Alison has 20 years of experience helping organizations develop and implement sustainability and communications strategies. As Director of Reporting Strategy, Alison leads BuzzWord’s reporting strategy practice, including materiality analyses, audience analyses and competitor benchmarking. She also excels at helping clients navigate the increasingly complex landscape of reporting frameworks (including those of the Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) and ESG raters and rankers. In addition to these focus areas, she has years of experience developing sustainability communications and managing projects.

Alison has a solid understanding of the key sustainability issues and public debates in many industries, including automotive, banking, food and beverage, hospitality and energy. She has helped numerous companies develop and implement sustainability reporting strategies, including Apache Corporation, Eli Lilly, Edison International, Ford Motor Company, Hess Corporation, Hyatt, JPMorgan Chase, Keurig Dr Pepper, Lockheed Martin, Smithfield Foods and Southwestern Energy.

Alison has a Ph.D. in conservation and consumer behavior from the University of Montana, an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan’s Ross Business School and a M.S. in resource management from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. She lives in Missoula, Montana.

Fun fact: Alison spent a lot of time around horses in her youth, working on a dude ranch and even teaching her horse to play soccer.

With more than a decade of corporate reporting experience, Carson loves nothing more than benchmarking competitor reports to find best practices; helping companies implement materiality analyses that can reveal reporting priorities; and ensuring conformance with reporting standards and frameworks (i.e., he makes the indexes). His experience developing and writing report content includes work for Citi, the Coca-Cola Company, Edison International, Smithfield Foods and Southwestern Energy.

In addition to his reporting work, Carson leads or supports extended producer responsibility programs in the Pacific Northwest that reduce the impacts of multiple products throughout their lifecycle, including electronics, paint and carpet. He also works as an auditor for several sustainability standards. Carson majored in biology at Pomona College and earned an M.E.M. at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

Fun fact: After his freshman year of college, Carson had a summer job at Victoria’s Secret.

Chris is a researcher, writer, and strategist with more than 15 years of experience on the front lines of corporate sustainability and the circular economy. He has led research, strategy, stakeholder engagement, and reporting engagements with leading companies in numerous industries, frequently maintaining client relationships for many years. He is an exceptional systems thinker and analyst, skilled at seeing the connections between micro- and macro-scale issues, understanding the perspectives of diverse stakeholders, and crafting programs and approaches to unlock greater value for all concerned. Now an independent contractor, he was previously US Director for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and a senior consultant and Research Director at SustainAbility.

As Account Director at Buzzword, Elizabeth leads projects and strategy for companies communicating their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities.

Prior to Buzzword, Elizabeth spent seven years leading Citigroup’s strategic communications for its ESG efforts including issues related to climate, diversity and inclusion, racial equity,  and community development.  She also has a deep understanding of impact investing, having managed communications and marketing for the global non-profit Acumen Fund for several years before joining Citi.

Elizabeth spent the early part of her career managing multi-stakeholder communications campaigns for global companies in industries including financial services, consumer products, media, non-profit and more. She spent seven years at the global advisory firm Brunswick Group and started her career at boutique financial services PR firm Sloane & Co.

Elizabeth holds a B.A. from Villanova University. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four boys.

Fun fact: Elizabeth is an avid hiker and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2010 with a non-profit organization called Kilimanjaro Initiative.

Heather has more than 12 years of experience in-house and externally in sustainability strategy, stakeholder engagement, reporting and project management in North America and Europe. Heather is equally adept at thinking strategically and digging into the finer details, and is known for building long-term client relationships. A recent addition to the BuzzWord team, Heather has worked at Deloitte, Tim Hortons, the Retail Council of Canada, SustainAbility and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility.

Heather holds a B.Com. with Distinction in Marketing from McGill University and an MBA with Honours in Sustainability from Schulich School of Business, York University. Heather lives in Toronto and enjoys spending time with her family, reading and writing. She also volunteers on the Board of Directors for the Mimico Residents Association.

Fun fact: Heather has a life goal of visiting every Frank Lloyd Wright building and Chinatown in the world.

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Jay Moye is an award-winning writer, editor, multimedia storyteller and brand journalist who has spent the last 20+ years creating and curating authentic, compelling content for companies, organizations, publications and leaders.

From 2012-2019, Jay served as global editor-in-chief of Coca-Cola Journey, The Coca-Cola Company’s pioneering digital magazine and owned media channel. In this role, he led global editorial strategy and content development for the platform, bringing to life the stories behind the company's brands, business, people and priorities.

Jay has written for a range of companies throughout his career, including General Electric (GE), AT&T, Amazon and American Express. An avid musician, he has a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Asheville, N.C.

Jessica feels just as at home working on a tricky piece of prose as she does creating a schedule for a challenging deadline. A balance between precision and flexibility – with a healthy dose of persistence – helps her meet the individual needs of each project. Jessica has more than 20 years of professional communications experience in both large and small organizations and has spent more than a decade honing an expertise in sustainability-focused projects. With strong writing and editing skills and a detailed, thorough approach to project management, she is an effective collaborator for clients looking for transparent, compelling reporting about their corporate responsibility activities. She has worked with BuzzWord since 2013 to support major financial services clients and others such as Eli Lilly, Keurig Dr Pepper, Nike. Jessica holds an M.A. in English studies from Western Washington University.

Fun fact: As a Pacific Northwest native, Jessica finds overcast days the perfect time to indulge her reading habit. Lucky for her, she lives just outside Portland, Oregon, where you can find an independent bookstore that takes up an entire city block. Heaven.

Lauren has more than a decade of experience in the fields of journalism, communications and sustainable business. At BuzzWord, she has helped large organizations such as PwC and Kellogg Company communicate their corporate responsibility efforts with external audiences. Previously, she worked in communications and program management roles at Chevron Energy Solutions (now Opterra Energy), the renewable energy division of Chevron. After graduating from Brown University with a B.A. in history, Lauren wrote about Persian Gulf economies for a business intelligence publishing house and consultancy based in Istanbul, Turkey, and covered microfinance and social enterprise news for a magazine based in Mumbai, India. As a journalist, she mainly covers environmental issues, and her work has appeared in The Guardian, MIT Technology, Fast Company and other outlets.

Fun fact: Lauren’s less-marketable skills include subscribing to an unreasonable number of magazines and expertly packing a carry-on suitcase for long trips.

Leah founded BuzzWord 22 years ago and nurtured it using an innovative model that focuses on providing value to clients, creating results in the real world and ensuring a satisfying experience for the BuzzWord team. In 2021 she transitioned the management of BuzzWord to talented long-time BuzzWord team members and collaborators.

Leah has more than 30 years of experience in the environmental, ESG and corporate responsibility fields. She has led strategy, disclosure and reporting projects for major U.S. and international companies, including Ford Motor Company, the Coca-Cola Company, Nike and Kellogg Company. Leah began work in the corporate sector at Waste Management, where she led development of the company’s pioneering public environmental reports. She has remained involved in cutting-edge developments in communications and transparency ever since. Leah also previously worked with Business for Social Responsibility and the World Wildlife Fund. She is a graduate of Barnard College and holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is based in the Washington, DC area.

Fun fact: Leah’s first entrepreneurial venture was producing punk rock and reggae shows.

Lorraine has consulted for leading change agents since 2004, informing strategy, transparency and stakeholder dialogue toward a regenerative economy. She has collaborated with the team at BuzzWord since 2010. Her clients have included more than 60 large companies across regions and sectors, including engagements in French and Portuguese.

Lorraine has worked as Associate Director with John Elkington at Volans since 2016 and has held senior positions at SustainAbility and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility. She is a member of the Expert Council of the Future Fit Business Benchmark. Prior to her focus on regenerative economics she worked at WWF Canada in fundraising, at Compuspec (New Zealand) in customer care and Manulife Financial (Canada) in business analysis. She graduated with an Honours B.A. from Mount Allison University and now lives in Montreal, Canada.

Fun fact: For her college thesis, Lorraine wrote an allegorical novella, in German, about modern culture, the Christ Resurrection and a lip-syncing scandal.

As Operations Manager, Melissa Hines oversees the day-to-day business activities of BuzzWord, Inc. A solutions-oriented thinker, strategic communicator, and champion of culture, Melissa sits at the nexus of people,process and performance, enabling BuzzWord to deliver to its clients while enhancing its operational and staff capabilities.

Melissa brings a decade of professional administrative, human resources and operations management experience to her role. Prior to joining BuzzWord, Melissa worked as Human Resource Manager at Race Forward, a national nonprofit working to advance racial equity, and as People Operations Manager at SustainAbility, a think tank dedicated to advancing corporate leadership on environmental, social and governance issues.

Melissa holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of San Diego, is a Certified Professional of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM-CP) and is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher.

Fun Fact: Melissa grew up competing in alpine ski racing and is an avid skier to this day.

Nora Isaacs is a seasoned writer, editor, journalist and author who brings a wealth of editorial experience to the BuzzWord team.

Nora partners closely with teams to envision, and then bring to life, compelling corporate sustainability reports. By asking the right questions, seeing the big picture, thinking visually and articulating complex concepts in an accessible way, she helps tell the stories that matter to an organization. Her BuzzWord clients have included Edison International, Nike, Booking.com and JPMorgan Chase. Over her career, she has worked as a communications specialist, editorial director, developmental editor and strategist for organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield of California, the University of California, Berkeley, and others. Nora is also an experienced book editor and author, and her journalism has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Nora received her master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Fun fact: Nora lives in Berkeley, California, with her family of four humans plus two dogs, two cats and a California kingsnake.

As Account Director at Buzzword, Rebecca leads projects and strategy for companies communicating their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities.

Rebecca is a leader in sustainability reporting and communications with deep experience working collaboratively to execute data- and purpose- driven reporting that support business strategy. She has nearly 15 years of experience supporting reporting for companies including UPS, Shaw Industries, BBVA USA (now PNC) and RWC.

Early in her career, Rebecca did communications work for non-profits before joining the Public Relations team at UPS. While at UPS, she supported strategic communications strategies for new products, technology, international trade, the holiday shipping season, and The UPS Foundation.

She holds an M.S. in Public Relations from Syracuse University and a B.A. in Media Studies from Ithaca College. She lives in Georgia with her family and their unruly rescue dog.

Fun fact: Rebecca has completed two Olympic distance triathlons as part of Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Robin loves to tell the sustainability stories of BuzzWord’s clients, translating their successes – as well as their challenges – into engaging narratives. Her 25+ years of professional writing and editing experience in corporate communications and journalism has made her a key player on the BuzzWord team for well over a decade. With her roots in daily journalism, Robin has been a primary writer and/or project manager for the sustainability reports of a broad spectrum of major multinational companies, including Comcast NBCUniversal, Smithfield Foods, PwC, Ford Motor Company, Kellogg Company, Keurig Dr Pepper and Eli Lilly.

In addition to her work with BuzzWord, Robin is an experienced public relations professional skilled in internal and external messaging. Her reporting career included six years with the Boston bureau of The Associated Press, where she covered everything from major breaking news stories and business features to educational analyses and human interest pieces. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College, magna cum laude, and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Fun fact: In recent years, Robin has developed an addiction to CrossFit, an obsession with dahlias and a thirst for natural wines.

Valerie, BuzzWord's CEO, has nearly 25 years of experience advising on corporate responsibility strategy, reporting and communications. A strategic thinker and hands-on doer, Valerie combines the ability to see the big picture and frame issues with a ferocious attention to detail and a client service ethos. A skilled writer who can convey complex ideas in clear and compelling prose, Valerie has authored dozens of corporate responsibility and sustainability reports and other materials for clients, including Blue Shield of California, Comcast NBCUniversal, Darden Restaurants, Ford Motor Company, JPMorgan Chase, Novelis, S&P Global, SeaWorld and others.

Valerie has been a part of the BuzzWord team since 2006. Previously, she worked in-house as Chevron’s Corporate Responsibility Coordinator and in consulting and research roles at Business for Social Responsibility. Valerie has a master’s in international public policy from University College London and a bachelor’s from Boston College. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband and three kids.  

Fun fact: When she was young, Valerie was the only girl on her football team and dreamed of being the first woman to play in the NFL.