Jean Rogers

Dr. Jean Rogers is the Chair of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). She is also its Founder, and for 6 years, she served as Chief Executive Officer of the SASB. Founded in 2011 as a 501(c)3, the SASB is dedicated to enhancing the efficiency of the U.S. capital markets by fostering high quality disclosure of material sustainability information that meets investor needs and enhances public trust in companies. Conceived during research conducted from 2006-2010 at Harvard University’s Initiative for Responsible Investment in the Kennedy School of Government, the concept for SASB as “market infrastructure” evolved under Jean’s entrepreneurial leadership from a self-funded start-up into a globally-respected, ANSI-accredited, independent standards-setting organization with a staff of 35 and an annual budget of $8M. Jean’s responsibilities during her tenure as CEO spanned research, standards setting, stakeholder outreach, finance and development, education, publications, and communications. Under her leadership, the SASB developed provisional standards for 79 industries with the involvement of 3,000 stakeholders, raised more than $25M for standards development, launched an education program in sustainability accounting, and convened an Investor Advisory Group comprised of 27 leading asset owners and asset managers with more than $20T in assets, including BlackRock, CalPERS, CalSTRS, and State Street Global Advisors, all advocating for a market standard for sustainability information. During the period of 2011-2017, the field of sustainability accounting was legitimized and codified through SASB’s identification of metrics for the measurement and management of material sustainability-related factors that drive business performance and are material to investors. With SASB’s 2017 governance change into an independent technical standards-setting board overseen by a foundation, Jean was appointed the Chair of the 9-person inaugural SASB Standards Board that maintains the sustainability accounting standards across 79 industries in 11 sectors, following due process established in the Board’s Conceptual Framework and Rules of Procedure. Prior to founding SASB, Jean’s 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. Jean 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. Jean was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University and holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an ME in Environmental Engineering and a BE in Civil Engineering, both from Manhattan College. A former practicing environmental engineer, Jean is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Illinois and California. In 2015 and 2016 she was named one of the Most Influential Women in Accounting by CPA Practice and in 2015, 2016, and 2017 she was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today. Jean is currently a member of the board of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and a member of the Auxiliary for the East Bay Agency for Children (EBAC).