Interning at Corning, Part 2

Hi everyone! This is Parker again—I wanted to give you a brief update on how my summer with Corning finished up.

This summer, I worked in a strategic finance unit in Corning’s Finance division. Within this unit, I was placed on a team working on a project related to sustainability initiatives at Corning. The project itself had diverse, broad objectives associated with supporting Corning’s sustainability program. As a result, I had to become well-versed on how investors and companies assess a company's sustainability performance. I also had to interview over 20 employees throughout Corning’s energy, supply chain management, corporate governance, and human resources teams to obtain stakeholder feedback on Corning’s ESG efforts to date. These interviews were rewarding because a) I was able to meet a diverse group of people within Corning and b) I used their quantitative and qualitative feedback to forecast the company’s future sustainability performance. As part of my final summer deliverable, I had the chance to present my findings to senior leaders within Corning’s Corporate division. Overall, the findings were well-received.

One of the best aspects of my summer at Corning was the meaningfulness of my summer project. As an intern, I essentially crafted a roadmap that will directly inform Corning’s goals, strategy, and resource allocation around sustainability. It was rewarding to work on a project that will have such a large tangible impact.

Another great component of my summer was the opportunity to meet high-level executives across Corning’s business segments. At least once a week, the firm's HR team hosted a WebEx meeting between Corning’s MBA intern cohort and general managers or directors from each of Corning’s businesses. These “fireside chats” gave me the chance to further learn about the company's businesses in the pharmaceutical, environmental, consumer electronics, and technology hardware industries. In addition, we had the chance to meet with Corning’s CEO, Wendell Weeks, who has worked for the company for almost 40 years (among other career highlights, he worked with Steve Jobs to create the glass for the iPhone!). His ardent passion for Corning, even after his long tenure, made me excited at the possibility of spending the next 40 years of my career with the company.

In sum, Corning was a welcoming and engaging company to work for this summer. I am excited to see what the future brings with the firm.