Arnold Donald Recognized as Role Model
Carnival Corporation's CEO Arnold Donald was named the top-ranked global executive on the Empower 100 Ethnic Minority Leaders list 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 business leaders in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.
"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."
"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."
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.
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 inclusiveness.
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.
The full 2017 EMpower 100 list of ethnic minority leaders is available here. This year for the first time, EMpower also named a 30 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders List.