NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / May 19, 2026 / 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.
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SOURCE: Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)
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