About the Company

At its core, our client provides an important part of the foundation that allows North Americans to live comfortable lives and enable their businesses to thrive. They transport the energy required to heat, cool and light buildings, to get people where they need to go, and to maintain high standards of medical care, education, telecommunications, science and technology. Guided by their core values of safety, responsibility, collaboration and integrity, their more than 7,500 people make a positive difference in the communities where they operate across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Throughout these most extraordinary times, our client has continued to safely and reliably provide an essential service. They are acutely aware of the inequalities and vulnerabilities that exist in our society and want to help steer the world toward a sustainable future. To that end they have invested heavily in next-generation technology and clean fuel research for which they were recognized with a recent nomination for a Global Energy Award in the Collaborative Trendsetter category.

Our client is a company that believes in doing the right thing, in the right way, the first time around. It’s the cornerstone in how they live their values. They care for the environment and minimize their impact. They make a positive difference and seek to incorporate sustainability in everything they do.

Scope of the Position

Reporting to the Vice President, Sustainability, Communications and Policy, the Director Sustainability, is accountable to develop and execute on our client’s Sustainability strategies across North America. This includes strategic management of its community and workforce giving programs.

Leading a team of managers, this role works closely with senior leaders in the company to ensure the corporate strategy for Sustainability meets the needs of the company, the business units and functions. In alignment with the company’s business priorities, the Director, Sustainability works closely with business units, corporate functions, internal stakeholders and external partners to ensure the enterprise strategy supports the business unit and function’s own needs while contributing to a broader corporate mandate of the Board of Directors.

This is an exciting new role to provide leadership and take responsibility for the sustainability function for a well-respected major corporation.

Functional Tasks

• Lead a team to develop and execute integrated Sustainability strategies to maximize value to the business in support of the successful delivery of the company’s strategy and corporate scorecard goals.
• Develop strategic giving plans in leading the delivery of the company’s Build Strong Giving and Empower programs in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
• Oversee strategic administration of the company Foundation in the U.S.
• Lead the creation of corporate ESG/Sustainability metrics and deliver aggregated metrics to ensure goals are met.
• Work with the business units and corporate functions to influence and further integrate sustainability in business planning and everyday decision making.
• Collaborate with Communications to create a communications and advocacy strategy that amplifies the sustainability work within the company, targeting key external stakeholders and successfully meeting the needs of the company.
• Manage, coordinate and communicate on sustainability and reporting activities aligned with established frameworks (e.g. GRI, TCFD, SASB).
• Provide strategic emergency response support in the instance of natural disasters or emergencies across the company’s footprint.
• Lead, mentor and continue to build a high performing team to deliver effective, timely and financially responsible decisions to meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
• Maintain and execute on sustainability and giving budgets, in adherence with COBE, ABC and all local giving guidelines.
• Participate in annual budgets and benchmarking of the sustainability and giving programs.

Key Performance Deliverables

In light of the identified responsibilities, the following are specific deliverables that the position is designed to achieve.

• Specific additional measures of performance will be discussed with the successful candidate.

Competency Profile

The following competencies listed below define the role of Director of Sustainability:

Strategic Approach
Develops a strategic plan to realize the vision. Revises strategy in light of changing circumstances. Takes a long-term view of organizational success. Works to clarify long term organizational goals. Able to stand back from immediate problems in order to focus on more far reaching ideas.

Initiative
Proactive. Seizes opportunities and acts upon them immediately. Takes responsibility for own actions and addresses problems before asked.

Influence
Articulates the key points of an argument persuasively. Negotiates skillfully and convinces others to own point of view. Directly and indirectly impacts the decisions/opinions of others. Mobilizes people into action.

Results Orientation
Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met. Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure. Aims to improve upon past performance. Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve them.

Customer/Client Orientation
Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service. Anticipates customers’/clients’ needs. Quickly follows up on customer/client contacts and complaints. Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction.

Industry & Market Awareness
Seeks to anticipate and respond to industry and market changes/challenges by understanding key characteristics, issues and the factors driving them. Aware of competitor’s products, services and position.

Team Skills
Helps to create a sense of team spirit and harmonious relations through cooperation and support. Balances personal goals with those of the team. Fosters collaboration among team members.

Commercial Acumen
Applies appropriate commercial and financial principles. Appreciates the commercial impact of own work on the organization’s total expenses and revenues. Understands situations in terms of costs, profits, added-value and return on investment.

Preferred Experience and Education

The following indicates specific industry, academic and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables.

• Bachelor’s degree
• A minimum of 15 years of progressively senior experience in leading a Sustainability function preferably within the Energy, Transportation or Utility sector.
• Significant understanding of the needs of external stakeholders, financial, regulatory and special interest groups around ESGs, Sustainability and Giving programs.
• Demonstrated alignment with the company’s values of Safety, Integrity, Responsibility, Collaboration and Innovation.
• Possesses an unquestioned reputation premised upon demonstrated integrity, ethics and personal values.
• Superior oral and written communication skills with an emphasis on tact and diplomacy. Ability to understand various stakeholders and constituencies; internal and external to the organization.
• Ability to work well under pressure having strong organizational, analytical and decision-making skills.
• Results-oriented with strong identification and initiation of continuous improvement opportunities and the ability to manage change.
• Strong, effective leader and collaborator.

      Preferred Qualifications:

• A strategic senior level leader who is a natural collaborator with demonstrated relationship building to meet the requirements of stakeholders.
• Extensive understanding of the United Nations model and the work required to meet the needs of both internal and external stakeholders.
• A post graduate degree in business (e.g. MBA) would be an asset.

Compensation

Highly competitive, unique compensation package to the successful candidate.

Our client is committed to fostering a workforce in each of their locations that reflects the diversity of the communities in which they operate. They are an Equal Opportunity Employer that considers employment applicants without regard to age, race, colour, national origin, citizenship, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability or any other protected status. If you have any special needs requirements, they will do their utmost to accommodate, in accordance with applicable local legislation.

If interested, please contact:

Robert Hebert
StoneWood Group
Bus: 416-365-9494 Ext. 777
[email protected]