UPS, the world’s largest package delivery company and a supply chain services provider, set up the above structure to ensure every stakeholder was represented in its first sustainability report, published in 2003. The structure, starting at the top with “Management Committee sponsors,” including John Beystehner, chief operating officer (who also serves as corporate compliance officer), Lea Soupata, executive VP of HR and Allen Hill, chief legal counsel, also ensures that sustainability is embedded in every part of the business.
At the next level are the project leaders, Steve Donovan, VP of compliance and internal audit, and Mike Herr, VP of environmental affairs. “Corporate sustainability is a cross-functional process for reporting and company activities,” Herr says. “Because the compliance department has an overarching responsibility, it made sense to have that group take the lead in putting the report together.” The two project managers are from the environmental affairs and compliance departments. They bring all of the groups together and coordinate the reporting.
The section below the project managers represents every department in the 384,000-employee organization. “We wanted to be inclusive of all departments, including international and subsidiary companies,” Herr says. All of the departments are involved with specific key performance indicators that UPS reports against. The project managers have a nominated senior department manager within each function to provide the necessary information. The public relations manager writes and designs the report.
Figure 1: Organizational chart showing where CR is positioned at UPS
My Cart 