IBM Volunteer Trades Sales Strategy for Conservation Cause

MAASAI STEPPE HEARTLAND, TANZANIA--David Kinsey of IBM says "I always wanted to drive toward something bigger than myself."

Kinsey this year finally got his wish. Through an employee volunteer program at IBM called the Corporate Services Corps, described as IBM's corporate version of the Peace Corps, he's working with the African Wildlife Foundation in its Maasai Steppe Heartland in Tanzania.

"My job will be helping to paint out a strategy for where we take the African Wildlife Foundation over the next five and 10 years," he recently told the St. Petersburg Times. In the Maasai Steppe Heartland, where Kinsey will work, habitat fragmentation is the biggest threat to the region, a problem that AWF is addressing through innovative land use initiatives with local communities.

Out of 5,000 IBM applicants, 100 people, including Kinsey, were selected to participate in the Corporate Services Corps, a program designed to improve employees' leadership skills, increase the company's global presence, and help communities. A subset of those will work in Tanzania with AWF and other nonprofits.

To read about Kinsey, click here.

Follow Kinsey's five-week mission to Tanzania at or www.ibm.com/corporateservicecorps .