Cisco Systems

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Barb Brown to speak at Conference Board and NIRI

Principal and Co-owner Barb Brown will be speaking at two conferences in the next two weeks; the Conference Board 2011 Conference: “Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Conference: The Nexus of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility”, as well as the National Investor Relations Institute‘s 2011 Conference.

The Conference Board is June 9-10 at the Westin Georgetown Hotel (formerly the Westin Grand) in Washington, D.C. Presenting sponsors are DuPont, Altria, Best Buy and American Express. Some speakers include:

  • Paul Pascalis, Director, Global Compliance and Ethics, American Express
  • Heather Loebner, Executive Director, ArcelorMittal USA Foundation, Corporate Responsibility Governance Board and Manager, ArcelorMittal Americas
  • Tessie Topol, Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy and Community Affairs, Time Warner Cable, Inc.
  • George Akiki, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs & Program Director, Partnership for Lebanon, Cisco Systems
  • Tracey Noe, Senior Director, Global Citizenship and Policy, Abbott
  • Mary Capozzi, Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility, Best Buy
  • Paul Garrard, Director Corporate Affairs, Chairman Humana’s Corporate Social Responsibility Council, Humana, Inc.
  • James R. Weigand, President, DuPont Sustainable Solutions
  • Nancy Joy-Poignon, Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability Leader, Owens Corning
  • Katherine Brass, Ecomagination Energy Leader, GE 

Barb’s session, “Brand, Reputation and Sustainability Rankings”, is on June 10 from 8:45-9:45am.

For more information and to register (there’s still time!) please click here.

Barb is also speaking at the 2011 NIRI Conference June 12-15 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, FL. Sponsors include PR Newswire, NYSE Euronext, Dell, FedEx Office, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Wells Fargo. Some speakers include:

  • Adam Bryant, Columnist, The New York Times
  • Sam Levenson, SVP, Investor Relations, Sony
  • George Barrett, Chairman & CEO, Cardinal Health, Inc.

Barb’s sessions include:

  • “Credibility in the Hot Seat: IR Crisis, Reputation, and Risk” on June 13 from 4:15-5:30pm. Barb will be joined by Mike Conway (Sherwin-Williams), Jay Gould (Huntington Bancshares) and Jeff Linton (Forest City)
  • “Sustainability, Strategy and Leadership” on June 15 from 1:30-3:30pm with Kristin Lewis of Fairmount Minerals

For more information and to register, please click here. Hope to see you there!

 

 

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NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index expands to 100 companies, releases semi-annual evaluation results

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and CRD Analytics announced yesterday the expansion of the Global Sustainability 50 Index, as well as the name change to NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index. The Index is an equally-weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major U.S. stock exchange, according to NASDAQ and CRD.

These companies are voluntarily disclosing performance information on ESG issues, as well as revenue opportunities and how it affects future performance. The companies must also meet other eligibility criteria which include minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume and price.

The Index is evaluated on a semi-annual basis in May and November, and some of the companies being added are:

  • Cisco Systems
  • Microsoft
  • GE
  • Nike
  • Pepsi
  • Kimberly-Clark
  • Medtronic
  • General Mills
  • Chevron
  • Pfizer

As a result of the re-ranking, Merck & Company Inc will be removed from the Index as it didn’t provide full ESG data for 2009 per the SmartView index methodology.

To see a full list of companies on the Index please click here. For more detailed information on the Index and its criteria, please click here. To read the full press release please click here.

What do you think about the expansion? Do you think it helps or hinders the credibility of it? Do you think adding 50 more companies takes the prestige away from the original 50? Discuss!