The ESG Canvas for Corporate Reporting with Pat Kampling, Chairman & CEO of Alliant Energy

A CEO’s Virtual Mentor Episode 20

The ESG Canvas for Corporate Reporting with Pat Kampling, Chairman and CEO of Alliant Energy

Welcome to Episode 20. I am joined by Pat Kampling, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alliant Energy in Madison Wisconsin.  This Episode 20 covers several areas of topical interest including a discussion on ‘sustainability’ and the quickly emerging and rapidly evolving area of ESG or “Environmental, Social, and Governance” criteria.  Institutional investors are demanding action and attention to ESG and CEO’s are responding by charting their companies’ course. This is not without tension for corporate management teams. We’ll discuss with Pat how she and Alliant have been addressing ESG and hopefully put you at ease.

Madison-based Alliant Energy has a $10.8 billion market cap as a public utility holding company that provides regulated electric and gas service through its subsidiaries, Interstate Power and Light and Wisconsin Power and Light to 410,000 gas customers and just shy of one million electric customers. Pat has served as chairman and CEO since 2012 and prior to that, she was COO for about a year and prior to that, she was CFO and Treasurer and has an extensive finance background. Foundationally, Pat is an engineer and a registered professional engineer at that --- a true renaissance woman.

I’d like to express our special thanks to the clients of Lyceum Leadership Consulting that enable us to bring you this podcast.

The UN “Principles for Responsible Investment” or PRI are a set of six principles that provide a global standard for responsible investing as it relates to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors. Organizations follow these principles to meet commitments to beneficiaries while aligning investment activities with the broader interests of society.

The PRI movement began in early 2005, when the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan invited a group of the world’s largest institutional investors to join a process to develop the Principles for Responsible Investment. The Principles were launched in April 2006 at the New York Stock Exchange. Since then the number of signatories has grown from 100 to over 1,800.

I’ll briefly summarize the six principles that investor-signatories publicly demonstrate:

1. They incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.
2. They are active owners and incorporate ESG issues into their ownership policies and practices.
3. They seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which they invest.
4. They promote acceptance and implementation of the Principles within the investment industry.
5. They work together to enhance their effectiveness in implementing the Principles.
6. They each report on their activities and progress towards implementing the Principles.

Sweeping in its reach, isn’t it? But what triggered a Madison-based company to consider these UN Principles as a guide?

Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

 

Informative and Helpful Links

The UN “Principles for Responsible Investment” or PRI.

Alliant Energy’s 2018 Corporate Sustainability Report

Goldman Sachs’ ESG Report from 2017.  See the impressive list of “Key Metrics and Indicators” on page 30 – 32.

 

Program Guide Episode 20

The ESG Canvas for Corporate Reporting with Pat Kampling, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alliant Energy 

0:32      Introduction to Episode 20 and Pat Kampling, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alliant Energy

2:40     ESG discussion and the Sustainability Report of Alliant Energy

7:46     Break 1

8:12     Investor demands around ESG cuts through politics

9:05     Safety at Alliant Energy

13:38    Break 2

13:52    Culture shaping at Alliant Energy

21:04    Break 3

21:20    Experience and advice in moving from CFO to CEO

22:46    Increasing and managing the tempo of an organization

28:18    The CEO role as a liberating role

28:55    Farewell and congratulations on Pat Kampling’s retirement effective July 1, 2019

28:54    Preview of upcoming Episode 21 with Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and CEO of PSEG in Newark, NJ 

Biographies of Guests

Ms. Patricia Leonard Kampling

Pat Kampling is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Alliant Energy Corporation. 

Her broad experience within the utility industry has proven essential to Alliant Energy’s ability to ensure competitive costs and reliable service for customers, while strategically leveraging a balanced generation portfolio.

Pat has responsibility for leading the performance and strategic growth of Alliant Energy’s regulated utility companies (IPL and WPL), serving customers in more than 1,200 communities throughout Iowa and Wisconsin. She also provides executive direction for Alliant Energy Resources, the parent company of Alliant Energy’s non-regulated businesses, which includes Alliant Energy Transportation and non- regulated generation facilities.

Pat joined Alliant Energy in 2005 and served originally as Alliant Energy’s Vice President of Finance. She then transitioned into roles as Vice President and Treasurer; Vice President Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In these roles, Pat guided the financial objectives of the company, supported regulatory proceedings, promoted environmental commitments, and was instrumental in the development and communication of a long-term strategic plan.

In 2011, Pat became President and Chief Operating Officer. She was responsible for overall corporate operations and was instrumental in the execution of Alliant Energy’s capital plan, commitment to customers, environmental planning and safety initiatives. She was named Chairman, President and CEO in 2012.

Before joining Alliant Energy in 2005, Pat spent more than 20 years in increasingly responsible finance, treasury, regulatory and engineering positions within Exelon Corporation, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Exelon Enterprises and the Treasurer of Commonwealth Edison.

Pat holds bachelor’s degrees in engineering and economics from Swarthmore College, an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School, and is a registered Professional Engineer. She serves on the Boards of Directors of American Transmission Company and Briggs & Stratton Corporation.

In February 2019, Pat announced her intent to retire from the company on July 1, 2019. The Board of Directors appointed Alliant Energy President and Chief Operating Officer John O. Larsen to succeed Kampling. More information on that announcement can be found in this article.

 

Your host Thomas B. Linquist is the Founder and Managing Partner of Lyceum Leadership Consulting and Lyceum Leadership Productions. Over his 14 years in management and leadership consulting he has served a wide array of industrial clients.  This includes leadership assessment and search for chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and boards of directors.  He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and over his 28-year career has served in a variety of roles: as an engineer with Shell Oil Company, a banker with ABN AMRO Bank, and as treasurer was the youngest corporate officer in the 150+ year history at Peoples Energy Company in Chicago.  He is an expert on hiring and promotion decisions and leadership development.  Over the course of his search career, he has interviewed thousands of leaders. 

Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Please rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.

 

Program Disclaimer

The only purpose of the podcast is to educate, inform and entertain. The information shared is based on the collection of experiences of each of the guests interviewed and should not be considered or substituted for professional advice. Guests who speak in this podcast express their own opinions, experience and conclusions, and neither The Leadership Lyceum LLC nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular content, recommendation or methodology discussed in this podcast.

 

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Thanks for listening.  We can’t improve without your feedback – write us through our website www.LeadershipLyceum.com and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Please rate us and spread the word among your fellow executives and board colleagues.

 

This podcast Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor has been a production of The Leadership Lyceum LLC. Copyright 2019. All rights reserved.