Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro have joined the board of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, serving as chair and vice-chair, respectively, of the fledgling organization.
The addition of Bloomberg and Schapiro will lend extra clout and credibility to SASB, which has been rolling a series of sustainability accounting standards for various industry sectors, including health care, finance and most recently technology and communications (see
[IMGCAP(1)]"More than 30 years ago I started a company on the idea that greater market transparency leads to better investment decisions, and that idea is at the heart of SASB's mission," Bloomberg said in a statement. "The more complete and reliable the information that investors have, the better markets work—and that benefits not only individual investors but all of society."
SASB’s original board chairman, Harvard Business School professor Dr. Robert Eccles will continue to serve on the SASB board with a special focus on harmonization with other sustainability and integrated reporting organizations, such as the International Integrated Reporting Council.
The group has also recently come under criticism from one commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission, who objected to its unofficial standard-setting role.
“The somewhat confusingly-named Sustainability Accounting Standards Board provides a good example of an outside party attempting to prescribe disclosure standards,” said SEC commissioner Daniel Gallagher in a
SASB executive director Dr. Jean Rogers
Rogers also pointed out that SASB had a former SEC chairman and former commissioner, Elysse Walter, on its board, and with Schapiro taking on the role of vice-chair, the organization is likely to gain greater influence with regulators.
[IMGCAP(2)]“Markets work best when they offer investors access to material information that supports informed decisions,” said Schapiro in a statement. “I am thrilled to help SASB achieve their mission of developing standards that will provide the information our investors and markets need and deserve.”
“The new appointees represent growing market demand and support for SASB standards,” said Rogers on Thursday. “I am deeply appreciative for Bob Eccles’ leadership in growing SASB from an idea formulated at Harvard into a robust standards setting organization. I am deeply confident in Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Schapiro’s ability to further SASB’s transformation into the leading standards setter for material sustainability information.”
“As SASB’s first board chair, I oversaw the creation of a dispassionate, evidence-based standards development process,” said Eccles. “Now that we’ve begun publicly issuing standards, the next challenge is encouraging adoption and use of the standards by corporations and investors. Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Schapiro, given their influence over and trust from the capital markets, are the perfect leaders for this charge. ”
SASB also announced Thursday the appointment of a new board member, Shawn Lytle, Head of Americas at UBS Global Asset Management. Returning board members include Rogers. Eccles and Walter, along with Jack Ehnes, CEO of CalSTRs; Steve Gunders, a retired partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP; Dan Hanson, a portfolio manager with Jarislowsky Fraser USA; Erika Karp, CEO of Cornerstone Capital Inc.; Peter Knight, co-founder of Generation Investment Management; Suz Mac Cormac, a partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP; Clara Miller, president of the F.B. Heron Foundation; Catherine Odelbo, executive vice president of corporate strategy and partnerships at Morningstar; Aulana L. Peters, a retired partner at Dunn & Crutcher LLP; and Ted White, a managing partner at Fahr LLC.