b'The SC Americas Critical Inclusive Behaviors For over a century, the Sumitomo Corporation Group has cultivated its Japanese heritage to inspire global operations around the world. Today, SC Americas seeks to further its mission to create new value, by pursuing opportunities to grow and evolve its culture of inclusion.Against the backdrop of current societal dynamics, SC Americas has an opportunity to elevate its diversity and inclusion efforts by leveraging its core values: collaboration, cooperation, communication and curiosity.Our Critical Inclusive Behaviors reinforce the strength of the inherited culture while en-abling for the strategic future. The SC Americas Critical Inclusive Behaviors were defined by our people. Conducting interviews and focus groups, we heard what was important to the people throughout SC Americas. This pulse of our corporation provides a guide to what is critical in how we treat and engage with each other on a human level. It is up to each individual within our corporation to make a commitment towards becoming more inclusive in order to lead with integrity and drive new value creation in our future. I have also grown more positive about our company and its future. As I mentioned, during most of my career I thought my career potential was limited. The reality turned out to be much more than I could have ever expected. So I wonder why I did not think bigger, and now I allow myself to dream more and encour-age others to do the same. While we must always realistically assess where we are today, we should open our minds to the potential for ourselves and our company and work positively toward achieving our goals. I believe our company has also grown in similar ways. Employees used to think of and refer to our com-pany as a Japanese trading company. Now I believe we are starting to look at our company in different ways now that our business model has increasingly expanded into various type of businesses through our subsidiaries and investments. I believe our diverse portfolio should give us the confidence to look positively toward the future and our ability to adapt by entering into new businesses fields as necessary. Yet we need to act intentionally with a sense of urgency because our future will depend on the actions we take today. As Head of HR and the CAO for the Americas in 2022, how do you see diversity and inclusionAbove: Tim Sander gettingcontinuing to evolve for SCOAs HR and employees?vaccinated during theCOVID-19 era.I believe D&I is embedded in our business model and our company culture. It is already a prominent part of our values and our SC Global Management Policy. I only see D&I continuing to grow in its importance and influence over our company and its business model.As we move forward, I believe we will increas-ingly see collaboration among our colleagues around the globe on D&I issues as well as local initiatives to address D&I concerns specific to each area of the world where we do business. As we deepen our understanding of the concepts surrounding D&I and its impact on our culture, I think we will mature in our ability to have conversations concerning any D&I gaps we face and work effectively to close them. Often I hear the phrase D&I increasingly associated with other terms as well such as belonging. Personally, I like the concept of belonging and I think this is at the heart of our D&I efforts: creating an environment where all our employees can feel a sense of belonging and take ownership of the values we share so we can implement them through the work we perform together. (continued)Sumitomo Corporation of Americas 9'