ESG Next - NationSwell

Welcome to ESG Next, a NationSwell series profiling the investors, executives, authors, philanthropists, and social sector leaders who are shaping business as a force for social and environmental progress.

Each ESG Next profile gives unprecedented access to the strategies and insights deployed by leaders at the vanguard of social impact and sustainability — leaders whose work today is driving the ever-evolving field of Environmental, Social, and Governance into the best version of its future.

This month’s featured honorees

ESG Next: An Interview With Bain Capital’s Tricia Winton

Tricia Winton, Partner and Global Head of ESG at Bain Capital, talks about why she thinks ESG isn’t going away anytime soon, the power of a private partnership model in advancing ESG work, and the importance of focusing on the upside while you navigate the risks and pitfalls.

ESG Next: An Interview with Wells Fargo’s Jenny Flores

NationSwell interviewed Jenny Flores, Head of Small Business Growth Philanthropy at Wells Fargo, about how her experience as an immigrant in America informed her journey to human-centered banking, the unique impact of ﬂexible capital, the importance of fearless philanthropy, and the not-so-secret powers of her approach to collaboration.

ESG Next: An Interview With Microsoft’s Kate Behncken

Kate Behncken, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Philanthropies, talks about the importance of tying together purpose and profit, the power of capacity-building leadership, and this moment of tremendous opportunity for social impact and sustainability leaders.

Previous Honorees

ESG Next: An Interview With Nili Gilbert, Vice Chairwoman of Carbon Direct

Nili Gilbert, Vice Chairwoman of Carbon Direct, spoke to NationSwell about her personal journey to sustainable finance, why equitable solutions are only possible with cross-sector collaboration, and why she thinks ESG won’t be enough to get us to where we need to be.

ESG Next: An Interview With Pete Stavros, KKR’s Co-Head of Global Private Equity

Pete Stavros, co-head of U.S. Private Equity at KKR, talked to NationSwell about his journey to the field of ESG, the leaders and books that inspire him, and why the movement for broad worker ownership is good for just about everyone — even if its myriad of implementational challenges can be daunting.

ESG Next: An Interview With Rose Stuckey Kirk, Verizon Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer

Rose Stuckey Kirk, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer at Verizon, talked to NationSwell about the importance of professionalizing the field of ESG, the false premise that leaders have to choose between business opportunity and social good, and the art of “walking the halls” of your company to achieve internal buy-in on your impact initiatives.

ESG Next: An Interview With George Serafeim, Harvard Business School Professor of Business Administration

George Serafeim, author and Harvard Business School Professor, spoke to NationSwell about the current state of the field of ESG, why criticism of the field — even bad faith or partisan criticism — can be a good thing, and the integral ways that purpose and profit depend on one another. Here’s what he had to say.

ESG Next: An Interview With Prudential’s Lata Reddy

Lata Reddy, Senior Vice President, Prudential Financial Chair, The Prudential Foundation, spoke with NationSwell about the importance of place-based impact, the power of anchor institutions, the next frontier for ESG measurement, and the importance of tried-and-true approaches alongside newer, more disruptive technologies.

ESG Next: An Interview With IBM’s Justina Nixon-Saintil

Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President and Chief Impact Officer at IBM, spoke with NationSwell about why passion and partnership are paramount to an ESG leader’s success, why engineering and corporate social responsibility work go hand-in-hand, and why the future of ESG might just be its “S.”

ESG Next: An Interview With Target’s Amanda Nusz

Amanda Nusz, Target Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, spoke with NationSwell about the connectivity between ESG and business growth, and the importance of co-creating within your business and across your stakeholders.

ESG Next: An Interview with Goldman Sachs’ Letitia Webster

Letitia Webster, Managing Director + Chief Sustainability Officer, Merchant Banking Division, Goldman Sachs, spoke to NationSwell about what the precipice of this moment in ESG means for sustainability leaders, the importance of integrating corporate social responsibility across your entire business, and the leaders that inspire her.

“It would be a shame if the field of ESG becomes a partisan political issue. I view it as a field of development, where it actually becomes part of our management and our governance, that people incorporate into their career pathways — that leads to organizations collectively seeing more positive outcomes. “

GEORGE SERAFEIM
Professor, Harvard Business School

“You must have a good strategy, the right staff, and then you’ve got to ‘walk the halls’ to get buy-in to your strategy at the top of the house, and then be hyper-focused on outcomes.”

ROSE STUCKEY KIRK
Chief of CSR, Verizon

“I try to approach some of the ESG factors that I’m most passionate about as good business. If you take employee ownership, it’s hard to make an argument against it. It’s good for workers, good for corporate cultures, good for communities, and good for investors. But I think if you come at some of it from my perspective, where I frame it as good business, then it would be a shame if people aren’t also looking at this as a risk mitigation tool, a culture enhancer.”

PETE STAVROS
Co-Head of U.S. Private Equity, KKR

“But if you look at many ESG factors and approaches, it’s often about the measuring and the metrics of inputs. And now, I think we’re moving towards thinking more about the outputs from the process: the implementation and the impact.”

NILI GILBERT
Vice Chairwoman, Carbon Direct