Season 15, Ep6: Sustainable Social Impact: A Conversation With Verizon’s Chief CSR Officer

For corporate social impact work to be truly sustainable and stand the test of time, aligning a business’s cause efforts with its corporate strategy and goals is crucial.

Citizen Verizon is an excellent example of integrating CSR throughout a corporation. It’s a forward-thinking, responsible business plan that focuses on innovation and societal impact. Leveraging technology, Citizen Verizon propels digital inclusion, enhances human prosperity and champions climate protection. Over the past five years, Verizon has invested $3 billion in this initiative.

In this episode, EFG’s Alli Murphy chats with Verizon’s Senior Vice President & Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, Rose Stuckey Kirk. Rose’s role involves steering Verizon’s corporate social impact commitments and seamlessly integrating its strategy across all facets of the company. Her extensive experience as a seasoned leader in diverse P&L and marketing functions equips her well to drive Verizon’s social innovation work.

We highlight the legacy ed-tech program she developed – Verizon Innovative Learning – which fosters digital equity and has impacted more than 3.5 million students nationwide. The initiative provides tech tools, training, connectivity, and curricula to Title 1 schools to prepare often overlooked, low-income students for the digital workforce. These students are our future tech workforce leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

In today’s episode, we’ll explore:

• How Rose’s P&L background informs her data-driven approach to CSR
• Verizon’s principle of “build with, not for” when it comes to program development
• How to “walk the halls” and get buy-in for your initiatives
• The importance of learning where a corporation “has a right to play” in the social impact world
• Rose’s thoughts on the challenges & opportunities of ESG

Join us for an inspiring conversation that delves into the heart of CSR and its transformative potential when aligned with business goals.