Our CEO’s Statement on Racism and a Pledge to Take Action

Dear colleagues and friends,

I want to add my voice to the chorus of leaders making a public commitment to end racism and injustice toward Black people. I am outraged by the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and many others. Their lives mattered. Black lives matter.

NSF respects, honors, acknowledges and stands with its team members – regardless of race, color or creed. We do not accept racism or bias of any kind.

But we also recognize that action matters. Like many, I have spent time listening, learning and thinking about what I can personally do better to be part of a solution. NSF’s senior leadership team has reflected, too, about what we can do as individuals and collectively. Employees are also loud and clear: We want and expect more for each other and our communities.

Today, I joined CEOs from around the world, including many of our customers and partners, in publicly taking the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge. This is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. With this action, we are committing to the four elements of the pledge: cultivating a workplace that supports open and honest dialogue about inclusion and diversity, delivering unconscious bias education to our employees, sharing best (as well as unsuccessful) practices with our peers in the pledge group and involving our board of directors in strategic inclusion and diversity plans. It is a step in our journey, with a clear roadmap forward for our team.

I’d like to thank our team members at NSF who have been willing to share their views about equality and injustice—and I’m grateful for our team’s continued efforts to be open and understanding, demonstrating care and respect toward each other and our clients every day.

Kevan P. Lawlor
President & CEO
NSF