As Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader and a pioneering certified public accountant focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), Brendan makes the business case for sustainability through the lenses of growth, innovation and risk management. He has led engagements on establishing and transforming ESG/Sustainability functions, analyzing how mega-trend risks will impact business models, evaluating salient human rights issues and developing suitable criteria to measure and claim non-financial performance.
Brendan has represented EY on numerous global reporting and sustainability organizations, helping set direction and providing EY clients with leading-edge perspective on global trends.
Prior to joining EY, he founded a niche CPA firm focused on corporate social responsibility reporting and assurance services. He issued the first reasonable assurance opinion on a sustainability report in the US in 2008.
Brendan has a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Gordon College and a graduate certificate in Sustainable Business from University of Vermont.
How Brendan is building a better working world
"As economist Herman Daly once said, ‘The economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment - not the reverse.’ I love discussing natural and social capital impacts, dependencies and detailed decision making with EY clients.
One of the reasons I joined EY was to leverage our global reach and influence to more fully live into my personal purpose - to help change the way the world accounts for social and environmental issues.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing only on financial operations and assets, but these things can lose their worth and purpose if the resources they interact with fade away. Maintaining a view of the whole picture and taking sustainable approaches create value and a better world.
It doesn’t matter how many ovens you have… if you don’t have any cheese, you’re not making pizza."
