[Past Event] How the Pandemic Has Revealed Crucial Ties Between Purpose and Valuation

Kristen B. Sullivan is a partner and leads Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Sustainability and KPI services, working with clients to help address their sustainability and non-financial disclosure strategy needs.  Kristen also serves as the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited’s (DTTL) Americas Region Sustainability Services Leader and the DTTL Integrated Reporting Community of Practice. Kristen brings extensive experience in delivering sustainability risk assessment, governance, strategy alignment, measurement, reporting and assurance services.

Kristen serves as a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Community, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Assurance Task Force, the Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative Corporate Working Group, and serves as Chair of the AICPA Sustainability Task Force and member of the AICPA Materiality Task Force. She also served on the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Working Group. Kristen has authored a number of publications around the value of sustainability and non-financial disclosure and assurance, including conflict minerals and anti-human trafficking disclosure.  She was recognized in the 2019 Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders.

Kristen has over 24 years of experience with Deloitte.  Kristen is a CPA (CT, MO), CGMA and is GRI certified.  She began her career with Deloitte in the Audit and Advisory services practice.  She has also served in Deloitte’s National Office in several different capacities and served in a role working with the deputy CEO of Deloitte LLP focusing on regulatory and public policy matters.

Kristen serves as a member of the Eureka College Board of Trustees, the Stamford 2030 Advisory Board, and the Financial Women’s Association.

Diana is a Managing Director at Cranemere, a holding company that acquires and grows mid- market private companies for the long term. With permanent capital, Cranemere backs companies without a view to exit, and is a particularly appealing partner to founder and family owned companies.

Diana leads Cranemere’s Sustainability and Purpose-led acquisitions team. She is focused on acquiring established sustainability market leaders and purpose‐led companies across diverse sectors, including energy efficiency, green building, organic/natural foods, and healthy living. Diana also is responsible for working with Cranemere’s portfolio companies across all sectors (including industrials and healthcare services) to bring each company to a leadership position on environmental and social performance to drive impact and unlock business value. Cranemere’s unique model enables long term oriented ESG investments with a focus on business innovation, supply chain engagement, workforce training and wellbeing and new product design for environmental markets. These investments, similar in approach to corporate R&D spending, go beyond traditional CSR and ESG initiatives that are often limited to shorter term activities and payback.

Prior to joining Cranemere, Diana was a Partner at Expansion Capital Partners, a sustainability and cleantech growth stage venture fund where she invested in green building and energy efficiency, taking companies public and executing successful trade sales, including DIRTT Environmental Solutions and CPower. Diana has also been an advisor to family offices on developing impact investment strategies and on fund and direct impact investments
Diana’s Aspen Institute and Capital Institute Fellowships focused on researching innovative deal terms and investment structures that build stronger and more aligned partnerships between investors and purpose-led enterprises. The research was backed by the MacArthur Foundation and the Omidyar Network and the findings have been launched in a web‐based toolkit that can be openly accessed by investors and entrepreneurs.

Diana is a Member of the Board of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). NRDC works to safeguard the earth – its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends.

Diana also serves on the Board of Echoing Green, which provides seed stage capital to social entrepreneurs globally and has several recipients working in Kenya. She is also on the advisory board of Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.
Diana has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA Summa Cum Laude from Duke University. She lives in NY where she can be found with her sons at the baseball field or music recital hall.