Harvard’s Eccles to chair new Sustainability Accounting Standards Board

Robert Eccles, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, has been appointed inaugural chairman of the 13-member board of the new Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB).
SASB is the not-for-profit initiative which aims to develop sustainability accounting standards which had its official launch in October. The new board includes legal experts as well as portfolio managers and investment banking representatives.
Eccles is also a member of the Steering Committee of the International Integrated Reporting Committee.
Alongside his Harvard colleague George Serafeim and Ioannis Ioannou of the London Business School, he is the author of research showing that there’s a financial premium for ‘high sustainability’ companies. Their The Impact of a Corporate Culture of Sustainability on Corporate Behaviour and Performance was published last year.
“SASB will enable investors to obtain essential information about material sustainability issues free of charge, thereby minimizing the costs of research associated with integrating sustainability considerations into governance and portfolio construction activities,” said Anne Sheehan, Head of Corporate Governance at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), who has also been appointed to the SASB board. Investors, she said, would be able to evaluate sustainability and financial fundamentals alongside each other.

“SASB is extremely fortunate to have such a diverse, esteemed, and accomplished team as its first board of directors,” said SASB Founder and Executive Director Jean Rogers.The SASB Board:

Bob Carter, CEO Bob Carter Companies (fundraising specialist).
Bob Eccles, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School. SASB Chair.
Steven Gunders, retired partner Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Dan Hanson, Portfolio Manager, BlackRock.
Erika Karp, Managing Director, Head of Global Sector Research, UBS Investment Bank
John Katovich, Founder and Partner, K2 Katovich and Kassan Law Group. SASB Treasurer.
Steve Lydenberg, Partner, Strategic Vision, Domini Social Investments LLC. SASB Standards Council Chairman.
Suz MacCormac, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP. SASB Secretary of the Board.
Catherine Odelbo, Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Partnerships, Morningstar, Inc.
Aulana Peters, retired partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (tenure begins in January). Former SEC Commissioner and board member of Northrop Grumman and 3M.
Jean Rogers, Founder and Executive Director SASB (non-voting board member).
Anne Sheehan, Head of Corporate Governance, CalSTRS.
Ed Waitzer, Partner (former chairman) at Stikeman Elliott and Jarislowsky Dimma Mooney Chair in Corporate Governance and is Director of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law.

SASB Announcement