Introduction

I am honored to step into the role of Chief Executive Officer at ScottMadden and build on the legacy of our longtime CEO and current Chairman, Brad Kitchens. In so many ways, Brad embodied and defined “the ScottMadden way,” including the values that guide our approach to corporate responsibility. Throughout my 21-year tenure with the firm, I’ve had the chance to wear many hats. This includes leading two market-facing practices, as well as leading our corporate teams when we launched our first Corporate Responsibility Report seven years ago. I have seen firsthand how corporate responsibility is embedded in the way we serve our clients, support our people, and invest in our communities.

At ScottMadden, we are committed to ensuring corporate responsibility guides our business strategy, operations, and culture. For us, corporate responsibility means much more than environmental sustainability. It is also about our people and the quality of our relationships. This work is grounded in our core values of service, accountability, respect, trust, and inclusion.

This report details the actions we took in 2025 to address important issues that are material to our business operations and stakeholders. Most notably, we successfully executed on our leadership succession planning efforts launched in 2022, ensuring continuity across our leadership team and practice areas. We also strengthened our environmental reporting by refining our greenhouse gas emissions methodology to better reflect our corporate footprint. We saw increased participation across all our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and maintained strong relationships with our Community Partner Organizations (CPOs) by facilitating numerous volunteer opportunities and supporting the communities where we live and work. Last but certainly not least, our Data Privacy & Cybersecurity team continued to focus on improving our security training curriculum and managing emergent cyber risks.

Thank you for taking the time to read our report.