Social Impact Heroes: Why & How American Express’ Madge Thomas Is Helping To Change Our World

Remember your “why,” and your superpower, always. You will always have tough moments and decisions. In those moments, when you aren’t sure how to act, lean on your purpose, values and your understanding of your own strengths to guide you.

As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Madge Thomas.

Madge Thomas is the Head of Corporate Sustainability at American Express, where she helps set and execute the vision for global community impact and service, as well as overseeing AMEX’s corporate sustainability strategy. Thomas is also President of the American Express Foundation, where she oversees philanthropic giving, partnerships and flagship programs.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I truly believe in the power of businesses and the creation of shared value partnerships to make meaningful progress for people and planet. I often say I’m a ‘recovering lawyer’ and my legal training, in private practice, government and pro bono community legal centers helped me learn how to interpret rules, but also understand and work through nuance and the ‘grey’ when navigating issues without precedent — like many of the moments the world has had to face in the past 5 years. It’s that problem solving part of the job that I love so much. How do you take complex problems, break them down into tangible pieces and understand how you can uniquely apply your skills, assets and capabilities to generate solutions for people and planet? My previous roles in Australia included shaping legal and economic development policies within government agencies. Here in the U.S., I’ve worked within the UN, and non-profit groups to drive partnerships with businesses and brands while unlocking large-scale funding from governments. I see it as a fortuitous full circle across my background, that my role at American Express allows me to work through regulation and report transparently on our corporate sustainability progress but also to oversee a community impact strategy and funding partnerships that unlock opportunity, help remove barriers to economic mobility and advance climate solutions.

Through my experiences, I developed a passion for building teams and partnerships that can solve critical issues, which I’ve been excited to bring into the work I do at American Express.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

When I first arrived at Amex, I met with our Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Jen Skyler, to discuss our strategy and future plans. Our discussions revealed the need for a new corporate sustainability strategy framework that better aligned with our business priorities and met evolving community needs. At the beginning of 2020, we completed a “materiality analysis” to prioritize key corporate sustainability issues, which served as the foundation for our strategy redraft. Despite the challenges, the process was extremely rewarding, and we have since made significant progress towards our corporate sustainability goals, through this framework.

One such notable initiative under the new sustainability framework is our work with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to create a fund that will provide up to 3,000 small businesses disrupted by natural disasters with funding. This April, our first round of funding went to Maui-based small businesses impacted by the catastrophic wildfires in August 2023. By providing grants, tools, and tailored guidance, the program aims to help businesses not only recover, but build long-term resilience in the face of economic challenges. Programs like this illustrate how our new strategy is driving progress and expanding the ways in which we are showing up in our communities.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I think one of the biggest mistakes you can make is not asking enough questions when you’re new. I was recently reminded of a mistake I made when I was early in my time at one of my previous roles. On my second day there, I was told to send an email to a rather large email distribution list I was given, two days before an intimate, exclusive event we were hosting. My instinct was that it felt odd to blast an invite to hundreds of addresses at very short notice, with evidence that there was little capacity across the team to manage further communications or logistics for that scale, but being new and trusting the direction I had received, I didn’t push back or ask questions. I ended up learning the email list hadn’t been updated or vetted and that meant I had inadvertently emailed the whole database of contacts for the company, including major figures like top celebrities’ managers, CEOs and very senior government officials. My new colleagues couldn’t quite believe it when suddenly, a huge number of inquiries began pouring in that we couldn’t realistically handle or accommodate, leaving the team scrambling. While I can now (and often do) laugh about it with former colleagues, thinking back to “that ridiculous email” still makes me shudder and think of the first impression I had to overcome.

It’s important to note here that mistakes are learning opportunities, and this one was no different. What I learned was that I should have trusted my instincts and taken advantage of my newness to make sure I really understood the assignment and its implications, asked relevant questions and pausing to analyze the situation.

Through this email snafu, I learned to trust my instincts and speak up, and I certainly got exposed to an incredible network of people (both internally and externally) very quickly who were, mercifully, very understanding once they got over the initial shock.

Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?

American Express has a strong legacy of supporting small businesses. One of our flagship programs is Small Business Saturday, which will be in its 15th year this fall. Small Business Saturday came out of the financial crisis to help drive consumer spending to small, independently-owned merchants and restaurants when they needed it most. It’s now grown to be a year-round, global Shop Small movement, with Small Business Saturday celebrated as an annual holiday shopping tradition in six countries.

In more recent years, we saw the pandemic had an outsized impact on small restaurants, which suffered and, in many cases, saw a dramatic loss in revenue or were forced to shut their doors. To combat this, we focused our efforts on scaling up our corporate giving to support economically vulnerable small businesses through initiatives like our Backing Historic Small Restaurants program, which began nearly four years ago, and our partnership with Main Street America which is in its third year of helping small business owners build economic vitality.

It’s been amazing to see the positive impact the funding and increased visibility from these programs have had on businesses over the years. As the pandemic waned, it became clear that small businesses continue to have unique support needs, which is why we have also evolved our programs to help these businesses recover stronger, build resilience and grow sustainably in the face of natural disasters and climate events.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?

I can tell you a story that stands out which happened in Malawi. When I was 6 months pregnant with my oldest child, I had the opportunity to travel with Rihanna on a field visit to the poorest country in the world to see the needs in the strained education system. We spent a day digging and making bricks for 4 new latrines for a school of 3,000+ kids (who had one toilet between them for boys, girls and teachers).

We met several students and teachers who were achieving the impossible, including some young mothers who had to drop out of school when they became pregnant. This impacted me deeply thinking about the limited options and pathways available to young people in Malawi and their children, while I was contemplating all the possibilities in the world for my own child and had the advantage of an education and a career behind me already. So many of the children I met blew me away with their talents, and they may never get the chance to show them to the world. You can’t manufacture those moments and I saw firsthand how everyone on that trip was moved to make an impact.

As a result, Rihanna contacted President Macron of France calling for his support and he pledged $200M in support of global education and other countries across the world followed. It put education on the front page. This was a real-life example for me of how influential people can use platforms for good and inspire the next generation of leaders.

Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?

Supporting small businesses is what we are known for at American Express. Here are some ways for others to join in on the support.

1. At the consumer level, I encourage more people to shop at small businesses or nominate them for awards and grants like our small restaurants programs. Small businesses are at the heart of our communities but despite their enormous role in our society, they are especially vulnerable amidst disruptive events like pandemics, natural disasters, and economic volatility. Do what you can to shop small and keep these businesses afloat.
2. On a larger scale, companies and organizations can use their resources to continue to invest to protect, provide relief, and support small businesses. It is even better if that support can be turnkey, easy to apply for and unrestricted to reduce administrative burdens and prioritize impact.
3. Lastly, I encourage business leaders to think strategically about partnerships. We’ve learned that collaboration between corporations, nonprofits and governments is a key ingredient to ensuring the vitality, growth and resilience of our communities. Our partnerships with those with local expertise and connections will help ensure that we reach communities in need and maximize impact by focusing on how to best meet that need.

How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?

I define strong leadership as the ability to drive growth and change, both within and beyond your organization but also to be resilient and respond to new challenges as they come, based on a strategy and core values centered on a true ‘north star’. The last few years have tested anyone who leads in any context, and I am proud to say that American Express really invests in its leadership by giving employees the opportunities and support they need to grow.

Through the recently relaunched American Express Leadership Academy, that my team oversees we equip nonprofit leaders with dynamic skills essential for leading teams, building resilience and expanding influence through storytelling. This year we’re organizing three in-person meetings for our leaders in Sydney, London, and New York, where leaders participate in multi-day, in-person trainings, building their personal and business leadership skills to help them address the unique hurdles they face in today’s ever-evolving landscape. Programs like the Leadership Academy exemplify our dedication to cultivating strong leadership, proving that when we support and equip the next generation of leaders, we pave the path toward a brighter future.

What are your “3 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

Here are three things I wish I knew when I first started my career:

1. Most of what you will learn will be on the job. Continue to hone your core skills like strong communication, asking questions, listening, and doing your homework before you walk in the door. Then, become a sponge.
2. Relationships are everything, even more than your technical expertise. For example, at Amex, our corporate sustainability work touches every part of the business. So, in my role, while I’m not always the owner of a particular initiative, I need to connect the dots and get buy-in for teams across the business. Understanding where others come from so that we can best focus and collaborate has been critical to the success of the overall strategy and how we have innovated
3. Remember your “why,” and your superpower, always. You will always have tough moments and decisions. In those moments, when you aren’t sure how to act, lean on your purpose, values and your understanding of your own strengths to guide you.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Three areas that are, and have always been, of particular importance for me are:

1. Women, who are a big part of the population and transformers of communities,
2. Education, which is the biggest enabler of opportunity and equity, and
3. Climate crisis response, the issue of our time.

These issue areas all reflect my own history and background as a woman of color and migrant whose parents moved to Australia for better opportunities for my sister and me. I grew up there in the peak of the hole in the ozone layer, surrounded by bushfires, droughts and flooding rains across the natural environment.

When it comes to building a movement, you must think across issues, silos and paradigms, which is why I would group these three together and build a movement that focuses on incredible women transforming educational and business systems to help future generations and communities build climate resilience and innovative solutions. This kind of transformative thinking is what inspired me to come to Amex. The organization’s culture and values make this work possible. American Express focuses on these issue areas with a commitment to 100% pay equity, supporting women’s leadership, advancing climate solutions and driving incredible external programs across three focus areas: backing equal futures, small business support and climate resilience.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can follow along with our work at American Express through our company LinkedIn, as well as my personal page, where I share the latest corporate sustainability initiatives we’re advancing. You can also find more details on our timely announcements on the American Express newsroom.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your great work!