Tag: 3BL

A team of 18 Keysight Spain employees recently participated in TauRun, a charity run organized by the Spanish Association Against Cancer at the Málaga TechPark. This meaningful run garnered support from the Málaga City Council, Keysight, and 12 other companies in the Málaga TechPark. The proceeds from this event are directed towards cancer research and treatment.

For more information on Keysight’s community engagement initiatives, see https://www.keysight.com/us/en/about/corporate-social-responsibility/communities.

This story was originally published on TriplePundit.

The following event coverage is sponsored by IKEA U.S. and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

The projected global revenue from shifting to a circular economy is expected to increase from $339 billion in 2022 to $712 billion in 2026. The emphasis on regenerative resources, material circulation and eliminating waste at the core of this economic model requires changing the way products are consumed and, ultimately, the way businesses operate.

This isn’t a new observation for IKEA. The global home furnishing company aims to become a circular and climate-positive business by 2030. Building on its vision to improve everyday life for people and create a positive global impact, IKEA recently brought leaders together to envision a better and more sustainable future.

ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S. 2024: Developing collaborative solutions

IKEA U.S. hosted its second ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S. event at House of Sweden in Washington, D.C. last month. Nonprofit organizations, political leaders, entrepreneurs and corporate professionals in the sustainability field came together to discuss challenges and opportunities related to climate action, inequality and resource shortages. The goal of the two-day event was to inspire action, as it did for IKEA and guests of the last ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S. event in 2022.

“ONE HOME, ONE PLANET has created a lot of these movements,” Javier Quiñones, CEO and chief sustainability officer for IKEA U.S., said in his opening remarks at the event. “Many of the actions that were put in place are because of inspirations that we have had in the past. Our Buy Back and Resell program is something that came from ONE HOME, ONE PLANET in 2019, and now it’s a service that we offer all over the world. So, imagine the power of these gatherings.”

IKEA brings ideas to execution at ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S.

The ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S. event was split into a series of town hall panels and co-lab sessions — where leaders shared their unique perspectives on public and private interventions that power a more sustainable future, and attendees broke into groups to discuss them.

One town hall, for example, focused on addressing public policy. Former Columbia, South Carolina, Mayor Stephen K. Benjamin, assistant to the president, senior advisor to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, filled the audience in on the Biden administration’s sustainability and environmental justice efforts, the impacts they have and how businesses and other stakeholders can get involved. “Every opportunity there is to potentially celebrate a huge success for IKEA [around sustainability and social impact], that also is a huge success for the administration,” Benjamin said.

During the co-lab sessions, attendees were divided into groups to discuss core topics related to the insights shared in the town halls, specifically around ideas and solutions for the circular economy, affordable housing and clean construction.

Throughout the second day of the event, attendees completed a series of strategy activities such as trend maps, identified challenges and opportunities close to their topics and created desired future statements to develop practical ideas that would turn their desired future into reality. The co-lab topics align with IKEA’s overall strategy and vision, with an eye toward what the company can learn from what’s discussed.

Next steps for the company following the event include gathering insights and ideas shared by attendees and translating them into plans for future action, both within IKEA and externally via continued cross-sectoral collaboration. “We don’t know everything, but we all know a little bit, and when we come together, magic happens,” Quiñones said.

People and planet are ingrained in the IKEA ethos

This type of learning-and-doing model is just one way IKEA looks to embed sustainability across all areas of the business. In addition to the Buy Back and Resell program that gives used furniture a second life, the company has developed strategies to reduce emissions and implement renewable energy sources to achieve its goal of becoming a climate positive business by 2030 — specifically in its supply chain operations.

To date, 25 of the company’s global retail markets operate with 100 percent renewable electricity, and 408 additional factories and suppliers use 100 percent renewables. In its fiscal year 2023 (September 2022 – August 2023), IKEA U.S. collectively generated more renewable energy than its locations consumed. It also installed public electric vehicle chargers at several U.S. stores and plans to install an additional 500 public chargers and 300 fleet chargers within the decade across its U.S. locations.

In fiscal year 2023, IKEA U.S. also granted more than $2.5 million in donations to nonprofits that work toward social change. More specifically, it donated over $50,000 from sales of its STORSTOMMA rainbow shopping bags to True Colors United, a nonprofit organization focused on the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ young people experiencing homelessness. IKEA U.S. also partners with the American Red Cross and has provided numerous financial donations including its most recent contribution of $150,000 in relief efforts for the Maui wildfires.

“We know that climate change does not affect everyone in the same way,” Quiñones told the audience at ONE HOME, ONE PLANET U.S. “And many of the people who are affected are actually the ones who have nothing to do with climate change.”

By hearing from those impacted and those with the vision for a brighter future, companies like IKEA can improve on what they already do and implement the new systems we need to realize a more regenerative, circular and climate resilient economy.

Originally published on GoDaddy Newsroom

TEMPE, Ariz., April 4, 2024 /3BL/ — Entrepreneurship is booming, and online microbusinesses – those with 10 or fewer employees, a domain and an active website – create jobs and lower unemployment rates across the U.S., according to new research from GoDaddy and UCLA Anderson Forecast.

This means:

At the county level, every microbusiness entrepreneur is correlated with seven additional jobs by hiring directly, indirectly or creating more demand and spending more in their communities. 
 Adding 1,000 new microbusiness entrepreneurs in a county is associated with a drop of 0.11 percentage points in the unemployment rate. This means that studying Miami-Dade County in Florida, with almost 430,000 microbusinesses and 2.1 million people over the age of 18, adding just 1,000 entrepreneurs would reduce the region’s unemployment rate by almost 7% (from 1.6% to 1.49%).

“We’ve learned that online businesses with 10 or fewer employees are creating more jobs than before – up to seven jobs for every one entrepreneur, compared to only two just a few years ago,” said Alexandra Rosen, senior director of Venture Forward. “Our findings show how even the smallest of businesses can significantly drive down unemployment rates in communities across the country.”

Explore the data in full here and learn more in the blog post here. For more information on the state of microbusinesses across the country, visit www.godaddy.com/ventureforward.

About GoDaddy Venture Forward 
GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research initiative analyses more than 20 million online businesses with a digital presence (measured by a unique domain and an active website). Most of these businesses employ fewer than ten people, categorizing each as a microbusiness. While these microbusinesses may be small, their impact on economies is outsized even though they are often too informal or too new to show up in traditional government statistics. To find out more about GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research, visit www.godaddy.com/ventureforward

About GoDaddy 
GoDaddy (NYSE: GDDY) helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a professional website, attract customers, sell their products and services, and accept payments online and in person. GoDaddy’s easy-to-use tools help microbusiness owners manage everything in one place, and its expert guides are available to provide assistance 24/7. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

About UCLA Anderson Forecast 
UCLA Anderson Forecast is one of the most widely watched and often-cited economic outlooks for California and the nation and was unique in predicting both the seriousness of the early-1990s downturn in California and the strength of the state’s rebound since 1993. The Forecast was credited as the first major U.S. economic forecasting group to call the recession of 2001 and, in March 2020, it was the first to declare that the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had already begun. www.uclaforecast.com

About UCLA Anderson School of Management 
UCLA Anderson School of Management is among the leading business schools in the world, with faculty members globally renowned for their teaching excellence and research in advancing management thinking. Located in Los Angeles, a gateway to the growing economies of Latin America and Asia and a city that personifies innovation in a diverse range of endeavors, UCLA Anderson’s MBA, Fully Employed MBA, Executive MBA, UCLA-NUS Executive MBA, Master of Financial Engineering, Master of Science in Business Analytics, doctoral and executive education programs embody the school’s Think in the Next ethos. Annually, some 1,800 students are trained to be global leaders seeking the business models and community solutions of tomorrow. www.anderson.ucla.edu

Source: GoDaddy Inc.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 4, 2024 /3BL/ – Whole Foods Market’s three philanthropic projects have united under Whole Foods Market Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to nourishing people and the planet by helping to advance healthy food access, nutrition and economic opportunities.

Whole Foods Market Foundation is committed to partnerships that address barriers to equity, enrich communities, and foster deep, lasting change. Through the work of Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities, the Foundation has invested over $167 million in local and global communities since 2005.

“Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities have always strived to create a more equitable future for all,” said Carol Medeiros, Vice President of Quality Standards for Whole Foods Market and Executive Director of Whole Foods Market Foundation. “For us, this means everyone deserves improved access to resources that meet their basic needs, nourishing foods, thriving local food systems, and opportunities to improve their economic well-being. By working together as Whole Foods Market Foundation, the three projects can expand their reach and impact.”

Whole Planet, established in 2005, supports organizations that empower people living in poverty to meet their basic needs and become more resilient through income-generating opportunities. It has disbursed over $113 million through partners in 80 countries around the world where Whole Foods Market sources products.

Whole Kids, founded in 2011, supports schools and inspires families to improve children’s health and wellness through their nutrition by providing grants for school gardens, salad bars in schools and educational beehives. Its programs have served more than 10 million children and over 15,000 schools and non-profits in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Whole Cities was established in 2014 to improve individual and community health through collaborative partnerships, education and broader access to nutritious food in the U.S. and Canada. The project has partnered with more than 250 locally led organizations in over 130 cities to build thriving food systems and improve community health.

For more information on the Foundation, visit wholefoodmarketfoundation.org.

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About Whole Foods Market Foundation

Whole Foods Market Foundation works to nourish people and the planet by helping to advance healthy food access, nutrition and economic opportunities in local and global communities. The registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, based in Austin, Texas, encompasses the projects of Whole Cities, Whole Kids and Whole Planet. For more information on the Foundation’s work, visit wholefoodsmarketfoundation.org. For ongoing news and updates, follow Whole Foods Market Foundation on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or LinkedIn.

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Media Contact:
Chanta Williams, Director of Communications and Development
Chanta.Williams@wholefoods.com

NEW YORK and LONDON, April 4, 2024 /3BL/ – The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the global authority on advancing healthy buildings, organizations and communities, and The Instant Group, the largest global marketplace for flexible workspace, announced today a strategic partnership to spur health and well-being practices in coworking and flexible workspaces. The partnership will encompass a range of joint efforts aimed at elevating health, including opportunities to advance innovative solutions to better support people-first spaces for all users of coworking and flexible workspaces.

“We are excited to be joining forces with The Instant Group,” said Rachel Hodgdon, President and CEO of IWBI. “This is an organization with an established track record of inspiring ingenuity, especially in the ways it supports the coworking and flexible workspaces on its digital marketplace, which is the largest in the world. As more and more organizations embrace the outsized role workspaces have on health, this presents a tremendous opportunity to elevate the well-being of the thousands of people who use these flexible spaces every day.”

Healthy workspaces, once considered a nice-to-have, have become a must-have in real estate, especially in coworking and flexible workspaces. A growing body of research shows that evidence-based health interventions help support workplace satisfaction, comfort and productivity, while also helping organizations better attract and retain talent. In addition, the extensive research behind the business case for healthy buildings shows that these strategies help drive several economic benefits, including higher rents and longer lease terms.

“Companies that optimize their spaces for health and well-being are transforming their workforce into an even greater asset and developing happier, more productive employees,” said Sam Pickering, Executive Director, Sustainability at The Instant Group. “IWBI has unmatched expertise and experience, and we find them a valuable partner in providing best-in-class health guidance to people, companies, and providers. This collaboration is also a logical follow-up to our Sustainability Index, which launched in 2023 to ensure quality data on building performance and helping operators and occupiers track and report on their performance.”

Next month at the WELL Conference from May 7-9 in Long Beach, CA, IWBI and Instant will also shine a light on several coworking organizations that are leading by example in workplace health and well-being. For more information, please contact carly.yashinsky@wellcertified.com.

About the International WELL Building Institute

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the global authority for transforming health and well-being in buildings, organizations and communities. In pursuit of its public-health mission, IWBI mobilizes its community through the development and administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL), WELL for residential, WELL Community, its WELL ratings and management of the WELL AP credential. IWBI also translates research into practice, develops educational resources and advocates for policies that promote health and well-being for everyone, everywhere. More information on WELL can be found here.

International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL EP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Equity, WELL Residence, Works with WELL, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.

Media Contact: media@wellcertified.com

About The Instant Group:

The Instant Group has been rethinking workspace since 1999 with over 600 experts working globally across more than 175 countries. Instant’s digital platforms constitute the world’s largest digital marketplace for flexible workspace listing meeting rooms, virtual offices, flexible office space and coworking memberships. Its global team advises on commercial real estate solutions from serviced offices to fully customized managed offices, and consulting services for portfolio and net zero strategies. Instant’s approach enables agility, hybrid working solutions and improved operational resilience for more than 250,000 businesses every year. Clients include Prudential, Booking.com, Shell, Jaguar Land Rover, and GSK. Instant has global offices including London, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Mexico City, and Sydney. www.theinstantgroup.com

Media Contact: instantgroup@fticonsulting.com / rachel@winefsky.com

View original content here.

It’s officially Earth Month, an opportunity to celebrate the planet we all share and remind ourselves of the role we all play in taking care of our world. Now more than ever, there is an urgency to understand the effects of climate change, engage in dialogue with those driving change and take steps to reduce the impact we have on our environment.

As a business, Clorox has long understood that sustainability is not simply a tagline — it’s an intentional and integrated part of our IGNITE strategy. We’ve taken measurable actions to tackle our operational emissions and waste footprints while mobilizing our teammates, supply chain partners and consumers to do the same. While there’s still a lot to do, we believe we’re on the right track, as reflected by our No. 1 ranking on Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies list for a second consecutive year and our inclusion among Newsweek’s Greenest Companies in America.

Here are some of the actions we’ve taken:

Climate 

We’ve established science-based greenhouse gas reduction targets for our operations and value chain emissions globally. To date, we’ve met our 2030 goal for scopes 1 and 2 and our 100% renewable electricity goal in the U.S. and Canada. We also anticipate validation of our 2050 net-zero target by the Science Based Targets initiative in the coming weeks.

We’re proud of the progress made so far, but we’re not slowing down. Amid rapidly evolving regulations in this space, we’re wasting no time advancing our reporting practices and building a scope 3 supplier engagement program to promote decarbonization practices in our supply chain. This will improve transparency, which helps us ensure we’re on track to achieve our net-zero ambition.

Waste

We also continue to make steady progress minimizing our waste footprint by reducing our overall volume of materials, increasing the sustainability of our materials and minimizing the impact left behind after our consumers use our products. Two of our plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently joined the more than 30 Clorox facilities around the world in achieving zero-waste-to-landfill status as we continue the momentum toward our goal of achieving ZWtL in 100% of our plants by 2025 and in all facilities globally by 2030. Meanwhile, in Latin America, our plant in Lima, Peru, is piloting new packaging methods to eliminate unnecessary plastic and cardboard used in product shipping, which advances our efforts to achieve 50% combined reduction in virgin plastic and fiber packaging by 2030.

These wins — and the learnings gathered along the way — are critical to our continued success as we explore opportunities to scale sustainable innovation across our operations.

Mobilizing Our Teammates

In honor of Earth Month, we’re kicking off a special employee giving campaign to build on our Healthy Parks Project. Launched in 2021, this initiative involves working with local organizations to provide better access to green spaces within communities where our teammates live and work. For every employee donation made this month to one of our three Healthy Parks Project partners — Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, Durham Parks Foundation and Park Pride Atlanta — or another environmental cause of their choice, The Clorox Company Foundation will match it 200% up to $10,000. Through employee volunteering and financial contributions, we’re continuing to spur positive impact in our communities by ensuring that our parks thrive for generations to come.

As we evaluate the next steps in our sustainability journey, we embrace our responsibility to not only drive innovative impact but also to truly get it right. Here’s to another bountiful Earth Month!

April 4, 2024 /3BL/ – Ceres congratulates the awardees of National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, two programs under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that are designed to accelerate additional private sector investment in cost-saving clean technology deployment across the U.S., especially in underinvested and environmentally overburdened communities. 

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is a $27 billion program included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to spur clean energy investment and economic revitalization in low-income and heavily polluted communities. The EPA today announced eight awardees for two of the fund’s three programs, including two that Ceres had supported in applying for the funds. The awardees will channel the funds to leverage additional private capital while providing accessible and affordable financing for clean technology that economically empowers communities across the U.S. 

“Ceres congratulates the awardees of these two game-changing clean energy financing programs,” said Zach Friedman, director of federal policy, Ceres. “The distribution of these funds marks a crucial moment in bringing the investment, jobs, economic revitalization, and pollution reduction that the Inflation Reduction Act has already begun to deliver to those that need them the most.  Innovative public-private partnerships will also be crucial to unlocking and leveraging additional private capital that will help ensure no community is left behind in the transition to an affordable, abundant, advanced clean economy. We applaud the EPA for its rigorous vetting process that ensures transparency and accountability, leading to the selection of these experienced awardees who will maximize the environmental, economic, and equity benefits of these investments in communities across the U.S.” 

Ceres wrote letters of support for two of the awardees, Climate United and Justice Climate Fund, and encouraged the EPA to go “above and beyond” the Justice40 goal of ensuring low-income and disadvantaged communities see at least 40% of the benefits from clean energy investment nationwide. Ceres also engaged in helping to shape the EPA’s guidance for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, submitting several recommendations to meet the fund’s environmental justice goals. 

“Ceres recognizes that the [Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund], along with other elements of the IRA, will offer critically needed public investment for the clean energy transformation and for supporting good-paying jobs, reduced energy costs, improving air quality and public health, and strengthening climate hazard resilience for underserved and environmentally overburdened communities,” Ceres wrote in a comment letter. 

About Ceres

Ceres is a nonprofit organization working with the most influential capital market leaders to solve the world’s greatest sustainability challenges. Through our powerful networks and global collaborations of investors, companies, and nonprofits, we drive action and inspire equitable market-based and policy solutions throughout the economy to build a just and sustainable future. For more information, visit ceres.org and follow @CeresNews. 

Media Contact: booth-tobin@ceres.org, 617-247-0700 ext. 214

Eastman

In a significant achievement for Eastman, Naia™ Renew cellulosic fiber has received the Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certification. This certification validates Naia™ Renew’s certified recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices, and chemical restrictions. The Naia™ team is excited to announce the first production of GRS-certified yarn, which will soon be on its way to a sustainable brand that shares the Naia™ vision of making sustainable textiles accessible to everyone.

“This first production represents years of work by our team,” said Jason Keller, product manager for Naia™. “Our customers have been asking when we’d have GRS certification, and we’ve worked tirelessly to make Naia™ Renew certified. We’re so proud to offer not just a sustainable product but a certification of the fiber that establishes trust with our collaborating brands.”

The importance of GRS certification

The GRS certification process, owned by Textile Exchange, plays a vital role in driving sustainable change in the fashion and textiles industry. It involves an audit of the entire supply chain conducted by independent, third-party certifying body SCS Global Services. GRS certification enhances traceability, promotes environmental principles, ensures social requirements are met, and regulates chemical content and labeling. Eastman’s achievement of GRS certification for Naia™ Renew reinforces the company’s commitment to sustainability and builds trust with customers and collaborators.

Expanding the scope of GRS certification

In June 2023, Textile Exchange made a significant announcement regarding its Alternative Volume Reconciliation (VR2) policy. A policy update broadened the range of chemical recycling technologies eligible for mass balance, including gasification. Gasification is a process used in Eastman’s carbon renewal technology, a molecular recycling technology that breaks waste down into molecular building blocks for use in new materials. By including gasification in the GRS certification, the textile industry now has a broader approach to making sustainable textiles.

“We championed the broadening of Textile Exchange’s VR2 policy to include molecular recycling because this technology makes our sustainable fibers possible,” said Lacey Johnson, Eastman manufacturing technologist. “At Eastman, we’re constantly looking for ways to collaborate for innovation. Our work with Textile Exchange has brought a necessary, future-forward change to GRS certification.”

The power of collaboration

Collaboration is key to Eastman’s success. The company actively engages with global industry leaders and associations to shape the future of sustainable textiles. Eastman’s collaboration with Textile Exchange and other stakeholders played a crucial role in educating the industry about the value and contribution of molecular recycling. The decision to expand the scope of VR2 to include gasification is a significant win for Naia™ and the future of textile sustainability.

But collaboration doesn’t stop there. The true power lies in the adoption of certified materials by brands and retailers. When sustainable brands embrace certified fibers like Naia™ Renew, they send a powerful message to consumers: sustainability matters. By incorporating these materials into their product lines, brands not only contribute to a greener future but also inspire others to follow suit.

Addressing the challenge of textile waste

The textiles industry has been increasingly focused on circular materials as a solution to combat waste pollution, particularly textile waste. Eastman’s molecular recycling complements mechanical recycling and offers a solution for hard-to-recycle waste materials, including textiles affected by factors like fiber blends, chemicals and additives. Naia™ Renew, produced from 60% sustainably sourced wood pulp and 40% GRS-certified waste materials, showcases Eastman’s commitment to transforming waste destined for landfills into valuable resources.

With Naia™ Renew, we pave the way for a more sustainable future for fashion and textiles.

Originally published in Qualcomm’s 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report

We are an invention company that solves fundamental technology problems at the heart of everyday life.

Our inventions have helped power the adoption of smartphones, connecting billions of people to each other and the internet. We make our connected world — and future — possible by pushing the boundaries of AI, VR, connectivity and more.

We are a global leader in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry. Our technologies and products are used across industries in applications ranging from mobile handsets to automotive to Internet of Things (IoT) and more.

We share our inventions broadly through our licensing program — enabling wide ecosystem access to technologies at the forefront of innovation — and through the sale of our wireless integrated circuit platforms and other products.

We believe in good faith license negotiations and fair value for our patented technologies. We believe this approach to licensing creates efficiency in the ecosystem and reflects the value and innovation that our research, developments and contributions provide. We collaborate across the ecosystem, which includes manufacturers, operators, developers, system integrators, cloud providers, tool vendors, service providers, governments and industry standards organizations, to enable a global environment to drive continued progress and growth.

We inspire the development of regionally relevant use cases of advanced 4G and 5G connectivity, AI at the network edge and IoT through deep-technology incubators and mentorship programs for early-stage startups in many emerging regions, including India, Taiwan, Vietnam and across Africa.

We invest heavily in research and development (R&D), have a long history of driving innovation and have developed foundational technologies that help drive the continued evolution of the wireless industry.

We bring advanced wireless technology to people and communities who need it most, facilitating new business models and unlocking societal benefits that serve the greater good.

The technology development at the foundation of our solutions is governed by our Technical Business Review (TBR) process with oversight by our Chief Technology Officer. The goal of the TBR process is to align long-term technology development with product (application-specific integrated circuit and software) roadmaps. The output of the TBR results is guidance for the development of industry-leading technology roadmaps, which feed into the Company’s one technology roadmap and span processing, connectivity, visual and rendering technologies, AI, security and system-level technologies needed for multiple product categories, industries and applications (e.g., mobile, compute, automotive, connected systems and networking)

2025 Goals

Reduce power consumption by 10 percent every year7 in our flagship Snapdragon Mobile Platform products.

Enrich the lives of 27 million people8 by continuing to bring technology to underserved communities around the world through Wireless Reach, measured against 2006 base year.

Continue to foster the next generation of innovators by inspiring 1.5 million students and teachers across the globe through our STEM initiatives, from a 2020 base year.

7 Given equivalent features. 
8 Defined as direct and indirect beneficiaries.

Learn more about how Qualcomm is driving innovation, societal advancement and sustainability in the 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report

Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog

As a former Division I women’s college soccer player, Leslie DeRoss knows the value of teamwork firsthand.

“I can’t say enough about the lessons you learn from team sports that you can apply to life and your career,” said DeRoss, who today is head of collateralized loan obligation (CLO) strategy and innovation at U.S. Bank. “Every single person on the team has different strengths, so you have to be very strategic in determining who plays what position in order to reach your goals.”

DeRoss’s ability to help bring the right mix of talents to a team has been critical to several of the initiatives she spearheaded that helped enhance the corporate trust client experience at U.S. Bank. Those projects included starting a loan agency operations team to benefit CLO clients, creating the ability to provide immediate wire payments for corporate trust clients in specific scenarios and exploring how blockchain may affect the global corporate trust and custody business and its customers.

“I really enjoy looking at an opportunity and figuring out, how are we going to make this work? How does this fit within our strategy? Who are the people we need to make this happen?” she said.

DeRoss is uniquely positioned to know how to make new ideas work in the CLO space, having spent much of her career in operations management roles that were also client facing, she said.

That gave her the technical expertise along with “the ability to learn firsthand what our clients are seeing and hear directly what their needs are,” she said.

Her ability to assemble a strong team applies more broadly to her approach to her own career. Her go-to advice for people starting on their path: build a robust network, and don’t be afraid to tell your manager what your goals are.

“I’ve been really fortunate in my time at the bank to have had several female mentors,” she said. “I can’t say enough how important it is to create and maintain a strong network, particularly of other women, depending on the industry you are in.”

The CLO world tends to be male dominated, DeRoss said, and she’s cultivated a strong network of women — including colleagues, competitors and clients — to help guide her career. They meet periodically in person to share advice and support.

DeRoss said she’s always built her network inside and outside of the bank in other ways. In 2022, she completed a McKinsey & Company executive leadership program, and early in her career at U.S. Bank was selected for the prestigious U.S. Bank Dynamic Dozen.

The reverse mentoring program, established by former CEO Richard Davis, was created to elevate the voice of younger employees and help the bank connect with the next generation of employees and consumers.

Although DeRoss attended the University of North Carolina-Charlotte on a full-ride soccer scholarship, she said soccer success didn’t come easy to her.

“There was a lot of hard work and adversity along the way,” said DeRoss, who was recruited as an outside midfielder but was versatile enough to play every position except goalkeeper because, she joked, she wasn’t “acrobatic” enough. “I developed a work ethic that I keep until this day – I’m not afraid to dig in and really get into the weeds.”

DeRoss’ soccer playing days may be mostly behind her, but she’s happy to oblige if either of her two young daughters ever shows an interest in following in her footsteps.

“My knees prevent me from playing anymore,” she said. “But if either of my daughters decides they want to play, I could see some coaching in my future.”