Announcing the 2022 Chairman's Challenge Winners 

As part of this year’s Chairman’s Challenge, Cox Enterprises asked employees to calculate their carbon footprint and find ways to reduce it. Many wholeheartedly accepted this challenge. 

Together, 1,500 employees completed 10,000 actions to reduce carbon emissions. This is the equivalent of removing 32 railroad cars worth of burned coal from the atmosphere. Participants also removed 3,700 pounds of litter and recycled 10,000 pounds of material in April alone.  

“Protecting our environment is the most important thing we can do for our business, our community and our children,” said Alex Taylor, chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises. “Far too often we take what we have for granted, but we need to continue to find ways to protect and preserve our world for our children and grandchildren. Our employees wholeheartedly accepted the challenge to help the environment and together, we are making a difference.” 

The Chairman’s Challenge program is a key part of Cox’s commitment to empowering employees to leave the world in better shape for the next generation. Chairman Emeritus Jim Kennedy started the program in 2012 to recognize those who lead and contribute substantially to our Cox Conserves goals.  

In the Challenge’s 10th year, Taylor spearheaded the program for the first time as chairman and CEO. This year’s challenge ran throughout April and in addition to the carbon calculator, included volunteer activities for employees to create outdoor, local classrooms, beautify parks and remove trash from waterways.  

2022 Chairman’s Challenge Results  

While all the individual contributions made a difference, employees who completed the most Challenge activities worked with the James M. Cox Foundation to award grants to their preferred environmental nonprofit. The foundation is awarding a total of more than $50,000 across six nonprofits: 

Cox Communications 

• Rachel Brown, Technical Analyst, Georgia: $15,000 grant to HBCU Green Fund 

• Jason DeGrace, Technical Analyst, Georgia: $2,500 grant to Trees Atlanta 

Cox Automotive 

• Lokesh Rajasekaran, Senior Software Engineer, Georgia: $15,000 grant to Chastain Park Conservancy 

• Trashawn Mitchell-Stewart, Dispatch, Georgia: $2,500 grant to Dauset Trails Nature Center 

Cox Enterprises 

• Victoria James, Event Production Manager, Georgia: $15,000 grant to Pebble Tossers 

• Alvin Sumter, Director of Quality Assurance, Georgia: $2,500 grant to The Sustainability Institute of South Carolina 

These donations — along with the recent donation to complete the Atlanta BeltLine — mean the James M. Cox Foundation has now awarded more than $70 million to environmental and conservation causes since 2011.  

Since setting our Cox Conserves goals in 2007, our company has reduced our carbon footprint by more than 650,000 cumulative tons of carbon while investing more than $1 billion in sustainable businesses and technologies. And we continue to reduce our footprint every year. Cox has taken an aggressive approach as a company to meet our goal to be carbon and water neutral by 2034. The company is also on track to send zero waste to landfill by 2024, a milestone Cox Communications achieved this year.