For the CFO “Class Of 2020,” ESG Championship is Part of the Job

In early 2020, Gina Mastantuono recently entered the role of CFO at ServiceNow when the company chose to adopt an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) framework that is more financially powered.

“It’s a pretty significant change for me and the organization,” explains Mastantuono, noting that his list of priorities for his first 12 months as CFO has suddenly started to move in real time as the scale of using a more focused on the results that the ESG framework has become increasingly apparent.

Hilary Maxson, who was named group CFO of French multinational Schneider Electric in May 2020, found that sustainability and ESG are already part of SE’s maturing vision. However, his appointment has indicated to many that the energy automation giant is now doubling down on ESG.

Maxson says: “ESG isn’t just something companies do — it’s a real value driver in terms of both risk mitigation and actual reporting, so you really want to embed your thinking about ESG in your financial planning. “

The principles of ESG and DEI are now often listed among the priorities of the financial leader in 2022 by Vanessa Kanu, who joined Telus International as CFO in September 2020 and then helped publicize the company in 2021.

“For us, diversity, equality, and inclusion are top-of-mind and always a priority, but now in my role I seek to promote it as well, as we look at growth and development,” he said. by Kanu, who entered his first CFO role at Mitel Networks Corporation, after a continuous 15-year ascent within the company.

The three great finance leaders, who represent three different industries and live in three different countries are now representative of a class of recently appointed CFOs who have clarified their most recent chapters in the CFO career — perhaps unlike any previous CFO duties — invited them to come in. the kingdom of ESG champions.

The timing seems to be everything. Last March, European lawmakers agreed to force about 28,000 foreign subsidiaries to comply with EU ESG rules, causing a blow to representatives for U.S. companies that lobbied for in other results.

“Now that Europe has put in place legislation to mandate ESG reporting, there will be a wave of ESG initiatives coming to hit North America soon,” explains Brett Knowles, a leading consultant. in performance management that developed various business frameworks including OKR, risk, and sustainability scorecards.

“Forward-thinking companies like ServiceNow have seen it coming” Knowles reports.

Until Mastantuono’s arrival at ServiceNow, management relied on its marketing and communications teams to project its corporate mind-set when it comes to such issues, but many events in 2019 led to investors and board members — including also the company’s CEO Bill McDermott — to confirm that a more coded approach has become necessary.

“It has allowed me to make the necessary changes not only internally financially but also across the enterprise and externally,” commented Mastantuono, who joined ServiceNow after serving as CFO for technology distribution giant Ingram Micro.

Hilary Maxson’s path to the CFO office in SE involves financial career experiences in areas as far away as Douala, Cameroon (3 years), the Philippines (3), Hong Kong (2), and Paris (4) .

He would eventually join Schneider Electric in Hong Kong before moving to SE’s headquarters in Paris, where he served as the group’s CFO shortly thereafter.

Maxson said: “I really believe that doing good business is the key to changing the world, and in‘ good ’business I mean you can still make money, your employees can still do the right thing, and still do the right thing for your country — this is how we bring about change. ”

To be clear, Mastantuono, Maxson and Kanu did not join the ESG opposite as new CFOs eager to recognize their credentials, but as great finance leaders who have long begun to accept responsibilities that could be considered a result. of an expanding role in financial leadership.

For Kanu, his arrival at Telus International based in Vancouver, British Columbia means closing a plus-size career chapter at Mitel.

With Kanu stepping into Mitel’s CFO office, the company’s management will conduct an IPO and multiple strategic acquisitions before moving back to being a private company.

“What I thought was that as long as I was learning and growing, there was no need to leave, and that ended a 16 -year tenure with that organization,” recalled Kanu, who first joined the company in 2004.

At about the same time, as Maxson embarked on a 4 -year banking career in New York City to earn an MBA from Cornell — a familiar gateway for ambitious bankers — he was already looking at Wall Street.

Maxson’s comments: “One of the reasons I want to change is I also want to build things — not just in the US, but around the world.”

According to Mastantuono, it became clear to him the impact he could have as a champion of ESG principles when the company’s vice president of treasury gave him the idea of ​​ServiceNow to build a racial equity fund to help communities in need. service.

Mastantuono recalls: “I was really able to drive it throughout the organization, and now we’ve put $ 100 million in fully funded funds into communities that need it most.”

However, perhaps more revealing when it comes to Mastantuono’s financial leadership is the addition of an external facing pitch that he regularly does with ServiceNow customers — and particularly with those attracted to similar ESG -focused opportunities.

“Our products can help our customers on their ESG journeys in a way that no other company can. We have the ability to differentiate from both product and ecosystem perspectives, ”said Mastantuono, who rarely ignores an opening to bolster ESG’s growing influence.

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