MIAMI, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest leisure travel company, today announced that CEO
Arnold Donald was named the
top-ranked global executive for his strong leadership and
commitment to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace and
for serving as an inspiring role model.
Now in its second year, the EMpower 100 Ethnic Minority Leaders
list, presented by the Financial Times, showcases the work of the
top 100 black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) business leaders in
the United States, Canada, United
Kingdom and Ireland.
EMpower will officially honor Donald with its "No. 1" Ethnic
Minority Leader award at a ceremony being held tonight in
London to recognize the top 100
BAME leaders in diversity over the past year. The full 2017 EMpower
100 list of ethnic minority leaders is available for viewing
here.
"It is a great honor to be included in this year's EMpower 100,"
said Donald, who grew up in humble beginnings in New Orleans, and who has become one of the
travel and vacation industry's most influential leaders as CEO of
Carnival Corporation since July 2013.
"I share this honor with our diverse team of brilliant and
inspiring senior leaders at Carnival Corporation and our 120,000
dedicated employees from over 100 countries who support our 10
world-leading cruise line brands. As the world's largest leisure
travel company with a fleet of 103 cruise ships visiting over 700
global ports, we take great pride in connecting nearly 12 million
annual guests with people, cultures and places from around the
world to help foster better understanding and appreciation of each
other."
Donald added, "We are also very proud of the diversity of our
workforce and believe that the power of diversity of thinking
drives innovation, which is fueled by leveraging the knowledge and
creativity of our rich backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to
achieve common goals. We salute all of the honorees this year and
applaud EMpower's global efforts to encourage diversity and
inclusion in the workplace."
With 10 global brands and 103 ships visiting more than 700 ports
around the world, diversity has always been a priority and business
imperative for Carnival Corporation. Under the direction of Donald,
the company has further focused its efforts to drive diversity of
thinking initiatives that create competitive advantages to better
serve guests and exceed their expectations for a great vacation
experience.
During Donald's nearly four years as CEO, the company has
appointed diverse and dynamic leaders to serve as presidents of its
cruise line brands and in various leadership roles within
destination services, human resources, marketing and sales,
operations and global procurement, while promoting diversity and
inclusion throughout the company and its brands. During this same
time period, Carnival Corporation has expanded innovation in all
areas of its business and achieved significant growth, including
doubling its earnings since 2013 and recording the most profitable
year in its history in 2016.
"Arnold Donald is a champion for
diversity, and a leading example of an immensely successful
executive who has made it his personal goal to encourage and
celebrate diversity in the workplace, which leads to new ideas,
fresh perspectives, and ultimately new growth opportunities for an
organization," said Suki Sandhu,
founder & CEO EMpower. "Leaders of tomorrow can learn from
Arnold the very important lesson that your ethnicity or background
should not and will not be a barrier to your professional
success."
In 2016, Carnival Corporation was cited as one of the "50 Best
Companies for Diversity" by Black Enterprise Magazine, which
annually recognizes companies that promote inclusivity, including
workforce education, board member diversity, senior management,
employee base and procurement.
In April 2017, Carnival
Corporation was named one of the top 100 Best Corporate Citizens
for 2017 by Corporate Responsibility Magazine (CRM). The company
ranked No. 23 in CRM's 18th annual survey, highest among firms in
the travel and tourism sector and the only cruise company to make
the list.
About the 2017 EMpower 100 Ethnic Minority Leaders
List
Peers and colleagues nominated executives for the
EMpower 100 list. Nominations were then reviewed by EMpower's
judging panel consisting of: Ashok
Vaswani, CEO, Barclays UK; Vivian
Hunt, managing partner, McKinsey & Co; Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever; Linda Yeuh, Global
economist, broadcaster and author, Oxford
University; Nina Vaca,
chairman & CEO, Pinnacle Group; Carola
Hoyos, editor of the Executive Appointments section of the
Financial Times and Suki Sandhu,
founder & CEO of EMpower.
Nominees were scored on the influence of their role, impacts on
ethnic minority inclusion inside and outside the workplace and
business achievements. In its first year in 2016, the EMpower 100,
formerly the UPstanding Leaders' List, honored as top executive
Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar
Kent.
This year for the first time, EMpower also named a 30 Ethnic
Minority Future Leaders List available here.
About EMpower
EMpower (formerly known as UPstanding)
is a professional membership organization helping corporate members
drive greater black, Asian and minority ethnic inclusion at all
levels of their companies. The organization is backed by 10
founding members: BP, Barclays, LinkedIn, Jupiter, Coca-Cola,
Virgin Money, Slaughter and May, PwC, Sainsbury's and Dentsu Aegis.
EMpower's sister organization is OUTstanding, a professional
membership organization for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) leaders and future leaders.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is among the largest, most
profitable and financially strong leisure travel companies in the
world, with a portfolio of 10 cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia that
includes Carnival Cruise Line, Fathom, Holland America Line,
Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard,
P&O Cruises (Australia) and
P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 103 ships visiting over 700 ports
around the world and totaling 231,000 lower berths with 17 new
ships scheduled to be delivered between 2018 and
2022. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates
Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies
in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New
York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation
& plc is the only group in the world to be included in
both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
In 2017, Fast Company recognized Carnival Corporation as
being among the "Top 10 Most Innovative Companies" in both the
design and travel categories. Fast Company specifically
recognized Carnival Corporation for its work in developing Ocean
Medallion™, a high-tech wearable device that enables
the world's first interactive guest experience
platform capable of transforming vacation travel into a highly
personalized and elevated level of customized service.
Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com,
www.fathom.org, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com,
www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com,
www.pocruises.com.au, and www.pocruises.com.
Carnival Corporation Media Contacts:
Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corporation,
rfrizzell@carnival.com, (305) 406-7862
Mike Flanagan, LDWWgroup,
mike@ldwwgroup.com, (727) 452-4538
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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc