Episode 4 - Inside the Responsible Business Center: What We're Learning and What's Next

00;00;10;13 - 00;00;40;04
Leigh Anne Statuto
Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of People Behind the Impact. Today we have an exciting , what we think, episode. Really looking at what we have ahead for the next semester. So we're in the middle of summer. Lots of planning and preparation. While the students aren't here. We're always, we're always doing things moving ahead. And so Marc Siegel and I decided we might sit down and just look at what we have planning, what we're prepping, and then also have the opportunity to just look back at what we've accomplished over the past year.

00;00;40;11 - 00;00;43;10
Leigh Anne Statuto
So hi, Marc. Good to see you.

00;00;43;12 - 00;00;46;06
Marc Siegel
Good morning. Thanks for hosting.

00;00;46;09 - 00;01;03;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. Well, co-hosting I feel like, the two hosts are kind of chatting together. So I thought what we could do today is just talk a little bit about what we've accomplished and then also kind of give some teasers looking ahead. And so Marc, I'm going to kick it to you first. So you've hosted lots of roundtables over the past couple of months.

00;01;03;29 - 00;01;22;02
Leigh Anne Statuto
So two, in specifically focused on responsible reporting and accounting. I'd love for you to just speak a little bit to what was the vision for the years. What were you hoping to achieve during the roundtables? They were really incredible, but I don't know if we've shared them enough with our, with our audience and community.

00;01;22;04 - 00;01;42;26
Marc Siegel
Yeah. First of all, it's so great to be able to have Fordham as a as a platform to host these roundtables. I've really enjoyed them. The real, the real vision behind it was to really facilitate a conversation and to have lots of different stakeholders come together and talk about responsible reporting, which could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

00;01;42;28 - 00;02;06;27
Marc Siegel
And so to have lots of different people come together. And in a Chatham House format, which just means it's not going to be for public consumption, no attribution associated with what any individual says. Let's talk about the issues that are coming up in financial reporting and sustainability reporting and really corporate reporting (inaudible) large, and just have a platform to discuss these issues and try to advance them and move them forward.

00;02;06;27 - 00;02;26;27
Marc Siegel
So it's really been fantastic. There's been a great uptake with them, and it's been fun to to have these different people together that I might know from different parts of my career. And both times it's been when, when it's 4:30 in the afternoon, I have to sort of work to stop having people talk and say, okay, we've talked enough about this.

00;02;26;29 - 00;02;33;02
Marc Siegel
So people have been so excited and, and willing to, to share. And they've really been fantastic.

00;02;33;04 - 00;02;47;12
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, they've been wonderful. And you've been with us for a little over a year now, which we're still pinching ourselves. We're so excited you're with us at the center. And I remember when we first brought you on, we're like, what would be your dream thing? What would we like to do? And you'd said it'd be cool to do, like maybe a roundtable or two.

00;02;47;12 - 00;03;03;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
And we accomplished that. So super exciting. Can you talk a little bit about the kind of stakeholders that participated, and how did you kind of put together who you were hoping to invite? I know you just mentioned, like, bringing in people from different areas, but how did you kind of curate that?

00;03;03;25 - 00;03;28;12
Marc Siegel
Yeah, I think that's really an important part of of what these roundtables are about. It's bringing in people not just from one perspective, but from lots of different vantage points. So you could actually enrich the conversation and everybody gets a chance to share and hopefully learn. I've learned from all these things as well. So we're bringing in people from the prepare community, whether it's sustainability officers or whether it's accounting people.

00;03;28;14 - 00;03;49;18
Marc Siegel
We've brought in people from the board of directors. So we've often had people from the audit committee specifically because they're involved in all kinds of corporate reporting, enhancing the conversations between companies and their investors. We've brought in investors, we've brought in former regulators, we've brought in academics, we brought in some consultants, we've grown some auditors.

00;03;49;21 - 00;04;14;13
Marc Siegel
And really, it sounds like a lot, but it's really we've each one has been around 20 people and curated. It's really been trying to find the topics. There actually isn't any dearth of topics. There's lots of different things to talk about. So trying to curate specifically some themes for, what's going on. And so the first one was kind of what is responsible reporting, what is disclosure effectiveness.

00;04;14;15 - 00;04;41;01
Marc Siegel
And so having those kinds of broad topics, but then being able to drill down in specific ways with all those different stakeholders and sharing different points of view, it's really been good because a lot of times when we talk about disclosure effectiveness, for example, it could really end up being a non productive conversation where people just complain about the way the rules are written and how different people in the ecosystem work together or not work together.

00;04;41;03 - 00;04;58;15
Marc Siegel
And by having this Chatham House format and having people that we know together, they've really been constructive dialogues and we've put together (inaudible). And so, I encourage everybody to look at them and maybe we'll talk a little bit more about some of the key takeaways from them.

00;04;58;17 - 00;05;13;05
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. That's great. I also think it's really interesting too. We always talk about sustainability reporting, but we are saying responsible reporting and disclosures. And I think that's a really key word. Do you have anything to add to that? You're definitely the expert on this, this side of things.

00;05;13;07 - 00;05;36;11
Marc Siegel
Yeah. Because I think a lot of times when you think about corporate reporting, you end up going into a silo of, well, I'm a financial reporting expert or I'm a sustainability reporting expert. I'm working on the compliance documents, the filings with the SEC (The Securities and Exchange Commission), while I'm working on investor relations and the earnings call, I'm working on a sustainability report. Well, really to step back from all of it,

00;05;36;14 - 00;05;57;07
Marc Siegel
you need to think about it all as corporate reporting and be responsible about corporate reporting and not only need to comply with the rules, but you also need to communicate and facilitate that dialogue between companies and their investors about how you are trying to grow value over the long term, for not just your financial stakeholders, but all your stakeholders.

00;05;57;10 - 00;06;16;01
Marc Siegel
And so that's kind of what I mean by responsible reporting. It's broader than any of the individual silos. So what we're hoping to do is, is slowly break down some of these walls and get at some of the some of the root issues with corporate reporting and responsible reporting and trying to make the whole dialogue better.

00;06;16;04 - 00;06;28;11
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, I think you're doing a great job, and I'm so excited to see what we're going to do in the year ahead as well, because I think just having two this past year and we could have done more, but we were like, let's, let's keep it at the two and build on them.

00;06;28;13 - 00;06;48;00
Marc Siegel
Yeah, for sure. As there's, there's, lots of different room for more and more conversations. In fact, we've we've got too many ideas for what we, what we can actually handle. So let me turn to you for a couple of minutes, if that's okay. I want to talk about, you know, the RBC and you've been leading the RBC over the years.

00;06;48;00 - 00;07;06;20
Marc Siegel
And by the way, I should give a little plug. We interviewed Barbara Corso on our first episode, which, as an aside, is a great listen if you haven't heard it yet, because it just sort of lays all the groundwork about, the RBC. But you've really been here helping lead the growth of the RBC in a over this remarkably short time.

00;07;06;22 - 00;07;13;24
Marc Siegel
Are you still as excited about the mission and the vision today, and how much is it evolved from when you first started, when you first joined?

00;07;13;26 - 00;07;31;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, definitely excited I hope so. I think it's evolves a lot. Right. So we're going into our fourth year, which is so crazy to think about how far we've come from our first year. Right? So our first year we were establishing our center. We were doing a lot of the nitty gritty things that you do and you're forming a center.

00;07;31;23 - 00;07;51;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
What's your mission? What's your vision? What are the key things you're trying to do? What are the activities? And now that we're going into our fourth year, we've finalized our three focus areas. So we have our work with Mencap that we'll talk a little bit about our work with you, with responsible reporting and disclosures. And then our third, which is societal well-being and community.

00;07;52;00 - 00;08;13;05
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so finally, after three years, we've now figured out what our three focus areas are. Of course not exhaustive. Right. So the responsible of reporting is a piece of it. And all of them are focus areas. But with sustainability it's very broad reaching. And so we also want to ensure we're encompassing different aspects of that. As we go into our fourth year, our team has grown a lot.

00;08;13;08 - 00;08;29;27
Leigh Anne Statuto
I think also people now know who we are. So I speak with our freshmen incoming classes. I speak with all of the MBAs and M.S. students that are coming in. And so now over time, the students are understanding who we are. And the faculty, I think, as well, has started to understand the work we do at the center.

00;08;29;29 - 00;08;50;20
Leigh Anne Statuto
We had an event in June with our Emerging Leaders Council, which is our alumni group, who are interested in sustainability, and what was really incredible to see where there were a lot of new faces, but there were a lot of repeat people who have come back. And I think when we formed our Emerging Leaders Council the first year of the center, it was kind of trying to figure out who was interested in this.

00;08;50;20 - 00;09;13;17
Leigh Anne Statuto
And now we have this growing repeat group of people that are really interested in this. I think also just thinking about the evolution of it, as you know very well, Marc, sustainability changes weekly. And so I think what we formed as a center back in 2023 has already changed based on what's happening in the climate and sustainability space.

00;09;13;20 - 00;09;39;27
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so I think that makes us need to be a little bit more nimble and ensure that the words were using the way we're communicating sustainability, choosing words like responsible business over sustainability. Sometimes all of those things are really important, and it makes us need to be very careful and how we do things to ensure we're making things accessible to other people, and to bring in our students, to bring in our community and make this something that I feel like everyone can kind of buy into.

00;09;40;00 - 00;09;48;09
Leigh Anne Statuto
So definitely still excited about it. Always a challenge in sustainability and climate, but I think the work now is more important than ever.

00;09;48;12 - 00;10;07;15
Marc Siegel
Yeah, I think so too. It's been such an, a great learning experience for me just over the last year, as I've gotten used to everything that we're doing with just such a small team. And you brought this up, but I just wanted to put a fine point on it. We're obviously part of the whole Fordham University ecosystem.

00;10;07;17 - 00;10;18;12
Marc Siegel
And we said specifically within the Gabelli School of Business. And how does being embedded at Fordham actually impact our ability? And the work that we actually are able to, to do?

00;10;18;14 - 00;10;38;12
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, I think something that's been interesting for me over the past couple of years and now going into our fourth year, but I’d say specifically the past two years, we've really leaned more into our Jesuit mission. I think really understanding what it means to be a Jesuit university separates us and differentiates us a little bit in the sustainability landscape.

00;10;38;14 - 00;10;57;08
Leigh Anne Statuto
As our president at Fordham University says, Tanya Tetlow, we’ve been doing this for hundreds of years. The Jesuits have been around really preaching this mission. And so despite what headwinds we might see in sustainability, we’re not going to change now because we’ve always been thinking about stewardship. We’ve always been thinking about how do we support communities.

00;10;57;10 - 00;11;16;26
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so leaning really into the Jesuit mission, I think being a part of the Fordham community, I mean, I'm a Fordham alum. We were talking about sustainability before the RBC existed, right? So that was the decade ago now. And so I think leaning into that is really important. I think also, as we start to build out different pieces of the work we're doing, leaning into those Jesuit values.

00;11;16;26 - 00;11;40;10
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so one of our Jesuit values at Fordham and all Jesuit institutions is cure personalized, which is care of the whole person. And I think that's a really big piece of that third focus area we have on societal well-being and community. It's really looking at integral ecology and saying, sure, we need to focus on the environment, but we also need to understand our relation as humans to the environment.

00;11;40;13 - 00;12;05;18
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so I think a big part of that just provides a deeper and more spiritual level to what sustainability is and what responsible business is. We're doing it because it's good for business. Absolutely. But we're also doing it because it's who we are and it's what we believe in. And so even with our Responsible Business leadership certificate here at Gabelli, the Jesuit values are actually integrated into every single piece of the certificate.

00;12;05;21 - 00;12;27;18
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so you need to go through your different competencies to make sure you're doing stewardship and care personnel and Majus and others. And so I think the larger Fordham University ecosystem is preaching this every day. And the center is really a way to amplify some of the work that's already happening here. So I love Fordham, obviously. I think it's really wonderful to just see that this is something we live and breathe.

00;12;27;25 - 00;12;36;08
Leigh Anne Statuto
And the center, since it's only going into its fourth year, is just a way to amplify some of that. I hope you see that as well, since you've been with us for about a year.

00;12;36;11 - 00;12;56;10
Marc Siegel
Oh, for sure. And, I just again, as I said at the beginning, I couldn't be more excited to be at this university, at this platform at this time. So it's just been phenomenal. A lot of schools are finding it very difficult to continue to talk about sustainability, given the political climate. And there's been no hesitation at all at Fordham.

00;12;56;12 - 00;13;07;08
Marc Siegel
These are important issues that, that are global, that are historic in nature and, fundamental, foundational really to everything and so Fordham has been full speed ahead.

00;13;07;10 - 00;13;33;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. Now it's very exciting. It's also means a lot to work at an organization that continues to double down on these things that I believe so strongly. But coming back to your roundtables for a second, you've talked a little bit about those, but I'm curious, especially thinking about the larger ecosystem and climate we're experiencing right now. What are some of the largest takeaways that you've taken from these roundtables, especially in the political climate, as well as just what we're seeing.

00;13;34;02 - 00;14;10;23
Marc Siegel
Just first and foremost, the power of bringing different parties together and actually hearing them. It never ceases to amaze me just how much of a bubble most of us live in. And you only hear from people like yourselves. And so having prepared or sit with investors and actually hear what the investors are interested in and hearing about from companies, and for the investors to hear about why it's so difficult sometimes to make some of these communications, why it's so costly to make some of the disclosures that investors might want to be available, just increasing that understanding just that little bit.

00;14;10;26 - 00;14;33;04
Marc Siegel
I think that that's so powerful because there are just all these perceptions out there about, you know, investors just want everything and they want more and more and more information. And there was an assumption from investors that preparers are always trying to hide things and not disclose things and not be transparent. And just being able to break down those barriers to the communication is, has been huge.

00;14;33;04 - 00;14;59;20
Marc Siegel
So that in and of itself has been I think, the biggest takeaway is that there's so much power invested in that. There's also just been lots of good communication around how important it is that the regulatory filings are not just seen as compliance documents, and they actually sit within the entire milieu of all the different corporate communications that are out there.

00;14;59;22 - 00;15;27;09
Marc Siegel
And that's something that I've strongly believed, but it's been reinforced and emphasized and amplified by these roundtables, right, Is that the sustainability reports that go out on a company's website compared to a earnings call, compared to an investor day or road show, compared to a 10-K or annual report. These are all things that are being consumed not only by investors, but other stakeholders like employees or customers suppliers.

00;15;27;11 - 00;16;00;08
Marc Siegel
All these things are being consumed and digested and reviewed, and sometimes, since they're all done by different parties or different parts of the corporation itself, they might have different messages associated with them, or they might not be a coherent message that underlies or underpins all those different communication channels. And that is hugely important, because if you're a company and you from your own communications, are coming out with slightly different stories in each of these reports, well, what's an investor supposed to believe or what's a,

00;16;00;10 - 00;16;23;21
Marc Siegel
What's a stakeholder supposed to believe about the true interests and vision and priorities of the company? So, for example, a company might say in their sustainability report, we are so invested in being green, we are so invested in attacking climate as an issue. And then you go to the annual report, the 10-K filing, and there's no mention of climate or the environment or anything within it.

00;16;23;24 - 00;16;50;03
Marc Siegel
Well, what's an investor supposed to believe about the priorities of of what the companies is getting at? And I know those are, those are different documents done for different purposes. But again, in a world where it's getting easier and easier for anybody to analyze the stories coming out of these big filings, right. You can use AI very easily and just say, hey, are there any inconsistencies in messaging between these different communication channels and they'll pop up immediately.

00;16;50;05 - 00;17;14;11
Marc Siegel
It's imperative for companies to really kind of take control of their own narrative and make sure that whatever their true vision is, for growing the company in a responsible way, for long term value for their employees, for their investors, for their customers, for their suppliers and for everybody. You really need to make sure that all of the different communications give voice to those same priorities.

00;17;14;13 - 00;17;19;07
Marc Siegel
And that's been probably one of the biggest takeaways that we have from these roundtables.

00;17;19;09 - 00;17;33;28
Leigh Anne Statuto
That's so interesting. And are you seeing a lot of companies, like you’ve realize this, but are you seeing a lot of companies also realizing the need for these communications across different channels, or is this something you're just kind of picking up on?

00;17;34;01 - 00;17;58;24
Marc Siegel
Yeah, this is something that I frankly noticed over my entire career. And so that's a long time. So so I've been sort of focused on this for 20 plus years. And and seeing those different consistencies has helped me help investors to understand what's important, what's really going on in a company. So there's a variety of different, you know, some individuals are recognizing this.

00;17;58;27 - 00;18;22;02
Marc Siegel
Sometimes it comes across much more potently when there might be an activist investor who's trying to advocate for change at a company. Then all of a sudden the company realizes, well, wait, we better make sure that we're actually giving out consistent messages. But even still, then often the last piece that's not really focused on is the annual report.

00;18;22;05 - 00;18;45;24
Marc Siegel
There's just this strong view that that's a compliance document. So, you know, there are some companies that are doing better at it. There was a time over a couple of years where companies were being a little more thoughtful about integrating some aspects of their sustainability report into their annual report. Unfortunately, given the political climate, there's been a little bit of backtracking with that, or at least at some companies.

00;18;45;27 - 00;19;22;21
Marc Siegel
So there's still lots of room for improvement around that. Again, the biggest issue is that these are, these different communication channels are usually handled by different people within the company. They might have completely different reporting lines that might be seemingly very different objectives, that all might be worthwhile objectives. However, to me, it's going to continue to be important to help all of us understand just how integral these different communications are and how to integrate them in a way that actually enhances the narrative and not detracts from the narrative, is going to continue to be important.

00;19;22;24 - 00;19;41;14
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, that's so interesting. And for our listeners, Marc leads a brilliant three part workshop for our students that's focused on responsible reporting and disclosures. And I think one of them, one of the workshops specifically is focused on this communication piece, which I feel like sounds almost simple, but you actually put it into practice. I feel like it's incredibly challenging.

00;19;41;14 - 00;19;59;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
So I think we'll have that again next year. But I think having these workshops for our students is so incredible as well. I'm curious as well. I mean, you've touched on this with the political climate, but what are some of the topics that generate so much debate or have anything come up during these roundtables that you're like, oh, that was more contentious

00;19;59;22 - 00;20;00;26
Leigh Anne Statuto
then I thought.

00;20;00;28 - 00;20;29;20
Marc Siegel
Yeah, I think one of the, episodes, the podcast episodes that I had with Andrew Jones was a really good one to really dig into that. Good question about that. Some of these issues just are so difficult and so challenging, and obviously they're the ones with the most political backlash against them. And so d human capital, that's an extremely difficult thing for companies to talk about in this particular political climate.

00;20;29;20 - 00;20;59;00
Marc Siegel
In fact, there are some states where, you know, companies are being penalized in many different ways for talking about DEI as, as a value or a vision for the company. And so it's been very, very tricky for companies to navigate this whole area of disclosure around something that might be important to them and might be important to their employees, while also trying not to draw so much negative attention to themselves about things.

00;20;59;00 - 00;21;32;01
Marc Siegel
And so this is something that we talk about quite a bit in some of those workshops. And when I deal with companies, when I even talk to investors, it's like, what makes human capital so important? Why are you so interested in it? And it might vary significantly from one industry to the next. Right. And so what seems to resonate the most is when you take a topic like DEI, like human capital and you don't frame it as a sustainability issue, but you frame it as a business issue.

00;21;32;01 - 00;22;03;07
Marc Siegel
Why is it important for our business to grow profits over the long term, to be focused on DEI? Maybe it's because, I'm in a business where I've got a full sales force that is interacting with a very, very diverse customer base and therefore just making sure that at least our sales force is diverse and is representative of our customer base is an important business value, not necessarily a social value, although it is that as well.

00;22;03;10 - 00;22;26;20
Marc Siegel
But if you frame it as a conversation about business value, then you're able to talk about it all over the country without really fear of reprisal. And so framing these different topics as to why they're important for the business is the best way that I've found to be able to transcend some of the political winds blowing in different ways from one administration to the next.

00;22;26;23 - 00;22;50;12
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, that's such a great point. I also think it's not also that difficult to say this is a business imperative and it makes sense for business. I mean, when we have our Good Business is Good Business conference, it's literally how we got the name of, it's literally good for your business. And I think as much as we can continue to push that narrative without, you know, missing the environmental and social pieces, we still need to talk about those, but also mentioned that it's a strategic advantage.

00;22;50;12 - 00;22;59;19
Leigh Anne Statuto
It helps your consumers grow. There's so many other return on sustainable investment there that I think sometimes get lost in the picture. So I appreciate you mentioning that.

00;22;59;22 - 00;23;26;24
Marc Siegel
And I just want to thank you and the whole RBC for being so supportive of doing these roundtables. It's not a small, small effort. And so it's been super appreciated. And I know it's been, you know, I speak for all the participants there as well who really enjoyed them because they've come back. But I'm curious from your perspective as somebody who is focused on the dialogue and sustainability, but sometimes we've gone into some of the deep more accounting and financial aspects.

00;23;27;00 - 00;23;29;17
Marc Siegel
From your perspective, how have you found the dialogue?

00;23;29;19 - 00;23;47;09
Leigh Anne Statuto
It's so fascinating. So I'm not an accountant. And so there are certainly times I'm not afraid to share that I'm like, what is, what are we talking about? Because it gets really in the weeds and specific guidelines of some sort of accounting piece, but I usually have Barbara Pawson next to me and she'll be like, that's what it means.

00;23;47;12 - 00;24;08;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so I think for me as a non-accountant, it's really interesting for me to come into the conversation from a sustainability perspective. Right? I have my MBA in sustainability and that's my real focus area. To understand then how to build some of these. I don't wanna say debates, but build some of these arguments in defense of sustainability through the language of business.

00;24;08;22 - 00;24;27;04
Leigh Anne Statuto
I mean, accounting is the language of business. And so really starting to figure out, well, what are these different folks interested in? And how do we build the credibility of sustainability in their language? I think you kind of hit the nail on the head before these convenings, help to bridge some of those gaps and build a common language.

00;24;27;07 - 00;24;50;25
Leigh Anne Statuto
We were in a similar roundtable with the work with endcap and some of the language between economists, sustainability experts and accountants. Everyone was kind of saying the same thing, but the actual vocabulary and terminology varies very differently. And I mean, Marc, we've talked about materiality and what sustainability materiality means and what materiality means in accounting, and I learned a lot from that.

00;24;50;25 - 00;25;12;12
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so I think what I found so interesting is just trying to learn some of the terminology that accountants use so much to then build business cases to build in the sustainability argument and say it is good for business. So I've learned a lot about accounting. My father in law would be very proud. But I think it's it's been really incredible to just see these people from different perspectives.

00;25;12;12 - 00;25;27;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
So from the investor perspective, from the board perspective, from SEC perspective, coming in and sharing different pieces of the puzzle that I truly had not looked at before, because again, accounting is not my area, but I will say it is interesting. I have learned a lot.

00;25;27;24 - 00;25;54;25
Marc Siegel
It's funny you brought up the materiality point, because I think it's a great example of how one word can generate an hours long conversation, because there are different meanings and different perspectives around it. And so in a financial accounting and in the legal sense, materiality is something very, very specific. In sustainability, it's a topic that's been used since the Global Reporting Initiative has been out there for since the 1990s, I think.

00;25;54;28 - 00;26;17;09
Marc Siegel
And and so it's been used in that context. And yet there's also a layperson’s thought around what the word materiality means. And so by using one word, we actually aren't necessarily enhancing the conversation at all. Right. Because you've got different people bringing different meanings to that same word. And so you can definitely get lost when using a word that you think everybody knows what it means and it doesn't.

00;26;17;09 - 00;26;39;00
Marc Siegel
So, you know, as I think about this, you have been inspiring in this idea of bringing different people together because you do it all the time, bringing together different people with different views. You've done it all the time. What have you found? You know, are the pros for, for these kind of meetings where you bring people together with different perspectives, with different points of view or different vantage points of an organization?

00;26;39;02 - 00;27;01;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
I think convening there's something that I have really grown to love. I don't think it was something early in my career that I never think I was involved with, but I think it comes from a love of learning and that's again a Jesuit value, but a love of learning and continuously learning. Because I think if you come into any conversation, whether it's sustainability or fill in the blank, there's so much you don't know from someone else's side.

00;27;02;01 - 00;27;30;06
Leigh Anne Statuto
And I think, again, we're kind of over a shared of building those bridges and understanding what someone else prioritizes and then understanding where your perhaps mental blocks are. I think these dialogues and convenings are just so important to get us on the same page, or realize we're already on the same page, but perhaps speaking different languages. And so I think some of the pros are really, you know, continuing to expand and have that growth mindset of understanding what someone else’s perspective,

00;27;30;06 - 00;27;55;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
I mean, quite frankly, an accountants perspective, it's very different from how I learned sustainability. But, now understanding a part of accounting, it's really increased my understanding of how sustainability is great. But we do need more data. Right. And so I think vice versa, having an accountant, I hope, on the side of sustainability, starts to bring in some of those more environmental conversations as well of like, oh, what are ecosystem services?

00;27;55;23 - 00;28;11;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
And bringing those things in. I think just bringing people together. And I always say this at the end of our conferences as well, of coming together is really important, but it's the networking that's really important. It's what you do with it after. And so I would just say, you know, that that love of learning is just so important.

00;28;11;24 - 00;28;31;26
Leigh Anne Statuto
No matter where you are in your career, there's always something you can learn from someone else and to be open to, I mean, discernment and saying, well, the way I viewed this, was that true and was that correct? Or can I expand my view of understanding, and is there an opportunity within there to grow that and say, oh, I actually haven't figured it all out because none of us have.

00;28;31;29 - 00;28;52;02
Leigh Anne Statuto
But I think that's the the biggest value of bringing people together and building those relationships to just see the different parts of the puzzle and the different parts of all of the different industries and how they really come together. So I we have a lot more convening prep than planned for the year ahead. And so I can't wait to see what wonderful conversations come out of those as well.

00;28;52;05 - 00;29;14;07
Marc Siegel
Well, I love everything you said about that. You know, the love of learning, the fostering of knowledge and knowledge sharing and having a different finding a different perspective on something or hearing a different perspective, it really just opens up the mind and gets all the creative juices flowing and trying to understand from somebody else's point of view, their view of that problem or that situation.

00;29;14;09 - 00;29;33;24
Marc Siegel
That's the only way to move things forward and advance things. And so you brought up convenings and you brought up these different conferences and stuff. So I wanted to touch on the Good Business is Good Business conference. We, we hold it. We've had it here at Fordham, in March. And we, you recently just did one in London.

00;29;33;26 - 00;29;39;09
Marc Siegel
What makes that conference particularly interesting and exciting for us of the RBC and for the attendees.

00;29;39;11 - 00;29;57;08
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. And one thing I want to touch on that you said as well of this love of learning and continuous to grow, that's what education is. And that's what's so incredible about being at higher education, is continuing this love of learning and building out some of those, fostering understanding. So it's just I could go on a whole podcast about that.

00;29;57;08 - 00;30;14;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
But the London Good Business is Good Business Conference was wonderful. It was our first one, and it was incredible to be partnering with our Fordham London friends. And so there is a wonderful campus in Fordham, London. And when we were putting this together, we were trying to figure out, well, we're going across the pond, what are the challenges?

00;30;14;23 - 00;30;37;02
Leigh Anne Statuto
What are the things we want to bring into this conference as a half day event? And what was interesting was a lot of the conversations we were having with the London team, were conversations that are happening over here across the pond too, right. And so no surprise, everyone is talking about AI. And so we had a conversation on AI because we're doing a lot of work with endcap and with nature based solutions.

00;30;37;04 - 00;31;03;11
Leigh Anne Statuto
We brought that into the conversation as well, and it's happening there too, I think a global perspective. And I think what's really interesting is that things aren't so siloed anymore. Everything is really global. And so in London they're talking about nature. And so we brought that to the equation as well. So bringing in the nature perspective and understanding that what's happening here on the political landscape of, kind of pushing back on some of the sustainability things isn't really happening across the pond as we know,

00;31;03;11 - 00;31;27;24
Leigh Anne Statuto
right? And so people and organizations are still pushing forward some of their really strategic and ambitious sustainability targets and goals. And because most organizations are large organizations are global. They still have to abide by some of those regulations and reporting that are required in other countries. And so the conference was wonderful. Hopefully we'll have another. This was the first annual.

00;31;27;24 - 00;31;53;25
Leigh Anne Statuto
So maybe we'll have a second annual. And I think it just is a testament to building the global audience and the thought perspective that we'd like to have. We have some incredible faculty over in Fordham, London. So ensuring we're bridging those gaps, bringing in conversations from London to Fordham and continuing to see where this takes us. right? So when we have our next Good Business conference in New York, how can we bring the London perspective in as well and continue to build those bridges?

00;31;53;25 - 00;32;05;20
Leigh Anne Statuto
Because there are our friends over the pond, but we don't see them as much. And so how can we ensure that we're building some of those aspects of it, but really terrific and really exciting to see the first one come to fruition.

00;32;05;23 - 00;32;18;29
Marc Siegel
So cool. Congratulations on that. Was that sort of the biggest difference between London in the U.S. as sort of the political climate and not really having to back off so much on sustainability, or where there are other differences or nuances that you, that you encountered.

00;32;19;02 - 00;32;42;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, I to me, I would say that's one of the largest aspects is the political piece. But I mean, every country has their political piece and everyone's kind of pushing back on different things. And so there's still some similarities with that. So I'd say most of the issues in my perspective at least we're pretty similar. And yeah, focus, especially the nature side of things, is something that is very new.

00;32;42;29 - 00;33;05;19
Leigh Anne Statuto
Right? I think everyone's been talking about AI, everyone's been talking about climate. But nature is something that's really emerging. And I was at a conference in London last year and it was all focused on nature. And so to just be speaking about that and understanding how we bring different perspectives in. And so we had some students that participate in a panel, another panel discussion with how we support the next generation of leaders.

00;33;05;22 - 00;33;27;25
Leigh Anne Statuto
And that's a big conversation focused on AI and the future of work. And so in the US, it's a huge conversation that a lot of our students are grappling with and in London as well. So I'm sure that's a global aspect really, you know, with the rise of AI, which has efficiencies and can be very productive, also is a really scary phenomenon of what is the future of work, which is a sustainability issue, right?

00;33;28;01 - 00;33;52;18
Leigh Anne Statuto
How are we going to sustain as a society? How are we going to ensure that the next generation has an opportunity to work in areas that they're interested in, and then also throwing in all of the different, you know, environmental challenges as well. So for me, I feel like a lot of the borders have really fallen in terms of some of these global issues and everyone's kind of looking especially, AI, I think we’ll be talking about for quite some time.

00;33;52;21 - 00;33;59;18
Marc Siegel
Oh for sure. You can't, you can't go any conference or even any within any conference. You can't go a day without talking about AI at some point.

00;33;59;26 - 00;34;23;13
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, I mean everything we had a great feedback from our students of what would you like to see next year? And I think 90% of them were like AI. And so definitely a global aspect. And so speaking about different emerging global things that are coming to fruition, I feel like a connection that I've started to see or seen over the past couple of years is the link between responsible business practices and long term value creation.

00;34;23;13 - 00;34;25;09
Leigh Anne Statuto
Are you seeing that as well?

00;34;25;11 - 00;34;46;12
Marc Siegel
Sometimes, the the organizations that are very forward thinking and are very good at communicating why they are growing their value over the long term, do a very good job of this, because they're actually thinking beyond just 13 weeks of the next 13 weeks, and they're thinking about how are they going to grow their value as an organization over the long term.

00;34;46;14 - 00;35;21;05
Marc Siegel
And there's always been this debate between sort of stakeholder capitalism and just pure capitalism and thinking about profits. I personally think that that's a little bit overstated, right? Because to me, there's no better way. There's no way that you could grow your long term profits without thinking about your other stakeholders. If you don't have your customers along for the ride, you certainly, if you don't have your employees along for the ride, if you don't have your suppliers growing value over time, and the communities in which you live, work and operate, you're not going to grow profits over the long term.

00;35;21;07 - 00;35;42;06
Marc Siegel
If you're a company that just exploits the community that they happen to live in and dump waste in the local rivers, you're not going to last long, in that particular location. Right? And the people that are working at your company live in that community as well, and they're not going to want to work for you if that's how you're treating the environment.

00;35;42;06 - 00;36;05;06
Marc Siegel
Right. So, so all of these things are interconnected. And the organizations that realize that taking care of all of your stakeholders is how you build long term financial profit as well. Those are the ones that are doing a very good job of connecting these different responsible business practices and long term value creation. So, so those organizations are doing a good job of that.

00;36;05;06 - 00;36;27;29
Marc Siegel
You still have, especially in the States. You still have a lot of short term focus and a lot of short term thinking. And there's lots of different reasons for that. And the Securities Exchange Commission in the US is trying to address some of that, perhaps with, perhaps moving toward away from quarterly reporting and toward semiannual reporting is one mechanism to try to address that.

00;36;28;01 - 00;36;50;21
Marc Siegel
But really, it's thinking about how all those different stakeholders and how these different responsible business practices you talked about nature, how will those things impact your long term ability to create value for all your different stakeholder groups? That's what matters the most. And so it's kind of almost analogous to how we were talking about human capital before. These are really business issues at the core of it.

00;36;50;24 - 00;37;08;25
Marc Siegel
And if it makes it easier for everybody to talk about without bringing in political feelings, then that’s a great way to do it too, because at the end of the day, you talk about the issues that are important to your business as an organization, and many of these over the long term are going to be indirectly financial, right?

00;37;08;25 - 00;37;24;22
Marc Siegel
All the different sustainability issues are indirectly financial. The longer your time horizon, the more they become directly financial. So that's kind of what I think about what I'm seeing. And there are certain companies, especially globally, that are doing a very good job of thinking about all that.

00;37;24;25 - 00;37;48;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. And I think coming back to the question you asked me of like, is there a difference between London and the US, a big part of its compliance, right. The EU, even the UK is not there, but they are part of it, right? In the sense of geo–geographically. I'm curious your perspective on compliance versus strategy. So right now you're talking a lot about the strategic advantage of doing this right, supporting local communities and things like that.

00;37;48;25 - 00;38;06;08
Leigh Anne Statuto
But I kind of view it as a carrot and a stick. Right. So strategically it's a huge carrot of, my gosh, look at all the return on investment. But but but, but the compliance perspective is that stick. And so I'm curious have you seen conversations moving away from those compliances and moving towards the strategy or how or are, how are they balancing that.

00;38;06;11 - 00;38;30;10
Marc Siegel
They balance it from year to year? Yeah. And it's a great point and it's a great question. I think with all the new regulations that are coming into play globally, there's lots of still focus now on compliance. And that's natural because different jurisdictions are putting in place different regulations that are new. And companies have to make sure that whatever they're doing complies with these new rules.

00;38;30;12 - 00;38;57;14
Marc Siegel
And so the trick of this is going to be how do they ensure that they are complying, while at the same time thinking about strategy. So you're not just thinking tactics, but you're always thinking strategic at the same time. And so again, the companies that are better at this are starting out with the strategic thought process about what are we trying to do to grow long term value, and how are we going to communicate about this and our progress toward it.

00;38;57;17 - 00;39;19;08
Marc Siegel
And that's the overarching conversation. And embedded with that is the compliance exercise is about making sure that you are adapting and adopting all the language that you need to in all the different local jurisdictions that you have. Part of the issue that we're having and that companies are having globally is that different jurisdictions are coming up with different answers for what the required disclosures are going to be.

00;39;19;10 - 00;39;43;00
Marc Siegel
And so it's very, very fragmented. And it's very difficult for multinational corporations just to make sure that what they're communicating in the UK fits the UK rules. France is going to have something a little bit different. Brazil is going to have something a little bit different from that. Australia went a different way. And so you've got to operate in this environment where there's fragmented rules in place.

00;39;43;00 - 00;40;07;27
Marc Siegel
And yet at the same time, in order to really achieve what you're trying to achieve, you've got to have that strategic overlay as well. So, you know, I think when I talk to the accountants, a lot of the accountants are thinking about compliance, but hopefully brought more broadly than that, the communications teams and the C-suite are seeing that as just an integral portion of the overall strategic picture about what they’re communicating.

00;40;08;00 - 00;40;28;12
Leigh Anne Statuto
It's such an interesting point with sustainability, it's always the carrot and the stick of which is going to work. And I think that's where a lot of research is continuously coming out of. Does this work with compliance, or do we need to figure out more of that return on investment? Because sometimes the stick does work, but we'd like people to not have to do that and have more of a, this is a strategic driver of our business.

00;40;28;15 - 00;40;43;23
Marc Siegel
Yeah. And speaking of strategic things, I'm going to change subjects and switch gears a little bit. We have to talk about ClimateCAP and the fact that it's coming to Fordham. But for listeners who aren't familiar with ClimateCAP, can you give sort of a movie trailer version of what is it and why is it important?

00;40;43;26 - 00;41;05;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. So ClimateCAP is an initiative out of Duke Fuqua School of Business, and it's really focused on bringing MBA students together to think about climate. And so I personally love this. When I was getting my MBA years ago, I was actually a part of ClimateCAP as well. And it's incredible because you're bringing in traditional MBAs who are going to go off and be the future business leaders of tomorrow, which is really the mission of the RBC.

00;41;05;22 - 00;41;24;21
Leigh Anne Statuto
Right? And have them think about climate, right. We're not saying every single person there has to go into climate, but if all of these MBAs go and start to think about the implications of climate, very much what you were talking about, Marc, right. Whatever business part they're in, what a world that could make of starting to infuse some of those strategic decision making together.

00;41;24;21 - 00;41;44;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so ClimateCAP does a terrific job. They have different programs throughout the year. They have a fellowship, they have a Climate Catalyst program, and they have a ClimateCAP Summit. And so that will be coming next year to New York City, which is very exciting. And so we were selected to host it. It was at MIT Sloan this past year.

00;41;44;29 - 00;41;59;14
Leigh Anne Statuto
Before that, it was at Berkeley Haas. And then the year before that it was at University of Michigan. And so, Marc, we were there together, at MIT Sloan was terrific. They did an incredible job. And so we're thrilled to be hosting it in a few months.

00;41;59;16 - 00;42;15;06
Marc Siegel
Yeah. So when Fordham was announced, they actually passed a torch on to us that they created in the 3D printer, which is fascinating. So, you know, you mentioned all the different schools that have been associated with it in the past. Why is it so significant that Fordham was now named for next year? Why are we so excited about it?

00;42;15;07 - 00;42;17;05
Marc Siegel
Can you give everybody a little bit of a...

00;42;17;08 - 00;42;32;15
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, yeah for sure. I mean, it's the first time it'll be in New York City. So that's huge. And the first time it's going to be a New York City will be at Fordham University Gabelli, which is just, I mean, incredible. It's incredible. Especially as we're going into our fourth year as a center. So the Gabelli School is hosting it, right?

00;42;32;15 - 00;43;03;01
Leigh Anne Statuto
The RBC is really continuing to push in power. A lot of the strategic work that's going behind it in the logistics and operations. But we'll have 400 plus MBA students from around the world here at Fordham Lincoln Center's campus, which is really incredible. I think it provides a great opportunity as well, to show what Fordham is about and bring some of those perspectives to light, on, you know, what our Jesuit mission is, what it means to lead with purpose and understand some of the research we're doing and bring it into the conversations.

00;43;03;08 - 00;43;28;13
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so, to give you a quick sneak peek of what we're doing, I won't give too much away. But this summer we are planning, planning, planning. So Marc, thanks for being on our program committee. Very exciting about that. Looking at sponsors right now and finding some really heavy hitter speakers to bring some people in. I think the biggest challenge, which is also a really exciting opportunity, is we keep trying to figure out: what do we bring in this very Fordham and also what do we bring in

00;43;28;13 - 00;43;49;15
Leigh Anne Statuto
that's very New York. And as a New Yorker, New York is awesome. And so there's a lot to bring into the conversation here, right? There's everything from the arts and Broadway to we're in the financial capital of the world to the United Nations is headquartered here to we're surrounded by oceans and figuring out how we can talk about resilience of oceans.

00;43;49;15 - 00;44;09;20
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so there's a lot to unpack. And so I think our biggest exciting challenge, quite frankly, is this summer really honing in on like, what are the most important aspects and what are the most strategic differentiators to bring into the equation that highlight New York City and also highlight Fordham and what we can bring to it? So I'm thrilled.

00;44;09;21 - 00;44;11;22
Leigh Anne Statuto
I mean, what are you excited about, Marc?

00;44;11;25 - 00;44;31;16
Marc Siegel
Yeah. You said it all. And I think to me, that challenge of bringing in something that's uniquely New York, when ClimateCAP hasn't been in New York before, I think of finance and trying to, how do we integrate some some finance into the program? And we've got a lot of the banks here. We've got a lot of investing here.

00;44;31;16 - 00;44;53;04
Marc Siegel
It's one of the investment capitals of the world. The stock exchanges are here in New York City. And so how do we bring that to light? I'm just super excited about it was so inspiring to be with all those MBA students up at MIT at ClimateCAP of 2026 this year. And, and to think that we are going to be hosting it in February is, is just phenomenal.

00;44;53;04 - 00;45;12;19
Marc Siegel
So it's just that it says so much about where we are at Fordham University and the faith and trust that ClimateCAP has put into us. And it's just, it's awesome. And so super excited for this. And you've been amazing at thinking through all the different aspects of it. And I just can't wait for it to come here.

00;45;12;22 - 00;45;31;28
Leigh Anne Statuto
Oh thank you. Yeah. And I think also just a shout out to the ClimateCAP community. I mean it's so many different educators from different top business schools. And I think it's so inspiring to see the collaborative approach that everyone has, where they come together and are really trying to help one another figure out how we can get these MBAs thinking about climate and sustainability issues.

00;45;31;28 - 00;45;34;11
Leigh Anne Statuto
So it's been really encouraging as well.

00;45;34;14 - 00;45;52;16
Marc Siegel
Yeah. Another issue that you mentioned a couple times, endcap and natural assets. We also should spend a minute on that. One of the more innovative areas that we've been exploring involves natural assets in the work of the Natural Assets Accounting Standards Board. And so what does that initiative trying to accomplish?

00;45;52;19 - 00;46;13;05
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. And if you go back to the first episode, Barbara talks a little bit about this too, and she goes quite into some detail. But what I'm really excited about with, that– So I'll just define a few things because I think I've been saying end cap and nasty. So endcap is natural capital accounting principles. And that will be governed by what is called NAASB.

00;46;13;05 - 00;46;41;07
Leigh Anne Statuto
So Natural Asset Accounting Standards Board. And a big part of this is really looking at ecosystem services and how we put a value on nature. And sometimes that brings in a controversial piece of oh, should we value nature? And I think yes, we should value nature in terms of it's something we should value intrinsically, right? And so a big part of what we're trying to accomplish here at Fordham is to provide a consistent, independent standard for reporting on natural capital performance.

00;46;41;07 - 00;47;19;06
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so when you think about nature and you think about natural capital, there's so many different pieces of it. So ecosystem services think things like pollination. I think even just, you know, restoring conservation in different lands and restoration. So there's so many different pieces of the equation. And if we're not valuing it, we're not really appreciating it. And so with natural capital accounting principles, we're really aiming to address this by establishing really rigorous standards that are comparable to things that accountants would understand of US GAAP and IFRS to really measure, report and ensure that their natural capital value continues to increase.

00;47;19;06 - 00;47;39;27
Leigh Anne Statuto
And so, this very much aligns as well with our Jesuit values of stewardship and really ensuring that this is coming to fruition. So super excited about that. We're very excited to share that. We now have a reporting and a governance committee that are a part of NAASB. So really incredibly, wonderfully accomplished folks that are really committed to the space.

00;47;39;29 - 00;47;54;10
Leigh Anne Statuto
Marc, you might be one of those lovely people on our committee, so thanks for being a part of that. And so since you're on one of our committees, I'd love to hear, why should people care about this? What does natural asset accounting really mean? And for many people, I'm sure this is the first time they're hearing about it.

00;47;54;10 - 00;47;56;02
Leigh Anne Statuto
So why should they care?

00;47;56;04 - 00;48;36;07
Marc Siegel
I think you alluded to some of these things. I think it's important to sort of back up and remember that we're doing this for natural asset companies, natural asset corporations and these natural asset corporations, they're, they're structured and built in order to recognize and generate value from these natural ecosystems. And so without rigorous and real standardized accounting for natural assets like the forest, like the wetlands or clean water sources, without an accounting standard behind it, companies themselves and investors, you can't properly understand the economic benefits and the risks associated with preserving these natural assets or degrading them.

00;48;36;07 - 00;49;05;14
Marc Siegel
You just can't tell what you should be doing. You can't value it. So transparent accounting really tries to make sure that these assets are being managed for long term sustainability, for aligning the health of these assets with economic performance. And it also helps give some accountability and enables like capital allocation. If you've got people who want to put money to these natural assets right now, it's more thought of as philanthropy.

00;49;05;17 - 00;49;33;08
Marc Siegel
But this might be a way to actually allow people to put money aside for these natural assets while actually earning a return. You can't do that if you don't have the accounting behind it to sort of understand what those values are. So if you have this accounting, you were hopeful. And the natural asset corporations are hopeful to attract some real investment dollars and be able to have their mandate of conservation, but also profitability at the same time.

00;49;33;10 - 00;50;02;29
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. And I think this comes back to our conversation earlier as well, right, of bringing diverse perspectives to this, to the table. To talk about this, you really need to have an interdisciplinary approach on this. I think, you know, I come from the sustainability perspective and a little bit of the economic perspective on why we should value these, but it's so interesting to hear an accountant talk about what economic value actually means, and how do we actually report that and standardize it across so many different potential natural asset companies?

00;50;02;29 - 00;50;18;04
Leigh Anne Statuto
I'll be meeting to report if everyone's reporting differently, it doesn't really provide any value. And I think that goes to, you know, improving decisions as well for investors. And so bringing investor perspectives in as well. So I just think it's so interesting to have that interdisciplinary approach.

00;50;18;06 - 00;50;40;12
Marc Siegel
Like you said, like having economics associated with it. And economists who have been building these things in the past around what the economic value of these things and bringing it up with an accounting discipline and now trying to make it standardized and importantly, something that is auditable, so that investors in the markets can have even more faith and confidence behind it, then you have to marry up with these different disciplines.

00;50;40;14 - 00;50;43;14
Marc Siegel
And that's what we're trying to do here with the NAASB.

00;50;43;16 - 00;51;08;07
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah, I could go on. But the auditing perspective is so interesting because not something I had initially said, oh well we could value them, but how do we audit it? And that's a really important part. So moving on because we have so much to talk about. But one other super exciting thing that we're a part of is the Responsible Business Center is becoming home next year, in October, to the Accounting for a Sustainable World Conference and the ASW Journal.

00;51;08;10 - 00;51;12;24
Leigh Anne Statuto
Why is this important? Can you tell us a little bit about this, Marc? You've been involved with them for years.

00;51;12;26 - 00;51;37;17
Marc Siegel
Yeah, this has been so this is so cool to contemplate and to think about the, the it used to be called the Care Conference and now it's Accounting for a Sustainable World Conference in the ASW Journal. These have been stalwarts in the industry for, for many, many years before, before lockdown and Covid. It was a, it was an annual global conference and used to, people from all over the world would travel to, to go to this conference.

00;51;37;19 - 00;52;14;24
Marc Siegel
Peter Easton, who leads Notre Dame's center around this, is the editor of the journal and the, you know, the sponsor for the conference, and he's going to be coming along with it. And so, you know, after this year's September conference, and ASW journal, then it will all become part of Fordham. And so, again, it really is a vision of this, of what we're trying to do with the RBC is, is and for me, with responsible reporting is to, is to be the place where everybody convenes and looks to for thought leadership and to have these conversations about, you know, responsible reporting and everything else.

00;52;14;26 - 00;52;44;18
Marc Siegel
This just puts us right there on the map globally, right? It's such a huge conference. It's such a huge organization. And to be out there quarterly with academic research on topics of responsible reporting, where accounting and sustainability integrate and overlap, this is hugely important. And it's just, it's just a super thing to do. So I encourage people to, you know, take a look at the ASWJ and the conference is going to be coming in in September of this year.

00;52;44;18 - 00;52;58;12
Marc Siegel
And look for that and they'll be curating a couple of different pieces of material at that conference too. So definitely check it out. It's right on mission for what we're trying to do with the RBC and responsible reporting. And I couldn't be more excited.

00;52;58;14 - 00;53;24;21
Leigh Anne Statuto
Yeah. It's awesome. I think it's incredible. And it's really just a great way for us to connect some of the great work we're already doing. And amplify the idea that even more to the global audience, especially bringing that powerful of research dimension to it, I think, really elevates the work of the responsible business center. And in some of the conversations we've been having with people, they're so excited it's moving to Fordham, and we're just so honored and privileged to have the opportunity.

00;53;24;24 - 00;53;40;11
Marc Siegel
Yeah. Speaking of things that we're looking forward to, like, you know, as you look at over the next year, what are you most excited about for the RBC? Or are there other topics that deserve more attention than they currently receive? What are you looking forward to over the next, over the next 12 months?

00;53;40;13 - 00;53;58;16
Leigh Anne Statuto
I would say ClimateCAP is everything we're focused on right now, but it's really interesting as we go into our fourth year, right? Each year, we figure out our strategic goals and what we're trying to finalize and focus on. And as we go into our fourth year, it's a little bit more strategic of, okay, we're no longer in our first and baby years.

00;53;58;16 - 00;54;18;23
Leigh Anne Statuto
We're really now established and people recognize us. And so I think I'm so excited for ClimateCAP. I think it's incredible to have this opportunity. Beyond that, I'm also really excited to continue our engagement with our students. We're curating a whole bunch of different workshops with them that they've helped to give us ideas that they're really interested in.

00;54;18;25 - 00;54;36;04
Leigh Anne Statuto
And then another thing I'm super excited about is our alumni groups. So I had mentioned earlier, we have our Emerging Leaders Council and our Emerging Leaders Network, which is our larger group of alumni, and I've been really encouraged and inspired by the amount of alumni that I've been reaching out, kind of coming out of the woodwork of, I went to Fordham years ago.

00;54;36;04 - 00;54;54;03
Leigh Anne Statuto
I just saw you guys are doing this. I'm working in sustainability, and it's so inspiring to see that and see them want to come home to Fordham. And so I'm excited to just see what comes. I mean, we have a lot in the cooker right now from ASW to ClimateCAP. The podcast is really just taking off, so I'm excited to see what guests we have.

00;54;54;03 - 00;55;04;27
Leigh Anne Statuto
We already have a few lined up that I'm excited about. But Marc to you, as we're, let's see, we're recording this episode and one year from now, what would you hope to say that we've accomplished?

00;55;05;00 - 00;55;34;07
Marc Siegel
ClimateCAP. Right. I think, I think ClimateCAP is first and foremost an extremely exciting. And we talked about why I think why the ASW journal and integrating that is going, you know, if we were recording this a year from now and we've got a couple of those journals under our belt and you know, mostly what we're what I guess we're saying and what I'm hearing and what I think is we are such a small organization in terms of number of people that are actually there full time doing this stuff, but we punch above our weight.

00;55;34;09 - 00;55;54;28
Marc Siegel
And for us a year from now to be able to say, hey, look, we are on the global stage and we are seen as the place where everybody wants to come and learn and convene about topics that are on the forefront of sustainability and responsible reporting, and all the different things that we do here at the RBC. And we're well on our way to doing that.

00;55;54;28 - 00;56;13;11
Marc Siegel
And I think the recognition that we got from ClimateCAP to be hosted for this, you know, to be the next host, you know, for when the ASW was looking for a new home and they came to Fordham, these roundtables, when I hear from people that, oh, I missed this last roundtable, can I be invited to the next one?

00;56;13;14 - 00;56;33;06
Marc Siegel
These are all signs that we are on the right track for being the place and being seen in the world is the place to come.To be to find out about what's going on in the cutting edge of topics, all topics around sustainability and responsible business. So that's where we're at. Leigh-Anne, this has been such an awesome conversation.

00;56;33;09 - 00;56;35;08
Marc Siegel
I love talking to you. We could go on for hours.

00;56;35;12 - 00;56;37;19
Leigh Anne Statuto
We could keep going, but we're going to stop.

00;56;37;22 - 00;57;12;28
Marc Siegel
We're going to stop. You know, your perspectives on everything happening here at the RBC. It's been, it's been so fascinating and exciting to, to look across all these different initiatives, you know, from the roundtables to the podcast conversations to climate camp, the ASW conference and journal, the work on natural assets. Oh my God, just thinking about all this stuff, the growing body of thought leadership that is being developed currently through the RBC, and to see how they all really connect to a common goal, which is which is helping organizations create long term value while at the same time addressing the challenges and opportunities facing society as a whole.

00;57;13;00 - 00;57;39;15
Marc Siegel
It's just been fascinating. And so, you know, thank you for everything that you do. And thank you for your time on this podcast. Thank you. And thanks to everybody, for listening. If you'd like to learn more about the Responsible Business Center, upcoming events, research or future podcast episodes, please visit Fordham University's Responsible Business Center online. We encourage you to subscribe to People Behind the Impact Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

00;57;39;18 - 00;57;47;20
Marc Siegel
Share this episode and others with colleagues, students, anyone interested in the future of responsible business. Until next time, I'm Marc Siegel.

00;57;47;22 - 00;57;49;06
Leigh Anne Statuto
I'm Leigh Anne Statuto.

00;57;49;08 - 00;57;52;04
Marc Siegel
Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to People Behind the Impact.