Robert Steel, Robert Hirth, and Stephen Haggerty Join SASB Board of Directors

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board™ (SASB)™, a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides sustainability accounting standards for use by publicly listed corporations in the U.S., today announces three new members of its board of directors. The new board members, who will serve a three-year term effective January 2017, are:

• Robert K. Steel, Partner & CEO, Perella Weinberg Partners
  Robert Steel is a Partner and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Perella Weinberg Partners. From 2010 to 2013, Mr. Steel served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development for The City of New York in the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Prior to his 2010 appointment as Deputy Mayor, Mr. Steel was the President and CEO of Wachovia. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Before entering government service, Mr. Steel spent nearly 30 years at Goldman Sachs, ultimately rising to become Co-Head of the U.S. Equities Division and Vice Chairman of the firm.
• Robert B. Hirth, Jr., Chairman, Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)
  Bob Hirth serves as the Chair of COSO, a joint initiative of five private sector organizations dedicated to providing thought leadership through the development of frameworks and guidance on enterprise risk management (ERM), internal control, and fraud deterrence. He also serves as a Senior Managing Director at Protiviti, a global internal audit, technology, and business risk consulting firm that operates in 25 countries. Bob recently served two terms on the Standing Advisory Group of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and in 2013 was inducted into The American Hall of Distinguished Audit Practitioners.
• Stephen Haggerty, Head of Americas Equity Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  Stephen Haggerty is a Deputy Director of Global Research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Research Division. Mr. Haggerty is responsible for strategic planning and initiatives. He also co-heads the firm's global emerging markets equity research group. Prior to being named to his current role in 2016, Haggerty was head of Asia Pacific Research from 2012. From 2008 to 2012, he led Americas Equity Research. Haggerty served as deputy director of Merrill Lynch Americas Equity Research from 2004 to 2008. He joined the firm in 1999 as a Senior Analyst covering the automotive parts, tire manufacturer, and machinery sectors in the United States.

"I am pleased to join the SASB Board and to help in this important initiative," says Robert Steel, Partner & CEO of Perella Weinberg Partners. "SASB's standards provide issuers with a practical disclosure framework to assess the impact of material sustainability factors. These standards will help investors make informed investment decisions aligned with driving long-term value while also improving sustainability outcomes."

"Investors and the public want much more than just traditional financial disclosures," says Robert Hirth, Chairman of COSO. "The SASB has taken a leadership role in developing standards that help public companies disclose material sustainability information to investors. I want to be part of these important, ongoing initiatives."

"Our research suggests that ESG factors have been strong leading indicators of stock price volatility, earnings risk, return on equity and other attributes that are critical to investors. The work of SASB is important because it is focused on bringing these factors into the mainstream of company analysis," says Stephen Haggerty, Head of Americas Equity Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "My experience as a Research Analyst and Manager gives me confidence that identifying and highlighting these factors will improve the investment process."

For more information about SASB, please visit www.sasb.org.

About SASB

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board™ (SASB)™ is an independent 501(c)3 organization that issues industry-specific standards for use in disclosing material sustainability information in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, and Mary Schapiro, former SEC chairman, serve as Chair and Vice Chair of SASB's Board of Directors, and Dr. Jean Rogers serves as Founder and CEO. With significant input from corporations and investors, SASB has issued provisional sustainability accounting standards for 79 industries in 10 sectors, and is now undertaking a period of deep consultation to gather input before the standards are codified. For more information about SASB, visit www.sasb.org, or follow us on YouTube, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Amanda Medress
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SOURCE Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

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http://www.sasb.org