Winter Luncheon 2015

February 8, 2015

The middle of January is always a good time to get together with friends. It sort of warms things up a bit. We had two first time attendees to catch up with, Jim Ciera and Steve Thomas. It was great to see them again.

As always, discussion was good all around. The noise level in our room at Alioto’s is a solid high throughout the gathering and lunch. I find that particularly satisfying, a measure of enjoyment by the members who come to share their experiences.

After lunch, our good friend Karen Sommer, Director, Global Public Affairs at Johnson Controls reviewed the activities and strategies for “Corporate Sustainability at Johnson Controls.” You might remember that Karen led the project to create our website, WSJSociety.com.

Karen talked about the strategies in place to align environmental, social, and governance responsibilities with economic priorities at Johnson Controls. Aspects of environmental sustainability include energy, water, waste and greenhouse gases. The results achieved both internally and with customers are fantastic and well recognized in the industry.

The social aspects of sustainability are Karen’s current focus. Supply chain diversity and employee contribution of time, talent and treasure to their communities are included here. Blue Sky Involve projects have contributed almost 1 billion volunteer hours since 2006; and, 1,400 applications in 2014 resulted in 1,000 projects around the globe. That’s impact for good!

More information is available at the website: JohnsonControls.com/Sustainability

Thanks Karen for sharing this with us. Keep up the good work.

Submitted by: Jude Anders VP Communications