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Written By: Cameron Welter, Director at Empactful Advisors In large, complex organizations, corporate affairs teams are expected to mitigate risk, strengthen reputation, and shape the external environment -- all while stewarding multimillion-dollar budgets across sponsorships, events, social investments, and community partnerships. But when governance is unclear, decision rights are ambiguous, or spending is rooted in legacy commitments rather than strategy, even a well-inten

Written By: Kirsten Thorne, former Chief Strategist for Corporate Affairs, Chevron and Jimmy Leppert, Co-Founder of Empactful Advisors Most CEOs will admit that their calendars are filled with competing priorities: earnings, operations, talent, innovation, strategy. Corporate reputation often makes the list only when something goes wrong. A crisis hits, and suddenly communications, government relations, or stakeholder engagement are top of mind. But the smartest CEOs don’t wa

Written By: Kirsten Thorne, former Chief Strategist for Corporate Affairs, Chevron and Jimmy Leppert, Co-Founder of Empactful Advisors In today’s business environment, every decision a company makes is under public scrutiny. Stakeholders, regulators, employees, and investors are all watching – not only what you do, but how and why you do it. This reality has elevated the role of corporate affairs from a support function to a strategic enabler. Too often, we see companies fail