Agenda
Wednesday, September 2
9:45 AM
Registration, Networking, and Refreshments
10:30 AM
Welcome and Introduction
10:45 AM
Peer-Led Vendor* Clinic
ESG and CSR vendors: What are we using, what works, and what doesn’t?
*We are a vendor-free community, so these “vendor clinics” are a special opportunity to dig-in, ask tough questions, and get candid feedback — not a sales pitch.
Open, peer-led discussions where you can find workarounds and share successes (and frustrations) with the ESG & CSR tool integral to your program’s success. If you aren’t a customer but are considering an investment in a particular vendor, you can get an honest assessment from other brands who use the tool. In this clinic, we’ll focus on:
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11:15 AM
Break
11:20 AM
Panel
Demonstrating the ROI: What can sustainability and social impact learn from each other?
11:50 AM
Lunch Discussion
1:00 PM
Break
1:10 PM
Case StudyGrant Application Review: Putting Employees in the Driver’s Seat
Engaging employees in grant decisions can transform how your workforce connects to your company’s impact mission, but getting there requires the right balance of structure and autonomy. Join Wesley Touhy and Jenna Gregory of Motorola Solutions as they break down how they run a successful 300+ participant grant review program and share scalable steps any company can implement to expand employee influence in grantmaking. |
Case StudySustainability Strategies that Engage and Serve the Business
Designing and implementing an enterprise sustainability strategy requires cross‑functional engagement, disciplined execution, and a clear link to business resilience. Hear from Rachel Grunberg, Director of Environmental Sustainability and Casey Velazquez, Manager, Sustainability Reporting & Planning at The Hershey Company on how they worked across the organization to build a commitment framework that supports long‑term performance and value creation. |
Case StudyThe New Reality of SBTi Submissions
The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) is only getting more complex, especially for companies exposed to FLAG requirements. Join Christine Daugherty and Anna DeRoque from Conagra Brands as they talk about how they landed on the decisions and processes they needed to submit ambitious goals that serve their business, not slow it down. |
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1:40 PM
Break
1:55 PM
Case StudyFrom Disruption to Engagement: Building a Global Volunteer Movement
Amid a period of significant organizational change—including leadership transitions, restructuring, and evolving ways of working—Avantor launched a global Community Impact program as an opportunity to engage employees and strengthen its culture. Since September 2022, the program has driven consistent double-digit growth in participation year over year. Join Valerie Collado, Director of Community Impact and Communications at Avantor Sciences, for an inside look at what it takes to design, launch, and scale a volunteer strategy that resonates—and endures—through change. |
Case StudyTackling Sustainability Through the Corporate Legal Lens in 2026
Ever wish that you could get inside your legal department’s head? Now’s your chance. Join Karen Garnett, Head of ESG Policy and Reporting at Charles Schwab (and lawyer by training) as she breaks down the competing priorities and risks running through your inside counsel’s head whenever ESG gets mentioned. Hear her tips for fostering collaboration and alignment as the regulatory and litigatory landscape continues to rapidly change. |
Case StudyBuilding out Product Carbon Footprinting
Getting credible, assurable product-level carbon data for all our customers takes a full team effort to get systems and technology in place. Hear from Catherine Zimmerman and Melissa Putnam from Ingredion as they share how they built out a new product carbon footprint strategy and key lessons they learned along the way. |
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2:25 PM
Break
2:40 PM
Case StudyBuilding a New Signature CSR Program with Environmental Impact
The process of assessing and overhauling your existing giving strategies stresses out every CSR leader, especially when it comes to selling leaders and colleagues on a new signature vision. Come hear how Julie Lata, Director of Social Impact at Everpure and her team designed, built, and launched a new signature program to drive new impacts around environmental sustainability, and the lessons they learned along the way. |
Case StudyWater Replenishment as a Maturity Driver for Sustainability
Water replenishment programs represent some of the most advanced sustainability efforts large companies are committing to today. Join Jami Haaning from Lam Research as she shares how her team is building out new water replenishment strategies and the lessons they’ve learned that can help everyone build bold new sustainability initiatives. |
Case StudyStanding Up a Brand-New Corporate Foundation
Corporate foundations have their pros and cons, but when you decide to do one, what does that entail, really? Join Christy Blashock from Erie Insurance Group as she relates their process for standing up their new corporate foundation, the unexpected challenges, and how it’s changing the way they benefit Erie’s people and communities. |
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3:10 PM
Networking Break
3:40 PM
Case StudyDemonstrating the Business Value of Social Impact
Aligning social impact initiatives with business goals has never been more critical. Proving the value of Social Impact won’t work with a single-prong approach. Instead, it takes integrating across the business with messaging adapted to different internal stakeholders. Join Brandon Ruffin, Social Impact Manager at CDW, to learn practical ideas for connecting social impact initiatives to business priorities while advancing digital opportunity and empowering coworkers. Discover creative and actionable ways to engage your workforce and partners. |
Case StudyEmbedding Your Sustainability Mission Across the Enterprise |
Case StudyNavigating the Ever-Changing ESG Regulatory Landscape |
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4:10 PM
Break
4:25 PM
Case StudyIntegrating Global Impact for Business ROI
Driving business value through social impact requires more than siloed CSR, DEI, and community programs—it takes a unified strategy aligned to business priorities. Join Virginia Nguyen, Chief Diversity & Impact Officer at QVC as she breaks down how bringing these functions together under a single Global Impact strategy and team has accelerated impact, improved business results, and strengthened executive buy-in, along with lessons learned for making integration work in practice. |
Case StudyIntegrating Social Impact and Environmental Sustainability Strategies
As corporate responsibility work grows more strategic and sophisticated, how can we pursue community investments and environmental commitments in a holistic way? Join Jill Davies from Best Buy as she explains how they are thinking about the business value of CSR, sustainability, and deepening a long-standing culture of responsibility. |
Case StudyBuilding an EPR Strategy (Without Losing Your Mind) |
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4:55 PM
Adjourn
5:00 PM
Drinks Reception and Members-Only Dinner
Following our afternoon of conversations and case studies, we’ll all go out for a fantastic dinner together. It’s a perfect opportunity to connect with your fellow members before a big day of brainstorming, discussion, and collaboration.
Thursday, September 3
8:00 AM
Breakfast Discussions
The conversations over coffee and eggs at this event are often more lively than any other conference’s happy hour. You’ll want to be here bright and early (and on time).
8:50 AM
Break
9:00 AM
Workshop
Communicating Sustainability with Honesty and Urgency
Nyna Saenz, Constellation Energy
If employees and executives can’t explain why sustainability matters to them, our work is in trouble. Join Nyna Saenz from Constellation Energy for a conversation about how we are communicating with our companies about the value of our work.
Workshop
Finding the Right Mix: Balancing Broad Reach and Deep Investment
Dora Zapata, McKesson
Every corporate giving program faces the same question: is it better to spread funding across many organizations or make fewer, larger investments? Join Dora Zapata of McKesson to talk through how to determine the right mix of grants, balance competing priorities, and align funding decisions with both community needs and organizational goals – all while building a grant strategy that delivers meaningful results.
Workshop
Corporate Community Partnerships 2.0
Alvin Abraham & Deedra Moe, ExxonMobil
When you go beyond passing funds on to community partners, and invest more in building organizations, programming, and community capacity directly, you can advance your impact, but also increase your workloads. Join Alvin Abraham and Deedra Moe from ExxonMobil to talk out how we’re going beyond grantmaking in a scalable, measurable way.
Workshop
Cross-Corporate Collaboration and Partnership Opportunities
Andrea Davis, Z Zurich Foundation
What are the best ways for corporate philanthropists to combine forces to support our most impactful community partners? Join Andrea Davis from the Z Zurich Foundation to share opportunities, find potential partners, and talk out the obstacles that make corporate coalition-building so difficult.
9:30 AM
Break
9:45 AM
Workshop
Getting From Just Started to Something Real with AI and ESG
Emily Thomas, J.M Huber
Every leader in every professional workspace has pressure to figure out how AI can change their work for the better, but what have we found so far that can improve sustainability measurement, disclosure, and performance? Join Emily Thomas from J.M. Huber to talk out what we’re trying, what we’ve learned, and how we can move forward on AI and ESG.
Workshop
Getting Skill-Based Volunteering Right
Our companies are full of brilliant leaders and deep subject matter experts, connecting them to our communities is a high-value opportunity. How do we keep it from being even higher effort? As high touch, high impact but generally low numbers, how do we keep leaders engaged in this valuable effort? Join one of our long-standing members (TBA), to talk about how to build and improve our efforts.
Workshop
Beyond the Check: Low-Cost, High-Impact Community Engagement
Sophia Curcio & Andrea Patton, The Campbell’s Company
Strong community partnerships aren’t always built through larger grants or bigger budgets. Join Sophia Curcio and Andrea Patton of The Campbell’s Company to exchange practical, repeatable ideas for deepening relationships with nonprofit partners, engaging communities, and creating lasting value beyond traditional giving.
Workshop
Sustainability Scenario Planning for the Next U.S. Election Cycle
The next U.S. election could impact the landscape for corporate sustainability, making proactive planning more important than ever. Join one of our expert members (TBA) to discuss how sustainability teams are preparing for a range of political outcomes, including who needs a seat at the table, the key factors they’re monitoring, and what sustainability leaders should be doing now to prepare for what comes next.
10:15 AM
Break
10:30 AM
Workshop
Moving ESG Initiatives Forward with Limited Resources
Nicole Speciale, Petco
Growing an ESG program doesn’t always mean you get to grow your team or budget. It requires finding creative ways to maximize resources, build cross-functional partnerships, and maintain momentum. Join Nicole Speciale at Petco as she shares how she advances their ESG strategy as a small but mighty team, including practical lessons on prioritizing initiatives, leveraging internal partners, and making meaningful progress with limited resources.
Workshop
Employee Giving: Innovations and Persistent Issues
Krista Ortewin & Annie McGeary, Olympus
When it comes to employee engagement, volunteering gets a lot of attention, but employee giving can generate huge impacts for our partners (and work for our teams). Join Krista Ortwein and Annie McGeary from Olympus to talk about ways we’re improving participation, the things that keep stalling our efforts, and the solutions we’re trying next.
Workshop
Building Ecosystems of Community Support
Ashley Pratt, Mayo Clinic
Complex community challenges can’t be solved by any single organization. Across healthcare, nonprofits, government, academia, and business, many stakeholders are already working toward similar goals—but often in parallel rather than together. Join Ashley Pratt from Mayo Clinic to talk out how organizations can leverage public processes, align with existing community assets, and create partnerships that amplify impact beyond direct funding.
Workshop
Embedding ESG Strategies into Your Finance Functions
11:00 AM
Break
11:15 AM
Workshop
Driving Supplier Engagement for Sustainability
Leticia Acosta, Constellation Brands
Building strong supplier partnerships takes more than asking for data. It requires sustainability and procurement teams to work together toward shared goals. Join Leticia Acosta from Constellation Brands as she shares how she’s working to engage suppliers, partner with procurement, and collect the information needed to advance sustainability initiatives.
Workshop
Workforce Development + Talent Pipeline Programs
Laura Hoagland, Southwest Airlines
Workforce development can be a powerful intersection between social impact programming and key business needs, but how do you build initiatives that scale? Join Laura Hoagland from Southwest Airlines to talk out what we’ve tried and how we’re setting priorities.
Workshop
CSR and AI: Exploring Possibilities
Sam Cammarata, NBCUniversal
The pressure is on everywhere to adopt AI to streamline work, but what opportunities really make sense for corporate social impact and employee engagement? Join Sam Cammarata from NBCUniversal for an open-ended conversation about what we’re trying, what’s working, and how we’re thinking about AI’s impact on our work.
Workshop
Building a Rater/Ranker Strategy that Doesn’t Waste Your Time
11:45 AM
Themed Lunch Discussions
During lunch, the tables will be divided into industries so leaders can pick where they want to sit and connect with others who are leading ESG and CSR in the same space:
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12:45 PM
Break
12:55 PM
Peer Advisory Roundtables
Example topics:
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1:30 PM
Peer Advisory Roundtables
Example topics:
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2:00 PM
Break
2:15 PM
Peer Advisory Roundtables
Example topics:
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2:45 PM
Adjourn
Please note: This agenda is subject to change based on speaker availability and scheduling.
