#78 Insights from a Global ESG influencer, Professor Ioannis Ioannou London Business School

Professor Ioannis Ioannou joins Purposely to share his thoughts on ESG and sustainability. Ioannis is respected and renowned strategy scholar whose research focuses on sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Purposely caught up with Ioannis while he was in on sabbatical in Miami and we covered a wide range of topics. Ioannis's focuses on how modern business contributes towards building a sustainable future and his academic work evolves around two main themes, including; understanding how the broader investment community perceives, evaluates and reacts to corporate engagement with, and integration of, environmental and social issues into strategy. Also, understanding the multiple and multilevel factors that may affect the corporate decision to adopt environmentally and socially responsible strategies. Ioannis regularly publishes in top-tier peer-reviewed academic journals regularly winning awards for his leading and thought provoking work. In 2016 he was awarded the ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award; an award that recognises a scholar in the area of corporate sustainability. He is also very active on social media and a frequent contributor to articles in the popular and managerial press including outlets such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC, Le Monde, and Forbes. In further recognition of his impactful work, Ioannis has been shortlisted for the Future Thinker Award of Thinkers50, the first-ever global ranking of management thinkers whose mission is to recognize ideas that have the power to change the world. Dr Ioannou’s has also been recognized by various rankings as one of the top social media influencers around the world for issues of responsible business and sustainability. Ioannis graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, majoring in Economics and Mathematics and holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University and the Harvard Business School. He joined London Business School in 2009 as an Assistant Professor and he is currently an Associate Professor with tenure. He has taught on the MBA and EMBA Core Strategy courses at LBS, and several other degree programs such as the Masters in Finance degree, the Emerging Leaders Program and other senior executive programs, including the Senior Executive Programme (SEP). He is a regular contributor to multiple LBS executive education programmes including modules on Responsible Business and Sustainability. Dr Ioannou has presented his research at many academic conferences, and universities around the world, and also, he is very often invited to deliver keynote speeches on issues of responsible management and sustainability at numerous high-profile events and conferences globally. He is a member of the UK Network Rail’s External Transparency Challenge Panel and the Advisory Board of Ethical Corporation. Dr Ioannou is also a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network with expertise in the area of Sustainable Development.