Replay the March 14, 2022 event (viewing time 01:14:16)
A Virtual Conversation on Socially Responsible Investing
Shareholder Engagement in Action: A Conversation with the Coca-Cola® Company
Few organizations have been as successful as The Coca-Cola Company in developing relationships and engaging with faith-based investors. With a determined focus to address the environmental, social, and governance issues investors find important, they have taken a concerted approach to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion practices throughout their business.
Hear from leaders at The Coca-Cola Company and shareholder advocates discuss how shareholder engagement can not only advance important values at the forefront of faith-based investors’ minds, but also enhance shareholder value.
Opening Prayer
The Reverend Clayton D. Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group
Welcoming Remarks
Mary Kate Wold (moderator)
CEO and President
Church Pension Group
Panel Conversation
Lori Billingsley
Global Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
The Coca-Cola Company
Mary Minette
Director of Shareholder Advocacy
Mercy Investment Services
Mark Preisinger
Director of Corporate Governance
The Coca-Cola Company
Christopher Rowe, CFA
Managing Director, Investments
Church Pension Group
Opening Prayer
The Rev. Clayton Crawley
Chief Church Relations Officer
Church Pension Group
The Reverend Clayton Crawley is Executive Vice President and Chief Church Relations Officer. He is responsible for strengthening CPG’s ties with the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the General Convention, and other groups and stakeholders around The Episcopal Church. He joined CPG in 1999.
Previously, Fr. Crawley led CPG’s technology program and served as Chief Information Officer. Prior to this, he was the Associate Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Palo Alto, California. He has more than 25 years of ordained ministry experience and currently serves as a non-stipendiary priest at St. Bartholomew's Parish and Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City.
He holds an MDiv from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
Welcoming Remarks and Moderator
Mary Kate Wold
Chief Executive Officer and President
Church Pension Group
Mary Kate Wold serves as the CEO and President and board member of the Church Pension Group (CPG), a pension and financial services company that serves The Episcopal Church. She has held leadership positions in the financial services, pharmaceutical and healthcare, legal, and government sectors, including serving on the boards of numerous organizations.
Prior to joining CPG, Ms. Wold was Senior Vice President, Finance, and a Principal Corporate Officer of Wyeth, one of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical companies, where she provided direction across a spectrum of Wyeth’s business and finance operations. Before Wyeth, she was a partner and chaired the tax practice group of Shearman & Sterling, one of the world’s leading law firms, advising global clients on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Earlier in her career, she served in the United States Department of the Treasury as a member of the Office of International Tax Counsel, where she negotiated the first income tax treaty between the United States and China.
Ms. Wold has served on numerous boards of both for-profit and non-profit organizations. She is currently a board member of Nucleus RadioPharma, Inc., a company modernizing the production of radiopharmaceuticals for cancer patients. She also sits on the board of The Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research institution dedicated to the discovery of genomic solutions to cancer and other human diseases, and she is a board member of the Burke Neurological Institute, an academic and neurological research organization affiliated with Weill Cornell Medicine.
She serves on the vestry of Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City and on its investment committee. She is the former chair of the Church Benefits Association, a national industry association of faith-based benefits organizations, and is a former director and chair of a publicly traded medical-device company. Her professional affiliations include membership in the Women’s Forum of New York and Women Corporate Directors.
A native of North Dakota, Ms. Wold attended Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, from which she graduated summa cum laude and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School. She holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.
Panelists
Lori Billingsley
Global Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
The Coca-Cola Company
Lori George Billingsley is the Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer for The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC). In this role, she leads the company’s DEI Center of Excellence, all directed to enable a more engaged global workforce, mirror the markets served, and support a more inclusive culture to best position the employees of the company to drive growth.
She has been with the company for 20 years, having spent most of them in a variety of roles with increasing responsibility within Public Affairs and Communications. Most recently, she was the Vice President of Community and Stakeholder Relations for Coca-Cola North America. Lori has over 30 years of public affairs, issues communications, community and stakeholder relations, and diversity, equity and inclusion experience in developing and implementing breakthrough strategic initiatives that meet organizational goals, target audience needs and produce results. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, she led her own public relations consultancy, LG Communications; was a vice president at Porter/Novelli, a leading public relations firm where she co-founded their Multicultural Communications and Alliance Building practices; and a senior public affairs specialist for the District of Columbia Government’s Office of Human Rights and Minority Business.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD), the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (Chair), NAACP Foundation, ColorComm, The Coca-Cola Foundation and Arete Executive Women of Influence. She formerly served on the Boards of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, United Way of Greater Atlanta, Atlanta Mission and Leadership Atlanta. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Director’s (NACD) Center for Inclusive Governance Advisory Council, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Partnering for Racial Justice in Business Advisory Council, WEF’s Community of Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officers, Howard University School of Communications Board of Visitors and the former Co-Chair of American University’s Women’s Network. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and Co-Chair of the TCCC’s Political Action Committee.
Lori is a featured speaker globally and has received numerous national awards, including the Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement from Howard University, PUSH for Excellence, Dr. MLK Jr. Corporate Award, Atlanta Business Chronicle Top Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Atlanta Business League’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence, Academy of Women Achievers’ YWCA of Greater Atlanta, Inaugural Bravo! Award for Diversity and Inclusion from the Hispanic Public Relations Association, Chairman’s Circle Leadership Award from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Inc., Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Order of the Phoenix Award and is a Georgia PRSA Hall of Fame Inductee.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in public relations at Howard University and her Master of Arts in public communications at American University. In 2019, she completed a 13-month Executive Leadership Experience Program at Harvard Business School; and in 2021, she completed Stanford University Graduate School of Business Directors’ Consortium. Lori is an ordained minister.
Mary Minette
Director of Shareholder Advocacy
Mercy Investment Services
Mary Minette joined Mercy Investment Services as director of shareholder advocacy in 2016. Previously, she was director of environmental education and advocacy for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Washington Office. During that time, she served on the Climate Change Advisory Group for the ACT Alliance, as president of the board of Creation Justice Ministries and a member of the board and executive committee for the National Farm Worker Ministry.
Prior to joining the ELCA, Mary worked for several environmental organizations, serving as vice president of Earth Day Network, legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, and staff attorney with Audubon’s endangered species and trade and environment programs.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University and a JD from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. She is a member of the bar in California and the District of Columbia.
Mark Preisinger
Director of Corporate Governance
The Coca-Cola Company
Mark Preisinger is Director of Corporate Governance for The Coca-Cola Company. His primary responsibilities include coordinating engagement between the Company and many of its institutional and individual shareowners, with a primary focus on corporate governance, environmental and social issues.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Atlantic American Corporation (Nasdaq- AAME), an insurance holding company. He also serves on the New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Advisory Board; on the Advisory Board for the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at the Columbia Law School; on the CII General Members’ Advisory Council.
Mark is a past member of the Board of Governors of the International Corporate Governance Network; the IRRC Institute; has been Co-Chairman of the Council of Institutional Investors and listed on the NACD 100 most influential people in the boardroom.
He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1984.
Christopher Rowe, CFA
Managing Director, Investments
Church Pension Group
Christopher Rowe is a Managing Director of CPG. He is responsible for leading CPG’s socially responsible investment engagement strategy and outreach initiatives. He works to build relationships with companies in which CPG invests, peer organizations, the Episcopal Church, and other stakeholders with similar values. Additionally, he works on behalf of the Chief Investment Officer to oversee various aspects of administration for the Investments Department, including communications and compliance.
Prior to CPG, Christopher was Chief of Staff to the CEO of PGIM, Prudential Financial’s asset management business, where he was responsible for wide-ranging activities, including business administration, external relations, and sustainability. Earlier in his career he worked directly with institutions and faith-based investors on strategies for integrating values with investments.
He received a BA in economics from Haverford College and an MBA in finance from New York University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.