The Evolving Role of Corporate Sustainability

The Evolving Role of Corporate Sustainability

Please join us for a discussion with Alison Taylor, Vice President Sustainability, Siemens Corporation, as we explore the evolving role of corporate sustainability, including its applied role in the individual business enterprise and its future competitive advantage.

Since business author and serial entrepreneur John Elkington coined the phrase “Triple Bottom Line” in 1994, corporations began measuring their performance in terms of profit, people and planet. Corporate sustainability has now grown to encompass not only the goals of the entire enterprise, but its impact on future generations.

Siemens Corporation, ranked as one of the most sustainable companies in its industry according to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, has consistently been recognized for customer and environmental management, as well as corporate citizenship. For nearly a decade, Siemens has also conducted research into the sustainability commitments and trends of corporate America. Its most recent findings reveal a maturing of the field and an evolution in the bottom line benefits of sustainability.

About Siemens

Siemens is a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. In infrastructure and industry solutions the company plays a pioneering role. In fiscal year 2015, with nearly 348,000 employees in more than 200 countries, Siemens generated revenues of €75.6 billion.

About Alison Taylor

Appointed by the Siemens Cities Center of Competence (C0C) as Vice President, Sustainability and City Executive for the District of Columbia in March, 2014, Alison is responsible for leading Sustainability initiatives in the US as well as the Siemens strategy for expanded presence in the Washington metropolitan area.

Prior to joining the CoC, Alison served as Vice President, Sustainability-Americas.  In this position, she developed and managed the sustainability program for the Americas and acted as a resource for sustainability initiatives across Siemens’ business sectors.

Before joining Siemens, Alison was Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works for five years, and counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce for six years. 

Prior to her service on Capitol Hill, Alison was an equity partner in the Denver-based law firm Davis, Graham and Stubbs, LLC where she specialized in water law, mining law and environmental law. 

Alison graduated from Duke University with an undergraduate degree in biology, and the University of Denver with a juris doctorate degree.

About the Dean's Speaker Series

The Dean's Speaker Series, hosted by Dr. Ali Eskandarian, brings leaders and experts together with students, faculty, alumni and the community to facilitate discussions on the challenges and opportunities of our global society.