnology, and chemical plant safety and security. www.aiche.org.