South Bay Leader

Cetera Financial Group, which is based in El Segundo, earned a score of 95 in a ranking that evaluates the corporate non-discrimination policies based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”

A total of 46 companies in California received a rating of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index. Nationwide, 842 businesses received the maximum score, reflecting the rating’s evaluation that these are among the “best places” for LGBTQ+ members to work.

Cetera Financial Group is not on the Fortune 1000 list of large U.S. companies.

The CEI rating criteria are based on four categories: nondiscrimination policies, pledges of equal benefits for LGBTQ+ employees and their families, support for an inclusive workplace and “corporate social responsibility.”

Companies might be adhering to CEI policies to please their top shareholders and secure bonuses and board positions for themselves, the New York Post reported. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has been called “the face” of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), wrote in a 2018 letter to CEOs titled “A Sense of Purpose” that companies that fail to serve a social purpose “will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, author of “Woke Inc.: Inside America’s Social Justice Scam,” said, “The big fund managers like BlackRock all embrace this ESG orthodoxy in how they apply pressure to top corporate management teams and boards and they determine, in many cases, executive compensation and bonuses and who gets re-elected or re-appointed to boards. They can make it very difficult for you if you don’t abide by their agendas.”

Prioritizing CEI rankings might not always bring the results executives are hoping for, as in the case of Anheuser-Busch’s promotion of Dylan Mulvaney, a 26-year-old TikTok star who transitioned from male to female in 2021 and has since raked in over $1 million in brand endorsements. Bud Light’s and Nike’s ad campaigns featuring Mulvaney drew criticism from stars like Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and Caitlyn Jenner, but Derek Kreifels, the co-founder and CEO of State Financial Officers Foundation, said the backlash may end up being more significant.

In the two weeks after Bud Light’s launch of the Mulvaney ad campaign, Anheuser-Busch’s value decreased by more than $5 billion, the New York Post reported.

The CEI ranking examines business-related activities such as education, training and accountability measures and how inclusive they are.

A total of 1,200 companies, both privately and publicly held, participated in the survey in 2022. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation initiated the survey in 2002.

Employer	Headquarters Location	State	2022 CEI Rating	Fortune 1000 Rank?
Activision Blizzard	Santa Monica	CA	-	Yes
AECOM	Los Angeles	CA	100	Yes
Amyris, Inc.	Emeryville	CA	90	No
Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc.	Los Angeles	CA	100	No
Atlassian	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Avery Dennison	Glendale	CA	100	Yes
Bank West	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Blend	San Francisco	CA	90	No
Blue Shield California	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Brown Caldwell	Walnut Creek	CA	90	No
Buchalter, Professional Corporation	Los Angeles	CA	100	No
Cadence Design Systems	San Jose	CA	100	Yes
Cetera Financial Group	El Segundo	CA	95	No
CooperCompanies	San Ramon	CA	100	No
CoreLogic	Irvine	CA	50	Yes
CSAA Insurance Group	Walnut Creek	CA	100	No
Cubic Corporation	San Diego	CA	100	No
Del Monte Foods, Inc.	Walnut Creek	CA	100	No
DoorDash, Inc.	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Doximity, Inc.	San Francisco	CA	90	No
E&J Gallo Winery	Modesto	CA	100	No
Edison International	Rosemead	CA	100	Yes
Equinix	Redwood City	CA	100	Yes
Experian North America	Costa Mesa	CA	100	No
Farmers Insurance Group	Woodland Hills	CA	255	Yes
Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Franklin Templeton Investments	San Mateo	CA	100	Yes
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Gusto, Inc.	San Francisco	CA	95	No
Hitachi Vantara	Santa Clara	CA	100	No
Hyundai Motor America	Fountain Valley	CA	100	No
Hyve Solutions Corporations	Fremont	CA	100	No
Illumina	San Diego	CA	100	Yes
Impossible Foods	Redwood City	CA	100	No
Ingram Micro	Irvine	CA	100	Yes
Instacart	San Francisco	CA	100	No
Kaiser Permanente	Oakland	CA	100	No
KB Home	Los Angeles	CA	30	Yes
Keep Truckin, Inc.	San Francisco	CA	95	No
KLA Corporation	Milpitas	CA	30	Yes
Korn Ferry	Los Angeles	CA	100	No
LendingClub	San Francisco	CA	100	No
LinkedIn	Sunnyvale	CA	100	Yes
Livongo	Mountain View	CA	90	No
Meta Platforms, Inc.	Menlo Park	CA	100	Yes
Momentive	San Mateo	CA	95	No
NortonLifeLock	Mountain View	CA	100	Yes
Oaktree Capital Management LP	Los Angeles	CA	100	Yes
Palo Alto Networks	Santa Clara	CA	100	Yes
Petco Health & Wellness, Inc.	San Diego	CA	80	Yes
PIMCO LLC	Newport Beach	CA	100	No
Robert Half	Menlo Park	CA	100	Yes
Salesforce	San Francisco	CA	100	Yes
Sanmina-SCI	San Jose	CA	0	Yes
SBE	Los Angeles	CA	40	No
Sempra	San Diego	CA	100	Yes
Sephora	San Francisco	CA	100	No
ServiceNow	Santa Clara	CA	100	No
Sonos, Inc.	Santa Barbara	CA	100	No
Sweetgreen, Inc.	Los Angeles	CA	100	No
Talend, Inc.	Redwood City	CA	70	No
TriNet USA, Inc.	Dublin,	CA	75	No
Virgin Orbit	Long Beach	CA	95	No
Visa	San Francisco	CA	100	Yes
Vision Service Plan	Rancho Cordova	CA	40	No
Xperi Holding Corporation	San Jose	CA	85	No
Ziff Davis	Los Angeles	CA	100	No
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.	San Jose	CA	85	No