JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company today was named the 2007 winner in the business category of the annual ATHENA Award at a luncheon ceremony at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

The award, presented by the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, various women’s organizations, universities and ATHENA International, recognizes businesses that seek to inspire women to achieve excellence in their professional and personal lives. 

Mary Lou Kromer, FPL’s vice president for marketing and communication, said FPL is humbled and honored to have been selected for an award which represents “opportunity, diversity, fair play and doing your best.”

“At FPL, we’re very fortunate to be working in an environment where diversity, opportunity and fairness are not just words in an employee handbook but they play out in the way business is conducted each and every day,” said Kromer, who serves on the board of directors for Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches and the Nicklaus Children’s Health Foundation.

In addition to Kromer, FPL and its parent corporation, FPL Group, are proud to have numerous women serving in executive and leadership positions. These women lead organizations and activities in areas including finance, customer service, engineering, auditing and procurement.

“Women who join FPL discover a diverse environment where every employee is given the opportunity to build a great future doing rewarding work,” said FPL President Armando Olivera. “Fostering and engaging a diverse workforce will continue to be a core value at FPL.”

FPL encourages the advancement of professional women through executive coaching, courses in finance, negotiating, team building and presentation skills, and the opportunity to serve in professional and community based-organizations.

FPL female leaders serve on boards of directors for organizations including the American Red Cross, Area Agency on Aging, the Girl Scouts, the Children’s Home Society and Adopt-A-Family, to name a few. Women executives at FPL also mentor at-risk students and teen parents, and one FPL woman manager was the largest single fundraiser of the 2007 South Florida Susan G. Komen Foundation Race for the Cure.   

Five women at FPL have achieved executive positions in the past three years:  the president of FPL Fibernet; FPL’s vice president of customer service; the vice president of FPL Group Integrated Supply Chain; the vice president for Internal Audit; and FPL Group’s vice president and corporate secretary.

In the early 1980’s, ATHENA International’s founder, Martha Mertz was asked to serve on the Board of Directors of the Lansing Michigan Chamber of Commerce. As the only woman serving on the board, Martha worked with her chamber to recognize the leadership of outstanding professional and business women in the community. The first ATHENA Award was presented in 1982 and gave rise to ATHENA International with a mission to “create a balance of leadership worldwide.”

Florida Power & Light Company is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of nearly $16 billion and a growing presence in 26 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.