“Chief sustainability officers (CSO), especially those of publicly-traded companies, must keep the investor at the forefront of their sustainability strategy,” says Chrissa Pagitsas, founder and principal of Pagitsas Advisors, which works with businesses and nonprofits on environmental and governance policies.
Pagitsas joined WorkingNation’s editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim for an interview for WorkingNation Overheard at JFF Horizons in Washington, D.C.
She explains that companies are being held accountable to their investors when it comes to creating climate-sustainable products. “That investor can be large institutional investors or smaller investors like you or me. These investors are asking for an understanding of this product, this widget, what’s it doing to the environment? Is it going to be positive or negative?”
Pagitsas says the role of CSO is not the only green job at a company, but rather all jobs at a company are interconnected and green.
Regarding nonprofits, she says, “Successful nonprofits are the ones that think like businesses. They understand they’re a part of a larger ecosystem of companies and organizations that depend on each other.
“So, NGOs should not only talk to NGOs. They should reach out to employers – to for-profit companies. They should talk to the industry associations that those companies belong to. They should talk to policymakers and explain the connection between their work as an NGO and the for-profit world. This understanding of ecosystem and the building of critical partnerships is what makes an NGO not just important, but impactful and successful.”
Learn more about Pagitsas Advisors.
WorkingNation Overheard at JFF Horizons 2024 was made possible through funding from EnGen.
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Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.
