Sandra TaylorSpeaker and Booking Agent Information

Sandra Taylor, who served as Starbucks' senior vice president of corporate social responsibility from 2003 to 2008, transformed one of the world's most profitable businesses into one of the most progressive.

She helped transform the world's leading coffee retailer into a shining beacon of not only performance and profits, but also for socially responsible business, whether it was supporting disaster relief, overseeing the Starbucks Foundation, implementing sustainability standards, or designing social investment programs all over the world.

Sandra Taylor, who is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities, discusses how compassion, conscience, and altruism may lead to innovation, change, and, ultimately, better business. There is no one who is a greater, braver, or a more ardent supporter of corporate social responsibility.

Bold Practices, Bold Coffee She developed the company's ground-breaking coffee-buying guidelines—Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices—paying premium rates for high-quality coffee to some of the world's poorest coffee growers, in addition to overseeing all of Starbucks' CSR activities. Taylor's ideas aided in environmental protection, biodiversity preservation, and socioeconomic benefits for local people.

In Central America, India, and Africa, she also planned and directed social investment initiatives in education, health, income creation, skills training, and access to safe drinking water. She was in charge of the company's award-winning CSR annual report, which comes as no surprise. The foundation for long-term sustainability is laid at the top.

Taylor is the founder and president of Sustainable Business International LLC, a consultancy firm she founded in February 2008. Taylor worked for Eastman Kodak Company as vice president and director of public affairs before joining Starbucks. She held global responsibility for public relations, international trade policy, and corporate citizenship as a corporate officer.

Taylor has held senior leadership roles at ICI Americas Inc., the American division of Imperial Chemical Industries Plc. (a London-based chemical corporation), as well as a legal assistant post in the US Senate. She also worked for the US Department of State as a foreign service officer.

She serves on the boards of directors of the National Center for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Women's Leadership Board, and the American and African Businesswomen's Alliance (AABWA), to mention a few.