FRONTIERS

Agenda

 

Thursday, January 26

8:30 AM-9:15 AM

Registration & Breakfast

South Ballroom Foyer, Ponce de León 4
9:15 AM-10:30 AM

Session I: Can Stakeholder Capitalism Live Up to Its Promise?

Ponce de León 4

What Do We Really Know about Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG? Key Findings from the Kenan Institute

 
SPEAKER

Greg Brown

Executive Director
Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Finance
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

PANEL DISCUSSION: Is Heightened Corporate Responsibility Consistent with Enhancing Shareholder Returns?

Stakeholder capitalism and ESG investing have recently emerged to the fore of discussions about corporate responsibility. But businesses, to varying degrees, have always been active in supporting their stakeholders – whether they be employees, customers, or the broader community. This session explores how companies can incorporate ESG principals into their overall strategy to the benefit of their shareholders. We will also review the ways that companies seeking to be socially responsible evaluate the success of initiatives that may only deliver long-term, hard-to-measure results.

 
MODERATOR

Gerald Cohen

Chief Economist
Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
 
PANELISTS

Linda-Eling Lee

Managing Director and Head of ESG and Climate Research
MSCI

Teena Piccione

Senior Director Corporate Engineering
Google

Bruce Van Saun

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
10:30 AM-11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM-12:15 PM

Session II: ESG Everywhere

Ponce de León 4

Doing Good by Maximizing Shareholder Value

Prof. Lubos Pastor presents a model for stakeholder capitalism that is consistent with widely accepted fiduciary standards for corporate managers and boards.

 
SPEAKER

Lubos Pastor

Charles P. McQuaid Professor of Finance
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
2022 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

PANEL DISCUSSION: How Should Companies Navigate the ESG Controversy?

A growing backlash against ESG has put many companies in a difficult position. Asset managers who control trillions of dollars of investment capital have been at the center of controversy, but others (e.g. Disney) have also felt the effects. This session examines strategies for communicating corporate responsibility initiatives in ways that lower companies’ risks of being embroiled in the ongoing ESG culture war.

 
MODERATOR

Mike Elio

Partner
StepStone Group
 
PANELISTS

Hilda Pinnix-Ragland

Managing Partner
AHK Global Resources

John Skjervem

Chief Investment Officer
Utah Retirement Systems

David Stangis

Partner, Chief Sustainability Officer
Apollo Global Management
12:15 PM-2:00 PM

Luncheon

Magnolia Room

Our Five Pillars of ESG

Royal Caribbean recently committed to a review of ESG efforts, resulting in a revamped corporate framework that is better linked to its core business strategy. In this session, Jason Liberty describes the pillars of the new ESG approach and how it reflects steady progress to engage communities; foster equity, inclusivity and human rights; and demonstrate the company’s efforts and commitment toward a net-zero emissions goal.

 
MODERATOR

Bradley Hendricks

Assistant Professor of Accounting
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
 
SPEAKER

Jason Liberty

President and Chief Executive Officer
Royal Caribbean Group
2:00 PM-4:00 PM

Break

Magnolia Room • Refreshments available at 3:30 pm

4:00 PM-5:15 PM

Session III: The Social Responsibility of Corporations

Magnolia Room

The End of ESG

ESG is both extremely important and nothing special. It is extremely important because it is critical to long-term value, and so all business leaders should take it seriously (not just those with “ESG” in their job title). Thus, ESG does not need a specialized term, because that implies it’s niche. Likewise, considering long-term factors when valuing a company isn’t ESG investing; it’s investing.

 
SPEAKER

Alex Edmans

Professor of Finance
London Business School

The Power of Purpose: Why Purpose-Driven Business Is Better Business

Twenty years ago, Cisco signed the UN Global Compact, which encouraged businesses to both focus and report on sustainability and social responsibility. Since then, Cisco has established itself as a leader in ESG and corporate responsibility while aligning operations and strategies around its purpose: to power an inclusive future for all. In this session, Chuck Robbins discusses how this “for all” mindset drives how they support customers, care for employees, and serve their communities, all while running a profitable and equitable business.

 
MODERATOR

Jennifer Conrad

Interim Dean, Professor
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
 
SPEAKER

Chuck Robbins

Chair & Chief Executive Officer
Cisco
5:15 PM-6:30 PM

Reception

Mediterranean Courtyard

Friday, January 27

7:45 AM-8:30 AM

Buffet Breakfast

South Ballroom Foyer, Ponce de León 4
8:30 AM-9:45 AM

Session IV: Rightsizing ESG

Ponce de León 4

To Divest or Invest and Engage – How Can Socially Responsible Investors Help Protect the Planet and People?

If you want dirty firms to clean up their act, should you divest? Frustrations about climate policy delays have incited a movement toward fossil fuel divestment, whereby institutions and investors “starve” dirty firms of capital in an attempt to incentivize environmental improvements or to force them out of the market. Such outcomes could theoretically emerge because divestment can increase dirty firms’ cost of capital. Alternatively, though, socially minded investors can seek to bring about change by leveraging their “seat at the table” to influence organizations’ strategies, practices, and innovation pursuits. And doing so requires continuing to invest. Prof. Jacquelyn Pless explores the trade-offs and potential efficacy of each approach.

 
SPEAKER

Jacquelyn Pless

Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Professor of Entrepreneurship and Assistant Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management
MIT Sloan School of Management
2022 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

PANEL DISCUSSION: What Should We Reasonably Expect from ESG and Corporate Social Responsibility?

How can we get the most out of companies willing to consider their social responsibilities while not overburdening them with unrealistic expectations? There are benefits and costs to ESG, along with implicit limits to what companies can achieve on their own in terms of solving challenging problems facing society. This session explores the promise and the limitations of corporate actions within the ESG framework.

 
MODERATOR

David Robinson

James and Gail Vander Weide Distinguished Professor
Duke University Fuqua School of Business
 
PANELISTS

Katie Codey

Managing Director, Head of Corporate Responsibility Strategy
JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Taylor Gray

Co-Founder & Head of ESG
Motive Inc.

Rodney Sampson

Executive Chairman & CEO
Opportunity Hub (OHUB)
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Brookings Institution
9:45 AM-10:15 AM

Break

10:15 AM-11:30 AM

Session V: Facing Up to Trade-offs

Ponce de León 4

ESG and Corporate Strategy – What Must Companies Know and Do?

ESG issues continue to grow in importance, and companies are facing unprecedented internal and external criticism and pressure to address them. Executives are left to wonder, “Should I respond to this issue, and if so, how?” and oftentimes note that addressing ESG issues before the company is being criticized in the news is an underrated strategy and a deliberate choice. Prof. Olga Hawn discusses how corporations should approach external ESG pressures as part of the broader corporate strategy.

 
SPEAKER

Olga Hawn

Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship,
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Sustainability Distinguished Fellow and Faculty Director,
Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability
2022 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

PANEL DISCUSSION: What’s the Right Role for Policy in ESG?

What is in the ESG policy pipeline today, and how will it affect the increasing number of organizations facing expectations of ESG measurement and reporting?

 
MODERATOR

Emiliano Abramzon

Co-Founder
Nearpod
 
PANELISTS

John K. Delaney

Founder and Executive Chairman
Forbright Bank

The Honorable Rodney E. Hood

Chairman
National Credit Union Administration
11:30 AM-11:45 AM

Break

11:45 AM-1:30 PM

Luncheon

Magnolia Room

Tomorrow’s Capitalist

Alan Murray reveals how corporate CEOs – the ultimate pragmatists – realized that they could lose their “operating license” unless they tackled the fundamental issues of our time: climate, diversity and inclusion, and inequality and workforce opportunity. Responding to demands for corporate change from employees and customers, many CEOs have taken the lead in establishing new principles ensuring that – for the first time in more than half a century – it will not be shareholders alone who have a say in how corporations are run.

 
SPEAKER

Alan Murray

Chief Executive Officer
Fortune Media

Announcing the Kenan Institute's 2023 Grand Challenge

 
MODERATOR

Paige Ouimet

Director of Research
Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
Professor of Finance
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
 
PANELISTS

Dan Broekhuizen

VP Leadership Development Center of Excellence
NTT DATA

Tamla Oates-Forney

Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
USAA

Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Professor
University of California- Berkeley Hass School of Business
2023 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow
 
 

Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

Leveraging the Private Sector for the Public Good

Established in 1985 by Frank Hawkins Kenan, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise is a nonpartisan business policy think tank affiliated with the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. The nonprofit institute and its affiliated centers convene leaders from business, academia and government to better understand how the private sector can work for the public good. The institute leverages best-in-class research to develop market-based solutions to today’s most complex economic challenges. In doing so, the institute aims to support businesses and policies that better the lives of people in North Carolina, across the country and around the world.

www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu

A Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise Event