CMS Energy Receives Ethics Inside® Certification from Ethisphere
Dedicated to implementing standards and systems promoting ethical business practices
Ethisphere, an independent center for research, best practices and thought leadership in corporate ethics and compliance and designator of the World’s Most Ethical Companies®, announced today that CMS Energy has earned the coveted Ethics Inside® Certification.
“CMS Energy has demonstrated a clear commitment to building and maintaining a strong ethical culture,” said NYSE Governance Services Senior Risk Analyst, Steven Deutsch. “The company has done an excellent job communicating the importance of ethical behavior and providing a workplace where ethical leadership is both encouraged and rewarded.”
“This certification represents more than a decade of work to formalize and build on our strong ethical foundation,” CMS Energy Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, David Mengebier said. “Though our company has a long tradition of doing the right thing, we’ve made significant strides in communicating our vision for ethics and compliance and helping employees understand they each have a role in making sure we adhere to the highest standards of behavior.”
Ethisphere, the provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs, awards Ethics Inside® Certification exclusively to companies that demonstrate the existence of a superior employee and leadership culture that promotes ethical business practices.
“We would like to congratulate CMS Energy for earning Ethics Inside® Certification,” said Michael Byrne, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Ethisphere. “They join an exclusive group of companies that have implemented adequate standards, systems and programs to reasonably prevent compliance failures and ethical breakdowns.”
Ethisphere’s licensed credentialing partners look at more than 100 separate criteria during the Ethics Inside® Certification process, including corporate citizenship and responsibility; overall compliance and ethics program; organizational health and culture of ethics; corporate governance; and regulatory history. No company is expected to excel in all criteria areas—yet the aggregate score must meet or exceed a level at which ethical behavior becomes the core expectation, fundamental compliance systems are in place, tone from the top is clear and the company’s actions bear unmistakable signs of good corporate citizenship. More information about Ethics Inside® Certification is available at https://ethisphere.com/certifications/ethics-inside-certified.
About CMS Energy
CMS Energy is a Michigan-based company that has an electric and natural gas utility, Consumers Energy, as its primary business and also owns and operates independent power generation businesses.
About Ethisphere
The Ethisphere® Institute is an independent center of research, best practices and thought leadership that promotes best practices in corporate ethics and compliance and enables organizations to improve governance, mitigate risk, and enhance relationships with employees, business partners, investors and the broad regulatory community. Ethisphere evaluates and benchmarks compliance and governance programs, honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies’™ recognition program, and publishes Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification, Compliance Leader Verification™ and Anti-Corruption Program Verification™.
###
CMS Energy Media Contact
Dan Bishop
Director of Media Relations
[email protected]
(517) 788-2395
Ethisphere Media Contact
Clea Nabozny
[email protected]