Conrad MacKerron
Director, Corporate Social Responsibility Program, As You Sow Foundation
The Key Components of a Socially Responsible Company
After a decade of corporate scandals on sweatshop labor, phony balance sheets, and subprime mortgages and increasing consumer expectations for a low-carbon future, it’s surprising how many companies still do not have adequate policies in place to address crucial social and environmental flashpoints. If you are a principal in a new or ongoing company, it is important to know about the basic corporate responsibility policies and practices investors and stakeholders expect from company management. Mr. MacKerron will review existing key issue areas as well as newly emerging ones.
Mr. MacKerron is Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Program at As You Sow Foundation, which uses shareholder advocacy to promote progressive CSR policies at publicly traded companies. He has been instrumental in key social and environmental policy changes at major U.S. companies. His efforts have led to commitments by Dell, Apple and Best Buy on take back and recycling of electronics; and The Coca-Cola Co., Nestle Waters NA, and PespiCo on beverage container recycled content and recovery.
He led a dialogue with Gap Inc. that resulted in the 2004 release of a ground-breaking public report ranking the performance of supply chain facilities and frankly discussing problems with global factory monitoring. He was also part of a core group that developed Project Kaleidoscope, a multi-year project to improve working conditions at 10 Walt Disney Co. and McDonald’s Corp. suppliers in China’s Pearl River Delta.
Mr. MacKerron is a former Social Investment Analyst at Piper Jaffray Inc. and Progressive Asset Management, and former analyst for energy and environment at the Investor Responsibility Research Center (now RiskMetrics Group). He also served as board member of the Social Investment Forum, which promotes the practice of socially responsible investing, and was chair of its Advocacy and Public Policy Program.
