Panelists
Margot Brandenburg
Margot Brandenburg is a senior program officer on the Ford Foundation’s Mission Investments team, focused on building and strengthening the infrastructure of the impact investment market—with an eye to shaping the broader capital markets. She has spent two decades working at the intersection of philanthropy, capital markets, and social and environmental justice. Previously she served as CEO of MyStrongHome, helped design and lead the impact investing initiative at the Rockefeller Foundation and co-authored the book “The Power of Impact Investing.” She is an adjunct lecturer at Princeton University and sits on the boards of Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, The Workers Lab and the Woodcock Foundation.
Yusuf George
Yusuf George leads Engine No. 1’s active ownership and proxy-voting strategies for the firm’s fund portfolio companies. Prior to joining Engine No. 1, George worked at JUST Capital, where he developed and led the firm’s corporate engagement strategy, oversaw the racial equity portfolio and assisted with investor-related engagement. He began his career in the global capital markets division at Barclays Capital. George earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Trinity College.
Seth Goldman
Seth Goldman is co-founder and chief change agent of Eat the Change®, a planet-friendly snack brand that helps people ‘Snack to the Future™”. Eat the Change® recently launched Just Ice Tea, a line of organic bottled tea to go along with the company’s mushroom jerky and carrot snacks. Goldman also is the co-founder of PLNT Burger, Honest Tea and chair of the board of Beyond Meat. He has been widely recognized for his entrepreneurial success and impact, including being acknowledged with Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in Greater Washington, being inducted into the Washington, DC Business Hall of Fame, and being named BevNET Person of the Year and Partnership for Healthier America’s CEO of the Year.
Timothy Hedley, Ph.D.
Timothy Hedley, Ph.D., is an executive-in-residence at the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business, responsible for the ESG Literacy programs and initiatives, and an adjunct accounting faculty member. He teaches courses in sustainability reporting, business risks in a digital global economy, forensic accounting, managerial accounting, accounting fundamentals, and business ethics. Hedley is active in the Connecticut Society of CPAs, where he is the chair-elect of the Society and founding chairman of its ESG Committee. He also is a board member of the Center for Professional Accounting Practices.
Hedley is a retired partner from a Big Four accounting firm where he served as the global lead partner for fraud risk management services. He currently provides his consultancy clients with a wide range of services to prevent, detect and respond to governance and integrity issues. He has worked extensively across industries, including automotive, retail, food and beverage, consumer products, manufacturing, financial services, information services, utilities, defense, waste, energy and telecommunications. In addition, Hedley is Certified Public Accountant, Certified in Financial Forensics and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
Davida Heller
Davida Heller is director and head of Sustainability Strategy at Citi. Her work centers on the development and execution of Citi’s sustainability initiatives and programs, including the bank’s Sustainable Progress Strategy and $1 trillion sustainable finance commitment by 2030. She engages with company-wide global business functions, regional banking teams and external stakeholders to advise and build company-wide awareness of ESG, sustainability and climate related trends, opportunities and risks. Prior to joining Citi in 2014, Heller was head of member engagement at The Climate Group, a non-profit organization dedicated to driving action to create a net-zero emission global economy, where she worked with Fortune 500 companies on greenhouse gas emissions reduction initiatives. Before that, she was at The Earth Institute at Columbia University and managed corporate relations and oversaw professional development for the Institute’s sustainability-related education programs. Previously, she worked in consulting and feature film production and development. Heller serves on the board of the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and The Last Animals Foundation. She holds an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in Media Studies from George Washington University.
Hitha Herzog
Hitha Herzog (formerly Prabhakar) lives in a world where fashion, retail, finance, investigative journalism and data research all co-exist in perfect harmony—a.k.a., New York City. She is the chief research officer of H Squared Research, LLC a data-driven, research firm for registered investment advisors. She also is consumer spending columnist at U.S. News & World Report and author of the book "Black Market Billions: How Organized Retail Crime Funds Terrorists," published by FT Press. Herzog also uses her expertise in the retail space to advise start-ups in Silicon Valley and with Parsons The New School of Fashion incubator XRC Labs, while teaching a class on social commerce. When she is not expanding her business and advising early stage companies, she is raising awareness about the criminal activity linked to the black market and counterfeit products. She created a companion app to the book available in iTunes to help people identify and spot counterfeit merchandise sold on the black market. Forbes magazine recently named her as “one of the most influential South Asian women in the United States.”
Herzog has had numerous television appearances as a national retail and consumer spending expert for “NBC Nightly News,” “The Today Show” and on MSNBC. She was a contributor and co-host on Fox Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne,” and has been a correspondent and contributor at Bloomberg TV and CNBC.
Herzog served as the retail reporter for Forbes Media, covering the luxury industry as well as men’s fashion. She has written for Time magazine, MSNBC.com, nymag.com, Today.com, People magazine, People.com, ELLE India, Metro Newspapers, Gotham magazine, Inked magazine and Zink magazine.
Herzog has been featured in Vogue India, “The New York Times,” Shape magazine, Glamour magazine, Marie Claire, Oprah magazine, Lucky magazine, Gotham, OK Magazine, Albuquerque Living, “The Daily News,” Metro, “The Daily Mail,” Style.com, Forbes.com, and Huffington Post, and has been a guest on NPR, lending her style knowledge on everything from where to shop to which diamonds will be on the red carpet during the Oscars. Her proudest moment came in 2009, when photographer Scott Schuman profiled and photographed her for the Burberry “Art of the Trench Campaign.”
Herzog graduated Smith College (including a year stint at the London School of Economics) with a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics and holds an M.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Style and retail aside, Herzog’s favorite pastimes are running marathons, biking, yoga, taking pictures of her cat Ferocious, hanging out in the beauty section of Duane Reade and walking to the corner deli with her husband Seth Herzog.
Karen Y. Johns
Karen Y. Johns serves as the CEO for GOOD Institute, the parent organization of Net Impact. GOOD Institute is a thought leader and social action think tank, empowering socially responsible organizations and individuals through strategic partnerships with Net Impact, Leaps.org, GOOD Worldwide and Upworthy. Net Impact, the action-oriented network of GOOD Institute, supports over 300 Net Impact Chapters located across 40 countries worldwide, training and leading university students and young professionals to take action and make a positive impact on people and the planet.
Johns is a seasoned professional in the education and nonprofit arena with expertise in fostering business development and philanthropy, and has assisted a wide variety of organizations, from the Gates Foundation to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands.
A graduate of Tufts University, Johns is founder of the Tufts Black Alumni Association and remains an active alumna. She is a native of Jamaica and serves in an advisory capacity with several Caribbean-based organizations.
Andrew Kassoy
Andrew Kassoy is co-founder of B Lab, the nonprofit organization behind the B Corp Movement. He recently stepped out of his CEO role to become executive vice chair and to focus on strategy and long-term growth. B Lab’s vision is stakeholder capitalism – in which business plays a transformative role in creating an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economic system for all. B Lab drives systemic change by changing the culture, behavior and structure of business and the capital markets. The movement is led by the example of over 6,500 Certified B Corporations in 80 countries who meet high standards of social and environmental performance, legal accountability and public transparency.
Before leaving the private sector to form B Lab with two college mates, Bart Houlahan and Jay Coen Gilbert, Kassoy spent 16 years as a partner in private equity funds at DLJ, Credit Suisse, and MSD Capital. He was raised in Boulder, Colorado and graduated from Stanford University where he was a Truman Scholar. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Margot Brandenburg, and four children, Max, Jed, Etta and Xavier.
Roberta Lobo
Roberta Lobo is a director in the Responsible Investing team at Nuveen. As part of her ESG strategy work, she is leading TIAA ESG Engagement Programs, supporting client engagement efforts and executing sustainable business strategy goals.
Prior to this, Lobo spent six years at Bank of America Securities in public finance investment banking focused on debt structuring for Green and Social bond transactions.
She holds B.A. in Economics and political science from the University of Chicago.
Peter Lupoff
Peter Lupoff is a Gabelli Fellow at the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business, teaching impact investing and focusing on social responsibility. He also is executive-in-residence at the School’s Responsible Business Coalition, He previously taught at Yale University and is a member of the Impact Investing & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium.
Lupoff formerly was CEO of Net Impact (2019-22), a global nex-gen member network with a mission to inspire, equip and activate emerging leaders to make a positive impact for people and planet. He was CEO of GOOD Institute (2021-2022), which reimagines the possibilities for our shared future by charting a new contract between business and society.
Lupoff is the founder of Lupoff/Stevens Family Office, his family's vehicle for impact investments and grant-making. The Family Office seeks acceptable financial returns alongside demonstrable social/environmental impact.
The family are signatories to The Responsible Digital Financial Inclusion Guidelines, DivestInvest, with a commitment to divestment of fossil fuel investment to hasten sustainable energy transition; The Belonging Pledge, committing to racial equity initiatives; and has a partnership with the United Nations Capital Development Fund, to forge public/private impact investment in the 47 poorest countries.
Lupoff is a featured, contributing columnist, writing with a focus on responsible investing and the social contact between all people and business.
Melissa Mahtani
Melissa Mahtani is a multimedia producer for CNN's award-winning digital team, producing, writing and creating content for the entire network. In addition to writing breaking news stories and feature articles for CNN, Mahtani hosts “Facebook Live” interviews with key influencers, including Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, self-described 'fat femme yogi' Jesamyn Stanley, and on board the USS Intrepid for Fleet Week. Her role connects the traditional world of TV with digital, pushing programming across all platforms and worldwide. She also plays a key role in designing the social strategy around special events including bespoke CNN Town Halls, CNN Heroes and the United Nations General Assembly.
Mahtani previously worked on numerous shows as a television news producer for CNN including “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” “Reliable Sources,” “Erin Burnett Out Front” and "The World Right Now with Hala Gorani." Most recently, she led the New York launch of the morning business show “CNNMoney with Maggie Lake,” managing a team spread across three cities. She also has field produced for major international events and produced special content for CNNI, including a special half-hour show on the crisis in Syria.
Mahtani has lived and worked in Zambia, UK, France, Spain and Italy. She brings more than 12 years of international experience in producing content for major broadcasters including CNN, CNBC, France 24 and ITN on a wide variety of platforms.
Mahtani earned a bachelor of arts from King's College London and a postgraduate diploma from London School of Journalism.
Jenny McColloch
Jenny McColloch guides McDonald’s on its environmental, social and governance ambitions, leveraging the brand’s scale and presence in nearly 40,000 communities globally, while elevating its ESG reporting to emphasize transparency, setting a standard for the sector. Under her leadership, McDonald’s has made progress on its ambition to achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050 (one of the first global restaurants to do so); to have every toy in a Happy Meal be made using more materials from renewable, recycled or certified sources by the end of 2025; to achieve McDonald's 2020 Responsible Sourcing goals; and to release the company’s first-ever Climate Risk & Resiliency Summary aligned to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure.
Barbara Porco, Ph.D.
Barbara Porco, Ph.D, has been a member of the Gabelli School of Business accounting faculty for over 30 years and holds Fordham University’s prestigious Bene Merenti Medal. During this time, she has been the recipient of several university awards including the 2019 Faculty Magis Award, the 2018 Dean’s Net Impact Award and the 2017 Gabelli Teaching Innovation Award. She recently served as one of the founding members of the president’s assembled council—Fordham’s Continuous University Strategic Planning (CUSP) Committee—as well as a senator for the University’s Faculty Senate. At the request of the Board of Trustees, she served in the Office of the Provost as the director of financial and budgetary development for a two-year appointment. Additionally, Porco has been ranked nationally in the Top 50 Researchers in Accounting Education by the American Accounting Association.
Porco is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, and is certified in financial forensics. Her past positions include director of personal financial planning, audit supervisor and senior tax manager in the financial service group at PwC. She is an educator and consultant to an array of domestic and international banks, financial services organizations, hospitals, Big Four accounting firms and regulatory agencies, including FINRA and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For more than a decade, she has held the title of master professor and presently oversees the development and training of instructors and program delivery for the National Audit Intern Program of one of the world’s largest accounting firms. Porco holds a certification in corporate sustainability and innovation and a master’s degree in sustainability and environmental management from Harvard University. She proudly serves on the AICPA’s Sustainability Assurance and Advisory Task Force as the academic representative for extended external reporting (EER) assurance. She also serves as chair of the Fordham University and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Governance Collaboration Committee for the University in accordance with MOU established between the Gabelli School of Business and the SASB.
Leveraging her doctoral and thesis studies, Porco’s research focuses on ethics, non-financial reporting and accounting education. She is the author of “KPMG Ethical Compass: Integrity in Business,” a seven-series package of interactive instructional material that enables college professors to present ethics-related topics in their classrooms. The “Ethical Compass” has won multiple awards and has been used at more than 150 universities across the country. It is available on KPMG’s University Connection. Porco also participated in a faculty rotation in the forensic practice for KPMG and co-authored a chapter for “KPMG’s Managing the Risk of Fraud and Misconduct: Meeting the Challenges of a Global, Regulated and Digital Environment,” published by McGraw Hill. Her most recent publication, “Sustainability Accounting Toolkit,” is a series of three lectures to be adapted by faculty members who wish to include material pertaining to sustainability accounting, integrated reporting, and/or triple bottom line concepts in their financial accounting courses.
Beyond being the multiple recipient of Fordham University’s Teacher of the Year Award, Porco also has been recognized nationally. Her academic and professional awards include the 2019 National Innovation in Auditing & Assurance Education Award, the 2017 National Teaching Innovation Award from the American Accounting Association, NACE Excellence in Teaching Award for KPMG’s Ethical Compass and the National Outstanding Faculty Award by Beta Alpha Psi. She also is the former president of the Northeast Region of American Accounting Association, and is a member of AICPA, the American Accounting Association, Beta Alpha Psi, and Beta Gamma Sigma.
Bruno Sarda
Bruno Sarda is a Sustainability and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) executive with more than 20 years of experience operating at the forefront of social and business transformation, leading through rapid and disruptive change and is experienced in advising clients at all stages of maturity on their ESG and sustainability journey.
As East Region leader and Energy Transition and Tech-Media-Telecom sector lead in Climate Change and Sustainability practice at Ernst & Young LLP, based in the New York metro area, he helps global companies develop and execute their climate and sustainability strategies and programs.
Sarda has proven success managing complexity and providing results in fast-changing environments, with key strengths in integrating ESG performance into core business operations and strategy. He is a trusted partner to C-Suite executives and boards of directors, and is a sought-after speaker.
Sarda has been named one of the ‘most influential sustainability voices in America,’ a Top 50 Environmental Leader and a Top 100 Global Sustainability Influencer.
Cara Smyth
A retail industry veteran, Cara Smyth joined the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business as a Fellow and Founder of the Responsible Business Center. The think tank incubates scalable business solutions that address the social and environmental impacts of fashion through its ecosystem and regular convenings of 50+ CEOs, representing over 275 brands, and in turn influences research and the future education of business leaders.
Together with the CEOs, Smyth created a catalyzing ecosystem initiative called Fashion Makes Change (FMC), a project with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Bringing together industry, non-profits and philanthropy, Fashion Makes Change is a multi-impact solution that engages consumers on multiple platforms including on-product sustainability attribute information, collective action via women’s education and supply chain decarbonization initiatives.
Accenture, the global management consulting firm, tapped Smyth to serve as the managing director of its Global ESG Retail practice, building data-driven Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) protocols that help future-proof business, resetting retail as the demands of investors, regulations and consumers demonstrate the materiality of data-driven ESG in managing business.
Dave Stangis
Dave Stangis is partner and chief sustainability officer at Apollo and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Apollo, Stangis founded 21C Impact, an advisory firm dedicated to delivering a differentiated impact on business results with a focus on ESG and corporate sustainability initiatives. Previously, he was chief sustainability officer at Campbell Soup Company, where he created and led the company’s ESG, corporate citizenship, sustainability & public affairs strategies. Stangis joined Campbell from Intel Corporation, where he served as the company’s first global director of corporate responsibility.
Stangis currently serves as a mentor to the AgFunder Network. He previously served as executive adviser at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, entrepreneur in residence at Babson College, and instructor in Villanova University’s Sustainable Enterprise Executive Education program.
Randy Strickland
Randy Strickland is a director, client portfolio manager at Westfuller. In this capacity he supports clients via sourcing and conducting due diligence on investments across asset classes for ESG and Impact portfolios. Additionally, he consults with clients on all aspects of relationship management including investment policy planning, impact strategy, shareholder engagement, risk management, impact measurement and portfolio reporting. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the asset management arena.
Previously, he served as director, investment advisory at Pathstone Family Office. Strickland’s experience also includes senior positions at Cornerstone Capital Group, City National Bank of New Jersey (now Industrial Bank), ImpactAssets, Principal Asset Management and Commonfund.
Strickland is an adjunct professor at the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business and within the Sustainable MBA program at Bard College, teaching Sustainable Finance and Impact Investing. He is a member of the Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium.
He is on the Steering Committee for the Intentional Endowments Network and Confluence Philanthropy's Racial Equity Initiative Advisory Committee, and serves as a board member of Net Impact, the HBCU Green Fund and the Griffin Bridges Scholarship Program at Seton Hall Prep School
Strickland earned a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a Master of Arts from New York University.
Rachel Taplinger
Rachel Taplinger is an experienced sustainability expert with a demonstrated history in the consumer goods sector. She is currently the assistant vice president of Sustainability for the Maybelline New York brand at L'Oréal. Prior to L'Oréal, she developed foundational sustainability programs at Nike, Revlon and The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) working across supply chain, packaging, operations and marketing, among other functions.
Taplinger holds an MBA in sustainability and strategy from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Communications from Tufts University.
Kevin Thompson
Kevin Thompson is the general manager for GOOD Worldwide and Upworthy, where he has P&L responsibility, manages the business and services teams and co-leads M&A and strategic growth projects. GOOD Worldwide is a leader in social impact, sustainability and engagement at scale. Through his work at GOOD, he served as a co-founder of the GOOD Institute, a new nonprofit organization that merged with Net Impact.
Thompson is a lecturer and previous executive in residence at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He teaches a course he designed titled “InterMission,” a self-leadership course that blends classroom lectures with a one-week wilderness immersion in Utah's Canyonlands with the National Outdoor Leadership School.
Prior to GOOD, Thompson spent 15 years at IBM in executive and senior management roles in marketing, global strategy, market insights, thought leadership and brand management in business units spanning healthcare, government, commerce, mobile, social and financing.
An IBM career highlight was the design, launch and scaling of the Corporate Service Corps (CSC), often called a “business version of the Peace Corps,” which addresses the 21st century context for doing business – emerging markets, diverse cultures, global teaming, complex policy environments, cross functional collaboration and increasing societal expectations.
Thompson is a First Mover Fellow with the Aspen Institute, a leadership and innovation lab for social intrapreneurs, the subject of a Harvard Business School case study and winner of a FrED Forum innovation award. He has published on topics ranging from cloud computing to next generation leadership. He also co-founded a leadership development consultancy called World Action Teams that designs and delivers immersion experiences in rapidly developing markets.
Prior to IBM he spent two years managing a farm and micro enterprise in rural Ghana, West Africa while a US Peace Corps volunteer, and performed as a musician based in Massachusetts. Thompson holds MBA and MS degrees from Cornell University and a BA from the University of Massachusetts in Natural Systems. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his two boys, Nels and River.
Frank Zambrelli
Frank Zambrelli is an ESG/Sustainability subject matter expert with C-Suite experience in retail, luxury and branding. His specialized approach overlays the multiple lenses of P&L priority and the mitigation of negative environmental and social impacts— demonstrating the additional value sustainable systems change creates across organizations and supply chains. After more than a decade working for world-class brands, he began the award-winning consultancy Design Quadrant, where his work was transformational in the success of companies for over 15 years, a roster including Chanel, Calvin Klein, Estée Lauder, Restoration Hardware, Gucci, and many others.
Today, Zambrelli leads sustainable transformation from several perches. He is the executive director of the Responsible Business Center at the Fordham University Gabelli School of Business: 50+ CEOs supporting the cross-sector collaboration of industry and education to drive ESG Management as a business approach—steering toward a sustainable and circular future that considers people, planet and profit. He is also a managing director and the co-lead of Accenture’s global ESG Retail practice, guiding an industry in dynamic change toward more experiential, equitable and sustainable growth. A regular face in digital and broadcast media, and on panels discussing responsible business and the acceleration of ESG, Zambrelli leverages a global platform to support industry as the vice chair of Fashion Makes Change, the chairman of the Accessories Council, and an Executive Alumni board member at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Josh Zinner
As ICCR’s chief executive officer since January 2016, Josh Zinner oversees programs and operations for the organization, and is the lead external organizational representative. He has more than 25 years’ experience as a non-profit leader, coalition-builder and policy advocate. Zinner also is a long-time public interest lawyer who has spent his career working to promote social and economic justice and corporate accountability. For the eight years prior to coming to ICCR, he co-directed the New Economy Project, an organization that works with community groups on economic justice issues and is at the forefront both locally and nationally in the fight against discriminatory financial practices.
Among earlier roles, Zinner founded and ran the Foreclosure Prevention Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services for more than a decade. He helped to build and lead an influential statewide coalition of over 160 organizational members, New Yorkers for Responsible Lending, which fielded successful campaigns to achieve groundbreaking legislation and regulation to curb financial abuses. Previously, he worked with Oxfam America on private sector campaigns including access to medicines work; as a housing lawyer with low-income seniors; and as a social worker for five years working with adjudicated youth, street children and homeless adults. Zinner was previously a member of the Consumer Advisory Board of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.