Press Release
We are pleased to announce that Jean Rogers, the founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has joined Terra Alpha’s Advisory Board. Jean brings an engineering mindset to the field of sustainable investing and a deep understanding of the framework necessary for the natural progression of the investing world. We expect she will provide invaluable insight to our firm and are looking forward to building our collaboration.
In her own words: “We no longer live in a world of infinite resources and interchangeable capital. The long-term outlook for companies and entire industries depends in part on their environmental resiliency. Terra Alpha understands that sustainable business models and resource productivity provide superior competitive
advantage for companies and their investors, in addition to protecting and enhancing the natural systems that support all of us. As an environmental engineer and systems thinker, I’m passionate about using finance to drive performance on the critical environmental issues of our time. I’m so pleased to be joining the Terra Alpha team to help advance their mission.”
An executive, entrepreneur, author and speaker, Dr. Jean Rogers is the Founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), which she also led in various capacities for seven years, including as Chief Executive Officer (2011-2017) and Chair of the Standards Board (2017-2018). Founded in 2011 as a 501(c)3, the SASB is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency of the U.S. capital markets by fostering high quality disclosure of material sustainability information that meets investor needs and enhances public trust in companies. Conceived during research conducted from 2006-2010 at Harvard University’s Initiative for Responsible Investment in the Kennedy School of Government, the concept for SASB as “market infrastructure” evolved under Jean’s entrepreneurial leadership from a self-funded start-up into a globally-respected, ANSI-accredited, independent standards-setting organization producing world class ESG research with a staff of 35 and an annual budget of $8M. Jean’s responsibilities during her tenure as CEO spanned ESG research, standards setting, stakeholder outreach, finance and development, education, publications, and communications. Under her leadership, the SASB developed provisional standards for 79 industries with the involvement of 3,000 stakeholders, raised more than $25M for research and standards development, launched an education program in sustainability accounting, and convened an Investor Advisory Group comprised of 27 leading asset owners and asset managers with more than $33T in AUM, including BlackRock, CalPERS, CalSTRS, and State Street Global Advisors, all advocating for a market standard for material sustainability information.
Jean’s leadership experience prior to SASB includes 10 years as a Principal at Arup, a global engineering consultancy focused on sustainable development, where she worked in a wide range of industries including utilities, extractives, financials, and real estate. Jean was also a management consultant at Deloitte, working in the environmental and manufacturing practices to help leading companies improve business performance through sustainability.
Jean has been recognized with numerous leadership awards including being named by Barron’s as one of the Top 20 Influencers of Sustainable Investing in 2018. She is also a 2018 Society of Progress Medal Laureate recognized by INSEAD for her work in founding SASB, and she was named a Sustainable Hero by GreenTech Capital in 2018.
In 2015 and 2016 she was named one of the Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor and in 2015, 2016, and 2017 she was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today. Jean is currently an Advisor to INSEAD’s Global Institute for Business and Society, and a Beck Visiting Social Innovator (2019-2020) at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Jean is an accomplished speaker and she has authored numerous articles and publications related to sustainable investing, the materiality of sustainability information, the need for better capital markets infrastructure, and sustainable development. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Forbes, and Huffington Post.
Jean is a former postdoctoral Loeb Fellow at Harvard University. A member of Chi Epsilon, she holds degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Ph.D.) and Manhattan College (B.E. and M.E.). A former practicing environmental engineer, Jean is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Illinois and California. She also holds a FINRA Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam qualification.
See our full Advisory Board here.