Corporate Governance Projects

“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know; it’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so."

Mark Twain

Board of Directors Reporting
Over the past 20 years, Gib Hedstrom has reported on over 50 occasions to full boards (or board committees) of major multinational corporations. In many of these situations, he also reported in Executive Session to the outside directors (without management present).

Board Sustainability Expert
Gib Hedstrom was asked by a $10B chemical company to provide a 45-minute external report on "Sustainability: Update, Trends and Implications" for a Board of Directors committee meeting in July, 2010.

Full-Board Sustainability Update
Our client, the VP of EHS and Sustainability at a $20B manufacturing corporation, asked our help in preparing his annual sustainability update for the full Board of Directors meeting in December, 2009.

CEO-Driven Environmental Governance Review
Supporting our partner, Pilko & Associates, we conducted an environmental governance review for the CEO of a major steel company. Our work involved competitive benchmarking, best practice assessment across industries, executive interviews, and analysis using our time-tested Sustainability Scorecard. Following our review, the CEO decided to implement each of our recommendations.

External Sustainability Advisory Board
We were invited to be one of two outside experts on a newly established Sustainability Advisory Board for a major chemical company. Working with a team of internal senior executives, we constructed a path forward that is robust, strategic, and credible.

Environmental Governance System
Working with the CEO, company President, CFO, General Counsel, and Vice President of EHS, we reviewed the current environmental governance system of a Fortune 100 company to ensure that the needs of the Board of Directors were being met. The Board accepted our recommendations.

Environmental Governance Audit
For the CEO of a Fortune 100 company, we conducted an independent environmental governance audit. Benchmarking peer companies and drawing on our proprietary sustainability scorecard, we advised the client on the path forward that will deliver concrete business value while advancing its corporate citizenship efforts globally.

Environmental Auditing
The Hedstrom Associates team brings 25 years of widely recognized global leadership in EHS auditing including co-authorship of the leading EHS audit books. We provide independent opinions for CEOs and corporate boards of directors. Today, we are helping companies reinvent their audit programs to address the new risks they face, such as climate change, product de-selection, and water shortages.

Assurance Letter Process
Hedstrom Associates brings 20 years of experience in the implementation of assurance letter processes. We have worked with leading companies to develop such systems. Our clients, who include outside board members, CEOs, and division presidents, have commented on numerous occasions what a valuable process this is.

Reputation Metrics
We advised a multinational company on measuring and enhancing its environmental performance in a way that met the needs of key stakeholders; and we helped the company build on this guidance to improve the management of corporate reputation.

2002 Global Sustainability Leadership Forum
In June 2002, when employed by PA Consulting Group, Gib Hedstrom hosted (along with Ashland and The Conservation Fund) an invitation-only forum on how leading corporations can deliver shareholder value from strong sustainability practices. Fifteen senior executives from "blue chip" companies joined with NGOs and Wall Street leaders for a high-impact meeting.

Evaluating GM and Sunoco Partnerships with Ceres
While at Arthur D. Little, Gib Hedstrom was asked by Ceres to help design and implement its five-year reviews of corporate partnerships with Sunoco and General Motors. The final reports review the EHS performance of Sunoco and GM using five years of data and interviews with company executives, community representatives, Ceres staff, and board members.

Audit Program Development and Continuing Assistance
Hedstrom has assisted the managements of over 200 corporations in the development of an internal environmental auditing capability. After developing the details of the audit program, we provide annual review and evaluation in the context of external trends. We frequently report to the Chairman of the Board and separately to the Board of Directors on the status of the program.

See Corporate Governance Services