ATLANTA, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power's Vice President of
Diversity, Frank McCloskey, received one of four inaugural Willie O'Ree
National Hockey League (NHL) "Black Ice" Diversity Awards on Friday,
January 25, 2008 at the league's diversity luncheon held at the Westin
Peachtree Plaza Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The luncheon was a part of the
2008 NHL All-Star Weekend.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/CLW066LOGO )
In 1958, Willie O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL, when he
played for the Boston Bruins in a game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Fifty years later, O'Ree is still involved in hockey as the director of
youth development for the NHL's diversity program. In the past 10 years, he
has helped expose more than 40,000 boys and girls of diverse backgrounds to
hockey, while stressing the importance of essential life skills, education,
and the core values of hockey: commitment, perseverance and teamwork.
The awards were given to four pioneers, nominated by the local
community as major contributors to promoting diversity through leadership,
courage and respect for differing backgrounds and points of view. Each of
the "Black Ice" award recipients portrays the traits continually
demonstrated by O'Ree.
During his 36-year career with Georgia Power, McCloskey has blazed many
trails in diversity. Most notable is the courage that he demonstrates daily
to insure fairness and equity for all employees by overseeing the
development and implementation of strategies that help sustain a culture of
excellence through inclusion.
"Georgia Power is honored to receive this award. It recognizes who we
are and what we stand for," said McCloskey. "Our diversity initiatives have
helped to improve our leadership and organizational culture where every
employee feels valued, respected and productive. It's about building trust
with employees, our communities and vendors and suppliers. And that will
drive our long term business success."
Other award recipients included Dr. John Maupin, President of Morehouse
School of Medicine; Eric W. Norman, Vice President of Network Services at
Ricoh America's Corporation; and Jackie Parker, Vice President of Global
Inclusion and Diversity at Newell Rubbermaid.
"The National Hockey League is honored to recognize these outstanding
individuals for their commitment to diversity and the celebration of the
50th anniversary of Willie O'Ree breaking the color barrier," said Ken
Martin, Jr., NHL Vice President, Community and Diversity Programming.
Net proceeds from the luncheon will benefit NHL Diversity, which
provides support and programming to not-for-profit youth hockey
organizations across North America. Money raised also will go to the
Atlanta Thrashers Foundation in support of several initiatives designed to
engage diverse youth groups in the sport of hockey.
Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the
nation's largest generators of electricity. The company is an
investor-owned, tax-paying utility with rates well below the national
average. Georgia Power serves 2.3 million customers in all but four of
Georgia's 159 counties.
SOURCE Georgia Power
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Related links:
http://www.georgiapower.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050216/CLW066LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Konswello Monroe of Georgia Power,
+1-404-506-7676, or +1-800-282-1696, corpcomm@georgiapower.com
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