In early 1999, after working inside McKinsey & Company, The Home Depot, and Georgia-Pacific, I jumped into the dot-com excitement, joining iXL Enterprises as VP of Civic Relations. Those last 18 months developed me personally and professionally in the most intense and entertaining way possible. When the bubble burst, Eric and I had a 3-year-old, a 17-month-old, a 2-month-old, and one more on the way.
Market Demand Revealed
As luck would have it, Frances Katz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was researching changes at iXL. Her article on the front of the business section was sadly titled, “As iXL community relations VP leaves, company outreach shrinks.” Despite our need to unwind commitments, she was complimentary about our work and understood why I needed to resign. By the end of the day, BellSouth and Deloitte called, which exposed a need for Corporate Social Responsibility counsel. Corporate Hartz was born!
15 Years Later
We are grateful for the opportunity to lead clients in Corporate Social Responsibility – creating turnkey profitable strategic business programs for improving the world. Most exciting is investigating a variety of industries (e.g., manufacturing, banking, pharmaceutical, retail, high-tech), with a number of objectives (e.g., cost savings, brand affinity, green operations, talent development, post-merger integration), and seeing the outcomes change people, teams, families, companies, and communities.
Serving BellSouth (now AT&T) as our first client was kismet.
25 years ago, as a recent Penn graduate working in management consulting and volunteering with nonprofits including Hands On Atlanta, I met with many public affair professionals to better understand their field. I recall a formative conversation with Keller Torrey at Southern Bell (became BellSouth, now AT&T) explaining, “If businesses and people want to invest in and move into our territory, we earn more money. It is mission-critical to improve our communities.” I am still grateful for the time and candor she offered me so long ago.
Strategic civic engagement sows the seeds for revenue growth.
Shortly after Corporate Hartz served Deloitte, Arthur Andersen closed. While this was disruptive for all, it provided a catalyst for the firm to reap the benefits of the civic engagement strategies and programs we had put in place. After the dust settled, it was clear that Deloitte gained significant accounts as a direct result of our firm’s work, especially at the partner level. I am grateful that our client yielded tangible financial returns.
Fortune 500 companies have massive impact with nonprofit partners.
In 2004, in the Hartford, CT offices of United Technologies we selected FIRST Robotics as a strategic partner for the technology pillar of our CSR platform. The company immediately got involved with local volunteers and regional underwriting. This year, United Technologies was a program sponsor for the FIRST national robotics championship in St. Louis, MO, with 18,000 students from 40 countries competing in front of 40,000 spectators. I am grateful for sustained educational investment and significant results.
Social Responsibility touches every aspect of smaller businesses.
Working with smaller companies allows us to get a complete picture of their commercial and personal challenges and opportunities. Digital marketing agency, Definition 6 (now led by Jeff Katz) had 70 employees when CEO Michael Kogon asked Corporate Hartz to help. After discussing all aspects of the company, its future, and his role as leader, we created plans to engage and develop employees, and to connect with vendors, customers, and potential clients. I am grateful for transparent clients who empower us to serve them fully.
Collaborating with Subject-Matter-Experts produces superior outcomes.
- With The Hudson Group, Corporate Hartz served Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). We built and syndicated a program (Re:Serves) to reduce franchisees’ costs of hotel renovations and redesigns, while decreasing landfill use, engaging employees, and providing needed goods to civic groups. I am grateful for profitable, multi-functional, sustainable, win-win programs.
- With integrated marketing agency M Booth South, we are working with the newly relocated Mercedes-Benz USA headquarters and its employees to become valued leaders in the volunteer fabric in the Atlanta community. I am grateful to contribute to a client’s cultural renewal.
Leading with an MBA and following with compassion is what defines Corporate Hartz.
- At Arcapita, a private equity and venture capital firm, we connected individual professionals with charities that moved them. Even now, 7 years after we guided Bill Miller (now CEO of CRH Healthcare) to Goodwill of North Georgia, he serves on the Emeritus Board, having recently finished 5 years as the Treasurer and Chair of both the Finance and Investment Committees. I am grateful that his engagement makes a significant impact in their mission.
- At iXL Enterprises, I got a distressed call from a 23-year-old employee in California who was volunteering with our company’s global day of service. “There are used needles in the toy-box,” she cried. Employees were fixing up a homeless shelter for children; she was considerably moved by what she saw; that moment will change her perspective forever. I am grateful that our projects inspire and enable people to grow as individuals.
I am truly grateful that Corporate Hartz has professionally served progressive companies and has confidentially served philanthropic families for 15 years, and continues to do so each and every day.