Annual Convening of Global Corporate Leaders on Societal Engagement

CEOs to Attend Closed-Door Session to Deepen Connections to their Communities
Sep 24, 2014 4:00 PM ET

New York, NY, September 24, 2014 /3BL Media/- Fifty CEOs of the world’s largest companies will convene at CECP’s 10th annual Board of Boards, February 23, 2015 in New York, NY. Named in Forbes as one of the top three “power player” CEO meetings, the Board of Boards provides a closed-door, intimate opportunity for peers to discuss purpose-driven solutions to business challenges. Presentations from featured CEO speakers Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo, and Tom Wilson, President and CEO, Allstate Insurance Company, and small table discussions allow CEOs to share insights and best practices to help advance the impact of corporate community investment. Lord Michael Hastings, Global Head of Citizenship and Diversity, KPMG International will moderate a discussion among CEOs.

“For the last 10 years, global CEOs have gathered in NYC each winter to set the societal agenda for corporations, and further establish their unique roles within those community commitments,” stated Daryl Brewster, CEO, CECP. “These CEOs strengthen the business case for investing in communities through the lenses of improving trust, stimulating innovation, mitigating risk, connecting with customers, building brands, engaging employees, and entering new markets.”  

Doug Conant, Founder and CEO, Conant Leadership and Former President and CEO Campbell Soup Company, explained in a blog post the unique environment of the Board of Boards: “What further establishes the powerful nature of this event is that each executive who attends is trying to find ways to ‘do well by doing good’— or bring business priorities closer to addressing community needs.” He continued, “Every conversation starts from that intention.”

The event is limited to CECP CEOs, who are encouraged to RSVP today.

While the Boards of Boards is a closed-door event, a high-level summary including live polling results, images, and highlight videos will be available on the CECP website following the event. View the 2014 Executive Summary, videos, and images

Takeaways from the 2014 event include the four steps necessary to restore trust in business:

1.    Lead publicly

2.    Employer employees to become your biggest champions

3.    Expand collaboration to strengthen the company

4.    Make the business case to investors

The day will include the announcement and award presentation of the corporate winners of the Excellence Awards. Excellence Awards winners are added to a distinguished roster of companies that take part in an ongoing awareness-building effort on their behalf by CECP. The storytelling that emerges from the awards brings corporate societal engagement to life, and the awards process allows companies to strengthen that story and share it among a wider audience. Presented annually since 2000, these awards are juried by an external Selection Committee comprised of representatives from the corporate, nonprofit, consulting, media, and academic communities.

CEO Force for Good awards will also be awarded at the Board of Boards, recognizing individual CEOs for their commitments to societal engagement. Last year’s honorees were John Whitehead, Former Co-Chair, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Former Deputy Secretary of State; Barry Salzberg, Global CEO, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited; Jack Larsen, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement; John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation; and Michael T. Duke, Retired President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

The event is generously supported by Newman’s Own Foundation and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. 

Previous Board of Boards speakers include:

Dominic Barton, Worldwide Managing Director, McKinsey & Company
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO, salesforce.com
Ursula Burns, Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman, Nestlé
David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell
Daniel L. Doctoroff, CEO, Bloomberg L.P.
Anthony F. Earley Jr., Chairman, CEO and President, PG&E Corporation
Richard Edelman, President and CEO, Edelman
Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO, Western Union
Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO, Nissan Motor Company and Renault SA
William D. Green, Chairman, Accenture
Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE
Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO, Alcoa Inc.
Karim Khoja, CEO, Roshan Telecom Development Company
Shelly Lazarus, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather
Bob Moritz, Senior Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Duncan Niederauer, Former CEO, NYSE

Gregory Page, Executive Chairman, Cargill

James Prokopanko, President and CEO, The Mosaic Company
Ken Powell, CEO, General Mills, Inc.
Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM Corporation
Andrew Witty, CEO, GSK

Note to Editors: Daryl Brewster, CEO, CECP is available for comment on Board of Boards 2015, as well as findings from the 2014 event. CECP can also coordinate interviews with CEOs and company representatives from CECP-affiliated companies in advance of the event. 

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About CECP: The CEO Force for Good
CECP is a coalition of CEOs united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance. Founded in 1999 by Paul Newman and other business leaders, CECP has grown to a movement of 150 CEOs of the world’s largest companies across all industries. Revenues of engaged companies sum to $7 trillion annually. A nonprofit organization, CECP offers participating companies one-on-one consultation, networking events, exclusive data, media support, and case studies on corporate engagement. For more information, visit http://cecp.co.