E N V I R O N M E N T
Obviously, when you are hard at work turning a source of pollution into clean energy, and working toward replacing dirty diesel with green hydrogen, you are already chipping away at pressing environmental issues. Though it is not our core business model, and represents an opportunity cost, the team does extensive work with solar power, and is in development for digesters, simply because it believes strongly in an “all of the above” approach to the challenge of changing the energy paradigm to mitigate climate change and pollution. The team at East Energy has stewardship for the environment in both the business model and in our bones, including support for numerous non-profits working to solve for various aspects of the challenges ahead. One example is CEO Rich Deming’s deep involvement with the Global Carbon Reward, as described in the newsletter link below. There are many other examples throughout all levels of the organization—East Energy is a team of individuals with a passion for conservation and environmentalism.
East Energy has a strong focus on Environmental, Social and Governance issues, and recently moved one of its key managers to a newly created position that focuses exclusively on ESG; we take this critical function very, very seriously.
S O C I A L
East Energy is dedicated to working toward a just society as it executes its business strategy. This includes creating excellent career opportunities with an apprentice program and hire-local-and-promote-from-within HR focus. We also support numerous good causes in the town, region and state in which we have the good fortune to live and are always working toward all forms of diversity in our work force. East is currently on a path to triple its work force, from 20 to 60 employees, and diversity in hiring is an organizing principle of that effort. 90% of the employees, managers and vendors working for East Energy are located directly in our region of eastern North Carolina or elsewhere in North Carolina. East is committed to building a home-grown North Carolina company that contributes to strong, fair communities around its workforce.
G O V E R N A N C E
East Energy has a robust employee ownership program that allows for meaningful participation in the fortunes of the company by employees. While the average CEO in the US makes 351 times the salary of the average worker, at East, the CEO is limited to a ratio of ten so that rising tides will float all boats on the team. All workers are eligible for educational support to achieve meaningful professional development at the company expense, and the aim of the East HR program is to create a work force of well-educated/trained team members with knowledge of and participation in the grown and strategy of the company.