Center for Sustainable Business | EmpowHER: Workshops and Programming

The NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business partnered with Training the Street to offer the EmpowHER cohort pre-MBA training and refresher courses in core finance concepts including: 

• Financial Statement Analysis 
• Corporate Valuations 
• Excel Best Practices for PC: Become an Excel Expert
• Introduction to Financial Modeling 
• LBO Modeling
   

An introduction to key trends and concepts in sustainable finance with CSB founding Director, Tensie Whelan, covering:

• Definition and evolution of ESG Investing
• Overview of sustainable investing frameworks
• Current state of the market
• Case Study Breakdowns
   

This panel discussion and networking event introduced students to professionals working across asset classes in different functions in sustainable finance. Panelists shared their work experience, their  focus in their roles, as well as a bit about their own professional and personal journeys.

Panelists: 

• Carleigh Douglas, Vice President, Sustainable & Transition Solutions (STS), BlackRock
• Lucie Holliday, ESG Associate at The Carlyle Group
• Dara Kagan, First Vice President of Social Impact Banking, Amalgamated Bank
• Paula Luff, Director of ESG Research and Engagement, DSC Meridian Capital 
• Amanda Nunnink, Co-Head & Senior Managing Director, Multifamily Impact Housing, Kayne Anderson Real Estate
   

Behind the scenes recruiting insight from EmpowHER 2024 MB 2s on navigating opportunities and resources at Stern. 

A series of workshops to provide impactful changes in the way we communicate. Using engaging, interactive exercises and games grounded in the world of theater, as well as focused individual coaching and feedback, these sessions were created to help identify existing behavioral patterns and undesired habits to expand, deepen and sharpen participants’ communication style.

The sessions addressed a combination of the following:

• Delivering clear, concise, dynamic messages that stick
• Engaging, captivating and connecting with your audience
• Body language, voice and the impact of non-verbal cues
• Rapport-building and empathy
• Improving focus and managing mind-set in high-pressure situations
• Weaving storytelling into communication to heighten engagement and connection.
• Increasing confidence and gravitas to meet the needs of given situations
• Ability to flex personal style and maintain authenticity
• Effective virtual meetings and presentations
• Dealing with difficult behaviors in others
• Providing a structure for courageous conversations
   

Insight into the ‘how’ of gender lens investing at each stage of the investment lifecycle (investment identification, investment analysis and decision-making, portfolio management, and monitoring and reporting); deepening understanding of gender lens investing and the business and social returns that can be had by applying a rigorous gender-lens approach to all aspects of investment decisions.
Presenters:

• Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & CEO, Women’s World Banking 
• Karen Miller, Head of Strategy and Special Projects, Women’s World Banking

A look at the landscape of Impact investing from multiple perspectives including foundations, private equity, debt and across emerging markets. Students learned relevant terminology including the distinction between ESG and impact investing and a broad overview of the allocators and deployers. An interactive discussion on stepping stones and pathways to a career in impact investing followed.

Guest Speakers:

• Humaira Faiz, Mission Investment Manager, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Clara Sanchez, Director Private Credit, Blue Earth Capital
• Suma Swaminathan, Director, Private Equity, Developing World Markets 
   

An overview of the careers and roles in sustainable finance featuring:

• Luke Apicella (MBA ‘12), VP of Investments for Prudential 
• Impact & Responsible Investing, Prudential
• Casey Clark (MBA ‘17), President & Chief Investment Officer, Rockefeller Asset Management
• Sonia Kim (MBA ‘02), Global Head of ESG Product, S&P Global
• Abigail Pohlman, Head of Private Wealth Management, Sustainable Solutions Group, Goldman Sachs 
• Allison Saegh-Fleming (MBA ‘08), Green Economy Banker at JPMorgan Chase
• Mariah Shones, Senior Associate, The Renewable and Sustainable Energy Fund, The Carlyle Group

In this workshop, CSB partnered with members of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) to provide students with insight on ESG materiality; how it is used in strategy and reporting, various ESG reporting frameworks covering terminology, data providers, materiality matrices, and impact measurement tools. 
Guest Speakers:

• Andrew Brenner, Director of Investment Management, Integration, IFRS 
• Maren Meyers, Educational Content Manager,  IFRS
• Catherine Winner, Managing Director, Global Head of Stewardship, Goldman Sachs Asset Management 
   

A deep dive into the landscape of ESG ratings, providers, and research: covering the role of providers in the wider world of sustainable investing, methodology, metrics, data sourcing, and translating data into ratings, along with  the utility and practical applications of ESG ratings to investors, clients, and stakeholders, as well as the limitations of a financially material risk-focused approach.

Guest Speakers:

• Morgan Kinsey Barr, Sustainable Investment Research Analyst, Brown Advisory
• Lily Bowles, Director of ESG, Pacific Asset Management 
• Kate Marshall, Executive Director, Responsible Investment Solutions, Calvert Research and Management 
• Tara McHugh, Associate Director, Client Advisory, Sustainalytics
• Maggie Stafford, Senior Product Manager, ESG Strategy, Sustainalytics
   

A look at debt financing and the current corporate landscape with experts from Morgan Stanley’s Fixed Income division on options for sustainable finance instruments, KPIs, the overall addressable market, and examples of bonds and loans issued across various industries.Students were tasked with structuring a green bond and pitching it to the boardroom, laying out the financing over the short and long-term, as well as identifying the key risks, opportunities, and tradeoffs.

Guest Speakers:

• Maksim Rakhman, Executive Director, Product Lead at ESG Center for Excellence, Global Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley 
• Michelle Wang, Managing Director in Fixed Income Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley 

Pauline Lam, Nomura Professor of Finance, NYU Stern