MIAMI, Nov. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today announced it was recognized as a top organization supporting the advancement of women's leadership and diversity in the workplace as part of the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change (Catalyst Champion) initiative.
Made up of a collective of more than 50 high-profile global CEOs, the Catalyst Champion initiative helps promote diversity, inclusion and gender equality within leading organizations, while driving change designed to accelerate the advancement of women into leadership.
Diversity and inclusion have long been priorities at Carnival Corporation with 120,000 employees representing more than 100 countries. As CEO since July 2013, Arnold Donald has also been a strong champion of engineering "diversity of thinking" across the company, fostering innovation through all forms of diversity, including gender, ethnicity, background, upbringing, education, geographic origin and experience. During the past five years, numerous diverse and dynamic leaders have been appointed to leadership roles as presidents of the company's cruise line brands and in key roles within global port and destination development, human resources, marketing, sales, operations and procurement, while continuing to promote diversity and inclusion.
"It is a great honor for Carnival Corporation to be recognized as part of the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative," said Roger Frizzell, chief communications officer for Carnival Corporation. "We are very proud of the diversity of our workforce and we believe strongly that diversity of thinking helps drive innovation. We have seen time and time again that leveraging the knowledge and creativity of our collective backgrounds, experiences and perspectives produces smart, innovative solutions and approaches to our overall business and especially our top priority of consistently exceeding our guests' expectations."
Frizzell added: "We are proud to be named alongside other distinguished organizations that are champions for change in support of women leaders, and we applaud Catalyst's global efforts to accelerate inclusion and diversity in the workplace."
Additionally, Catalyst released a research report today showing that as a group Catalyst Champion organizations, including Carnival Corporation, outperform their peers in the S&P 500 in advancing more women into positions of leadership. Key findings of gender-equality efforts at participating companies include:
- Catalyst Champion companies outperform the S&P 500 in advancing women into leadership, specifically among board seats (29.0% Catalyst Champion vs. 21.2% S&P 500), executive/senior-level positions (27.9% Catalyst Champion vs. 26.5% S&P 500) and first-/mid-level positions (38.4% Catalyst Champion vs. 36.9% S&P 500).
- Catalyst Champion companies outperform the S&P 500 in advancing women of color into leadership, specifically among board seats (6.0% Catalyst Champion vs. 3.8% Fortune 500 ), executive/senior-level positions (5.2% Catalyst Champion vs. 4.7% S&P 500) and first-/mid-level positions (11.3% Catalyst Champion vs. 10.5% S&P 500).
"We commend Arnold Donald along with the other Catalyst Champion CEOs who represent a passionate group of change agents," said Deborah Gillis, president and CEO, Catalyst. "They are already leaders and champions of gender equality and inclusion. Now they are taking bold action, holding themselves publicly accountable for doing the right thing and inspiring all of us to do more."
Together with Catalyst – a leading global nonprofit organization working to advance diversity, inclusion and gender equality at work – and other global companies, Carnival Corporation has pledged to:
- accelerate progress in the representation of women, including women of color, in executive/senior level positions over five years.
- maintain (where strong) or accelerate representation of women, including women of color, on the company's board of directors (or equivalent) over five years.
Additionally, Carnival Corporation's Donald will chair the Catalyst Awards dinner on March 20, 2018, during the annual Catalyst Awards Conference.
About Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation & plc is the world's largest leisure travel company and among the most profitable and financially strong in the cruise and vacation industries, with a portfolio of 10 dynamic brands that include nine of the world's leading cruise lines. With operations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, its portfolio features Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK), as well as Fathom, the corporation's immersion and enrichment experience brand.
Together, these brands operate 103 ships with 231,000 lower berths visiting over 700 ports around the world, with 18 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2018 and 2022. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour company in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only dual listed company in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 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.
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SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
Carnival Corporation Media Contacts: Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corporation, rfrizzell@carnival.com, (305) 406-7862; Mike Flanagan, LDWW, mike@ldwwgroup.com, (727) 452-4538
