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How Leeds alumni are making the case for sustainability.

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Working in financial risk management gave Ralph Drabic a larger perspective than, say, what he might consider in doing due diligence on a proposed loan or deal.

鈥淯ltimately, if there鈥檚 no planet, there are no financial services,鈥� said Drabic (Fin, Mgmt鈥�07), a vice president and senior manager of the environmental and social impact audit team at Wells Fargo. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 get this right for our planet, for our environment, none of what we have matters.鈥�

Many professionals feel a sense of urgency and responsibility in adopting better business practices that benefit the environment. But because Leeds weighs environment, equality and sustainability as heavily as finance, marketing and accounting in creating academic programs, alumni often find themselves in corner offices鈥攐r just outside of them鈥攚here they have opportunities to advocate for practices and policies that create meaningful change.

For Megan Lorenzen (MBA鈥�21), the idea that her work can make a difference brought her to Salesforce, where she鈥檚 senior manager of sustainability. Her work involves collaboration with partners in various business units to understand needs and create impact.

鈥淲e believe we have a responsibility to help bring the entire community with us,鈥� said Lorenzen, who was named to GreenBiz Badass Women, a power list of key players in environmental justice, in the spring. 鈥淚f we reach our company targets and get to the finish line alone, we will have failed to actually impact climate change.鈥�

鈥楢ccountants are going to save the world鈥�

The good news, she said, is leaders are listening when it comes to not just setting targets but also the strategies that help companies meet emissions pledges and climate goals.

鈥淚 always say that accountants are going to save the world,鈥� Lorenzen said. 鈥淵ou are increasingly seeing accountants who are now ESG professionals. And our business partners鈥攍egal, government affairs, finance鈥攁re critical to our success.鈥�

Lorenzen and Drabic pointed out that a lot of leaders鈥� actions are being driven by changing regulations, whether from the Fed or SEC. That outside pressure has helped Drabic find a ready audience when he presents ideas to his team and stakeholders.

鈥淚t makes it easier for an audit team to have credibility when it comes to what regulatory activities are taking place and what needs to happen,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a bank, the last thing you want to do is run afoul of regulators, so their work is pivotal for teams like ours.鈥�

And while Lorenzen said that growing credibility has made now 鈥渁n incredible time to work in this industry,鈥� that wasn鈥檛 always the case. Just ask Kathryn Wendell, executive director of Leeds鈥� Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR).

鈥淲hen I graduated from college back in 2000, I was very interested in corporate social responsibility and sustainability, but there was no clear career path to get there,鈥� said Wendell, whose work experience includes corporate responsibility roles at Chevron and World Bank.

鈥淭oday, this whole field is evolving so fast that even people like me are struggling to try to stay on top of what鈥檚 happening. But it鈥檚 exciting be颅cause, as we rethink risk, we鈥檙e seeing sustainability take on a stronger focus for private-sector leadership.鈥�

An ESG portfolio

CESR plays a key role in helping prepare students to lead those conversations. In addition to student competitions, the center supports students enrolled in the social responsibility and ethics certificate and CESR Fellows organization for undergrads, as well a new MBA pathway in ESG and sustainability.

Wendell said the center鈥檚 programming is an outreach of the clear strength in sustainability and ESG coming out of our faculty research.

鈥淭his deep caring about the environment and society is what brings a lot of people here to Boulder鈥攂oth faculty and students. It鈥檚 a shared passion and expertise that cuts across our school and makes us unique.鈥�

In fact, that helped bring David Drake, associate professor of strategy, entrepreneurship and operations, to Leeds. Before moving into higher education, he was a director at Random House, where one of his projects was recommending whether to print books with recycled paper.

It turned into a much more involved project as Drake worked to understand the hurdles with partners鈥攍ike paper mills and customers鈥攁nd internal stakeholders. Ultimately, he advised the CEO to use recycled paper, though the economic case was unclear.

鈥淚t was a harder sell, at the time, because customers purchase based on the content of the book, not the paper it is printed on鈥攊f they want the new John Grisham, they generally want the new John Grisham whether or not it is printed on recycled paper,鈥� Drake said.

Random House went forward with the initiative, he said, because the cost was reasonable, the impact was significant, 鈥渁nd we were a privately held company whose owners cared about doing better. We felt the economic upside鈥攊f there was one鈥攚as through an improved potential of landing book deals with authors who shared that ethos.鈥�

Drake has brought lessons from that project to his research. He studies innovative business models that improve quality of life through resource preservation and greater access to products and services. His current focus is mobile money, which gives people in rural and underdeveloped areas access to banking services.

鈥淚t鈥檚 another example, like cases in health care and education, where people innovated in unique ways to bring products and services to people who haven鈥檛 had access to them,鈥� Drake said. 鈥淚f you design that business model well, it can be profitable as well as beneficial for society.鈥�

Even alumni who aren鈥檛 yet in leadership roles are finding ways to influence the C-suite. In his role as a deal advisory senior associate with KPMG, Alex Freimuth, CPA (Acct, Fin鈥�18; MAcct鈥�19) has carved out a niche in the energy space; 鈥渁t first, I was seeing more traditional oil and gas deals, but a couple years later, the majority of my work tends to have a renewable focus,鈥� he said.

Economics, environment 鈥榗an go hand in hand鈥�

Freimuth鈥檚 deal book tends to follow larger energy market trends. So oil and gas deals may be more prevalent as prices rise, while renewable energy deals are driven by a favorable regulatory environment and the associated tax incentives for those investments. He鈥檚 also seen traditional oil and gas companies spend more time analyzing and executing clean-energy investments.

鈥淧rofitability and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand.鈥�

Alex Freimuth, CPA (Acct, Fin鈥�18; MAcct鈥�19), Deal Advisory Senior Associate,听KPMG

鈥淭he main thing for leaders right now is balancing how to make decisions that promote sustainability while still remaining financially responsible to shareholders,鈥� Freimuth said. 鈥淭his allows executives to address stakeholders and communicate that these decisions are founded in the interest of our business and but that also accomplish something in the interest of the broader community.

鈥淧rofitability and sustainability do not have to be mutually exclusive. They can go hand in hand.鈥�

That鈥檚 the same hopeful tone Drabic struck when thinking about how his team鈥檚 work could help leaders and decision-makers set the course for the future.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I like about this audit team鈥攚e鈥檙e the last line of defense,鈥� Drabic said. 鈥淭his is the influence we can have on a major bank that ultimately plays a role in driving this transition.鈥�