CORPORATE PARTNERS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
2011 YEAR IN REVIEW
The National League of Cities Corporate Partners Program promotes the exchange of ideas between corporate leaders
and the leaders of America's cities in order to strengthen local government, encourage economic competitiveness and
promote corporate civic engagement. NLC's Corporate Partners provide valuable insights on issues facing cities and
towns and offer resources to address those challenges and opportunities. Capstone Corporate Partners are NLC's
premier partners, providing the highest level of financial and in-kind resources to support the organization's mission.
CAPSTONE CORPORATE PARTNERS
CORPORATE PARTNERS
ABOUT THE CORPORATE PARTNERS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
The Corporate Partners Leadership Council services as an advisory body to the NLC Board of Directors. The Council
shares the perspectives of the corporate and not-for-profit sectors and makes recommendations for activities that
promote the exchange of ideas between corporate and city leaders. All Corporate Partner organizations are invited to
participate in the Corporate Partners Leadership Council.
A chair and vice chair for the Corporate Partners Leadership Council are appointed by NLC’s president each year. In
2011, Preston V. Lee, Jr. of Freddie Mac served as Chair and Fred Wacker of the Home Depot Foundation served as
Vice Chair.
Chair
Preston V. Lee, Jr.
Senior Director, Corporate
Relations and Housing Outreach
Freddie Mac
Vice Chair
Fred Wacker
Director and Chief Operating Officer
The Home Depot Foundation
In 2011, the Corporate Partners Leadership Council met three times:
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March 16, in conjunction with the Congressional City Conference in Washington, DC
June 8, summer meeting and dinner with the Board Finance Committee in Washington, DC
November 10, in conjunction with the Congress of Cities & Exposition in Phoenix, AZ
We welcomed Visa as a Capstone Corporate Partner, along with Cigna, Darden, Progress Energy, Safeguard
Properties, U-Haul International, and UR Vehicle Management Solutions as Corporate Partners.
ENGAGING IN NLC
In 2011, the Corporate Partners Program has provided NLC and its members with:
Expert Speakers and Thought Leadership
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At the Congressional City Conference in Washington, DC, on March 14,
sixteen Corporate Partner organizations participated in the launch of the
A.S.K. a Corporate Partner: Answers, Solutions, and Knowledge program.
The participating organizations were: American Institute of Architects,
Black &Veatch, CH2M HILL, Esri, IBM, International Bottled Water
Association, International Council of Shopping Centers, Johnson
Controls, Microsoft, MWH, Safeguard Properties, Siemens, U.S.
Green Building Council, Verizon, Veolia Water, and Wells Fargo. A
total of 46 consultations took place.
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On April 18, Microsoft’s Richard McKinney, Government Technology Advisor, participated in the NLC
webinar Is Cloud Computing Right for Your Community? Leading Practices for Local Officials.
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On May 17, Chris Hoene, Center Director, Research & Innovation, NLC, served as a survey respondent, exert
panelist for a webinar and was quoted in a publication IBM produced on “The Power of Analytics for Public
Sector: Building Analytics Competency to Accelerate Outcomes.”
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At the Board of Directors summer meeting in Charlotte, NC, July 7-9, Capstone Corporate Partners
participated in a discussion about why their organizations engage with NLC. Participating in the
discussion were representatives from ESRI, IBM, ICMA-RC, International Council of Shopping
Centers, The Home Depot Foundation, Siemens and Wells Fargo.
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Tom Phillips, Director, Government Affairs, State and Local, Siemens and Susan Mays, Marketing and
Communications Director, CH2M HILL served on the planning committee for the Congress of Cities
Infrastructure concurrent conference. Mark Johnson, Director, State and Local Government Relations,
Johnson Controls served on the Green Cities concurrent conference planning committee.
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At the Congress of Cities in Phoenix, November 9-12:
- On November 10, experts from fifteen Corporate Partner organizations continued the A.S.K. a
Corporate Partner consultation sessions. The participating organizations were: American
Institute of Architects, CH2M HILL, Cigna, Darden, Esri, ICMA-RC, Institute for Building
Safety and Technology, International Bottled Water Association, Microsoft, Progress
Energy, Safeguard Properties, TASER, Siemens, UR Vehicle Management Solutions, and
Weston Solutions.
- Corporate Partners from AT&T, Black & Veatch, Comcast, ICMA-RC, International Council of
Shopping Centers, MWH, TASER, and Wells Fargo acted as a liaison to one of the seven
policy committees (an idea first presented at the Corporate Partners Leadership Council Meeting
at the 2010 Congressional City Conference).
- In addition, CH2M HILL, IBM, Microsoft, Taser International Inc., U-Haul International, and
Weston Solutions presented workshops in the Exhibitor Solutions Theater.
Resources, Solutions and Case Studies
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In Nation’s Cities Weekly, Corporate Partners shared resources, events and
expertise with over 30,000 newspaper readers. Partner articles included:
- NCW, January 10, CIGNA, “CIGNA to Host Web Meeting on Health Care
Reform”
- NCW, January 10, SunEdison, “SunEdison to Host Solar Power Webinar”
- NCW, January 17, The Home Depot Foundation, “Tacoma, WA and
Burlington, VT, Win Sustainability Awards”
- NCW, April 18, 2011, U.S. Green Building Council, “Webinar to Focus on
LEED for Neighborhood Design”
- NCW, July 18, 2011, Capstone Corporate Partners, “NLC Board Focuses
on Federal Deficit and Local Actions in Face of Tight City Budgets”
- NCW, August 1, 2011, Siemens, “Forums Focus on Need for Investment in Infrastructure”
- NCW, October 3, 2011, Darden, “First Lady Michelle Obama Praises Darden Restaurants’ Plans to
Reduce Calorie, Sodium Footprint”
- NCW, October 3, 2011, Siemens, “Charlotte, N.C., Chicago Host Infrastructure Forums”
- NCW, October 10, American Institute of Architects, “AIA Accepting Applications for Technical
Assistance Program for Sustainable Design”
- NCW, Octber 17, Southwest Airlines, “City Showcase at the Congress of Cities Celebrates Innovations”
- NCW, October 24, IBM, “IBM Announces Grants to Cities”
- NCW, October 24, The Home Depot Foundation, Southwest, and Verizon, “NLC’s Corporate Partners
Making a Footprint in Their Communities”
- NCW, October 31, Johnson Controls, “City Adds Solar Photovoltaic Technology to Bundle of
Sustainability and Green Power Initiatives”
- NCW, November 7, The Home Depot Foundation, “Sustainable Cities Institute Moving to National
League of Cities”
- NCW, December 5, Siemens, “Applications for Siemens Sustainable Community Awards Now Accepted”
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Corporate Partner shared resources on organization profile pages on the NLC website, along with the
new “Corporate Partner Resources” section of the site. These resources include case studies, calculators,
video content, articles, press releases and other valuable resources for cities. The new resource section allows
NLC members to search Corporate Partner resources by company (through profiles) or by topic/issue/solution.
The organizations currently providing resources are: American Institute of Architects, Cigna, Esri, IBM, ICMARC, International Council of Shopping Centers, Johnson Controls, National Association of Water
Companies, Siemens, and U.S. Green Building Council,
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NLC-TV
- At the 2011 Congressional City Conference, Capstone Corporate Partners The Home Depot
Foundation, IBM and Wells Fargo taped interviews with NLC-TV.
- NLC-TV taped coverage at all four Building Cities, Building Futures events, sponsored by Siemens. The
footage totaled 11.5 hours from four cities – Houston on July 14; Los Angeles on July 20; Charlotte on
September 15; and Chicago on September 20.
- At the 2011 Congress of Cities & Exposition, Capstone Corporate Partners Esri, The Home Depot
Foundation, ICMA-RC, Siemens, and Wells Fargo taped interviews.
Financial Support of NLC Programs, Conferences and Events
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In a partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, the foundation committed $500,000 over two years (2010
and 2011) to help build the capacity of NLC’s Sustainability Program. The investment has helped NLC develop a
broad range of sustainability-related publications and resources for city leaders and heightened the visibility of
these issues with members.
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Announced in a NLC press release on January 7, IBM had donated tablet computers to NLC President James
Mitchell, Jr.’s newly formed student policy advisory group.
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In support of the Congressional City Conference in Washington, DC, March 12-16, four Corporate Partners
sponsored events including The Home Depot Foundation ($50,000), IBM ($10,000), Comcast (in kind) and
MWH ($5,000).
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Comcast provided taping time with NLC President James Mitchell, Jr. on March 16 for airing March 21April 3 on Comcast Newsmakers to 48 markets. He also had a second taping on June 15.
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The International Council of Shopping Centers donated booth space and a workshop session to the
NLC Enterprise Program America Downtown at their 2011 annual meeting, May 22-25, in Las Vegas.
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Black & Veatch and AT&T were sponsors of a NLC joint policy committees meeting in Kansas City, MO,
June 2-4.
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NLC and Siemens partnered to produce Building Cities, Building Futures, a national tour with a local focus on
how sustainable infrastructure may best serve as a catalyst for economic competitiveness. The $375,000 direct
investment in the tour made it possible to visit and learn from four cities – Houston on July 14; Los Angeles on
July 20; Charlotte on September 15; and Chicago on September 20.
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At the NLC Joint Policy Committee Meeting, September 8-10 in New Orleans, the American Institute of
Architects sponsored a breakfast ($2,500). Representatives from AT&T, Freddie Mac, the International
Bottled Water Association, National Association of Water Companies, Progress Energy, Wells Fargo, and
Weston Solutions also participated in the meeting and made contributions.
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In support of the Congress of Cities in Phoenix, November 9-12, six Corporate Partners sponsored events
including The Home Depot Foundation ($50,000); ICMA-RC ($50,000); IBM ($10,000); Siemens ($15,000),
Comcast (in kind) and Southwest Airlines (in kind).
In addition, NLC Corporate Partners have connected with NLC leadership and staff through:
Exclusive Opportunities with NLC
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At the 2011 Congressional City Conference in March, the
Corporate Partners Room provided exclusive time with NLC
officers. NLC President James Mitchell, Jr., First Vice
President Ted Ellis, and Second Vice President Marie Lopez
Rogers all spent time meeting with partners during the event.
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On March 16, Carolyn Coleman, Center Director, Federal
Relations, NLC and NLC President James Mitchell, Jr. spoke
to ICMA-RC representatives about cities.
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Partners participated in “Coffee with the President” on May 27,
2011 in Washington, DC. There were representatives from American Institute of Architects, Esri, and the
International Bottled Water Association who had an informal discussion with NLC President James Mitchell, Jr.
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At the 2011 Congress of Cities in November, NLC President James Mitchell, Jr., First Vice President Ted Ellis,
and Second Vice President Marie Lopez Rogers met with partners in the Corporate Partners Room. The
corporate partners in attendance were: Susan Connelly (Darden); Ryan Davids (UR Vehicle Management
Solutions); Robert Fry (Cigna); Sven Hackmann (Siemens); Preston Lee (Freddie Mac); Nathan Nayman
(Visa); Ron Orlando (Comcast); Donovan Pepper (Walgreens); Tom Phillips (Siemens); Eric Rice (IBM); and
Julie Sardie (MWH).
COMING IN 2012
In addition to continuing to provide resources like those outlined above, in 2012, the Corporate Partners plan to:
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Expand A.S.K. a Corporate Partner- increasing connections between Corporate Partners and NLC members to
promote public-private dialogue and build relationships. Partners will answer questions, provide solutions and
share knowledge on a wide range of issues.
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Participate in My NLC- an online portal to engage through NLC.org
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Continue to engage with NLC Committees and Councils- the Corporate Partners will continue their
commitment to serving as a resource to the NLC committees and council and formalize a liaison relationship with
the various NLC groups.
NLC STAFF CONTACTS
Amy Elsbree
Center Director
Public Affairs and Member Relations
202-626-3126
elsbree@nlc.org
Cynthia Cusick
Director
Office of Corporate Programs
202-626-3182
cusick@nlc.org
Wendy Lu
Senior Associate
Corporate Programs
202-626-3174
lu@nlc.org