Cecilia Carter is a corporate marketing and community relations professional with over 20 years of experience in marketing, communications and public relations. As Vice President of Global Diversity, Policy and Advocacy for Starbucks Corporation and General Manager of the Starbucks Foundation, she is responsible for leading the company's diversity programs and overseeing its community foundation. The Starbucks Foundation supports communities around the globe in a variety of ways including nurturing young leaders, providing people in developing countries with access to clean water and helping to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to joining Starbucks, Carter serviced as head of community affairs at UBS, one of the world's leading wealth management firms, where she lead the company's philanthropic and community outreach in the United States including overseeing matching gifts, volunteer initiatives, community business development, and corporate partnerships and grants from the UBS Foundation.

Earlier in her career, Carter worked in Burson-Marstellar's corporate practice and specialized in corporate reputation management, public affairs and multicultural marketing. Carter has worked with a number of Fortune 500 clients including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, J.P. Morgan Chase and ABB Inc. Additional clients include United Negro College Fund, American Hotel and Lodging Association and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

Carter also served as senior vice president of communications for GE Small Business Solutions, a new business venture for GE Capital. During her twelve year tenure with General Electric, she managed and counseled on corporate campaigns and marketing support in the aviation, automotive, financial services, electrical distribution, and industrial manufacturing industries. Carter served as a member on GE's Corporate Marketing Council until 2000 and helped establish the company's international communicators' symposium while working in the corporate marketing group. She has a black belt in Six-Sigma methodology and is a trained facilitator for executive leadership coaching.

In addition to her business-to-business experience, she has managed consumer focused advertising campaigns for Proctor & Gamble, Kraft and Dial clients in the health-care and food categories while working for Saatchi & Saatchi and DDB Needham. Carter also has held marketing and sales positions for American Express and AT&T where she implemented several award-winning direct marketing campaigns.

Carter serves on several boards. She is Chairman Emerita of the Business-to-Business Committee for the Association of National Advertisers, and a member of the National Black MBA Assoc. She most recently served as the Executive Director of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of R&B music. She also is a board director for the Southwestern Connecticut chapter of the Urban League and a member of the corporate council for Hands On Network, the world's largest volunteer agency.

Carter received her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and her M.B.A. in marketing and finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She received an honorary degree from UNH and served as the Commencement speaker at the January 2010 graduation ceremony.