C-suite executives at Verizon, Target, Salesforce; Harvard Business School professors; and social sector activists among those chosen for top honor.

NationSwell, a social impact company, announced the launch of ESG Next, the organization’s new interview series giving unprecedented access to the strategies deployed by leaders at the vanguard of social impact and sustainability — leaders whose work today is driving the ever-evolving field of Environmental, Social and Governance into the best version of its future.

"The ESG Next honorees are more than just the vanguard of the field — they are the ones shaping its future,” Greg Behrman, NationSwell CEO and founder, said of the featured leaders. “If you work in social impact or sustainability, you’ll recognize many of these leaders and their achievements immediately — but for the first time ever, you’ll have unprecedented access into what drives their leadership, how they navigate an increasingly disrupted present and what inspires them to drive the very best version of our shared future.”

New honorees will be announced on the first Monday of each month. NationSwell’s January 2023 honorees for ESG Next include Rose Stuckey Kirk, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer of Verizon, Pete Stavros, Co-Head of U.S. Private Equity of KKR, Nili Gilbert, Vice Chairwoman of Carbon Direct, and George Serafeim, Harvard Business School professor. You can read their profiles here.

Readers will get to know our honorees as professionals and as people, learning the facets of their standard-bearing leadership that demonstrate the promise of this field. None of these leaders claims to have all the answers — but all of these leaders are operating at the highest level of the social impact and sustainability field, pushing the envelope to create the positive outcomes that our communities, our economic system, our planet and our future need.

“NationSwell was founded in 2013 to support top leaders like the ones in ESG Next,” Behrman said. “Our hope is that the inaugural series gives the full community of social impact and sustainability leaders a glimpse of what’s ahead within this emerging and fast-evolving field of ESG, exposure to the diverse insights and practices that field builders have to share and credible, expert guidance to take your ESG efforts to the next level of efficacy and impact.”

ESG Next Highlights Quote Section:

“If there’s an art to walking the halls; it’s making sure that you set a vision, you set a strategy, you know where you're going, but you don't sell it without getting the buy-in and without people being able to edit it.” - Rose Stuckey Kirk, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer of Verizon

“It would be a shame if the field of ESG becomes a partisan political issue. I view it as a field of development, where it actually becomes part of our management and our governance, that people incorporate into their career pathways — that leads to organizations collectively seeing more positive outcomes. ” - George Serafeim, Harvard Business School professor

“I try to approach some of the ESG factors that I’m most passionate about as good business. If you take employee ownership, it’s hard to make an argument against it. It’s good for workers, good for corporate cultures, good for communities, and good for investors. But I think if you come at some of it from my perspective, where I frame it as good business, then it would be a shame if people aren’t also looking at this as a risk mitigation tool, a culture enhancer.” - Pete Stavros, Co-Head of U.S. Private Equity of KKR

About NationSwell:

Founded in 2013, NationSwell is an award-winning social impact and sustainability company that helps changemakers, thought leaders and purpose driven business executives drive impact at scale. Through a robust membership model and the nation’s leading social impact studio, NationSwell supports these impact leaders on a range of the most pressing issues, such as racial justice and economic opportunity, environmental sustainability and the future of work, as well as supporting them on the practice of social impact, CSR/ESG strategy, building champions, allies and partners and employee engagement. NationSwell’s membership community of the nation’s leading social impact and sustainability practitioners includes: Starbucks, Mastercard, Salesforce, Nike, Microsoft, IBM, Fidelity, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Bain Capital, Morgan Stanley, Schmidt Futures, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ballmer Group, Pivotal Ventures and more.

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