AMCHAM’s CSR Committee hosted a roundtable on community and collaboration with Pyxera Global leadership visiting India on February 12th at the Cisco office in Gurugram (in hybrid mode). Ms. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AMCHAM welcomed members. Mr. Rajesh Varghese, Country Director, Pyxera Global introduced his visiting leadership and encouraged the entire social impact community to think about what is next. The visiting leadership of Pyxera Global included: Ms. Deirdre White, CEO, Mr. Gavin Cepelak, Executive VP, Ms. Peg Willingham, Board Member and Ms. Lynne Weil, Board Member. Committee members gleaned expertise on challenges and opportunities in sustainability, social impact, corporate citizenship and leadership through skills-based volunteering and wisdom for collaboration in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world! Through examples and case studies, the discussion covered organic replication of projects, encouragement to find opportunities in the current chaos, best practices in skills-based programs to meet industry needs and an overall call to action for corporates to boldly think differently in these trying times for the CSR ecosystem.

The interaction was followed by a brief CSR Committee meeting under the leadership of new Co-Chairman, Mr. Rajesh Varghese, Country Director, Pyxera Global. AMCHAM requested members to share inputs on CSR conference themes and any challenges CSR practitioners were currently facing. The committee decided to organize a session on how the apprenticeship act pertains to CSR  with NSDC. Ms. Rohini Kamath, Program Manager, India Cash Grant Program, Cisco, summed up the discussion and thanked the guest speakers for their valuable insights. Representatives from Baker Hughes, Cadence Design Systems, Carelon, Carrier India, Cisco, Childfund India, Digital Green Trust, GE HealthCare, Guardian, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, Johnson & Johnson, Mylan Laboratories Limited, S&P Global, Tecumseh and Vital Strategies participated.