Board Roundtable: Informed Climate and ESG Decision-Making

Join Willis Towers Watson’s Strategic Advisor Diana Fox Carney; Managing Director and Practice Leader for Executive Compensation, Don Delves; Senior Director, Talent and Rewards, Ken Kuk; Managing Director, Head of Client Development for Risk and Analytics, Phillip A. Ellis; and Directors & Boards’  Publishing Director, David Shaw, as they address critical issues surrounding climate and ESG risk.

Thursday, September 9, 2021
2 PM ET | 11 AM PT
60 minutes

Boards are facing significant pressure to address climate and other ESG issues in meaningful, visible ways. Board members’ duty is to make informed, rational, long-term decisions about what is best for the company, its owners and other stakeholders. To enable them to evaluate ESG issues relative to other pressing decisions — requiring attention, resources and investment – board members need a framework that extends well beyond ESG itself.

ESG issues and decisions should be evaluated through both a risk and an opportunity lens. ESG risks can be quantified, evaluated and prioritized within the company’s overall portfolio of risks. Similarly, opportunities arising from addressing ESG issues can be evaluated and ranked relative to other areas of investment.

In this webinar, we will address:

  • Guiding principles for the governance of climate and ESG
  • Broader context for the governance of risk
  • Framework for risk portfolio quantification, assessment, decision making and resource allocation
  • Assessment of opportunities and benefits from investing in climate and other ESG areas

Participants will leave the webinar with:

  • Broader governance context for addressing climate and ESG issues
  • Decision-making framework for evaluating ESG issues relative to other issues facing the company and the board
  • Comprehensive approach to assessing risk – and ESG risks relative to other risks
  • Leading edge thinking about the benefits and opportunities of addressing climate and other ESG issues

Speakers


Diana Fox Carney

Strategic Advisor, Willis Towers Watson

Diana Fox Carney is strategic advisor with Willis Towers Watson. She is an energy and climate change expert with a background in policy and a current focus on identifying pathways to net zero carbon. She works with several climate tech companies, is a Senior Advisor at Eurasia Group and sits on the advisory board of BeyondNetZero, a growth equity fund in the emissions reduction space. She recently returned to Canada from the UK where she was Executive Director at Pi Capital, curating and communicating ideas across a very broad spectrum of topics for leaders from business and finance. She has held leadership roles at various think tanks in Canada and the UK and is a current or past board member of several not for profit organizations in the development and climate space.


Don Delves

Managing Director and Practice Leader for Executive Compensation, North America for Rewards Line of Business, Willis Towers Watson

Don Delves is a Managing Director and Practice Leader for Executive Compensation, North America for Willis Towers Watson’s Rewards Line of Business. Based in Chicago, Don is a leading expert and highly sought-after consultant and speaker on corporate governance and executive pay and performance, with over 30 years’ experience consulting with major corporate boards and executive teams across the country. Don previously founded and led Willis Towers Watson’s Closely Held Business Practice, and is a recognized expert on principles-based corporate governance, incentive design, performance measurement and value creation.

Dr. Delves is frequently interviewed and cited as an expert in major media including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business News, The Today Show, CNBC and National Public Radio. He has testified before the U.S. Senate and the FASB on the hotly debated issue of stock option expensing. Delves’ has published two books including Accounting for Compensation Arrangements, the definitive guide for accounting for stock options, equity incentives, and other forms of compensation.

Delves joined Willis Towers Watson in 2013 when The Delves Group was aquired. In 2001, he founded The Delves Group, a Chicago-based consultancy dedicated to working with corporate boards and compensation committees to improve their effectiveness and the way they are organized and directed. Prior to founding The Delves Group, Dr. Delves was the Managing Director of the Chicago office of iQuantic, a Partner at Sibson and Company, and an executive compensation consultant with Towers Perrin. He had previously worked with Arthur Andersen & Co.

Delves holds a doctorate in education in principles-based corporate governance from Fielding Graduate University, an M.B.A. degree in finance from the University of Chicago and a B.A., summa cum laude, in economics from DePauw University. He is highly-trained in process- and principles-based leadership with certifications from the Wright Graduate University, and is on the faculty of WorldatWork.

Dr. Delves writes and speaks regularly on management, executive pay and governance at a variety of organizations including the National Association of Corporate Directors, the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, and the Brookings Institute. He has lectured on topics related to his field at several graduate schools of business, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago. He also teaches principles-based leadership at the Wright Graduate University. Don serves on the boards of The Metropolitan Club of Chicago, the Private Directors Association, and the Wright Graduate University for the Realization of Human Potential.


Ken Kuk

Senior Director, Talent and Rewards, Willis Towers Watson

Ken is a Senior Director in the Talent and Rewards segment at Willis Towers Watson based in the Washington D.C. office.

Ken’s consulting experience specializes in executive and broad-based compensation, as well as HR issues in an M&A setting. In his compensation work, he advises Boards and senior management on subject areas such as effective executive and employee reward strategy and programs, incentive/equity program design, sales effectiveness and reward, performance goals setting, and pay-for-performance evaluations. Ken has worked across industries, with a particular focus on professional services, technology and renewable energy sectors. Much of Ken’s work is dedicated to designing effective rewards strategy and programs that increase engagement of digital talent and drive innovation, including compensation designs for pre-IPO companies and digital ventures.

Ken co-leads Willis Towers Watson’s professional services industry group. He is the lead compensation consultant for multiple leading consulting companies. He is a key contributor in some of Willis Towers Watson’s industry-leading research and intellectual capital development initiatives, such as ESG, equitable total rewards, as well as effective human capital management at start-ups, digital companies, partnerships, and private equity owned companies.

Ken holds a B.S. with honors in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University. Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, Ken worked at one of the nation’s largest public policy research organizations as a database manager.


Phillip A. Ellis

Managing Director, Head of Client Development for Risk and Analytics, Willis Towers Watson

Phil founded our Strategic Risk Consulting business and now leads client development globally for our Risk & Analytics division. He has more than thirty years’ experience advising some of the world’s largest and most complex companies and organizations on issues of strategy, risk, and organization development. He leads the expansion of our Connected Risk Intelligence platform globally. He is based in New York City.

Phil joined Willis Towers Watson in London in 2006. Prior to joining WTW he led a global practice and major client relationships for the Boston Consulting Group and prior to that for Booz Allen and Hamilton, where he also was a member of the Board of Directors and head of the Audit Committee. He holds degrees in finance and applied economics from the MIT Sloan (M.S. Management), in international affairs from the George Washington University (M.A.), and in atmospheric sciences from the University of California, Davis (B.S.). He has been published in risk and energy topics in the Financial Times and The Economist and speaks widely on risk topics around the world.

Phil has extensive experience in the public sector. For example, in 2010 he led the assessment of risk from allowing exploration for oil and gas in shallow waters for the House of Representatives of the State of Florida. He developed global investment strategies for European energy groups as the privatized and expanded from their home bases. In addition, he led the definition and the early development of Mubadala for the United Arab Emirates – this was that country’s entry into managing massive energy projects working with other States in the region.

WTW is home to more than 2000 risk modelers and equally impressive numbers of consultants across a wide range of risks – from human capital-related, tourism, environment, climate, infrastructure and many other areas.


David Shaw

Publishing Director, Directors & Boards and Private Company Director

David Shaw is the publishing director for MLR Media. He also co-founded and serves as conference director of the Transitions conferences, the Private Company Governance Summit and Family Business Legacy. David writes frequently on governance issues for public and private companies, and develops and maintains close relationships with multi-generational family-owned businesses. He is married, with two grown children.


Benefits

  • No cost to attend.
  • All participants receive a copy of the webinar materials after the event.
  • All particpants will receive the Directors & Boards newsletter featuring real-time news, analysis and thought leadership on corporate governance  — all delivered right to your inbox every Monday morning. You may, of course, opt out at any time.
  • Opportunity for questions and feedback.
  • Unbiased third-party director education.
  • 60 minutes — maximum value for time.

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