Author: sHq_LoGiNz

Originally published in GoDaddy’s 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report

Responsible AI

We advance AI responsibly, with entrepreneurs and employees at the center.

As AI technologies continue to evolve, GoDaddy adopts these tools thoughtfully to empower our customers and employees to thrive in a rapidly changing world. We are committed to using AI responsibly to help our customers succeed while creating meaningful value for their businesses. At the same time, we continue to invest in innovation, developing customer-centric solutions and tools that address real challenges and allow GoDaddy to lead with impact and purpose. As the landscape evolves, we regularly evaluate and mature our approaches to help ensure our use of AI remains effective, appropriate, and aligned with our values.

To support responsible AI use at scale, GoDaddy established clear ownership and accountability for AI governance, with oversight across the company. The Board receives regular updates on AI-related topics from management as well as the Audit and Risk Committee, which maintains oversight of AI risks as they relate to the company’s financial and business performance. GoDaddy’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) oversees AI governance, working closely with cross-functional partners to support alignment as our technology and company evolves. In addition, our AI Governance Working Group plays a key role in this approach by providing guardrails and oversight to support responsible and ethical AI use.

Integrating AI

At GoDaddy, responsible AI means leveraging all forms of AI in a safe, trustworthy, and ethical manner. As these technologies become more prevalent, we work to manage potential risks and embed our responsible AI principles into new and existing business processes while advancing opportunities for our operations and customers. 

We have measures in place to guide the design, development, and deployment of AI in alignment with our core values. Our approach includes identifying potentially inaccurate, misleading, biased, or sensitive information, and applying appropriate controls, including human review where necessary. We regularly review and update our practices to align with our Code.

AI is central to our culture of innovation, and we carefully evaluate partnerships and technologies before adoption. Our Legal and Privacy teams assess ethical considerations, data privacy, regulatory compliance, potential risks, and performance reliability to support responsible and ethical AI use. Read more about our responsible AI practices here. 

AI for GoDaddy’s Employees

At GoDaddy, we foster a culture of innovation, creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning. AI is embedded in everyday work across the company and helps our employees work more efficiently, collaborate more effectively, and tackle complex challenges with confidence to support our business and our customers.

To support this work, we use GoCaaS, our internal AI platform designed to enhance productivity while protecting our sensitive and confidential data. GoCaaS provides secure access to approved AI models and workflow-specific companions.

Through AI-focused training and shared learning, we help grow employee AI fluency and reinforce a culture of responsible innovation. Visit the Learning and Development section of this report for more on how we are expanding employee capabilities through AI training.

GoDaddy also brings employees together through AI-focused events that encourage collaboration, experimentation, and learning across the company, including:

• AI Showcase: A monthly forum where teams share live demos and practical examples of how AI is improving efficiency at GoDaddy. The showcase helps employees explore approved AI tools, understand our AI strategy, and connect across teams.
   
• GenAI Hackathon: A company-wide event that brings teams together to experiment, collaborate, and turn AI ideas into scalable solutions using GoDaddy-approved AI tools, accelerating AI adoption across the business.

AI for GoDaddy’s Customers 

By integrating AI into our products, services, and customer care, GoDaddy helps meet customer needs faster and more effectively,  making opportunity more inclusive for all.

While AI helps streamline many processes, GoDaddy Guides remain available to provide proactive, informed, and personalized guidance  when needed. This combination of AI and human expertise helps  ensure customers have the tools and support they need to succeed.

Refer to the Customer Experience section of this report for more information on the tools and resources we make available to serve our customers, including those on AI.

• GoDaddy Airo: To help small business owners save time as they  start and grow their online presence, GoDaddy includes Airo as an added experience for customers who register a domain. Airo helps customers turn ideas into action by quickly building websites, email, and marketing assets with AI-powered tools. In 2025, GoDaddy introduced Airo.ai, an agentic AI experience that supports entrepreneurs through simple, guided conversations. By understanding customer goals,  Airo.ai works across GoDaddy solutions and tools to help move customers from intent to outcomes, from registering a domain and building a website to creating logos and foundational business content.
   
• Agent Name Service: As AI agents shift from prototype to real-world deployment, the gap between accelerating experimentation and mature oversight is widening, creating new risks in autonomy, safety, system integration, and trust. Agent Name Service (ANS), a global, open standard for the agentic internet, addresses these risks by employing the same core infrastructure that powers today’s internet: domain name system (DNS). With ANS, an agent is registered within DNS as a subdomain and is assigned verifiable credentials that define what the agent is authorized to do. Registered agents can then be discovered, verified, and governed across the open web. In addition to driving adoption of ANS as the global, open standard for the agentic internet, GoDaddy is leading the way with GoDaddy ANS, the first public implementation of the ANS open standard where anyone can publish and verify agents in minutes. Learn more here.

 

Learn more about GoDaddy’s 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report.

About this Report

The GoDaddy 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report details our progress toward our corporate sustainability goals, strategies, and initiatives in support of our overarching purpose and values. Unless otherwise noted, this report reflects our corporate sustainability performance across our global operations covering the fiscal year period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. To demonstrate our commitment to transparent communication regarding our sustainability progress, we routinely share updates through our website and our annual reporting. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on this report by contacting ESG@GoDaddy.com.

This report references the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures. We also disclose our contributions and progress toward priority UN SDGs. For additional information on how we align with these frameworks and key indicators demonstrating our sustainability performance, please refer to the Frameworks & Metrics section.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. Airo™, the company’s agentic operating system for small businesses, helps entrepreneurs get their idea online, run their business day-to-day, and grow through an integrated identity, presence and commerce experience. GoDaddy’s expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com. 

Originally published in GoDaddy’s 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report

Responsible AI

We advance AI responsibly, with entrepreneurs and employees at the center.

As AI technologies continue to evolve, GoDaddy adopts these tools thoughtfully to empower our customers and employees to thrive in a rapidly changing world. We are committed to using AI responsibly to help our customers succeed while creating meaningful value for their businesses. At the same time, we continue to invest in innovation, developing customer-centric solutions and tools that address real challenges and allow GoDaddy to lead with impact and purpose. As the landscape evolves, we regularly evaluate and mature our approaches to help ensure our use of AI remains effective, appropriate, and aligned with our values.

To support responsible AI use at scale, GoDaddy established clear ownership and accountability for AI governance, with oversight across the company. The Board receives regular updates on AI-related topics from management as well as the Audit and Risk Committee, which maintains oversight of AI risks as they relate to the company’s financial and business performance. GoDaddy’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) oversees AI governance, working closely with cross-functional partners to support alignment as our technology and company evolves. In addition, our AI Governance Working Group plays a key role in this approach by providing guardrails and oversight to support responsible and ethical AI use.

Integrating AI

At GoDaddy, responsible AI means leveraging all forms of AI in a safe, trustworthy, and ethical manner. As these technologies become more prevalent, we work to manage potential risks and embed our responsible AI principles into new and existing business processes while advancing opportunities for our operations and customers. 

We have measures in place to guide the design, development, and deployment of AI in alignment with our core values. Our approach includes identifying potentially inaccurate, misleading, biased, or sensitive information, and applying appropriate controls, including human review where necessary. We regularly review and update our practices to align with our Code.

AI is central to our culture of innovation, and we carefully evaluate partnerships and technologies before adoption. Our Legal and Privacy teams assess ethical considerations, data privacy, regulatory compliance, potential risks, and performance reliability to support responsible and ethical AI use. Read more about our responsible AI practices here. 

AI for GoDaddy’s Employees

At GoDaddy, we foster a culture of innovation, creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning. AI is embedded in everyday work across the company and helps our employees work more efficiently, collaborate more effectively, and tackle complex challenges with confidence to support our business and our customers.

To support this work, we use GoCaaS, our internal AI platform designed to enhance productivity while protecting our sensitive and confidential data. GoCaaS provides secure access to approved AI models and workflow-specific companions.

Through AI-focused training and shared learning, we help grow employee AI fluency and reinforce a culture of responsible innovation. Visit the Learning and Development section of this report for more on how we are expanding employee capabilities through AI training.

GoDaddy also brings employees together through AI-focused events that encourage collaboration, experimentation, and learning across the company, including:

• AI Showcase: A monthly forum where teams share live demos and practical examples of how AI is improving efficiency at GoDaddy. The showcase helps employees explore approved AI tools, understand our AI strategy, and connect across teams.
   
• GenAI Hackathon: A company-wide event that brings teams together to experiment, collaborate, and turn AI ideas into scalable solutions using GoDaddy-approved AI tools, accelerating AI adoption across the business.

AI for GoDaddy’s Customers 

By integrating AI into our products, services, and customer care, GoDaddy helps meet customer needs faster and more effectively,  making opportunity more inclusive for all.

While AI helps streamline many processes, GoDaddy Guides remain available to provide proactive, informed, and personalized guidance  when needed. This combination of AI and human expertise helps  ensure customers have the tools and support they need to succeed.

Refer to the Customer Experience section of this report for more information on the tools and resources we make available to serve our customers, including those on AI.

• GoDaddy Airo: To help small business owners save time as they  start and grow their online presence, GoDaddy includes Airo as an added experience for customers who register a domain. Airo helps customers turn ideas into action by quickly building websites, email, and marketing assets with AI-powered tools. In 2025, GoDaddy introduced Airo.ai, an agentic AI experience that supports entrepreneurs through simple, guided conversations. By understanding customer goals,  Airo.ai works across GoDaddy solutions and tools to help move customers from intent to outcomes, from registering a domain and building a website to creating logos and foundational business content.
   
• Agent Name Service: As AI agents shift from prototype to real-world deployment, the gap between accelerating experimentation and mature oversight is widening, creating new risks in autonomy, safety, system integration, and trust. Agent Name Service (ANS), a global, open standard for the agentic internet, addresses these risks by employing the same core infrastructure that powers today’s internet: domain name system (DNS). With ANS, an agent is registered within DNS as a subdomain and is assigned verifiable credentials that define what the agent is authorized to do. Registered agents can then be discovered, verified, and governed across the open web. In addition to driving adoption of ANS as the global, open standard for the agentic internet, GoDaddy is leading the way with GoDaddy ANS, the first public implementation of the ANS open standard where anyone can publish and verify agents in minutes. Learn more here.

 

Learn more about GoDaddy’s 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report.

About this Report

The GoDaddy 2025 Global Stakeholder Impact Report details our progress toward our corporate sustainability goals, strategies, and initiatives in support of our overarching purpose and values. Unless otherwise noted, this report reflects our corporate sustainability performance across our global operations covering the fiscal year period from January 1 to December 31, 2025. To demonstrate our commitment to transparent communication regarding our sustainability progress, we routinely share updates through our website and our annual reporting. We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on this report by contacting ESG@GoDaddy.com.

This report references the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector, and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures. We also disclose our contributions and progress toward priority UN SDGs. For additional information on how we align with these frameworks and key indicators demonstrating our sustainability performance, please refer to the Frameworks & Metrics section.

About GoDaddy

GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services and accept payments. Airo™, the company’s agentic operating system for small businesses, helps entrepreneurs get their idea online, run their business day-to-day, and grow through an integrated identity, presence and commerce experience. GoDaddy’s expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com. 

Originally published on TriplePundit

With so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources like the Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program are available to help.

Lunch is a critical part of a child’s healthy diet, supporting physical growth, brain development and immunity. But with so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources — such as the science-backed Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program found in more than 2,000 U.S. grocery stores — are available to help families check “nutrition” off their busy list of back-to-school tasks.

School lunch: Buy or bring?

The National School Lunch Program provides 22 million free or reduced-price lunches to students across the United States every single day. The school lunch program is a lifeline for the millions of U.S. families facing food insecurity and one of the largest food and nutrition assistance programs in the nation. Along with federal assistance, nine U.S. states offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

School-provided meals are shaped by consistent guidelines, and research shows they’re the most nutritious food source for American kids. By law, all public school meals must adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school nutrition standards, which are based on the federal dietary guidelines updated every five years. The most recent update, for example, focused on reducing added sugars and sodium while promoting whole grains, produce and proteins.

These standards make school meals a reliable and affordable source of nutritious food, Lunches brought from home, however, can vary widely.

It may surprise some parents to learn that home-packed lunches have lower nutritional quality on average when compared to what’s provided at school, according to a 2024 meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies published over two decades. While studies like these are helpful reminders for families, the big decision to buy or bring comes down to a number of factors, from medical considerations and personal preferences to cost and access.

“Ultimately, the decision about whether to bring lunch or eat the school lunch is a family decision,” dietitian Kitty Broihier, a member of the Guiding Stars scientific advisory panel , assures caregivers. “And there are no right or wrong answers.”

Evidence-based guidance helps families take the stress out of shopping

Many families find that combining homemade and school-made lunches strikes the right balance for them. “When my children were in public school, we reviewed the school menus together,” Broihier shares. “They’d decide which two or three days to eat school lunch and which days to bring lunch from home. This allowed them some autonomy in food selections. It also encouraged them to learn to eat food someone else had prepared.”

Children involved in selecting and preparing their own food are building skills that support their health over the long term. Research including a widely cited 2018 literature review of 15 studies finds a positive association between getting kids involved with home meal prep and a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, along with “higher self-efficacy” for cooking and choosing foods that support a healthy diet.

Still, knowing what to purchase and pack in a school lunch can easily start to feel overwhelming. Fortunately for busy families, some of the top grocers in the United States make evidence-based nutrition guidance available right on the shelf.

Celebrating 20 years in 2026, Guiding Stars is the longest-running on-shelf rating program in the U.S., leveraging the latest nutrition science to rate tens of thousands of products in a consumer-friendly system that helps shoppers make informed choices that support good health.

Guiding Stars uses credible, evidence-based nutrition science and standards from leading national and international health organizations. The system’s patented algorithms calculate nutrient density across ingredients to score food and beverage products based on attributes to encourage (such as fiber, whole grains and Omega-3 fatty acids) and attributes to limit (such as added sugars, chemical preservatives and artificial colors). The findings are overseen by an independent scientific advisory panel, including Broihier and her colleagues, and are updated regularly to reflect the latest standards.

You may have seen Guiding Stars icons in your local grocery store aisles. The apple icons with highlighted stars above are found on price tags, star-earning store brand product packaging and online. Products that meet transparent nutrition criteria earn one, two or three stars, indicating “good,” “better” or “best” nutritional value.

Research in both the U.S. and Canada has shown that featuring this type of one- to three-star nutritional guidance program at the point of purchase can effectively shift consumer behavior toward making more nutritious food choices.

That’s largely because the system helps consumers make more informed choices in a single glance, ideal for busy families making a quick grocery stop between after-school activities.

Guiding Stars is also one of the few nutrition guidance programs accessible in multiple places — not only on grocery store shelves, but also on product packaging, on the Guiding Stars website, and in the Guiding Stars app — making it even more accessible to simplify everyday food decisions based on the latest dietary guidelines.

As Broihier reminds overwhelmed audiences: “We are bombarded with more information, more messages, and a wider variety of opinions than ever before. So no wonder it feels next to impossible to sort through it all! But take heart, because you can simplify the role of nutrition in your life. It really is possible to eat well without too much stress, time, or mental energy.”

Click here to read more on TriplePundit

Originally published on TriplePundit

With so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources like the Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program are available to help.

Lunch is a critical part of a child’s healthy diet, supporting physical growth, brain development and immunity. But with so much information in the news and online about nutrition, it’s easy for caregivers to feel confused and overwhelmed about making the best choices for their kids. Fortunately, clear, evidence-based resources — such as the science-backed Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program found in more than 2,000 U.S. grocery stores — are available to help families check “nutrition” off their busy list of back-to-school tasks.

School lunch: Buy or bring?

The National School Lunch Program provides 22 million free or reduced-price lunches to students across the United States every single day. The school lunch program is a lifeline for the millions of U.S. families facing food insecurity and one of the largest food and nutrition assistance programs in the nation. Along with federal assistance, nine U.S. states offer free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

School-provided meals are shaped by consistent guidelines, and research shows they’re the most nutritious food source for American kids. By law, all public school meals must adhere to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school nutrition standards, which are based on the federal dietary guidelines updated every five years. The most recent update, for example, focused on reducing added sugars and sodium while promoting whole grains, produce and proteins.

These standards make school meals a reliable and affordable source of nutritious food, Lunches brought from home, however, can vary widely.

It may surprise some parents to learn that home-packed lunches have lower nutritional quality on average when compared to what’s provided at school, according to a 2024 meta-analysis of more than a dozen studies published over two decades. While studies like these are helpful reminders for families, the big decision to buy or bring comes down to a number of factors, from medical considerations and personal preferences to cost and access.

“Ultimately, the decision about whether to bring lunch or eat the school lunch is a family decision,” dietitian Kitty Broihier, a member of the Guiding Stars scientific advisory panel , assures caregivers. “And there are no right or wrong answers.”

Evidence-based guidance helps families take the stress out of shopping

Many families find that combining homemade and school-made lunches strikes the right balance for them. “When my children were in public school, we reviewed the school menus together,” Broihier shares. “They’d decide which two or three days to eat school lunch and which days to bring lunch from home. This allowed them some autonomy in food selections. It also encouraged them to learn to eat food someone else had prepared.”

Children involved in selecting and preparing their own food are building skills that support their health over the long term. Research including a widely cited 2018 literature review of 15 studies finds a positive association between getting kids involved with home meal prep and a greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, along with “higher self-efficacy” for cooking and choosing foods that support a healthy diet.

Still, knowing what to purchase and pack in a school lunch can easily start to feel overwhelming. Fortunately for busy families, some of the top grocers in the United States make evidence-based nutrition guidance available right on the shelf.

Celebrating 20 years in 2026, Guiding Stars is the longest-running on-shelf rating program in the U.S., leveraging the latest nutrition science to rate tens of thousands of products in a consumer-friendly system that helps shoppers make informed choices that support good health.

Guiding Stars uses credible, evidence-based nutrition science and standards from leading national and international health organizations. The system’s patented algorithms calculate nutrient density across ingredients to score food and beverage products based on attributes to encourage (such as fiber, whole grains and Omega-3 fatty acids) and attributes to limit (such as added sugars, chemical preservatives and artificial colors). The findings are overseen by an independent scientific advisory panel, including Broihier and her colleagues, and are updated regularly to reflect the latest standards.

You may have seen Guiding Stars icons in your local grocery store aisles. The apple icons with highlighted stars above are found on price tags, star-earning store brand product packaging and online. Products that meet transparent nutrition criteria earn one, two or three stars, indicating “good,” “better” or “best” nutritional value.

Research in both the U.S. and Canada has shown that featuring this type of one- to three-star nutritional guidance program at the point of purchase can effectively shift consumer behavior toward making more nutritious food choices.

That’s largely because the system helps consumers make more informed choices in a single glance, ideal for busy families making a quick grocery stop between after-school activities.

Guiding Stars is also one of the few nutrition guidance programs accessible in multiple places — not only on grocery store shelves, but also on product packaging, on the Guiding Stars website, and in the Guiding Stars app — making it even more accessible to simplify everyday food decisions based on the latest dietary guidelines.

As Broihier reminds overwhelmed audiences: “We are bombarded with more information, more messages, and a wider variety of opinions than ever before. So no wonder it feels next to impossible to sort through it all! But take heart, because you can simplify the role of nutrition in your life. It really is possible to eat well without too much stress, time, or mental energy.”

Click here to read more on TriplePundit

The latest newsletter from the Ray C. Anderson Foundation includes stories from the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, The Ray, The Biomimicry Institute’s Ray of Hope Accelerator, and Drawdown Georgia.

Biomimicry Institute

Ten Nature-Inspired Startups Selected to Drive the Next Wave of Biomimicry Innovation

The Biomimicry Institute has announced the ten startups selected for the 2026 Ray of Hope Accelerator. The Accelerator continues to be one of the world’s leading programs supporting nature-inspired entrepreneurs working at the intersection of biomimicry, climate, and innovation.

Selected from a competitive global applicant pool, the 2026 cohort represents the breadth and depth of what becomes possible when founders look to nature not as a backdrop, but as a guide. Over the course of the program, each startup will receive $15,000 in non-dilutive funding, and access to over $50,000 in resources and expert support. Additionally, each startup will participate in a nature retreat and receive mentorship from leaders across science, deep tech, entrepreneurship, and impact investing. Click here to learn about the teams.

New Case Studies from the Biomimicry Institute Show What Fashion’s Circularity Conversation is Missing

The Biomimicry Institute recently released the completed case studies from its Nature of Fashion initiative, a multi-year program that asked a single question: what would it take for the fashion industry to handle its own waste the way nature handles decomposition?

Nature recycles 100 billion tonnes of material a year without trying. Fashion can’t manage 110 million. New case studies from three countries show what it would take for fashion to work the way nature already does, including findings from Ghana where microbial communities in a heavily polluted lagoon are responding to the presence of synthetic textile waste. Read the case studies.

Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business

A Decade of Student-Led Climate Solutions: Highlights from the 2026 Carbon Reduction Challenge

This summer marked the tenth anniversary of the Carbon Reduction Challenge for students. Participants research opportunities to reduce emissions within the organizations where they intern. Next, they present the business case for implementing a project that can reduce emissions and save money. Students volunteer for the Challenge on top of their regular internship responsibilities – working with mentors and company sponsors to build proposals that are environmentally meaningful and financially defensible. The result each August is a set of projects that companies can act on. Read the article.

Scheller College’s Rwanda Study Abroad

Georgia Tech students gained a deeper understanding of sustainable development through the Rwanda Study Abroad program, which merges classroom concepts with real-world challenges. In past years, the program primarily served undergraduate students. This year, the program expanded with the addition of a concurrent graduate opportunity: the MBA International Practicum at Scheller College, co-taught by Professor of the Practice Michael Oxman and Lecturer Bob Lax. Students leveraged a structured, hypothesis-driven approach to problem solving that added value to their clients’ objectives. Read the article.

Profile: Scholarship Recipient Jason Le

During his years as an undergraduate student, Justin Le consistently showed his commitment to bridging communities, helping people, and working towards a more sustainable world. In recognition of these achievements, the Center selected Justin as the 2026 recipient of the Vivian Nora Lukens Memorial Scholarship. In an interview, Justin shares his journey, through which he has learned adaptability, developed a passion for sustainability, and grown the heart of a servant leader. This spring, Justin graduated from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Discover more.

Drawdown Georgia

Georgia’s Electricity by The Numbers Report

Drawdown Georgia is introducing a new quarterly online newsletter for Georgians who care about their electrical mix and the costs associated with it.

Some Georgia communities receive a larger share of electricity generated by nuclear or solar facilities. Others rely more heavily on natural gas or coal-fired power plants. Those differences affect the carbon intensity of local electricity and shape the emissions connected to homes, businesses, and industry.

Where does YOUR electricity come from? Drawdown Georgia is bringing this county-by-county data to your fingertips.

Developed in partnership with researchers at Georgia Tech, these updates help governments, businesses, and community organizations measure progress, guide decisions, and determine priorities for reducing emissions. Subscribe today

How Chatham County Built a Resilience Program that Puts People First – Video

In this Georgia Climate Digest interview, host Eriqah Vincent talks with Jackie Jackson, Resilience Program Administrator for Chatham County. Jackie is a Chatham County native and a biologist by training who spent 30 years in environmental and community planning before helping stand up the county’s first resilience program in 2022. Click to watch the video above and learn more in the blog.

Drawdown Georgia Business Compact

Georgia Carbon Exchange Overview Video

The Georgia Carbon Exchange team engaged stakeholders by hosting a webinar that shared updates and invited participation in the forest pilot program. Corporations in Georgia will have the opportunity to buy high-integrity carbon credits that support our state’s economy and ecosystem – and deliver a boon to the communities in which they operate. Researchers, landowners, and corporate buyers joined the webinar to learn more about working together to build a market that fits the Southeast. Click to watch the video above and read more here.

The Ray

The Ray and the Montana Department of Transportation’s Partnership

The Ray has formalized a partnership with the Montana Department of Transportation to develop innovative, technology-driven solutions to enhance safety, mobility, and resource conservation across Montana’s vast transportation network.

The alliance establishes a collaborative framework to advance safe, innovative transportation infrastructure while driving economic development and systemic resilience statewide. Backed by a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, the initial phase of the agreement establishes a multi-year framework for research and the development of geospatial analysis tools, with joint analysis and pilot evaluations slated to continue through 2028. Read the full story.

The Ray’s Natural Capital Project with Washington State Department of Transportation

Through The Ray’s ongoing collaboration with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), they’ve recently deployed advanced natural capital solutions at the Scatter Creek Rest Area, demonstrating how active transit corridors can perform double duty for local ecosystems and public infrastructure.

Targeted Wildlife Support: The project demonstrates how federally protected species (in this case, the regionally threatened Mazama pocket gopher) can safely coexist with active transportation corridors.

Botanical Design for Ecological Health: Custom-engineered native seed mixes were specifically adapted to the site’s unique soil profile. Deep-rooted plants anchor the roadside, optimizing natural stormwater runoff, and providing long-term forage for local pollinators.

Smart Environmental Monitoring: The Ray and WSDOT integrated PheNode® automated sensor systems from Agrela Ecosystems. The on-site units continuously stream microclimate data, allowing the team to track real-time soil and weather conditions as the habitat develops. Read the full story.

Key Takeaways

• A remediation exit strategy works best when technical considerations are viewed through a strategic business lens at every step.
• Define the business goal before scoping the technical work and ensure that closure decisions align to it.
• A conceptual site model (CSM) is a business tool as well as a technical one, providing a defensible basis for reserves and regulatory negotiation.
• Regulatory closure may have more flexibility than it first appears. Risk-based options and land use assumptions can shift the endpoint.
• Stakeholder alignment must acknowledge and balance different viewpoints of a single site in order to achieve agreement on what “done” means.

Legacy environmental remediation liabilities can quietly consume capital, distract leadership, and create long-term uncertainty when they are managed only as technical projects. The challenge is not simply determining whether contamination exists or whether a remedy works. The harder challenge is translating complex site conditions, regulatory requirements, stakeholder expectations, reserve assumptions, and closure pathways into a business case that leadership can understand and defend.

From Open-Ended Liability to Managed Exit: The Seven Steps

A well-designed exit strategy connects technical rigor with business discipline. There are seven key steps that help organizations work through uncertainty and align their goals with internal and external stakeholders including regulatory agencies, third parties, internal legal finance, and risk management. Those seven steps include:

1. Establishing business goals within organizational risk tolerance
2. Building a fit-for-purpose team
3. Developing a business-ready conceptual site model (CSM)
4. Evaluating the regulatory framework and setting a pathway to closure
5. Identifying and strengthening stakeholder relationships
6. Developing the exit strategy, milestones, and governance
7. Monetizing the exit strategy

When done well, this strategic approach turns an open-ended environmental obligation full of uncertainty into a managed portfolio with a credible end state, budget, and decision framework.

Step 1: Establish Business Goals and Risk Tolerance

The first step is to define the goal: What is the business trying to accomplish? Some organizations want to minimize near-term spending, some want predictability in reserves and cash flow, and others want to aggressively reduce long-term balance sheet exposure. The exit strategy should follow by clarifying how aggressively closure should be pursued, what level of residual risk is acceptable, and how remediation decisions support broader business goals such as divestiture, redevelopment, merger readiness, or capital allocation.

This step should define:

• The desired closure or reuse outcome
• The organization’s risk tolerance and management philosophy
• The business drivers behind action, including reserves, cash flow, transactions, or operational simplification
• Whether the priority is cost control, liability reduction, schedule certainty, or strategic flexibility
• How success will be described in business terms

Without this alignment, technical teams can optimize for the wrong outcome, and leadership may continue to see remediation as an unpredictable cost center rather than a managed liability reduction program.

Step 2: Build a Fit-for-Purpose Team

Remediation exits require more than technical expertise. The right team must reflect the full complexity of the portfolio, including regulatory, financial, legal, operational, real estate, public affairs, and community considerations. The team should be structured around the exit objective, not simply around ongoing site management.

A strong team typically includes:

• Technical consultants and subject matter experts
• Finance and accounting partners who understand reserves, accruals, and cash flow
• Legal counsel focused on regulatory, transactional, and third-party exposure
• Operations and real estate leaders who understand future use constraints
• Regulatory and stakeholder engagement support

Bringing these perspectives together early prevents the exit strategy from becoming either too technically narrow or too financially abstract. It also helps ensure that decisions can withstand scrutiny from regulators, auditors, executives, and external stakeholders.

Step 3: Develop a Business-Ready Conceptual Site Model

The conceptual site model is the bridge between technical understanding and business decision-making. It should synthesize past investigation, hydrogeology, geochemistry, fate and transport, background conditions, contaminant transformation, and receptor information into a clear picture of what is driving risk, and what must be solved to reach closure.

A useful CSM should:

• Show contaminant movement, exposure pathways, and receptors in two or three dimensions
• Distinguish true risk drivers from data noise or historical assumptions
• Support remedial alternative evaluation and endpoint selection
• Translate complex data into visuals that leadership, regulators, finance, legal, and third parties can understand
• Provide a defensible basis for reserves, negotiations, and closure strategy

Investing early in a strong CSM often reduces downstream uncertainty. It helps avoid chasing total contaminant mass when the real business question is whether remaining impacts create unacceptable risk, prevent closure, or constrain future site use.

Step 4: Evaluate the Regulatory Framework and Closure Endpoints

Regulatory closure is rarely a single, fixed path. Most frameworks contain flexibility in cleanup standards, risk-based closure options, institutional controls, engineering controls, monitored natural attenuation, land use assumptions, and multi-media endpoint selection. The exit strategy should identify both the requirements and the negotiable elements of the applicable program.

This evaluation should address:

• Applicable federal, state, and local requirements
• Flexible risk-based closure mechanisms
• Soil, groundwater, vapor, sediment, and surface water endpoints
• Land use assumptions and future reuse constraints
• The evidence needed to support regulator acceptance

The goal is not simply compliance. The goal is to define a closure endpoint that is technically defensible, regulatorily achievable, financially supportable, and aligned with the organization’s tolerance for residual obligations.

Step 5: Identify and Strengthen Stakeholder Relationships

Stakeholders define what will be accepted as successful closure. Regulators, communities, finance teams, legal counsel, technical reviewers, NGOs, shareholders, site operators, and potential buyers may each view the same site through a different lens. Ignoring those perspectives can stall closure, increase cost, or undermine confidence in the reserve.

Stakeholder alignment should consider:

• Regulatory expectations and negotiation strategy
• Community acceptance and public perception
• Finance and audit expectations for cost estimates and reserves
• Legal exposure from on-site, off-site, and third-party risks
• Operational, cultural, and commercial constraints that shape decision-making

Strong relationships do not eliminate disagreement, but they make disagreement manageable. They also help convert technical evidence into a shared understanding of what “done” means and why the proposed path is reasonable.

Step 6: Develop the Exit Strategy, Milestones, and Governance

With goals, team, CSM, regulatory endpoints, and stakeholder expectations in place, the organization can build the actual roadmap. The strategy should describe the path to closure, the sequence of decisions, the key assumptions, the decision points where the path may change, and the governance structure needed to keep the program aligned with business objectives.

The roadmap should include:

• Clear actions, accountabilities, budgets, and schedules
• Decision gates tied to investigation, remedy selection, regulatory negotiation, and closure
• Scenario planning for alternate closure pathways
• Governance routines for executive review, risk escalation, and progress reporting
• Milestones that show how active site counts, uncertainty, and spend decline over time

There are often multiple technically valid paths to closure. The business value comes from selecting the path that best balances cost, certainty, speed, reputation, and residual risk—while preserving the ability to adjust as new information emerges.

Step 7: Monetize the Exit Strategy

The final step is to express the strategy in financial terms that the business can use. That means converting the technical and regulatory roadmap into reserves, life-cycle cost estimates, cash flow projections, budget needs, reimbursements, and portfolio-level metrics. For many organizations, this is where the strategy earns credibility with finance, auditors, legal, and the C-suite.

A monetized exit strategy should show:

• Probable and reasonably estimable liabilities at a point in time
• The difference between accounting reserves and total potential exposure
• Gross spending, reimbursements, net spending, and timing
• Active site count reduction and closure milestones
• Sensitivity to regulatory changes, findings, technology, land use, and stakeholder decisions

A reserve is not the same thing as total liability. It is an accounting estimate built on defined assumptions and available information. The discipline comes from applying the methodology consistently across the portfolio, documenting assumptions, and updating the estimate as conditions change. When the numbers are reproducible, the strategy becomes easier to defend and easier to manage.

The Benefits of a Proactive Legacy Liability Exit Strategy

Organizations that take a proactive approach to legacy liabilities can realize significant advantages, including improved financial flexibility, stronger risk management, greater operational focus, and enhanced stakeholder confidence.

Rather than allowing historical obligations to consume valuable resources, companies can transform legacy liabilities into opportunities for strategic growth. By following a structured seven-step process, leaders can navigate complex exposures, make informed decisions, and position their organizations for long-term success.

The Exit Strategy Is the Business Case

Legacy liabilities rarely disappear on their own. They require deliberate planning, informed decision-making, and disciplined execution. Companies that invest in a comprehensive exit strategy gain greater control over their financial future while reducing uncertainty and administrative burden. Extinguishing remediation liability is a business exercise executed with technical rigor — not the reverse. Set the business goal first, invest early in the CSM, and express the whole strategy in reserves, cash flow, and milestones your finance and legal partners can understand and defend.

Questions about how legacy remediation liabilities may be affecting your business? Antea Group’s remediation team can help you discuss strategies for building a defensible exit strategy, reducing uncertainty, and aligning site closure decisions with your broader business goals.

From farms and manufacturing plants to trucks on the road and food on store shelves, PepsiCo plays an important role in supporting the interconnected systems that drive the American economy.

An analysis from Oxford Economics shows PepsiCo’s footprint extends far beyond its own workforce – supporting nearly 440,400 jobs nationwide and underscoring the company’s significant impact across supply chains, industries, and communities in all 50 states.

The report, issued this year, reflects data from 2024, the most recent full year of verified data. Other key findings include:

• Employment: PepsiCo’s network directly employed approximately 144,500 people in the U.S. in 2024. For each PepsiCo job, roughly two additional jobs were supported across the broader U.S. economy.
• Industry Reach: PepsiCo supported jobs across critical sectors, including:
  • 176,000 manufacturing jobs
  • 14,500 agricultural jobs
  • 61,800 trade and transportation jobs, including trucking and logistics

The study also finds that PepsiCo’s economic footprint contributed approximately $64.88 billion to U.S. GDP in 2024 – equivalent to about 0.22% of the nation’s total economic output.

Key findings include:

• Income: PepsiCo’s network generated more than $35.7 billion in income for workers in 2024.
• Localized Impact Nationwide: PepsiCo’s local GDP impact exceeded $1 billion in 22 states, with the largest total impacts in Texas, New York, and Illinois and outsized relative impacts across parts of the Midwest and South.

 

Beyond its economic footprint, PepsiCo supports long-term resilience through its broader business, sustainability and social impact efforts, aligned with pep+ (PepsiCo Positive), the company’s end‑to‑end transformation strategy that aims to strengthen food systems, protect natural resources, and expand consumer choice, seeking to drive growth and build a stronger, more resilient future for PepsiCo and the communities where it operates:

• Regenerative agriculture & farmer livelihoods: Working with farmers, the company has expanded regenerative agriculture, restorative, or protective practices, across 4.7 million acres globally as of 2025, supporting farmer livelihoods and more resilient supply chains across America.
• Water security & watershed replenishment: PepsiCo achieved 100% water replenishment at company‑owned facilities in high water‑risk areas globally as of 2025, with nearly 29 billion liters restored to local watersheds in the U.S. and around the world. As of 2025, PepsiCo has achieved 58% water replenishment towards its 2030 global goal of 100%, when including both company-owned and franchise-owned facilities in high water-risk areas.
• Nutrition and Positive Choices: In the U.S., PepsiCo has made progress across iconic brands by delivering foods and beverages with functional ingredients such as protein, fiber, and electrolytes, while also offering options with less sugar and no artificial colors or flavors. Lay’s and Tostitos are made with no artificial colors or flavors, and the company has introduced products such as Gatorade Lower Sugar with no artificial colors or flavors, SunChips Fiber and Quaker Protein Rice Crisps.
• Investing in Communities: Through the PepsiCo Foundation, the company helps create economic opportunity and strengthen community resilience across the U.S. To commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, the PepsiCo Foundation is supporting 250 nonprofits across the country this year, providing grants to organizations working to make a difference in their communities. Additionally, with programs such as the PepsiCo Foundation Scholars Program and Field to Future with Farm Foundation, these efforts help inspire and prepare the next generation of leaders by helping to create pathways to education, workforce development and long-term economic mobility.

“PepsiCo’s impact and scale reflect how deeply our business is intertwined with the U.S. economy and daily American life,” said Steven Williams, PepsiCo Executive Vice President and Vice Chairman. “From agriculture and manufacturing to transportation and food services, our operations support livelihoods and contribute to economic strength in communities across the country, while our products continue to provide enjoyment and choice for consumers.”

Additional details about PepsiCo’s impact on the U.S. economy and the full report from Oxford Economics, PepsiCo Network’s Economic Contribution to the U.S. Economy in 2024, is available at PepsiCo.com.

We all deserve safe places to learn, connect and thrive. The Stories of Impact podcast from the Motorola Solutions Foundation amplifies bold human voices. This series brings the real stories of advocates, innovators and community leaders who turn challenges into opportunities for lasting change. 

In the first episode, Michele Gay, co-founder of Safe and Sound Schools, shares her powerful journey. Following the tragic loss of her daughter Josephine at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Michele transformed heartbreak into a mission of hope, dedicating herself to making schools safer for every child. Her vision: give every student, educator and parent the tools they need for safer learning.

Through a powerful partnership with the Motorola Solutions Foundation, Michele’s story highlights how committed collaboration can drive innovative safety solutions and strengthen communities for the next generation. 

Protecting schools is a shared responsibility. Tune in to Stories of Impact to hear Michele’s full journey. Then, take action to support safety initiatives and help forge a brighter, safer future for every child.

Watch the Stories of Impact podcast clips on YouTube

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is changing more than computing. It is reshaping the physical infrastructure — and the global supply chains — required to support it.

That was a central theme at the 5th edition of Infraday Pacific Northwest, held recently in Seattle. The full-day event brought together infrastructure leaders, innovators, and professionals from across the Pacific Northwest to discuss issues spanning power and grid investment, data centers and AI infrastructure, ports and supply chains, water resilience, clean energy, and other priorities shaping the region’s future.

Ya-Han Brownlee-Chen, Vice President of Data Center Strategy at DP World in the Americas, joined leaders from across the infrastructure ecosystem for the panel “AI Infrastructure, Data Centers & The Northwest Power Challenge.”

Brownlee-Chen brought a unique perspective to the conversation. Before joining DP World, she spent 12 years helping build data center infrastructure globally for Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Today, she leads DP World’s commercial strategy and global logistics solutions supporting hyperscale and AI data center infrastructure deployments.

Her message to attendees: the AI boom is forcing the industry to rethink not only how data centers are designed and powered, but how the infrastructure behind them is sourced, moved, and delivered.

AI Has Changed the Data Center Playbook

Only a few years ago, Brownlee-Chen said, the industry believed the existing pipeline of data center projects could support forecast demand for the next decade.

Then AI changed the equation.

AI infrastructure is creating a different set of requirements than traditional cloud computing, accelerating demand for power, cooling systems, specialized equipment, and computing hardware while intensifying pressure to bring new capacity online faster.

“What gets you here will not get you there,” Brownlee-Chen told attendees, describing the shift as a wake-up call for the industry to reconsider existing development playbooks.

Power availability has become one of the most consequential constraints. But solving one constraint does not necessarily solve the broader challenge.

“Scarcity creates innovation,” Brownlee-Chen said, pointing to modular data center solutions as one example of how the industry is responding to limited power availability and long equipment lead times. “But when you remove one thing off the critical path, then another pops up.”

That dynamic is making flexibility across the supply chain increasingly important.

When Speed-to-Market Depends on Supply Chain

As developers race to get new computing capacity online, speed-to-market has become a defining priority.

Yet data center development can still involve a familiar contradiction: “hurry up and wait.”

Critical equipment can face long or unpredictable lead times. A chip or another component may be the project’s biggest constraint today, only for something entirely different to move onto the critical path tomorrow. Meanwhile, equipment procured and positioned months in advance can become obsolete before installation as engineering requirements change.

That volatility means logistics can no longer be treated simply as the final step after equipment has been purchased.

“Supply chain and logistics are serving a more critical role than ever before to synchronize all the onsite delivery activities and minimize the mismatch,” Brownlee-Chen said.

DP World works with customers to review integrated master schedules alongside OEM vendors, owner-furnished contractor-installed equipment providers, end users and other project stakeholders to help coordinate just-in-time delivery to data center sites.

The goal is to connect procurement and logistics decisions more closely with what is happening in engineering and construction — helping equipment arrive when project teams need it while maintaining the flexibility to respond when schedules, designs, or priorities change.

Bringing Logistics Into the Engineering Conversation 

For Brownlee-Chen, one of the biggest shifts is not simply what logistics providers do, but when they become involved.

Rather than waiting for an engineering solution to be finalized and then determining how to move the required equipment, she sees value in bringing supply chain expertise into the conversation much earlier.

“I usually sit side-by-side with the engineering team,” Brownlee-Chen explained, helping map potential supply chain solutions against different energy and infrastructure scenarios so logistics can remain an enabler when engineering requirements change.

That approach reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of AI infrastructure.

A change in power strategy can affect equipment requirements. A new equipment specification can affect sourcing. Sourcing changes can affect transportation, warehousing, and delivery schedules. And all those decisions ultimately must align with activity at the construction site.

For DP World, managing those dependencies means looking beyond individual shipments toward the entire infrastructure program — connecting global transportation, warehousing, staging, sequencing, and final-mile delivery with the project’s broader development schedule.

The Pacific Northwest’s Next AI Advantage

Those challenges have particular significance in the Pacific Northwest, where energy resources, connectivity, available development sites, and a deep technology ecosystem have helped make the region an important destination for hyperscale data centers and AI infrastructure.

For Brownlee-Chen, who has called Seattle home for more than 25 years, one of the region’s greatest advantages is also one of its most human: talent.

She pointed to Seattle’s reputation as a “Cloud City” — joking that the name isn’t simply a reference to the region’s famously cloudy skies — and the technology expertise and culture of forward-thinking innovation that has developed there.

Looking toward 2030, Brownlee-Chen said continuing to attract, develop, and retain top talent will be essential if the Pacific Northwest wants to remain at the forefront of AI infrastructure.

“Our people are our greatest competitive advantage, and they will determine our future success,” she said.

As AI enters its next phase of growth, maintaining that advantage will require collaboration across technology companies, utilities, infrastructure developers, public agencies, engineering teams, and supply chain partners.

The opportunity is not simply to build more data centers. It is to develop a more flexible infrastructure ecosystem capable of adapting as technology, energy requirements, and supply chains continue to evolve.

For DP World, logistics is increasingly part of making that ecosystem work — connecting global supply chains with the physical infrastructure powering the AI economy.

Learn more about DP World’s data center logistics solutions 

Read DP World’s latest industry report on how supply chain executives are scaling AI infrastructure 

 

As I prepare to return to the classroom this fall as a teacher with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), I have been thinking about a rare perspective that is coming back with me.

For the past four years, I have been helping Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) bring Go Innovate Together (goIT), its career readiness and digital innovation program, into Canadian classrooms. As a STEM educator with more than 20 years of experience teaching K-12 students, I served as a liaison between TCS and school districts, including my own. This enabled me to help shape the program’s content and delivery during that time to continue to meet the needs of teachers and students as technology evolved.

I am proud of the roles I played in goIT, which helps students use design thinking and technology to develop solutions to real-world challenges. But what excites me most is returning to TDSB students with new tools, new examples, and a deeper belief in what they can do.

During my time as a goIT lead, the TDSB’s annual goIT Student Showcase became one of my favorite days of the year. The Showcase is the culmination of the students’ goIT experience and provides teams with an opportunity to design digital innovation concepts that address social or environmental challenges that could make the world a better place.

Students identify issues that matter to them, which are often rooted in their own communities. Then they research, collaborate and prepare to pitch their ideas to judges. At the Showcases, they share their concepts, take part in a friendly academic competition and celebrate the winners and runners-up. Many are already thinking about how to improve their ideas for the next year before they even walk out the door.

Behind the scenes, this event takes months to plan. For much of the year it lived in calendars, spreadsheets, emails and planning calls. Managing those aspects of the program dominated my days. To make the event feel seamless for students, I worked with TDSB, TCS and our host venues. Together, we coordinated judges, volunteers, transportation, food, medals and a complex, staggered agenda.

As many as 250 students present ideas at these TDSB year-end events, so we group students by age and run separate showcases. While one group pitches, the other completes a goIT module on emerging technologies. In recent years, participants have also had the chance to meet “Furhat,” TCS’ AI robot, delighting in his capabilities and learn more about artificial intelligence during their “off time.”

It is a lot to coordinate, but the energy in the room makes it all worthwhile. You can see students gaining confidence as they explain their ideas, answer questions and realize that adult tech industry professionals take their work seriously.

When I first stepped into this role, I understood goIT as an educator. I knew it could give students a clear introduction to the innovation and design process, a reason to think beyond the classroom and the confidence to use technology to solve real problems.

Over time, I also came to understand what it gives teachers. The TCS-TDSB partnership has never been about dropping a program into classrooms for a few days. It has been about building a supported, year-round learning experience that connects digital innovation, global citizenship, computer science and the UN Sustainable Development Goals in ways students can sustain. It provides:

• Ready-to-use learning experiences
• A structure for design thinking and digital innovation
• Connections to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Exposure to industry volunteers and real-world feedback
• Opportunities for students to practice communication and teamwork

Across the showcases and classroom experiences I supported, students showed how quickly they can connect solutions and technology to the world around them. Their ideas addressed food waste, hunger, mental health, cultural understanding and environmental responsibility, among many others.

Several digital innovation concepts proposed by goIT participants — FeedSecure, Oceanus and Penguin Prep — stand out in my mind for how students used goIT to turn personal concerns into practical, creative problem-solving. FeedSecure focused on tackling food waste and hunger. Oceanus helped users operate ocean cleanup drones. Penguin Prep helped students maintain momentum during teacher absences.

I also still think about the Grade 5 student who looked around a 25th-floor conference room at TCS Pace Port™ Toronto and said she wanted to do this “forever” as her career.

These moments stay with me because they show what happens when students begin to see technology as something they can shape, not just use. They also remind me why representation matters. When younger students, including girls who may not yet see themselves in STEM or technology careers, watch their peers pitch with confidence, the future can feel more accessible.

The topics change each year, but the pattern is consistent: students notice real problems, ask meaningful questions and build thoughtful digital solutions.

I am proud of the programs I managed, but even more grateful for the educators who opened their classrooms, the TCS volunteers who brought encouragement and a real-world perspective, and the students who reminded me why this work matters.

At each Showcase, students practice research, teamwork, design thinking and public speaking in front of authentic audiences. When a volunteer judge asks a thoughtful question, that brief exchange can help a student see that their idea belongs in a larger conversation about the future. It’s empowering.

Returning to the classroom feels less like leaving goIT behind and more like carrying it forward. I am returning to school with a stronger belief in what students can do when we create the right conditions for curiosity, creativity and confidence. I also return with the hope that more students will see technology as a way to serve their communities and imagine their own futures.

Congratulations to all the young innovators of goIT, past and future. As the world around us changes so rapidly, I am 100% sure of one thing: that they will continue to amaze and impress. They are all potential changemakers, capable, creative and needed.

My message to them is simple: Get out there and do it! Go innovate together!

To learn more about goIT, visit https://tcsempowers.tcsapps.com/amer/goIT