Tracy Bame

Freeport-McMoRan

As director of social responsibility at Freeport-McMoRan and president of the Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, Tracy Bame develops strategies and programs for the company to interact with communities. “That’s stakeholder engagement and social investment and working with communities to build wellness and resilience during the life of our operations,” she said.

Being mindful of resources is a hallmark of the company because of the nature of the business. “Mining is a finite resource,” Bame said. “Eventually, the mine will be depleted.”

Accordingly, Freeport-McMoRan works with communities to help them envision their future and identify what resilience looks like. “Community resilience isn’t something you achieve overnight or even in a decade. You have to put those building blocks in place,” Bame said. “Our philosophy is about listening to our communities and stakeholders to understand where they think the greatest needs are, and to try to invest in things that have a multiplier effect.”

Although there is a pathway to jobs like hers today, Bame says that wasn’t the case when she started out. “Now, there are a lot of degrees related to social responsibility in various sectors, including corporate. There weren’t when I graduated from college,” she said.

Instead, Bame found her way to corporate social responsibility by observing work being done at her first job at American Express. “I got interested in the concept of helping companies be good citizens,” she said.

Bame has advice for anyone interested in doing similar work. “There are a lot of really good degree programs related to sustainability, or corporate social responsibility. So, definitely pursue higher education, but also get to know the nonprofit community and what’s happening in the community around you,” she said.

Service to the community is paramount, according to Bame. “We always look at how people engage beyond a degree and a specific skill set. So I would say anything that anyone can do to get engaged, be part of solutions and support the community is always a good entrée to the CSR field,” she said.

Maria Echeveste Bank of America

In her work as senior vice president and community relationship manager at Bank of America, Maria Echeveste spends most of her time listening. But she has also important things to say.

She has lived in Arizona for more than 40 years, seeing opportunities here grow along with the state. Her paternal grandmother was born and raised in the Globe-Miami area, and Echeveste sees positive change, but also understands remaining inequities.

“If I can be a leader in trying to help solve these problems or be a voice for those who don’t have one — because, unfortunately, these inequities continue — that’s what’s guiding me,” she said.

Echeveste has learned a lot in the 28 years she has been with Bank of America. “I’ve been fortunate to learn from leaders in the company that educate us about economic mobility and why advancing racial equality is so important, besides understanding it from my personal family experiences,” she said.

In her role at Bank of America, Echeveste engages in the community, develops relationships with nonprofit partners, learns about local issues and steers the bank’s leadership to be part of the solutions.

“I’m fortunate to work with a company that values listening to our employees and our communities,” she said. Instead of prescriptive solutions, Echeveste said they strive to listen and work collaboratively. “We ask those with lived experience, or who are finding solutions, what do they see? It’s not for us to say, ‘This is what we think needs to happen.’”

For all of the advances, Echeveste thinks we are at a critical point in our state. “If we don’t step back and listen in on what is going on in our community, in our schools, in our neighborhoods, and help empower others, our youth will have worse challenges than we think,” she said.

Those challenges are real. People of color still generally earn less than their white counterparts, and there’s a 20-year discrepancy in life expectancy, depending on where in the Valley you live. On top of that, climate issues, challenges in affordable housing, and access to future education resources loom.

“We cannot do this alone. It cannot be just Bank of America or one nonprofit or government institution,” Echeveste said. “It has to be collaborative.”