Key Considerations in Managing ESG through a Merger

Authors

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  Laura Gitman

  Chief Impact Officer, BSR

  

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  Laura Gitman

  Chief Impact Officer, BSR

  

  New York

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  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 the Center for Business and Social Justice, and 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.

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• Elisabeth Best

  Former Manager, Sustainability Management, BSR

• Michaela Lee

  Former Manager, BSR

We are living through a time of tremendous external disruption, technological innovation, and increased political, social, and climate risk. As a result of this ongoing disruption, we are seeing increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity as companies seek to buy into the latest innovation, to disrupt the competition—or to prevent being disrupted by the competition.

Mergers and acquisitions can have a huge impact on the state of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) affairs for the companies involved. At a time when employees and customers are calling for companies to take stands on social issues and investors, like BlackRock’s Larry Fink, are stressing the value of “purpose,” a company’s ESG performance is more important than ever.  Companies can and should strive to integrate ESG considerations throughout the M&A process from initial due diligence through implementation after the merger.

BSR has developed this primer to help Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs), their teams, and internal allies navigate the M&A process to leverage and enhance ESG-related programs and priorities.