NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 /3BL/ – This week, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose© (CECP) is bringing together more than 250 senior social impact, corporate responsibility, and sustainability leaders from the world’s leading global companies for the 23rd annual CECP Summit: Purpose Reignited.
At the event, an influential community of corporate leaders are exploring the forces reshaping responsible business — from new tax changes to AI adoption to the art of building strategic alliances. Sessions cover the range of corporate purpose topics including employee volunteering, the ROI of corporate foundations, championing veteran communities, place-based partnerships, turning purpose into measurable business performance, and more. Across every conversation, one throughline emerged: purpose is not just a principle, it’s a performance driver.
“As we navigate a landscape transformed by AI and other tremendous shifts in the world, it is clear that purpose has moved from the periphery to the center of business resilience,” said Sara Adams, Chief Communications Officer, CECP. “The leaders at this year’s Summit are proving that ‘Purpose Reignited’ is more than a theme, it is a competitive necessity. By leveraging CECP’s deep data benchmarking and peer community, these companies are not just adapting to a complex world; they are actively shaping a future where social investment is a primary driver of long-term sustainable value.”
The Summit includes the presentation of the Charles H. Moore Award for Leadership in Corporate Community Engagement. The 2026 “Charlie Award” was presented to Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of the Citi Foundation. The award is named in honor of CECP’s founding Executive Director and is presented to senior leaders who exemplify perseverance in the pursuit of societal advancement, the trait for which Charlie Moore was best known.
“I’m honored to receive the Charlie Award, a powerful reminder that businesses thrive by showing up for the communities they serve,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President of the Citi Foundation. “At Citi, our mission is to enable growth and economic progress, and we do so by bringing together the full weight of our firm—our business, our philanthropy, our people and expertise—to catalyze more resilient communities. CECP has been an invaluable partner in this work, and to be recognized by them is incredibly meaningful.”
Brandee McHale leads Citi’s efforts to advance economic opportunity through impact investing, community-based financial access and education programs, fulfilment of U.S. Community Reinvestment Act regulatory obligations, employee volunteerism and the philanthropy of the Citi Foundation. With more than three decades of experience in financial services and philanthropy, Brandee has dedicated her career to developing forward-thinking solutions that connect low-income communities to jobs, housing and a more economically secure future.
The Summit convening also bestowed a new award, The Goldies Award, which honors a team or initiative that exemplifies the gold standard in corporate social investment, demonstrating how business can be a force for good in local communities. The 2026 “Goldies Award” was presented to Amgen for the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE).The program, funded by the Amgen Foundation, is designed to close the gap between classroom learning and real-world biotechnology and has reached more than 1.1 million students and 5,200 teachers to date. At no cost to schools, ABE equips teachers with professional development and research-grade lab equipment to support students’ performing authentic experiments such as DNA ligation, bacterial transformation, protein purification, PCR, and gene sequence analysis. The Amgen Foundation is proud to have committed more than $75 million to date to make this program possible.
At the CECP Summit, attendees will also hear about two decades of Giving in Numbers® trend data to reveal how corporate purpose has evolved—what’s grown, what’s shifted, and what’s disappeared along the way. CECP, in partnership with companies, has created the largest and most historical data set on trends in the industry, shared by more than 650 multi-billion-dollar companies, representing more than $519 billion in corporate social investments over that time span. This session will unpack major trends in corporate community investment, noncash giving, volunteerism, program focus areas, and the changing role of corporate responsibility teams inside companies.
The CECP Summit offers an unparalleled line up of speakers from CECP companies including:
- Dale Strange, President, Corporate Impact, YourCause from Blackbaud
- Scott Heimlich, President of the Amgen Foundation and Executive Director of Corporate Philanthropy, Amgen
- Katie Ferrick, Managing Director, Applied Purpose, Applied Materials
- Olivia Khalili, Head of Foundation & Social Impact, Atlassian
- Abigail Hollingsworth, Director, Bank of America
- Soraya Alexander, CEO, Benevity
- Dionn Schaffner, SVP of Social Impact and Chief Diversity Officer, Bonterra
- Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development at Citi and President, the Citi Foundation
- Kristen Scheyder, Director of Programs, the Citi Foundation
- Robert Goodfellow, Senior Director, Global Corporate Communications & CSR, Colgate-Palmolive
- Carol Cone, CEO, Cone on Purpose
- Carrie Stockwell, Director, Philanthropy, Constellation
- Taryn Edgin, President, John Deere Foundation and Director, Community Relations, Deere & Company
- Dana O’Donovan, U.S. Purpose Leader, Deloitte
- Christine Sybert, Senior Director, Corporate Education Partnerships, Discovery Education
- Theresa Peterson, SVP of Thought Leadership Research, Edelman
- Jennifer Leitsch, Americas Corporate Sustainability Leader, EY
- Rachel Strong, America’s Sustainability Tax Policy Leader, EY
- Alvin Abraham, President, Exxon Mobil Foundation
- Maeve Miccio, Head of Philanthropic Consulting, Fidelity Investments
- Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director, Fifth Avenue Committee
- Vivian Greentree, SVP, Head of Global Corporate Citizenship; President, Fiserv Cares Foundation, Fiserv
- Billy Cyr, CEO, Freshpet
- Deb Silverman, Director of Philanthropy, GE Aerospace and GE Aerospace Foundation
- Veronica Sandolval, Director, Cross-Portfolio Philanthropy, Genentech
- Alissa May, Vice President of Impact, Goodera
- Utaukwa Allen, Global Head of Economic & Community Development, Data Centers, Google
- Sara Link, Global Head of Employee Impact, IBM
- Erin Moos. Head of Strategic Philanthropy, Employee Giving and Volunteering, Intuit
- Shaolee Sen, Head of Small Business, Global Philanthropy, Corporate Social Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Meghan Wright, Vice President, Community Impact & Charitable Giving; Executive Director, Lincoln Financial Foundation, Lincoln Financial
- Tia Hodges, Vice President for Corporate Giving, Employee Engagement & Volunteerism, Metlife
- Susan McPherson, Founder and CEO, McPherson Strategies
- Dave Best, President and CEO at Newman’s Own, Inc.
- Kristin Giantris, Managing Director, Nonprofit Finance Fund
- Matthew Forti, Managing Director, One Acre Fund
- Barb Short, Senior Director, CSR & Sustainability, Global Specialty Care & US, Sanofi
- Christy Kiely, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
- Stacy Rotner, Corporate Responsibility Director, Sidley Austin LLP
- Clea Newman, Ambassador, SeriousFun Children’s Network
- Courtney Failer, Senior Program Coordinator, Impact, Steelcase
- Lynette Bell, Executive Vice President, President, Truist Foundation
- David Evetts, Head of Philanthropy and Advocacy, USAA
- Aaron Hurst, Founder and CEO, U.S Chamber of Connection
- Molly Porter, Chief Administrative Officer, Wells Fargo Foundation
- Diana Fischer, Senior Director, Workday Foundation
CECP thanks its sponsors for their generous support of the CECP Summit: Platinum Level: YourCause from Blackbaud; Gold Level: PwC, Citi, Exxon Mobil; Silver Level: Benevity, Exelon, Fidelity, Goodera, Sanofi, Wells Fargo; Partner Service Providers: Bonterra, E4E Relief, Groundswell.
CECP also congratulates the 2025-2026 Company Spotlight honorees: Best Buy,
Boehringer Ingelheim, Cisco, ConEdison, Covista, Discovery Education, Equinix, KPMG, Mastercard, Merck Foundation, Otsuka, PSEG, Regeneron, Wells Fargo, and Zoetis. On a quarterly basis, CECP selects companies for the Company Spotlight through a thoughtful information-sharing and communications-support process. Company Spotlights are shared with over 2,000 affiliated corporate leaders, posted on the CECP website as case studies for other affiliated companies, and recognized at the CECP Summit.
Following the conclusion of the 2026 CECP Summit, CECP will be posting on its website photos, videos, guest blogs, and an Executive Summary.
The application process for the 2027 Charlie Award and 2027 Goldies Award is now open. Nominate a peer senior leader in corporate responsibility today. The deadline is August 30. The application for the 2027 Charlie Award can be accessed here, the application for the 2027 Goldies Award can be accessed here, or by emailing CECP.
CECP Media Contact
Katie Leasor
kleasor@cecp.co
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About Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)
Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose® (CECP) is the only nonpartisan business counsel and network dedicated to driving measurable returns on purpose. We promote responsible purpose-driven business as it increases customer loyalty, builds employee engagement, improves brand trust, attracts top talent, connects with strategic investors, and contributes to the bottom line.
More than 200 of the world’s leading companies seek to improve their return on purpose through access to CECP’s solutions in research and insights, strategy and benchmarking, and convening and communications. With our companies, we harness the power of purpose for business, stakeholders, and society.
For more information, visit http://cecp.co.