Helle Bank Jorgensen - Stewards of the Future

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Helle Bank Jorgensen is the CEO of Competent Boards, which offers the global online ESG Competent Boards Certificate and Designation Program with a faculty of over 100 renowned international board members, executives, and experts.

She has a 30-year track record in turning Environment, Social, Governance (ESG), Climate, and Sustainability risks into innovative and profitable business opportunities. She has worked with many global Fortune 500 board members and executives, as well as smaller companies and investors.

Helle serves on:

• His Royal Highness Prince of Wales A4S (Accounting for Sustainability) Global Expert Panel;
• World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network for Corporate Governance, Leadership, and Emerging Multinationals;
• The Non-Financial Digitisation Working Group of the Impact Management Project (IMP);
• The Reuters Panel of Expert Judges for the Responsible Business Awards;
• Canadian Climate Governance Experts - a Commonwealth Climate & Law Initiative

Helle was the creator of the world’s first Green Account based on lifecycle assessment and the world’s first Integrated Report, the first integrated responsible supply chain management system, and was the principal organizer for the CEO/Investor-network for Business Ethics and Non-Financial Reporting. She led the improvement of investor communication for global companies and has worked on Natural Capital Accounting for IFC/World Bank.

In 2020 she was awarded the Global Impact Award and named one of "5 people in ESG to look out for."  She is a regular keynote speaker and author of many thought-leading articles and books.

She is a business lawyer and state-authorized public accountant (CPA) by training and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Auditing.  She is a former PwC audit and advisory partner in Denmark and the US leading Sustainability & Climate Practices. 

Quotes From This Episode

• "Unfortunately, there’s a long way from what was committed to what is actually funded. It’s so easy to come up with the commitments and the nice speeches, but it's another thing to do it."
• "(Board members) need the mindset....the whole reason why we are educating boards of directors and executives is that we need to have that understanding."
• "I’m writing a book, and it’s going to be called Stewards of the Future. In my mind, the board of directors has that responsibility. They have to be asking the CEO/management team, 'What are we doing? Do we have enough budgeted?'"
• "We need a plan and we need that plan right now. And we need to follow up on that plan. We need to report on that plan. We need to tell our stakeholders about our plan."

Resource Mentioned in This Episode

• Future History

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals with a keen interest in the study, practice, and teaching of leadership. 

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