Governance

ESG creates better financial performance, mitigates legal and brand risk and increases trust. But making ESG gains is about more than improving business metrics. Joe Wilkins, a founding member of the Black Directors Health Equity Agenda, talks about how health equity lies at the center of it all. With corporate boards more attuned than ever to environmental, social and governance...

The asset management industry isn’t exactly known for diversity in its ownership ranks, and neither are the outsourced service providers firms often engage. Katie Twomey of Illumen Capital argues for diversity across the board, even in organizations without traditional supply chains. Diverse-owned firms represent just 1.4% of the $82 trillion in assets under management within the asset management industry. While...

Since it went into effect nearly a year ago, the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act illustrates how the “E” and “S” in ESG have a tendency to overlap. ESG columnist John Peiserich shares his take on this intersection and why it means compliance teams may need to create new math. Sustainability and ESG sometimes have strange bedfellows. The social...

Two weeks after C.J. Rinaldi was announced as the chief compliance officer of Kraken, the cryptocurrency platform settled SEC charges, accepted a $30 million fine and agreed to shutter its staking services in the U.S. Rinaldi is no stranger to the volatile crypto market, having served in the same role at Blockchain.com, but his new job comes at a particularly...

Despite a lack of regulatory clarity in the U.S. on ESG reporting, companies are barreling ahead with disclosing a variety of related metrics. Nneoma E. Njoku, general manager of disclosure communications firm Labrador, shares her analysis of ESG disclosures by some of the world’s biggest companies to see what they reveal. Whether directly or indirectly involved in the oversight of...

Making money *and* doing the right thing Survey Report The Evolution of ESG & Impact Investing: Are You Ready? What’s in this report from JTC and OpportunityDb:Despite headlines to the contrary, investor perceptions toward ESG and impact investing continue their positive upward trajectory, though misunderstandings persist, according to a survey of nearly 300 advisers, fund managers and investors in the...

By the beginning of next year, large companies in the EU or that do a substantive amount of business in EU countries will be required to issue sustainability disclosures under new rules. ESG columnist John Peiserich sorts through the details. In mid-November 2022, the European Parliament adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), a major expansion of the 2014 Non-Financial...

Compliance is a huge part of the job description for any member of the board of directors, so it’s no wonder that for many compliance practitioners, a board seat is an attractive option. As someone who’s served on public and private boards, RoseRyan’s David Roberson shares his perspective. Compliance professionals can fill in critical expertise gaps on corporate boards and...

Former employment attorney and entrepreneur Erika Royal challenges companies to get real on DEI and offers some actionable steps to get them started. An estimated 80% of U.S. employers have DEI initiatives underway, but a much smaller share of business leaders truly understand how to effectively implement DEI strategies in their workplaces. DEI has the power to bring about real...

Data proliferation and data privacy regulatory activity across the globe have created the need for focused boardroom discussions. An underpinning to such discussions is the inextricable link between data privacy compliance and information security. Protiviti’s Jim DeLoach shares eight questions companies need to answer in their pursuit of data privacy compliance and best practices. While cybersecurity is a fundamental business...

In many organizations, diversity and inclusion efforts are enterprise-wide, but a survey by legal and compliance recruiter BarkerGilmore found that most companies aren’t using broad strategies to increase the diversity of their in-house legal teams. Still, despite the fact that about 37% of those surveyed say their companies have no strategy in place regarding DEI recruitment, the majority employed at...

In September, the EPA issued a decision to prevent previously unregulated stormwater pollution from flowing into the watersheds of three Massachusetts rivers. Though the agency has had the authority to do so, it’s the first time the EPA has exercised its residual designation authority under the Clean Water Act on such a broad scale. ESG columnist John Peiserich, with the...