Tony Calandro is an accomplished leader with more than 25 years of experience in strategic communications and change management. Tony is a trusted advisor known for providing counsel to chief sustainability officers and senior executives across various industry sectors to address their most complex business and societal challenges successfully. In this capacity, he provides guidance for senior company executives to create alignment between their corporate social responsibility initiatives, ESG strategy, and company strategic plan.
Tony has a proven track record of driving transformative change inside companies, helping them to make the business case for action, aligning their internal operations, and filling the role of translator to both inside audiences and outside stakeholder groups important for success. He has worked with many brands and organizations, including AT&T, Natixis Investment Managers, Bank of America, Kellogg, Enterprise, Union Pacific, Biogen, MillerCoors, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Tony was also an advisor to the Business for Social Responsibility organization.
His record of research and published articles on these topics includes:
- Developed and co-published research on employees’ societal expectations of their CEO and company, titled “Employee Activism inside Fortune 1000 companies.”
- Led research and communications of a VOX Global study “Making the Pitch: Selling Sustainability from Inside Corporate America”
- Co-authored with AT&T “Sustainability for Business: A New Global Challenge,” a featured chapter in The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations and Integrated Communication
- Contributed to a Corporate Eco-Forum published report,Show Me the Money: The Business Case for Sustainability
- Led the research and communications for a VOX Global/Pacific Institute study entitled “Bridging Concern with Action: Are U.S. Companies Prepared for Looming Water Challenges?”
- Developed, with the US Chamber of Commerce and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, an executive training program “Creating Transformational Change: Translating Sustainability Inside the C-Suite.”
He also is a periodic contributor to the Huffington Post, providing commentary on the changing role of business in society. Selected articles include:
- The Pope’s Call to Action
- Milton Friedman, RIP: Building the Bridge between Profit and Purpose
- The Dawn of the Employee Activist
Prior to creating Purposeful Strategies, Tony was a Senior Partner at VOX Global, a subsidiary of Fleishman Hillard International, where he chaired the firm’s sustainability practice group.
