Moving Beyond the Business Case Debate Over Sustainability

BSR Members Only

Webinar

September 10, 2025

11 am - 12 pm EDT

Event Resources

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Amid the pressures to show the ROI of sustainability, how can sustainable business leaders reframe the conversation and demonstrate the strategic value of sustainability?

In this moment of uncertainty for sustainable business, the conversation around the “business case” for sustainability is once again in the spotlight. We believe that conversation is broken.

The quest for a perfect business case can create false expectations, skew incentives, and divert attention away from higher impact, more strategic efforts. It’s time to shift the focus of the conversation away from ROI debates and towards the strategy and human benefits of sustainability.

Join fellow BSR members for an interactive session where we will share pragmatic suggestions, then host breakout discussions to explore how to advance strategic sustainability. The session will be led by the experts behind BSR’s latest Insights+: “Beyond the Business Case Debate: Reasserting the Strategic Value of Sustainability”.

Whether you’re defending your budget, renewing your strategy, or reenergizing internal champions, this session will help you move beyond the “business case” debate by refocusing the conversation on the business value of sustainability.

Scheduled Speakers

David Korngold, Managing Director of BSR Innovation Group, BSR

Managing Director of BSR Innovation Group, BSR

New York

David partners with corporate boards, executives, and investors to develop high-impact sustainability strategies. As part of BSR’s Transformation team, he co-leads engagement with boards of directors to promote effective board governance and leadership ambition on sustainability.

Having previously led BSR's Financial Services team, David continues to work closely with financial companies on sustainability, ESG integration, and impact investing. David has led engagements in nearly all of BSR’s focus areas and major industry groups. This includes leading climate scenarios workshops with boards, creating net-zero road maps for investment firms, designing and operationalizing a leading impact investing fund, conducting materiality assessments, undertaking human rights impact assessments, and co-authoring research on topics like ESG for emerging public companies and responsible investment policies for private equity firms.

Before joining BSR, David worked in strategy and management consulting at Bain & Company.

David holds a BA in History from Amherst College.

Recent Insights From David Korngold

Full Bio

Rachel Fleishman, Former Managing Director, Consumer Sectors and Business Transformation, BSR

Laura Gitman, Chief Impact Officer, BSR

Chief Impact Officer, BSR

New York

Laura is a global expert on corporate sustainability, with two decades of experience in strategy consulting and has advised senior executives at global companies across a range of industry sectors and sustainability issues.

As Chief Impact Officer (CIO), the first in the organization’s 30-year history, Laura focuses on maximizing the impact of BSR’s work with its network of over 300 members, both through direct engagement on project work and as a mentor for teams throughout the organization. She also oversees BSR’s Collaborative Initiatives and Membership, and is a recognized thought leader and innovator in strategic business.

She has been an instrumental leader in BSR’s organizational growth and impact. She launched BSR’s financial services practice and New York office, and she served as Chief Operating Officer for five years, leveraging her strengths in strategy, organizational change, and people management. Laura works with leading global companies to develop and enhance their sustainability strategies to maximize value for business and society, and she is sought after to facilitate senior-level strategy workshops and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

She previously worked for Deloitte Consulting, where she acquired extensive strategy experience advising multinational financial services companies. She also worked on several community and economic development projects in Latin America.

Laura holds a MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is an adjunct professor in the Bard MBA in Sustainability program, a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a member of the UN Global Compact Expert Network.

Recent Insights From Laura Gitman

Full Bio

Nine Weijenborg, Associate Director, Transformation and Financial Services, BSR

Associate Director, Transformation and Financial Services, BSR

Paris

Nine supports BSR’s work across various industries, including financial services, industrials and utilities, and energy and extractives. She focuses on design and implementation of sustainability strategies, reporting, stakeholder engagement, and governance.

Prior to joining BSR, Nine worked in PwC’s sustainability services practice, where she advised multinational companies on sustainability strategies. She focused on how organizations could integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into their strategies and practices to increase their positive impact and mitigate their negative impact. She also audited social and environmental data. Nine is a One Young World ambassador.

Nine holds an M.Sc. in Food Safety Law from Wageningen University and an L.L.M. in Law from the University of Amsterdam. She wrote her master’s thesis at the University of Cape Town, focusing on food innovations for local farmers.