Anna Marciano, chief counsel for CSV, sustainability & corporate affairs at Nestlé Waters North America Inc. (Photo: Courtesy photo)

Sometimes being a chief counsel simply means dealing with contracts and other legal issues for Anna Marciano of Nestlé Waters North America, Inc. But these days it has meant rallying the staff to deliver truckloads of safe drinking water to responders and victims of hurricane Florence on the East Coast.

Marciano is chief counsel for CSV (creating shared value), sustainability and corporate affairs for the Stamford Conn.-based company, which is the world's largest water bottler.

Corporate Counsel spoke with Marciano recently about her work to assure that her company can continue to operate in a sustainable way. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Corporate Counsel: What are some of the major issues that you grapple with in your work every day?

Anna Marciano: There are probably two major issues any bottled water company faces: [One is] sourcing water in a sustainable way and insuring  whatever we take, we give back to the community in value. The second is plastic—that we use the minimal amount, and that it can and will be recycled.

As for water, we look at sustainable ways that all water we collect is used. We see that what is not used, is actually returned or leveraged in another capacity. We partner with our natural resource managers, making sure we are doing the right testing and protocols and follow-ups, making sure where we are taking water we are doing so in the most efficient way.

And we can help communities look at their own sources of water to make sure their sources are as clean as possible. Our standards are higher than the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] standards for drinking water. We give back knowledge and sometimes we fund infrastructure changes if needed.

We are the first company to be transparent about our siting framework—the process for looking for new sources of water. Our website has an interactive map that shows you where we are looking for water. It's a clear process that I helped develop by partnering with the community at the outset. We launched it in February.

What do you do on the plastics front?

What you can do is make sure you are only using what is absolutely necessary in the bottling process. We explore opportunities for innovation for the latest technology on lightweight plastic. And we partner with businesses on recycling.

We also partner with local communities to give back, through community relations efforts. And we provide funds to educate the community on sustainability, and to support research projects with local universities.We are looking for different opportunities for plastics. For example, Nestlé's Pure Life brand is bottled in recycled plastic.

You will be speaking on an ALM panel in late September on retention of talent and leadership. Tell me your thoughts on retaining talent.

Retention of talent is very near and dear to my heart. We are fortunate at Nestlé that we look to stretch our talent. We see lawyers as strategic business partners and look how to grow their careers, to give them assignments outside the legal team.

The company also has created a work stream, headed by me with a 20-person core team from various functions across the organization, to make sure we develop and retain our talent. We have decided there are 12 key areas to focus on, such as role clarity, a shared purpose, and rewards and recognition. My team is looking at how to embed those 12 practices in the organization.

On leadership, what attributes do you want in a leader?

I want a leader, and I strive to be a leader, who inspires others to take a chance. A leader creates the atmosphere for associates to thrive, inspiring, empowering and unleashing their potential.

I also think it's important for lawyers not to think of themselves as just lawyers. For me [as a deputy general counsel at another company] I was almost finding myself in this rat race where I was thinking my next goal is to be a general counsel. And I looked at myself and said, I don't know if I want that.

I saw I could broaden myself at Nestlé Waters. I looked at the sustainability platform, and I became excited about leveraging my legal degree to help Nestlé find a solution.

I encourage people to not think about what's the next step on the ladder up, but to think of [your career] as a jungle gym, having fun on the way and challenging yourself.