Chrissa Pagitsas will be a keynote speaker at our event ESG&FRIENDS Transformation in Action on May 22 in Sofia. She is strategic advisor to senior executives and boards on the growth opportunities at the intersection of environmental, social, governance (ESG) and global business. Chrissa is the author of the book Chief Sustainability Officers at Work (Apress, 2022) which explores the leadership strategies of Chief Sustainability Officers and Heads of ESG at Fortune 500 companies including BlackRock, Coca- Cola, Duke Energy, and Procter & Gamble.
Recognized as a “Green Bond Champion” by the Climate Bonds Initiative and a recipient of the US Green Building Council Leadership Award, Chrissa is responsible for market-transforming innovations including the first Green Commercial MBS in the US, a standardized energy audit for the commercial real estate market, and the US EPA ENERGY STAR 1 to 100 Score for Existing Multifamily.
At Fannie Mae, Chrissa launched and led the Green Financing Business which issued over $51 billion in Green Bonds through 2018 and made Fannie Mae the largest issuer of Green Bonds globally.
Her prior experience includes developing sustainability strategies for large real estate investors and delivered financial management software solutions for utility companies in the U.S. and Europe. Chrissa holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.
The first book dedicated to the unique role of CSO
The collective urgency to combat climate change and address social issues requires business leaders to balance forward-looking environmental and social goals with financial expectations. Next generation business demands fresh thinking and innovation, increasingly centered in the Chief Sustainability Officer role, to build and implement strategies for today and to meet ambitious ESG metrics for 2030 and beyond.
The first book dedicated to the unique role of CSO, Chief Sustainability Officers At Work inspires those already on the path or just getting started on a sustainable business journey to meet the moment and mobilize from commitments, to action and results.
Author Chrissa Pagitsas draws on frontline experience as a top green finance executive managing the tension of risk and fear between ‘business as usual’ and leaping into the future. Persevering through headwinds and ‘no’s’ to drive transformative innovation without a roadmap inspired this book to ease the way for others.
In exclusive in-depth conversations, Chrissa curates unprecedented access to top CSOs that have already done the hard work at 20+ Fortune 50-2000 companies and global brands with trillions in revenue and millions of employees including Amazon, BlackRock, Coca-Cola, Cognizant, Duke Energy, HPE, IKEA, Owens Corning, and Procter & Gamble. She asks the right questions to distill hard-won business experience into practical ‘how to’ takeaways offering credible, scalable, successful environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies for change.
While there is no one path to the role, she paints a picture of what it takes to be a successful CSO leading companies in making meaningful decisions. Readers will be energized to innovate the forward-looking cornerstone techniques, tools, technologies for their own bold ESG strategy contributing to company success supporting a more sustainable and equitable future.
