About Dr. Jean Rogers

Dr. Jean Rogers is the Founder of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), which she also led in various capacities for seven years, including as Chief Executive Officer (2011-2017) and Chair of the Standards Board (2017-2018). She is a 2018 INSEAD Society of Progress Medal Laureate, and has been named by Barron’s as one of the Top 20 Influencers of Sustainable Investing in 2018. She was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She is a former Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY, and a PhD in environmental engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.

Founded in 2011 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, SASB is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency of global capital markets by fostering high-quality disclosure of material sustainability information that meets investor needs and enhances public trust in companies. Conceived during groundbreaking research conducted by Rogers and her colleagues at Harvard University’s Initiative for Responsible Investment, the concept for SASB as “market infrastructure” evolved under Rogers’ entrepreneurial leadership from a self-funded start-up into a globally-respected, independent standard-setting organization with a staff of 35 and an annual budget of $8 million.

Under her leadership, SASB:

• Developed provisional sustainability accounting standards for 79 industries across 11 sectors;
• Engaged with 2,800 professionals representing $11 trillion in market capitalization $23 trillion in assets under management;
• Founded an Investor Advisory Group (IAG) comprised of 32 leading asset owners and asset managers collectively managing $26.2 trillion in assets—including such organizations as BlackRock, CalPERS, CalSTRS, Vanguard, and State Street Global Advisors—all advocating for a market standard for sustainability disclosure;
• Was validated by independent research from Harvard Business School, which used historical data to determine that the SASB’s approach yields outperformance for both companies and their investors—including sales, sales growth, return on assets, and return on equity, in addition to 4.8 percent improvement of risk-adjusted shareholder returns;
• Launched the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) credential along with other key products and third-party partnerships with providers of financial products, software, and data;
• Published an annual quantitative analysis of sustainability disclosure in SEC filings, establishing a useful tool for investors and a baseline for measuring future progress;
• Formed a collaborative initiative with Fordham University to advance sustainability accounting through education, research, and public events;
• Hosted annual events, including the SASB Symposium and the SASB Legal Forum.
• Named to Barron’s Top 20 Influencers in Sustainable Investing, 2018  

Prior to founding SASB, Rogers’ leadership experience included 10 years as a Principal at Arup, a global engineering consultancy focused on sustainable development, where she worked in a wide range of industries including utilities, extractives, financials, and real estate. Rogers was also a management consultant at Deloitte, working in the environmental and manufacturing practices to help leading companies improve business and product performance through sustainability.

Dr. Rogers is a currently a corporate advisor, speaker, and author living in Oakland, California.