Entergy CEO Leonard Recognized for Clear, Straightforward Communication
11 June 2009 - 3:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Only Utility Leader Among Best for Seven Straight Years in CEO
Candor(SM) Survey NEW ORLEANS, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- J.
Wayne Leonard, chairman and chief executive officer of Entergy
Corporation, ranks second highest among CEOs for the candor and
clarity of his letter to shareholders, according to the latest
analysis conducted by Rittenhouse Rankings, Inc. of the annual
letters from CEOs of 100 companies listed in the Fortune 500.
Leonard is the only utility CEO to have been ranked among the top
25 for seven consecutive years in the Rittenhouse CEO Candor(SM)
Survey, which analyzes annual CEO letters and demonstrates a link
between the quality of the letter's content and a company's
performance. Leonard is also one of only three CEOs to make the top
five in each of the last three surveys. The latest survey analyzed
letters that appeared in 2007 annual reports, most of which were
issued in the first half of 2008. "Leonard isn't afraid to be
accountable. He lays out numerous performance benchmarks and tells
readers how they were met. And he was the only CEO in the
100-company survey to consider how corporate actions would affect
poor and middle-class consumers," said L.J. Rittenhouse, president
of the investor relations consulting firm. The survey is an annual
evaluation of candor in the letter to shareholders in annual
reports of 100 companies across a diverse group of industries and
capitalization levels. The letters are judged on their clarity and
depth based on a broad cross section of indices -- from strategy to
cash on hand to adversity. Rittenhouse Rankings uses those measures
as a proxy for the overall viability and health of the company.
"Straightforward communications should be a big part of the job of
any CEO, and it's not just for shareholders," Leonard said. "Words
mean different things to different people. You never get it
perfect; nevertheless, we at Entergy always make the extra effort
to assure we communicate the complete, unvarnished story to all of
our stakeholders - whether it's in Washington, D.C., or Silver
City, Miss. - no matter how uncomfortable it may be. It is the only
way to run a business, particularly a public company affected with
the public interest. "For our employees, it's a two-way street. We
insist on a culture where only the truth will do. In return, they
can expect their company to live by the same values we expect from
them," Leonard said. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy
company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail
distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants
with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating
capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the
United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility
customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy
has annual revenues of more than $13 billion and approximately
14,700 employees. Entergy's Web site is entergy.com DATASOURCE:
Entergy Corporation CONTACT: Michael Burns of Entergy Corporation,
+1-504-576-4238, Web Site: http://www.entergy.com/
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