Q3 2026 Organizational Update
It’s a busy time for the Future 500 team, as we advance several fun, interesting projects with existing and new partners. The projects involve understanding evolving stakeholder expectations and who and how to engage on transparency and reporting, AI and the energy transition, and advanced recycling for apparel, e-waste, and packaging. We continue sharing our thought leadership at events and in our recent articles on AI labor disruptions and partisan funding toward corporate accountability. We’ve also had several board changes and staff promotions. So read on…and don’t miss our new short videos featuring Erik Wohlgemuth and Bill Shireman in conversation with Van Jones!Future 500 Corporate Affinity Network (CAN) Update
Staff & Board Planning Retreat
We held our annual staff-board planning retreat, combining forest hiking, kayaking, and focused work to outline our 2027 plans. We considered global geopolitics and regional approaches to regulating companies' efforts to manage financially material social and environmental risks, as well as the near-term implications of the pending U.S. midterm election. As Future 500 starts its 4th decade, corporate sustainability faces challenging political and legal risks; our role as a trusted adviser is more critical than ever. We are grateful for the stability and trust people place in our team and mission. Our work is rarely boring!
Our team wrote articles on how civil society leaders are addressing the implications of AI adoption on jobs, and another on trends in philanthropic funding for competing political priorities.
The Hidden Costs of Cost Savings: Layoffs and Labor Transitions, by Gleeson Ryan
The Cross-Partisan Cross-Hairs, by Erik Wohlgemuth & Gleeson Ryan, published in the Corporate Responsibility (CPR) Hub.
We’re proactively attending new events to broaden our learning and expand our networks of influence. Some key takeaways from attending these events.
This past June, our CEO, Erik Wohlgemuth, participated in the Sun Valley Forum in Idaho, an invite-only event created by Aimee Christensen, a systems thinker who curates an agenda and audience of leading influencers from diverse disciplines - philanthropists, investors, NGOs, ranchers and farmers, indigenous leaders, tech entrepreneurs, and renowned musicians. Aimee and her team curate an environment conducive to building substantive connections that enable collaborative impact, evidenced by many examples of positive impact that have emerged from prior Forums. We collaborated with Aimee and the Global Methane Hub on a panel focused on reducing methane pollution from organic waste, a growing problem worldwide for which we now have economic solutions.
Gleeson Ryan attended two conferences in August, including REAL IMPACT Houston, where energy companies and experts debated the challenges and opportunities of hardening the U.S. power grid, developing Texas’ data center infrastructure, and expanding renewable energy development in a challenging market environment. At the Baker Institute’s Energy, Technology, and Grid Resilience Conference, she heard perspectives from policy experts, business leaders, and the Department of Energy’s Undersecretary Kyle Haustveit about AI, energy security, and the continued role of natural gas in domestic power generation.
As we near Q4 of 2026, our team has started our annual process of forecasting critical trends we expect will shape corporate accountability in 2027, based partly on the mid-term U.S. electoral outcome. Stay tuned for our next Force for Good Forecast Report.
U.S. Election Integrity Toolkit for Companies
U.S. companies are navigating rising political risk with people across the partisan spectrum advocating for free and fair elections, an issue of likely importance to all their employees who have a constitutional right to vote. To help companies, a group of organizations across the political spectrum curated a toolkit of vetted resources for companies interested in guiding their employees, communities, and value chain partners in promoting election integrity.
The Climate Resilience Innovative Forum
Our Senior Manager, Gleeson Ryan, and CEO, Erik Wohlgemuth, will attend and lead a panel - Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act: How mandatory disclosure is driving climate action from California to New York - at the Climate Resilience Innovation Forum in New York City, December 2-3. The event will focus on competitive corporate climate strategies for managing risk, reducing costs, improving supply chain resilience, and embracing rigorous product carbon footprinting and accounting to attract preferred investment capital. Hope to see you there.
Innovation Forum’s Sustainable Packaging USA I October 27-28, Chicago
Our VP, Brendon Steele, will be moderating a panel at this year’s Innovation Forum on Sustainable Packaging. This two-day business conference will bring together stakeholders across the packaging and waste value chain to explore how innovation can shift from risk management to value creation.
Participants will explore the practical realities of material choices, design, infrastructure, and collaboration—highlighting how businesses can scale solutions that deliver across environmental, operational, and financial priorities.
As an F500 community member, use the discount code FUTURE50010 at checkout to receive 10% off your conference pass. Register Here!
Future 500 CAN Meeting - Washington, DC, January 26-28, 2027
We’re planning our next corporate working group meeting in Washington, DC, January 26-28. Stay tuned for more details in our social media channels and in future newsletters. It will be an opportune time to meet in DC following the midterm election, with the congressional balance of power up for grabs. The election results will impact the corporate accountability agenda for the next two years. Interested in joining out Corporate Affinity Network (CAN)? Email gryan@future500.org
Board & Staff Transitions
After nine years, Future 500 board member Sabrina Watkins has stepped down. Sabrina gave us substantive knowledge of the energy system and how to help companies identify and manage financially material social and environmental risks. A quick thinker, Sabrina always asked the tough questions with kindness. She will remain a close confidant, on speed dial. Sabrina, thank you for your enduring service to our mission.
We are pleased to welcome Deena Clayton to our board. She leads Energy Programs at Energy Dialogues and previously held senior leadership roles at ConocoPhillips. Deena brings deep knowledge of managing evolving societal expectations for the global energy transition, from engaging First Nations to meeting rising investor and regulatory scrutiny of corporate climate action. We’re excited to work with her.
Watch the Videos: Van Jones Helps Unpack the History and Criticality of Future 500
Future 500 founder and board emeritus Bill Shireman continues to effect positive change, leading an affinity group called Circle America to advocate for circular-economy laws, markets, and culture. In founding Future 500 over 30 years ago, Bill helped pioneer stakeholder engagement methodologies when the prevailing corporate and public affairs teams focused too narrowly on stakeholder management. Future 500’s team developed and iterated methods and tools that enable companies and advocates to engage constructively, and benefited over time as the corporate accountability and assessment industry grew and recognized stakeholder engagement’s strategic importance to shareholder value. As corporate sustainability navigates a major transition, Future 500’s work is now integral to how companies anticipate and manage current and emerging risks through innovation and trust-building for durable profitability.
Check out these two short video conversations with Van Jones, sharing our origin story and looking ahead as we support corporate and civil society leaders in finding common ground to advance solutions together. We’ll roll out new episodes in the weeks ahead.
Bonus: Understand Relationships Better Using the Trust Equation
We came across this short animated video on assessing trust in a relationship by evaluating someone’s credibility, reliability, and your level of intimacy with them. To find more durable, scalable solutions to societal challenges, people must collaborate. Because people can only work at the speed of trust, this video offers a simple framework for assessing and approaching prospective and existing relationships.
