Laura Gallagher
Global Head of Corporate Citizenship, AIG
President, AIG Foundation
As a long-time corporate citizenship professional, I am often asked about how I’ve faced career challenges, taken risks, and navigated a (not always clear!) path to senior leadership. My response includes details about my dedication to continuous learning, embracing new opportunities, and the strong network of incredibly knowledgeable colleagues I have met along the way. ACCP has provided ALL these things for me, in addition to a unique and enduring camaraderie among experts in the field.
Thank Goodness For My ACCP Family!
Most corporate citizenship teams are small, and we often do not have additional in-house expertise to rely on. Luckily, we have an ACCP community that is overflowing with knowledge and members who are more than willing to share it! There have been countless times when our team at AIG has said, “Let’s ask ACCP,” and we always receive a useful answer from the ACCP staff and our amazing counterparts at other companies. These responses have included incredibly insightful conversations, detailed checklists, data driven approaches, shared documents, customizable templates, and humorous stories about completely failed projects that should never be replicated – all shared in a true spirit of collaborative generosity.
I encourage others to join ACCP’s network because it is an organization of true corporate citizenship practitioners who have the best expertise and are happy to share it. If you want to know how to get something done from the people who’ve already done it, team up across industries and geographies to make a meaningful impact, and ask questions that you can’t ask anyone else, this is the organization for you. We all benefit from ACCP’s growth, as increased membership brings diversity of skills and insights, in addition to more opportunities to share best practices and collaborate. ACCP provides a forum to deepen our expertise in a supportive environment where everyone has an opportunity to learn, grow, and teach others.
Where is the Manual?!
As a mother of two young children, I have recently found myself looking for the “parenting during a pandemic” manual. There doesn’t seem to be one, so I’ve repeatedly said and modeled the values that I think will help our family and community not just survive but thrive. “Be brave, keep learning, help one another.” Ultimately, this is exactly what ACCP is helping me, and many, many others, do in our professional lives. I am grateful to belong to an organization that is dedicated to the advancement of our field and provides a space for us to truly work together and learn from one another to deepen the positive and meaningful impact our companies are making in society. 2020 presented challenges like no other, and I am confident that I will continue to face them bravely with help from ACCP, and I will certainly help other members do the same!
Get Involved
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