CECP Summit: Purpose + Persistence
NEW YORK, May 23, 2024 /3BL/ - This week, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose© (CECP) is bringing together nearly 300 senior social impact, corporate responsibility, and sustainability leaders from the world’s leading global companies for the 21st annual CECP Summit: Purpose + Persistence.
The CECP Summit will feature leaders engaging and learning together about powerful insights on trends, partnerships, and finding the return on corporate purpose. The variety of session topics reflect the many complex issues companies are currently facing as responsible purpose-driven businesses including: using data to guide social impact programs, community investments in sustainability, best practices and predictions in DEI, measuring social investments, the future of volunteering, communicating sustainability, and more.
“The leaders assembling at this week’s CECP Summit serve as bridges within their organizations and in their communities, connecting a company’s corporate purpose with business success to increase customer loyalty, build employee engagement, improve brand trust, attract top talent, and connect with strategic investors and other stakeholders,” said Kari Niedfeldt-Thomas, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, CECP. “CECP and its network empowers these leaders to both enhance the business’ bottom line, and also create positive impacts as responsible businesses in society.”
The Summit includes the presentation of the Charles H. Moore Award for Leadership in Corporate Community Engagement. The 2024 “Charlie Award” was awarded to Sandy Nessing, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, American Electric Power. The award is named in honor of CECP’s founding Executive Director and is presented to senior leaders who exemplify perseverance in the pursuit of societal advancement, the trait for which Charlie Moore was best known.
“I’m truly honored to be receiving the Charles H. Moore Award, as Charlie demonstrated the power of the positive social impact that industry can have on society,” said Sandy Nessing, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, American Electric Power (AEP). “CECP has been a valuable partner as AEP transforms to meet the changing needs of our stakeholders.”
With nearly three decades of communications and sustainability experience in the utility industry, Sandy Nessing leads AEP’s ESG/Sustainability strategy and disclosure, stakeholder engagement, and strategic initiatives. This includes overseeing corporate initiatives on climate change, environmental and social justice, and Just Transition; and regularly engaging with investors and customers on AEP’s sustainability efforts and energy transition strategy. Sandy chairs AEP’s Corporate ESG Steering Committee and Climate Change Executive Group. She is also a member of Datamaran’s Board of Directors and serves on the Board of the Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System. In 2023, she was named to Sustainability Magazine’s Top 100 Women in Sustainability, recognizing her positive influence within this space.
CECP will also share with attendees’ the first look at data from the 2024 Giving in NumbersTM Survey. Giving in Numbers is the unrivaled leader in benchmarking on corporate social investments, in partnership with companies. As the premier industry survey and research, Giving in Numbers provides standard-setting criteria in a go-to guide that has defined the field and advanced the movement. CECP tracks trends in the industry through the data, shared by more than 600 multi-billion-dollar companies, representing more than $439 billion in total community investments. See the new 2024 infographic.
The CECP Summit offers an unparalleled line up of speakers including:
- Anthony Daniels, Jr., Minority Leader, Alabama House of Representatives
- Carly Keller, Manager, Leadership Activation and Nonprofit Capacity Building, The Allstate Foundation
- Sandy Nessing, Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, American Electric Power
- Connie Montana, Philanthropic Giving Program Manager, Bank of America
- Andrea Avtjoglou, Director of Data Product Management, Corporate Impact, Blackbaud
- Jaha Cummings, Founder, Blanchard House Institute
- Jason Cone, President & Co-Founder, BlueCheck Ukraine
- Murphy Poindexter, Co-Founder, BlueCheck Charitable Foundation
- Liev Schreiber, Co-Founder and Board member, BlueCheck Ukraine
- Livia Konkel, CVP, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Corporate Citizenship, Charles River Laboratories
- Charu Adesnik, Executive Director, Cisco Foundation Director, Social Impact Office, Cisco Systems, Inc.
- Shannon McNary, Manager, Public Affairs and Corporate Citizenship, CITGO Petroleum Corporation
- Collette Divitto, CEO/ Founder, Collettey’s Cookie Corp & Collettey’s Leadership Org
- Gwyneth Gaul, Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Philanthropy, Comcast NBCUniversal
- Cari Williams, Global Social Responsibility Leader, DPR Construction
- Tonia Ries, Executive Director, Trust Barometer, Edelman
- Christine Jordan, Senior Lead Program Specialist, Corporate Social Responsibility, Entergy Corporation
- Rev. Luis Cortés, Founder / CEO, Esperanza
- Kim Rice, Community Engagement Manager, Exelon
- Justin Joyner, Sustainability Lead, Freshpet
- Victoria Glazar, Managing Director, GE HealthCare Foundation
- Heidi Magyar, Executive Director of Corporate Giving, General Motors
- Lori Lampman, Chief Human Resources Officer, HARMAN International
- James D. White, Board Chair, The Honest Company
- Justina Nixon-Saintil, Chief Impact Officer, IBM
- Molly Kohrs, Director, Data Citizens with Purpose, KPMG
- Joe Scantlebury, President and CEO, Living Cities
- Pritha Mittal, Regional Head of Foundation for the Americas, Macquarie Group Foundation
- Alex Amouyel, President and CEO, Newman’s Own Foundation
- Shelly Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy
- Megan Lee, CEO/Chairwoman, Panasonic North America
- Tyler Spalding, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs & Global Head of Social Innovation, PayPal
- Caitlyn Brazill, Chief Revenue Officer, Per Scholas
- Heather Meloy, Director, PwC
- Lyndsay Harris-Kyei, Senior Director, ESG Social Strategy, ServiceNow
- Kim Dabbs, Global VP, ESG + Social Innovation, Steelcase
- Jackie Albano, ESG, Tapestry
- Balaji Ganapathy, Chief Social Responsibility Officer, Tata Consultancy Services
- Lynette Bell, President, Truist Foundation
- Marion Phillips, III, Sr. VP Community Development & DEI, U.S. News & World Report
- Gayatri Agnew, Senior Director and Head of Accessibility Center of Excellence, Walmart
- Aldustus Jordan, Head of Community Stewardship, Vanguard
- Jil Littlejohn Bostick, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & Inclusion, Winnebago Industries
- Monica Moradkhan, VP Community Relations, Wynn Resorts, Limited
- Brian Sozzi, Executive Editor, Yahoo Finance
CECP thanks its sponsors for their generous support of 25th anniversary year: Visa Foundation, Bank of America, Exelon, Panasonic, RHR International, StateFarm, Tata Consultancy Services, Vanguard, and Wynn Resorts.
“25 years ago, Paul Newman and I undertook a program of encouraging public corporations to be more of a force for good, embracing a program that Lawrence A. Wien had personally pursued for 5 years in which he attended about 100 shareholder meetings as a shareholder to urge the corporations to increase their philanthropic giving,” said Peter Malkin, Chairman Emeritus, Empire State Realty Trust and Co-Founder, CECP. “Today, over 200 CEOs of such corporations are paying members of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose and their annual support of programs for “good” is more than $47 billion. CECP has come a long way!”
CECP also congratulates the 2023-2024 Company Spotlight honorees: Discovery Education, IBM Corporation, Lincoln Financial Group, MGM Resorts, 3M, Coupa, Tapestry, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Starbucks, Adobe, Bristol Meyers Squibb Foundation, and Metlife Foundation. On a quarterly basis, CECP selects companies for the sought-after Company Spotlight through a thoughtful information-sharing and communications-support process. Company Spotlights are shared with CECP’s nearly 2,000 affiliated corporate contacts, posted on the CECP website as case studies, and recognized at the CECP Summit.
Following the conclusion of the 2024 CECP Summit, CECP will be posting on its website photos, videos, guest blogs, and an Executive Summary.
The application process for the 2025 Charlie Award is open. Nominate a peer senior leader in corporate responsibility today. The deadline is August 30. The application can be accessed on the CECP homepage or by emailing CECP.
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About Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)
Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose® (CECP) is the only business counsel and network dedicated to driving measurable returns on purpose. We promote responsible purpose-driven business as it increases customer loyalty, builds employee engagement, improves brand trust, attracts top talent, connects with strategic investors, and contributes to the bottom line.
More than 200 of the world’s leading companies seek to improve their return on purpose through access to CECP's solutions in research and insights, strategy and benchmarking, and convening and communications. With our companies, we harness the power of purpose for business, stakeholders, and society.
For more information, visit http://cecp.co.
CECP Media Contact
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