Each of us can begin to change the world, right where we are today. That was the message of Chick-fil-A Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Executive Director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation Rodney Bullard who gave the keynote address on Aug. 9 at the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Summit: Business Beyond Race hosted by the Fayette Chamber of Commerce.
The banquet room at Crowne Plaza Atlanta in Peachtree City had more than 100 attending for the morning’s agenda.
Bullard spoke of his childhood, and attending school, in DeKalb County. He noted that, at one point in his childhood, he was not reading at grade level. He was later sent to a Christian school where one of the teachers, committed to his success, tutored the youngster and helped him learn to read beyond his grade level.
“She didn’t look like me, she came from a different neighborhood,” said Bullard. “But she made the effort. She was my hero. Hero’s are not reserved for those with capes or because they are wealthy.”
Expanding his example outward into general society, Bullard noted the shootings, division and inflammatory language so prevalent in the news today.
“But bridges are needed,” Bullard said, then expanding on that point, saying that without bridges, a person sometimes makes wrong-headed assumptions and thinks negative things. And without bridges, some communities do not get the resources found in other communities.
Expanding again, Bullard noted the differences that are all around us, insisting that, “What matters is that we recognize our similarities, not the differences.”
Changing the world can seem problematic, yet Bullard said, “You can change the world 3 feet around you.” It boils down to how we conduct ourselves, he noted. “At the end of the day, it’s all about who is within 3 feet of us, and how we see them, and how we do community together.”
Bullard leads Chick-Fil-A’s community engagement, philanthropic and sustainability strategy as Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Executive Director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation.
Before coming to Chick-fil-A, Bullard served as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting complex criminal cases. For his service, the United States Attorney General presented him with the Department of Justice Director’s Award.
Prior to this role, Bullard was selected as a White House Fellow. As a White House Fellow, Rodney was placed at NASA working directly for the NASA Administrator.
Bullard also previously served at the Pentagon as a Congressional Legislative Liaison in the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. Rodney has received numerous awards including Duke Law Young Alumnus of the Year (2016); The Most Admired Atlanta Non-Profit CEO (2017); one of the 500 Most Influential Atlantans (2018); and bestowed the lifetime-honor of an “Outstanding Georgian” by the Georgia Senate (2019).
Rodney is an alumnus of the Air Force Academy, Duke Law School, the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.
