Sandra Taylor

Businesses today are scrambling to meet the demands of the "Green Revolution," and, specifically, the recent push for greater Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), while still improving growth on the bottom line. As Starbucks' senior vice president of CSR from 2003-2008, Sandra Taylor turned one of the world's most successful corporations into one of the most progressive. Whether supporting disaster relief, overseeing the Starbucks Foundation, implementing sustainability standards, or designing social investment programs all over the world, she helped transform the world's leading coffee retailer into a shining beacon of not only performance and profits, but also for socially responsible business. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Sandra Taylor explains how compassion, conscience, and altruism can lead to innovation, transformation, and in the end, better business. Corporate Social Responsibility has no stronger, bolder, or more fervent advocate.

Bold Coffee, Bold Practices. In addition to leading all the CSR programs at Starbucks, she launched the company's ground-breaking coffee-buying guidelines – Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices – paying premium prices for high-quality coffee to some of the world's poorest coffee farmers. Taylor's innovations helped protect the environment, preserve biodiversity, and provide social improvements for the local communities. She also designed and led social investment programs for education, health, income generation, skills training, and access to clean drinking water in Central America, India and Africa. It's not surprising that she was responsible for the company's award-winning CSR annual report.

Sustainability Starts at the Top. Taylor is currently president and CEO of Sustainable Business International LLC, a consulting business she launched in February 2008. Prior to her role at Starbucks, Taylor served as vice president and director of public affairs for Eastman Kodak Company. As a corporate officer, she had overall responsibility for public affairs, international trade policy, and corporate citizenship worldwide. Taylor has held several senior leadership positions at top-tier organizations such as ICI Americas Inc., the American branch of Imperial Chemical Industries Plc. (a London-based chemical company), and was a legislative assistant in the United States Senate. She also worked as a foreign service officer for the United States Department of State. She sits on the board of directors of the National Center for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and she is the co-chair and founder of the American and African Businesswomen's Alliance (AABWA), to name only a few. Sandra Taylor is truly an executive who is working to make the world a better place, from the top down.