On Monday, on behalf of the PepsiCo Dream Machine recycling initiative, I had the opportunity to join members from the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) for the New York Stock Exchange closing bell ceremony. At 4 p.m. sharp, EBV graduate Elizabeth Perez-Halperin, president and founder of GC Green, a post-9/11 service-disabled veteran-owned green build general contracting and consulting firm, rang The Closing BellSM and banged the gavel to officially close trading for the day. The EBV provides free education and entrepreneurship training to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. Since 2010 (the launch year for the Dream Machine program), the EBV has increased its capacity by 50 percent and added three new universities to its consortium. Currently, there are nearly 4,000 Dream Machine kiosks and bins in 37 states across the U.S., and the more plastic bottles and aluminum cans that people recycle in Dream... Read more

On Friday, November 11th, I had the honor of representing PepsiCo and the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative at Syracuse University during its Veterans Day football game. This marked my second visit to SU and PepsiCo’s second half million dollar donation to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) through the Dream Machine recycling program. The EBV provides free education and entrepreneurship training to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. The program was founded by Mike Haynie at SU’s Whitman School of Management and is now operated by the new Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), which formally opened last week. Read more

This past weekend, I had the honor of representing the PepsiCo Dream Machine at Syracuse University’s ‘Courage Day,’ in which we saluted and thanked our veterans and military members for their incredible service to our country. Read more

We certainly think so.  But why stop at just one? Yesterday, we kicked off the Dream Machine Summer Recycling Challenge, to build awareness and critical mass.  In my opinion, there are few better times than Independence Day to take action that benefits the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.  So, starting July 4th, we’re calling on all Americans to recycle the cans and bottles from their summertime cookouts.  Recycling will undoubtedly help us realize the dream of a healthier planet but, through the Dream Machine initiative, PepsiCo will also make a donation to Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a national program offering free, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans with disabilities.  The more people recycle in a Dream Machine kiosk, the more EBV benefits. At the end of the day, whether in our personal or professional lives, what... Read more

Internet Week is one of the premiere social media events in the New York digital community, and for PepsiCo, this year’s event is all about leveraging innovative technologies to drive social good. From social media to social responsibility, PepsiCo has been extremely engaged at IWNY 2010 and we’re especially excited about today’s #Promise Conference. Together with ThinkSocial, PepsiCo is providing a forum for investigating and discussing how social and mobile media are empowering corporate citizenship to create changes, both on the social and environmental levels.  In addition to today’s speakers, we’ll have panels led by TED, Fast Company and GOOD. The panels will cover how companies are generating fresh ideas for using social technologies to make change for both their customers and the planet – right now. Building on the company’s vision, Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo is proud to share its #Promise of investing in a healthier... Read more