Myles Corson is joined by Fulya Kocak, senior vice president of ESG issues for National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (Nareit) and Serena Wolfe, chief financial officer of Annaly Capital Management. Together, they discuss the increasing stakeholder focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues within the real estate investment trusts (REITs) and the broader real estate sector. The conversation starts with a look at how the pandemic has influenced agility within REITs to become ESG change agents for other sectors. The impact of the global pandemic has pushed businesses to adapt and embrace innovative ideas for decision-making processes along with acting as agents for change. While it proved to be an adaptability test for almost all sectors, it was also an opportunity to identify gaps and issues that could be solved with great solutions. For real estate companies, the pandemic led to changes in how they operate including updates to cleaning protocols in anticipation of reopening of workspaces. Additionally, property owners and landlords invested in new technologies for indoor air quality, studied energy consumptions versus occupancy and witnessed an increase in health and wellness rating applications. Annaly Capital Management brought together its infrastructure, IT infrastructure and human capital in ways never considered before, in response to the magnified importance of emergency planning and system resiliency. Given the challenges faced through the pandemic, investors are not only focused on how businesses are responding to COVID, but also the business continuity plan. This shift in focus was also influenced by the acceleration in momentum to implement improved ESG practices and meet the changing expectations of stakeholders. From a CFO standpoint, it’s about being proactive and instrumental in helping the company and the executive team define what ESG means for the company and industry. The CFO is now critical in managing change, assessing where their company is today and how to benefit from situations in the future. It’s an opportunity to make a long-lasting, meaningful impact in the face of continued uncertainty and disruption.  Episode links: Leading with Purpose: Annaly 2020 Corporate Responsibility Report (July2021) Nareit's 2021 REIT ESG Dashboard The Sustainability Leader in You by Fulya Kocak 2021 Outlook for REITs and Commercial Real Estate: Risk and Resilience http://www.REIT.com/ESG How can the CFO evolve today to reframe finance for tomorrow? | EY - Global  © 2021 Ernst & Young LLP

The Better Finance Podcast

The CFO’s expanding role in the ESG ecosystem

In this episode of the Better Finance podcast, Myles Corson is joined by Dave O’Hara, corporate vice president and chief financial officer for Commercial Finance at Microsoft. Dave shares how his unconventional career path, going from public policy and economic development to a friend’s software company, eventually led to being CFO of a major division in Microsoft. He attributes his career success to never staying too comfortable and embracing change, never backing down from a challenge, and finding the right mentor who will help you think differently and grow your career.

How can diverse experience enhance the career path to being a successful CFO?

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Ryan Grimsland, Senior Vice President Corporate Finance and Treasurer at Lowe’s Companies, and Loren Garruto, EY Partner and Global and Americas Corporate Finance Leader. Together, they discuss how finance can enable business to better manage unpredictable market behavior as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. They take a closer look at the challenges caused by the pandemic and how becoming more agile in forecasting and planning can help the business prepare for future disruptions.

How agile forecasting and planning is evolving the role of finance

Find out more about the role of tomorrow’s CFO and the future skills of finance. Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Simon Bittlestone, CEO of Metapraxis, a financial analytics company, and Andrew Harding, chief executive of Management Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, which was created in 2017 when they brought together the American Institute of CPAs and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Tomorrow’s CFO and the finance skills of the future

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Brian Tomlinson, Director of Research, CEO Investor Forum, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), and Marc Siegel, a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and EY partner. Together they discuss the acceleration of ESG, or environmental, social and governance, issues in corporate reporting. Their conversation also considers the increasingly vital role ESG plays in investor communications and what investors are looking for companies to disclose. © 2021 Ernst & Young LLP

Closing the ESG gap in corporate reporting

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Michael Keeler, Chief Executive Officer of LeaseAccelerator, to discuss how technology and managed services are transforming lease accounting. Together, they take a closer look at the challenges, administrative burdens and missed cost saving opportunities of large lease portfolios. The conversation continues with managed services and how technology is helping to automate, harmonize and simplify the leasing process and lease accounting compliance. © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

How technology and managed services are transforming lease accounting

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Dr. Matthew Bell, EY’s Asia Pacific Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) Leader, to discuss his varied career path and key findings from the 2020 EY CCaSS Institutional Investor survey, How will ESG performance shape your future? © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

How will ESG performance shape your future?

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Marna Ricker, EY Americas Vice Chair – Tax. They discuss the depth of the US government response to COVID-19 and the impact the 2020 US presidential election will have on the tax landscape and overall economy. Their discussion also analyzes the role that technology has played in tax during COVID-19, and the types of technology and software CFOs and tax executives are seeking out to help them access more data at a faster pace. © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP

How are political and economic disruptions impacting the tax landscape?

Trust is the foundation on which organizations can build stakeholder confidence and active participation with their AI systems. However, in the finance world, one mistake, or the perception of a mistake, can harm an organization’s trust in the technology. How do finance functions build trust into their AI?  Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes Cathy Cobey, EY’s Global Trusted AI Advisory Leader, to discuss how she helps organizations understand some of the new risks that AI brings and how, most importantly, they can start to create the right governance and control mechanisms. They explore the broad definition of AI, and its growing use in the COVID-19 landscape. With AI introducing new risks and impacts that have historically been the purview of human decision-making, organizations need a new framework for identifying, measuring and responding to the risks of AI to make it operational. © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP.

How artificial intelligence is disrupting the finance function

Podcast host Myles Corson welcomes back Paul Brody, EY Global Blockchain Leader, to discuss the evolution of blockchain and how it is enabling seamless transactions and near real-time exchange of information, to evolve into an open, scalable, compliant and secure public transaction system. #betterfinance © 2020 Ernst & Young LLP.

Blockchain continued: The evolution of a transformative technology

Winna Brown, Private Equity (PE) Leader in the EY Americas Financial Accounting Advisory Services practice, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss PE’s ability to create operational value and its long-term outlook. Though traditionally seen as a tool for financial engineering and cost reduction, their conversation explores how companies can think about private equity at any point in its growth life cycle and why talent is at the top of the list in terms of private equity focus. #betterfinance © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.

Winna Brown, Private Equity (PE) Leader in the EY Americas Financial Accounting Advisory Services practice, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss PE’s ability to create operational value and its long-term outlook. Though traditionally seen as a tool for financial engineering and cost reduction, their conversation explores how companies can think about private equity at any point in its growth life cycle and why talent is at the top of the list in terms of private equity focus. #betterfinance © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.

Navigating the next wave of private equity

Andrew Hay, Head of Proposition, Statutory Reporting and Shared Service Centers at Thomson Reuters, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss how companies can standardize and centralize global finance operations by leveraging technology. Their conversation examines how the area of statutory reporting and tax compliance is evolving, the opportunities and challenges organizations have with standardization as they transform their organizations and address the risks of protecting financial data in the cloud. © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.  All rights reserved.

Andrew Hay, Head of Proposition, Statutory Reporting and Shared Service Centers at Thomson Reuters, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss how companies can standardize and centralize global finance operations by leveraging technology. Their conversation examines how the area of statutory reporting and tax compliance is evolving, the opportunities and challenges organizations have with standardization as they transform their organizations and address the risks of protecting financial data in the cloud. © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.  All rights reserved.

Reshaping statutory reporting and compliance with technology

This special podcast episode features an abridged recording of “When Great Technology Meets Great Finance Professionals” a panel discussion from the 2018 Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference hosted by Financial Executives International. The panel, moderated by Myles Corson, included David Fabricant, SVP, Global Record to Report Controller at American Express and Dan Werries, formerly Global Director for Finance Systems, Purchasing Systems and Analytics at the Dow Chemical Company and now VP Information Technology, Corporate Enablement at Intel Corporation. They discuss how integrating technology into the finance function can create more than just immediate efficiencies and cost savings.

This special podcast episode features an abridged recording of “When Great Technology Meets Great Finance Professionals” a panel discussion from the 2018 Current Financial Reporting Issues Conference hosted by Financial Executives International. The panel, moderated by Myles Corson, included David Fabricant, SVP, Global Record to Report Controller at American Express and Dan Werries, formerly Global Director for Finance Systems, Purchasing Systems and Analytics at the Dow Chemical Company and now VP Information Technology, Corporate Enablement at Intel Corporation. They discuss how integrating technology into the finance function can create more than just immediate efficiencies and cost savings.

When Great Technology Meets Great Finance Professionals

Marc Siegel, a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and EY partner, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss key trends in corporate reporting. Their conversation takes a closer look at the influence of short-termism on an organization’s long-term value story, the power of shareholder activism, the insatiable consumption of data by investors and other reporting challenges finance executives face today. © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.  All rights reserved.

Marc Siegel, a member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and EY partner, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss key trends in corporate reporting. Their conversation takes a closer look at the influence of short-termism on an organization’s long-term value story, the power of shareholder activism, the insatiable consumption of data by investors and other reporting challenges finance executives face today. © 2019 Ernst & Young LLP.  All rights reserved.

Communicating long-term value: investor-driven trends in corporate reporting

Kris Pederson, EY Americas Governance Leader, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss strategic and purpose-led transformation and the importance it has in communicating long-term value. ©2019 Ernst & Young, LLP. All Rights Reserved.

Kris Pederson, EY Americas Governance Leader, joins podcast host Myles Corson to discuss strategic and purpose-led transformation and the importance it has in communicating long-term value. ©2019 Ernst & Young, LLP. All Rights Reserved.

The emerging role of finance in purpose-led organizations

The EY Better Finance Podcast explores the changing dynamics of the business world and what it means for finance leaders of today and tomorrow. Hosted by EY’s Myles Corson, this series offers insights from leaders on key topics affecting the world of corporate finance.

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The Better Finance Podcast

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