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I moderated the panel on “CFOs and sustainability” at Silicon Valley Leadership Group‘s Sustainable Corporation conference May 2.
This is a matter of considerable interest. For the last few years, I’ve been writing about the indispensable role of CFOs in sustainability strategy, and the fact that CFOs are missing from the sustainability conversation at most companies — either entirely absent, unreasonably skeptical or missing the tools they need to guide their companies to the best possible decisions on managing risk and harvesting value.
The buck stops right at the CFO’s door. The CFO “owns” risk and value — and in most companies, the understanding of “sustainability-related risk” is conducted with incorrectly drawn boundaries and flawed analytic models, and overlooks materially significant factors and hidden subsidies. If it is conducted at all. As a result, most companies will sub-optimize at best, leaving money on the table – and potentially violating fiduciary responsibility in the process – in completely avoidable ways.
In addition, CFOs also hold — or potentially hold — a weakly understood coordination role; according to Pritzker CFO Kevin Lynch, the CFO “touches more of the organization than any other executive, and serves as a balance point between short-term and long-term interests, between the innovators and stabilizers in an organization.”
We had a panel of rockstars — Chuck Boynton, EVP & CFO of SunPower Corporation, Mark Hawkins, EVP & CFO of Autodesk, and Lauralee Martin, EVP, COO & CFO, at Jones Lang LaSalle — to provide a perspective from CFOs who get it, from companies that get it. A few highlights:
If you are interested in further exploring this intersection, please consider joining the small working group of CFOs we are convening to explore these issues. We’ll meet monthly – and privately – over the next six months, and in a public colloquium in early 2012. If you’d like to be considered for participation – or if you would prefer a private, no obligation consultation on how these matters might impact your firm – please contact me immediately on 510-248-4940. CFOs only, please.
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