Rewards, Responsibilities and Challenges of Sustainability, ESG and B Corp
Breakfast, Networking & Panel Discussion
Tuesday 12th March 2024, 8am – 10.30am (panel discussion 9-10.30am)
Arboretum Club, London, W1
Gone are the days when focusing on sustainability was a “nice thing to do” and only pursued with real vigour by a small minority. Whether you’re an SME or global group, doing business in a more sustainable way is becoming a commercial advantage (if not necessity) for the majority of companies as they respond to the demands of clients, customers and investors. The popularity of sustainability certifications such as B Corp among SMEs is testament to that.
Meanwhile increasing levels of incoming legislation is set to widen the net of those required to report on ESG, and in the case of the new EU regulation CSRD, they will now need to deliver more complex data to demonstrate how the way they conduct their business impacts society not just their financials.
In this session we’ll be exploring how leaders can help businesses build a strong sustainability strategy that’s aligned with commercial goals, and overcome the challenges of ever expanding and more onerous ESG reporting requirements.
- Why is sustainability important for your business?
- How Finance can be strategic partners and agents of change on sustainability
- Building the business cases for sustainability initiatives and aligning them with commercial goals
- ESG risk management, reporting requirements and regulations – building processes and infrastructure
- Who do you need on your team to ensure success?
Our Panellists:
Teye Mkushi – Global Finance ESG and Sustainability Director, Diaego
Teye has over 15 years’ experience in finance and is the Global Finance ESG & Sustainability Director at Diageo Plc and a member of the Finance Committee at Cancer Research UK. Teye has a truly international outlook, since joining Diageo from EY in 2008 she has been CFO of Guinness Ghana ( the first woman to hold this role) and Group FP&A Director based out of Hungary. She is now committed to supporting the delivery of their ESG agenda. Teye is a Chartered Accountant with an MA in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.
Catherine Russell – Head of Sustainable Business, Vodafone
Formerly a corporate and commercial lawyer in private practice and then in-house at Vodafone, Catherine moved into the world of social impact and sustainability 7 years ago. As Head of Sustainable Business, she helps to set the strategy that brings Vodafone’s purpose to life. Together with her dedicated team, she leads Vodafone’s award-winning flagship social impact programme everyone.connected which is helping 4 million people and businesses cross the digital divide. She’s passionate about the force for good that big corporates can be, while also being a responsible business.
Graham Banks, CFO, Good Agency
Graham joined Good Agency in 2011 as part of the MBO providing financial support & strategy and managing investor relations. In 2022 Graham led the transfer of share ownership to the employees. Good Agency is a purpose-driven strategy and creative agency, and their work has helped raise over £1.5bn for charities and transformed numerous businesses. Their clients include charities such as Dogs Trust, Crisis, Princes Trust, MNDA (recently featured on Coronation Street) as well as London Business School, Nottingham Building Society, V&A. They are incredibly proud to be the highest scoring B Corp certified UK creative agency. As CFO and a member of the board, Graham helped the business achieve their B Corp status and ensures the organisation continues to meet the high standards of sustainability they have set themselves.
Anne-Marie Schoonbeek – Co-Founder/COO, KEY ESG
As a founder of KEY ESG, a global provider of ESG management software for companies and investors at all stages of ESG maturity, Anne-Marie advises clients on ESG reporting and regulatory compliance. She also shapes regulations as a working group member at leading advisory Associations on ESG. She holds a detailed understanding of best-practices around new data requirements and for data collection and reporting. Formerly a management consultant at McKinsey where she worked with start/scale ups in BioTech and Medtech, Anne-Marie has a degree in European Law from the University of Ghent and an MBA from Harvard Business School. www.keyesg.com
James Lizars – Founder, Thrive Accountants
James is a member of ACCA’s Global Council and founder of Thrive, an accounting practice specialising in early-stage Tech businesses. As one of the first UK accounting businesses to achieve B Corp certification and one of the early partners of the Million Tree Pledge initiative Thrive has an established track record of demonstrating the business case for sustainability. James himself is incredibly passionate about encouraging other accountants to drive change, ‘I want to demonstrate through our business, as a case study, that there is no trade-off between purpose and profit, that one feeds the other,’.
To let us know you would like to attend the event please complete all fields in the form below and we will email you to confirm your place.