Extreme Networks (EXTR) Forms A Corporate Social Responsibility Council

By Annie Baker ● Aug 21, 2020
  • Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) announced recently that it has formed a Corporate Social Responsibility Council to promote sustainable development, corporate philanthropy, and the empowerment of people – both inside and outside the company

Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR) — a cloud-driven networking company — announced recently that it has formed a Corporate Social Responsibility Council to promote sustainable development, corporate philanthropy, and the empowerment of people – both inside and outside the company. And in order to drive this effort, the company has named Katy Motiey as the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer in addition to her current role as Chief Administrative Officer. And Extreme also appointed Kimberley Basnight to Head of Diversity and Inclusion in addition to her role as Chief of Staff/Office of the CEO.

Motiey has over 25 years of global legal and employment law experience. Since joining the company in 2015, Motiey has overseen corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, commercial contract negotiation and licensing, corporate sustainability, real estate, facilities, and employment matters, among other initiatives. And Motiey has been a driving force in building Extreme’s Women’s Leadership Council, started in 2018. Motiey is also the corporate sponsor for Extreme’s partnership with the American India Foundation, a non-profit organization that is devoted to accelerating social and economic change in India. As Chief Sustainability Officer, Motiey will lead the strategy and governance of Extreme’s 2025 sustainability plan.

Basnight has more than 20 years of experience in executive program management, strategic planning, organizational change management, and operations. As Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Basnight will serve as a change agent that influences the organization on matters of diversity and inclusion. This is a complement to her role as Chief of Staff/Office of the CEO. Basnight started Black at Extreme (“BEX”), an employee resource group that champions and facilitates workplace diversity by embracing cultural, ethnic, and racial differences. The group provides programming that promotes inclusion in recruitment activities, offers professional development, and enables a more collaborative and diverse work environment. Basnight joined Extreme in 2016.

For fiscal 2020, Extreme’s Board of Directors amended the charter of its Nominating, Governance, and Social Responsibility Committee to include Social Responsibility within the responsibilities of the committee and to officially re-name it the Nominating, Governance, and Social Responsibility Committee. And this committee is charged with providing oversight of Extreme’s initiatives in the arena of corporate social responsibility, including diversity and inclusion goals, environmental matters, and philanthropic initiatives. Executive leadership reports on these matters to the Nominating, Governance, and Social Responsibility Committee on a quarterly basis.

KEY QUOTES:

“Extreme is taking the next steps in our corporate social responsibility efforts with the appointment of Katy Motiey and Kimberley Basnight to their newly expanded roles. As a diverse and increasingly socially responsible employer, our Board of Directors and our leadership team are committed to creating and adopting meaningful policies and practices that improve our environmental footprint and expand diversity, equity, and inclusion among our employees, partners, customers, suppliers, and business communities.”

“Throughout their careers, and in their time at Extreme, both Katy and Kimberley have been passionate advocates for progress on environmental and social justice. Katy was instrumental in driving the creation of Extreme’s highly successful Women’s Council and other philanthropic efforts. She spearheaded our deployment of Bloom Energy, which has created significant cost savings and reduced our carbon emissions in California, and was at the forefront of adding Social Responsibility to our Corporate Governance charter in fiscal 2020. Kimberley has also played an important role in advancing our corporate social responsibility efforts. She has been a force on our Women’s Council and rallied company leadership to start an employee resource group for African-American and Black employees at Extreme.”

– Ed Meyercord, President and CEO of Extreme Networks