Sandy Nessing, AEP managing director of Sustainability and Environment, Safety and Health Strategy & Design, discussed stakeholder engagement at the National Grassroots Conference held in January 2011.

1. Stakeholder Engagement:
Avoid It At Your Own Risk
Sandy Nessing
Managing Director, Sustainability and ESH Strategy & Design
National Grassroots Conference – Key West, Florida
January 2011
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2. Stakeholder
engagement is at
the foundation of
a sustainable
business strategy.
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3. The Stakeholder Revolution
Everyone is a stakeholder
Expectations are high
◦ Profits and positive societal contributions
Transparency reigns supreme
◦ Information is power and you control the story
◦ Eliminate misperceptions
◦ Build trust, credibility
Avoid shareholder resolutions
◦ 363 filed in 2010
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4. What’s At Stake
Profits
Customers
Public support
Competitiveness
Opportunities for innovation and growth
Reputation
Trust and credibility
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5. It Takes Courage And Leadership
Know your material issues and focus on those
Be willing to listen, with positive intent
Bring the right people to the table
◦ A balanced conversation with many viewpoints
Management commitment is important
◦ Is your CEO willing to engage?
Follow-through is critical
◦ Are you walking the talk?
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6. Not Everyone Gets It At First
They didn’t see the connection between
stakeholder engagement and impact to ROI.
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7. AEP: Engaging With Coal Suppliers
Coal always among top 3 stakeholder issues
Ongoing discussions led to commitment for survey
◦ Environmental, safety and health performance
Followed up with stakeholder meeting
Brought suppliers face-to-face with NGOs for the first time
◦ Passionate but respectful engagement
Surprised at what we learned – as were NGOs
◦ Dispelled commonly-held misperceptions of coal industry
◦ Clearer picture of the performance of our suppliers
◦ Allowed AEP to begin laying the groundwork with stakeholders
for a transformation of its fuel portfolio
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8. It’s All About Relationships
Will they be there when you need them most?
Do you have a platform for discussion,
collaboration, innovation?
Stakeholder engagement is the
new business imperative.
Can you afford not to do it?
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9. Questions?
Sandy Nessing
Managing Director – Sustainability & ESH Strategy and Design
smnessing@aep.com
614-716-2570
Follow me on Twitter -- @Watts4U
www.AEPsustainability.com
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