Charlene Lake is responsible for leading AT&T’s social innovation, environmental, philanthropic, and civic engagement endeavors, driving stakeholder impact measures on behalf of the corporation, leading ESG accountabilities, and coordinating signature initiatives that connect social needs with business objectives.

Charlene began her professional life as a journalist, working on daily newspapers in Kansas. She started her career at Southwestern Bell Telephone in Topeka, and served in management roles in Financial Communications, Media Relations and Employee Communications in Kansas, Missouri and Texas. She went on to lead SBC’s Corporate Advertising and Sports Marketing departments, managing them through multiple mergers, and thereafter created a Public Affairs discipline for the company. In 2007, she designed and launched AT&T’s centralized Corporate Responsibility function which she still leads today.

Charlene serves on the board of directors at the Baylor, Scott and White Health Care System, the Big 12 Conference Business Advisory Board, and the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. Past board service includes, the National Urban League, the National Public Affairs Council, and the National Points of Light’s Corporate Service Council.

A mass communication graduate of Kansas State University, Charlene is vice chair of the Kansas State University Foundation.
Charlene and her husband, Rod, live in Dallas and are proud parents and grandparents.