The event was moderated by Jennifer Flowers, Founder and CEO of Accreditation Guru and sponsored by The Business Council of Westchester held at the Crowne Plaza White Plains. The discussion on best practices in social responsibility attracted 125 business leaders, the largest turnout for the recurring event in council history.
“The power breakfast was a huge success with a record turnout,” said Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester. “The enthusiastic response to this excellent program underscores our vibrant and caring business community here in Westchester. It was wonderful to see our members connect about this important topic and think about plans for even greater impact into the future.”
Distinguished panel members included Craig Heard, President and CEO of Gateway Outdoor Advertising; Allison Madison, President, Madison Approach Staffing, Inc.; Sean P. Murphy, Vice-President, Murphy Brothers Contracting, Inc.; Gene Pell, CEO Pell Wealth Partners and Doug Singer, Founder of Falcon & Singer, PC.
Key themes discussed included factors in determining a social responsibility program that makes sense for individual businesses. The proceedings also featured a lively discussion about effectively promoting CSR efforts, how to utilize internal reports to track results, methods for aligning pragmatic goals and passion, the best way to allocate time and resources, fostering communications between donors and businesses and the effects of social responsibility programs on a company’s culture, identity and employee retention.
“The presentation featured a dynamic conversation with a wide variety of social responsibility initiatives brought forward by an involved panel,” said Flowers. “The Q and A session, in particular, could have continued much longer because there was so much interest in not just the CSR initiatives discussed, but also many ideas for socially responsible projects in the future.”
Photo: From left, Sean Murphy of Murphy Brothers Contracting Inc, Maria Lopez of Tompkins Mahopac Bank; Manny Correia of Tompkins Mahopac Bank; Charlie Dumas of Tompkins Mahopac Bank; Jennifer Flowers of Accreditation Guru, Inc; BCW Vice President of Membership & Programs Sara James; Allison Madison of Madison Approach Staffing; Geri Pell of Pell Wealth Partners; Doug Singer of Falcon & Singer PC; and Craig Heard of Gateway Outdoor Advertising.