Albemarle’s CEO Luke Kissam sent North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory a letter earlier this week saying the state’s passage of an anti-LGBT law is inconsistent with the company’s values and has urged the state’s legislative leaders to repeal it in an upcoming legislative session.
“Albemarle believes in basic fairness in employment, and we strive to do the right thing,” Kissam writes in the letter. “We believe discrimination is wrong, and we believe it has no place in our business and the locations in which we operate.”
Still, the company is moving forward with plans to relocate its headquarters from Baton Rouge to Charlotte despite the state’s swift passage of HB 2, which curbs LGBT protections and has drawn a national backlash from business leaders.
Two weeks after announcing plans to build a $3.6 million global operations center in Charlotte—a project expected to create 400 jobs—PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman reversed course Tuesday and scrapped the plan due to the law. The CEO of Google’s venture capital arm has also reportedly notified his partners that he did not want to invest in projects in North Carolina “until the voters fix this.”
As for Albemarle, Kissam notes in his letter that the company has more than 6,900 employees globally and must attract top talent to stay competitive. “A diverse workforce is absolutely critical to our continued prosperity, and having North Carolina be viewed as a place that values and welcomes diversity is a must if companies like Albemarle are going to prosper here,” Kissam writes.
Copies of the letter also were sent to Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and Bob Morgan, president and CEO of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
In a telephone interview, Kissam tells Daily Report that company executives are monitoring North Carolina’s situation very closely, and he has offered to do whatever he can to help resolve it so everyone is afforded equal protections and equal rights.
The Baton Rouge-based specialty chemical company announced its plans to move last year, but will keep its research and development, manufacturing operations and its Process Development Center in the Capital City.
Kissam and his wife, Kathryn Kissam, were two of several dozen local business and community leaders who signed a letter to the Metro Council in August 2014 supporting a fairness ordinance for Baton Rouge. He even spoke to the council during a meeting in support of the anti-discrimination ordinance, which was voted down by an 8-4 vote.
Kissam says many of his employees support his public stances against discrimination and it is a point of pride for him to stand up for others.
“Our employees understand our value for diversity and the advantage that gives us for recruiting top talent in the marketplace,” Kissam says, adding, “We are who we are.”
As for the company’s pending move to Charlotte, Albemarle Communications Director Ashley Mendoza writes in an email that Kissam still feels Charlotte is a very open and welcoming city.
“It still offers Albemarle benefits over Baton Rouge who has rejected the fairness ordinance on numerous occasions,” Mendoza writes in an email.
—Ryan Broussard
