BSR’s 2025 Outlook for Financial Services: Three Areas to Watch (Americas/EMEA)

BSR Members Only

Date and Time

January 14, 2025
10:00 am-11:00 am EST

Location

Webinar

This event is for BSR members only. Members, please log in to register.

Geopolitical uncertainty made 2024 a challenging year for financial services sustainability practitioners. Now, mandatory reporting and the paradox between EU and US regulations are set to strain company resources. 

Join us to hear our experts' outlook for navigating sustainable business in 2025 across three key areas: Governance and Leadership, Climate and Nature, and Human Rights. 

The webinar is open to all BSR member companies and their employees. We encourage you to invite additional colleagues inside or outside of your team and take full advantage of BSR’s member benefits. 

Scheduled Speakers

• Lara Birkes, Managing Director, Climate and Nature, BSR
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Lara Birkes
Managing Director, Climate and Nature, BSR
San Francisco
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Lara is responsible for leading BSR's Climate and Nature team globally and driving the organization’s work with Member companies' impact consulting, grants, and collaborative initiatives.  
Lara is a sustainability and policy professional with over fifteen years of experience managing partnerships, sustainability initiatives and policy engagement with companies, international organizations, governments, and NGOs.  
Prior to BSR, Lara was Global Head of Sustainability at Sonder, joining in 2020 to establish the corporate responsibility function, implementing policies to engrain responsible business practices across the company pre to post IPO. 
She also serves on the Advisory Board of EQX Biome, a start-up working to mobilize financial markets to protect the world’s remaining biodiversity hotspots. In 2024 Lara started hosting a web series & podcast called Nature IS to raise awareness of the critical need for protection, conservation, and regeneration of biodiversity.  
Lara holds a B.S. degree in International Business & Management from the University of Montana, a M.A. degree in International Trade Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California and is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow.  
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Recent Insights From Lara Birkes
• Integrating Climate and Nature: A Dual Approach to Business Resilience / December 5, 2024 / Blog
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• Hugh W. Brown, Jr., Director, Financial Services, BSR
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Hugh W. Brown, Jr.
Director, Financial Services, BSR
New York
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Hugh is the Head of BSR’s Financial Services practice and partners with companies across sectors. He advises institutional investors, corporations, and other capital market participants on corporate sustainability strategy, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and risk management, and stakeholder engagement. 
Prior to joining BSR, Hugh was a senior director at Ceres, where he led investor engagement with global institutional investors representing over US$20 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Hugh connected key climate change topics, including land use change and water risks, to investment portfolios and company supply chains to help investors and companies achieve climate change goals.  
Hugh has over 15 years of investment management expertise in various roles. At the US$250 billion AUM Florida State Board of Administration, he worked on corporate governance, ESG risks across asset classes, and risk management. He also worked at Morgan Stanley, where he provided investment management and consulting services.  
Hugh is a veteran of the US Air Force. He holds a BA in History and International Affairs from Florida State University and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.  
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• David Korngold, Managing Director of BSR Innovation Group, BSR
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David Korngold
Managing Director of BSR Innovation Group, BSR
New York
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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.
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Recent Insights From David Korngold
• Sustainable Business in Context: US Politics and Global Impacts / November 21, 2024 / Insights+
• Racing Past the Crossroads: How Sustainability Leaders Can Reassert Ambition / October 31, 2024 / Blog
• The CSO at a Crossroads: Three Paths Forward for Sustainability Leaders / October 17, 2024 / Reports
• An Impact-Based Approach to Responsible AI / October 10, 2024 / Blog
• Navigating US Election Uncertainty: A Call to Action for Sustainable Business / July 16, 2024 / Insights+
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• Kindra Mohr, Associate Director, Financial Services and Human Rights, BSR
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Kindra Mohr
Associate Director, Financial Services and Human Rights, BSR
New York
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Bringing her expertise as a business and human rights attorney, Kindra leads BSR's work at the intersection of finance and human rights. 
Kindra has nearly 15 years of experience in advancing human rights, social and environmental sustainability, and access to remedy within the financial sector. She advises financial institutions and their corporate clients and investees on innovative solutions to prevent and address human rights risks and impacts on the ground, including through stakeholder engagement and the development of grievance mechanisms. 
Previously, Kindra consulted for the International Finance Corporation and worked with clients at PwC to integrate best practices into their corporate governance frameworks. She also worked for the US Senate and served for five years as the Policy Director for a global nonprofit, advocating with communities for environmental and social protections and access to remedy in international finance. In addition, Kindra has lived and worked for nonprofits in Argentina, Haiti, and Peru on access to justice and corporate accountability.    
Kindra obtained her law degree at Boston College and holds a MA in International Economics and International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Recent Insights From Kindra Mohr
• The CSDDD: Implications for the Finance Industry / September 4, 2024 / Blog
• Close the Remedy Gap / February 12, 2024 / News
• A Human Rights Approach in Impact Investing / January 11, 2023 / News
• Double Materiality for Financial Institutions / December 14, 2022 / Reports
• Transforming Finance: Priorities for Progress in Advancing Respect for Human Rights / April 21, 2022 / Blog
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