High Peaks Impact Award

This inaugural symposium will bring together business leaders, policymakers, and academics to share best practices on how ESG benefits businesses and their stakeholders in various ways.

It will position UAlbany’s School of Business as a leader on researching and disseminating knowledge and best practices of how businesses integrate “Environment, Social, and Governance” issues in their strategies and operations. It fulfills its mission by offering education that prepares future generations of business leaders to succeed in both their personal and professional lives as well as have substantial community benefits. The symposium will conclude with the announcement of the inaugural 2021 High Peaks Impact Awards.

1:00pm-1:10pm – Guest Registration & Reception

1:15pm-1:30pm – Welcome - Nilanjan Sen, Dean

Opening Remarks - Paul Miesing

1:25pm-2:15pm – Panel 1: ESG Measurement - Financial Reporting

Ingrid Fisher – Moderator, UAlbany School of Business

• Lisa Veliz Waweru – Manager, Decarbonization/Sustainability & ESG, Deloitte & Touche
• Kris Pederson – Corporate Governance Leader, EY
• Lyndsay Damo – Director, ESG Practices, PwC

2:15pm-3:05pm – Panel 2: ESG Portfolio Construction

Todd Silaika – Moderator, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

• Shireen Kafiluddi – Client Associate, Merrill Lynch
• Sarah Norman – Senior Sustainable Investment Strategist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
• Lynette Jefferson – Managing Director, UBS Wealth Management
• Matthew Morris, CFA – Senior Portfolio Strategist, UBS Wealth Management, PwC

3:05pm-3:15pm – Break/Meet & Greet

3:15pm-3:45pm – Keynote Speaker

Introduction: Paul Grondahl, NYS Writers Institute

• Daniel Etsy – Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law & Policy, School of the Environment and Clinical Professor of Environmental Law & Policy, Yale Law School

3:45pm-4:35pm – Panel 3: Implementing ESG 

Matthew Crayne – Moderator, UAlbany School of Business

• Noah Miller, Co-founder, Calibrate Partners
• Sujata Chaudhry, Founder, Tangible Development
• Trent Romer, Co-owner, Clear View Plastic

4:35pm-4:45pm – Break/Meet & Greet

4:45pm-5:35pm – Panel 4: Technology Trends Driving the Future of ESG Sanjay Goel – Moderator, UAlbany School of Business

• Heng Xu, Professor of Information Technology & Analytics, Kogod School of Business at the American University, Director of the Kogod Cybersecurity Governance Center
• Mark Esposito – Co-founder & Chief Learning Officer, Nexus FrontierTech
• Ricard Perez – Senior Research Associate, UAlbany Atmospheric Sciences Research Center

5:40pm-5:50pm – Recognize 3 HPIA Finalists

Mario Cometti 

5:50pm-5:55pm – Announcing HPIA Winner

President Havidan Rodriguez

5:55pm-6:00pm – Vote of Thanks

6:00pm – Reception

Keynote Speaker

Daniel C. Esty is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University with primary appointments in the Yale School of the Environment and the Law School with a secondary appointment at the Yale School of Management. He also serves as Director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and as Director of the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance. Professor Esty is the author or editor of fourteen books (including the prizewinning guide to corporate sustainability, Green to Gold) and dozens of articles on environmental and energy policy – and their connections to regulatory approaches, corporate strategy, sustainability performance measurement, competitiveness, trade, and economic success. His (edited) volume, A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, was named a top book of 2019 by The Financial Times and his most recent book, Values at Work: Sustainable Investing and ESG Reporting has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan.

From 1989-93, Professor Esty served in a number of senior positions in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. During this time, he led EPA’s regulatory review process and helped to negotiate the 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change. From 2011-14, he returned to government service as Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. In this role, he led efforts to draft Connecticut’s first energy strategy, launch a Green Bank to promote clean energy, and restructure the state’s regulatory programs. Known for his innovative work at the business-sustainability interface, Professor Esty has also provided strategy advice to companies, governments, international organizations, NGOs, and foundations around the world.

Executive Committee

The following members created and organized the ESG symposium and the High Peaks Impact Awards:

• Mario Cometti, Cometti Law Firm and Co-Founder ESG Strategies
• Matt Grattan, Director of Community & Economic Development, UAlbany
• Paul Grondahl, Director, New York State Writers Institute
• Paul Miesing, O’Leary Professor Emeritus and CAUSE Founding Director, UAlbany
• Teri Scalise Roller, Director of Corporate Engagement, UAlbany
• William Roller, Director of Development, School of Business, UAlbany  
• Amy Ryan, Co-Founder/CEO, ESG Strategies
• Nilanjan Sen, Dean, School of Business, UAlbany