Brenda Cucci, bio & cv

Senior Managing Partner IBM

Global Sustainability

Brenda Cucci leads IBM’s go to market strategy for Sustainability, ESG and Responsible Business.

Brenda has been in the technology space for over 20 years including HP, Cisco, Xerox, Unisys, Accenture and now IBM. Her roles at these companies have stretched all aspects of business. From engineering and product development to financial operations and contract negotiations to sales and leadership.

In her current role as Senior Managing Partner at IBM, Brenda works with each part of IBM’s business to help incorporate Sustainable practices into each area of her client’s business. This includes how business impacts the well-being of our planet and societies via carbon release, water waste, supply chain inefficiencies, diversity equity and inclusion, and its leadership makeup including their boards.

Buildings typically represent as much as 40% of a company’s carbon emissions making this a much-needed focus. The physical infrastructures of not only buildings, but EV charging and energy distribution systems need more efficiency and reach. Corporate waste of materials, food, water and energy consumption along with implementation of a circular supply chain is also a critical area of focus.

Companies play a critical role in the impact of social good in the communities they are present. Whether it includes a more diverse work environment, better products and services for their customers or for the community and society at large companies both big and small can and should work to make a difference. Without a focus of ongoing governance of these initiatives and their compliance with local, state and federal mandates along with how executive teams and boards run the business we will not achieve the sustainability goals that 120 coutries have now signed up to deliver.

At Accenture, Brenda worked with C-level leadership across the corporate spectrum to develop executable plans in the end to end sustainability and responsible business environments including both short and long-term goals. This included guiding clients on specific net zero carbon activities, incorporating responsible supply chains, introducing ways for infrastructures to become more sustainable and “green” infrastructures, developing ESG reporting platforms that incorporated the data necessary for executives to measure and report company status to financial and governmental institutions.

Brenda also works with executive teams to expand and develop their company brand with respect to sustainable actions that are completed or underway that resonate with investors, customers, and employees. Building sustainable platforms that will lead our country into the “sustainable revolution” is her main interest. This includes physical infrastructures, software platforms and organizational alignment to ensure that businesses and governments are focused on the complete scope of Sustainability and ESG imperatives. Hiring and training the right leaders to institute a truly responsible business environment is crucially important which is why Brenda is working with universities and corporate HR departments for developing curriculums and recruiting. Brenda is passionate about is how corporations of all sizes can use their voice to help educate their employees on necessary actions for a more sustainable focus on a day-to-day basis.

Brenda is an avid sports fanatic and has played and coached basketball, soccer and volleyball. She has an BA and MA from MSU; her husband has an MA and her daughter is a proud graduate of the MSU Eli Broad Business school in Supply Chain. Their youngest is a volleyball player at Lake Forest College in Illinois and is as big a Spartan fan as them all! Together they have 5 children and 5 grandchildren. They are long term football season ticket holders and attend every MSU sport they can. She is an Executive Board Member for Michigan State Communications Arts and Sciences Alumni Board.

Brenda and her husband are part of a program called Safe Families which provides food, shelter and love to children who are in need. Brenda currently splits her time between Wrigleyville in Chicago and Pentwater, MI and will soon spend time in Sarasota Florida for several of the winter months.

Brenda serves on the executive committee of Off the Street Club (OTSC). The club serves more than 3,000 kids in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country, West Garfield Park where crime, gangs and drugs are a daily threat. OTSC is a place where kids living in the neighborhood have a safe place to learn, laugh and play without worry. It is a place where kids can truly find hope. It gives kids a safe place for Casual Joy – simple childhood moments most of us took for granted.