San Francisco, CA– October 20, 2016: USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack, Wells Fargo’s PRIDE Team Member Network, Dell, Inc, and the Central Intelligence Agency were all recognized as Outie Award winners earlier this month in Orlando, Florida, as over 4,000 attendees from around the world convened at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit. The Workplace Summit is the leading global lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) professional development conference, bringing together employees and experts to share strategies and best practices to create equitable and inclusive workplaces for LGBT people.
The annual Outie awards honor both individuals and organizations that are leaders in advancing equality for LGBT people in workplaces globally.
Winners were chosen from a competitive slate of nominees and voted on by an independent panel of business and community leaders that set the standard for LGBT workplace equality.
Out & Equal recognized the Central Intelligence Agency with the first ever Excellence in Government Leadership Award. The Agency Network of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Officers & Allies (ANGLE) has had a direct role in creating an inclusive environment at the Agency. In recent years, the Agency’s visibility and awareness efforts amped up to include LGBT-inclusive education for the workforce, partnering with other Intelligence Community agencies to address issues of LGBT workplace equality, developing a comprehensive workplace guide on transgender issues and policies, and increasing recruitment and retention efforts for LGBT colleagues According to Christopher Courtemanche, ANGLE member and LGBT Community Outreach Program Manager, “ANGLE has been instrumental in advancing visibility and awareness of LGBT issues inside the CIA and across the Intelligence Community; working to change internal policies to be more inclusive and helping to build a culture of inclusion for employees of ALL diversity groups.”
“We congratulate all of this year’s Outie Award winners,” said Out & Equal founder and Chief Executive Officer Selisse Berry. “Their commitment to creating inclusive and welcoming environments for LGBT employees is instrumental to achieving workplace equality.”
About Out & Equal
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates is the world’s premier nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workplace equality. We partner with Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies to provide executive leadership development, comprehensive training and consultation, and professional networking opportunities that build inclusive and welcoming work environments. Since 1996, we have worked with executives, human resources professionals, Employee Resource Groups and individuals to provide leadership and professional development, education, and research to create workplaces free of discrimination. Out & Equal hosts the annual Workplace Summit where employees and experts from around the world gather to share strategies and best practices to create workplace equality inclusive of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions.
Contact:
Rachel Rubin | Deputy Director
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
155 Sansome St., Suite 450, San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 694-6536
rrubin@outandequal.org