Helle Bank Jorgensen
Competent Boards
Board members and executives in over 55 countries hold the Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D) and Certification in Sustainability, ESG, Climate and Biodiversity thanks to Helle’s visionary online and bespoke education programs. Her vision is that board members, investors, and those advising them need to be informed about sustainability and other material issues that shape the business of today and tomorrow - How can you make informed business decisions if you aren’t informed? Helle founded Competent Boards with the support of a handful of business leaders, including Paul Polman, Jim Snabe, Annette Vershuren and Torben Möger Pedersen. Helle is an internationally recognized expert on sustainable business practices, with a 30-year record of turning environmental, social, and governance risks into innovative and profitable business opportunities. She works with many global Fortune 500 board members and executives, as well as smaller companies and investors. In addition to Competent Boards, Helle has a few other brainchildren, including the world's first green account, the first integrated report, the first holistic supply chain program and many innovative business solutions, and latest The Future Boardroom. Helle is a business lawyer and accountant by training. She was a partner at PwC for many years based in Europe and later the US. She serves at the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network, and Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) established by HM King Charles III, among other roles. Originally from Denmark, she now lives in Canada, where she was recognized in 2023 as a Global Changemaker by The Globe and Mail and one of the Top 50 Influencers to Follow by Onalytica. In 2022 she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network and received the SustainabilityX® Magazine’s Global 50 Women in Sustainability Award, among other recognitions. Her Amazon bestseller, Stewards of the Future: A Guide for Competent Boards, was published in 2022, and she’s currently working on her next book.
Why sustainability must play a major role in your boardroom today — and tomorrow
We need to shape the boardrooms of the future by choice, not by chance. Read More
How smaller companies can help the world get to net zero faster
Small- and medium-sized enterprises have a huge role to play in the collective corporate effort to address the climate crisis. Read More
Business leaders must recognize it's OK not to be OK
Executives should prioritize employees' mental health, which recent studies suggest are negatively affected by the climate crisis. Read More
Companies must work together to fight famine
We cannot ignore the fact that climate change is the main disruptor of the global diet. Read More
Companies must find their Stewards of the Future to survive and thrive
If we as leaders, directors, investors and simply human beings don’t see ourselves as stewards of the future, we are letting down our employees, our customers and our suppliers. Read More
How do you redesign your supply chain in a chaotic world?
What keeps our fraying world connected? At the moment, our supply chain is a good bet. Read More
The ESG bar is high this proxy season: Is your board prepared?
Here’s how to move beyond reacting to activist investors and engage positively with shareholders. Read More
10 essential ESG new year’s resolutions for board directors
ESG has climbed up the agenda for boards, but we still have a long ways to go. Read More
Why the growth of climate and ESG inside boardrooms gives me hope
If boards don't provide the insight and foresight, how can investors assess a company's ESG governance and value creation? Read More
What is a climate-competent board?
For corporate boards, the focus is shifting from how a company’s activities impact climate to how climate will potentially impact the company’s own financial performance. Read More
