March 2023

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T BAT AN EYELASH AT ESG By Robert Arnone, MSRE, AMS, CPM, ® RCA Management, LLC E SG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) was first mentioned in a United Nations report in 2006 and became mandatory for corporations to adopt. It’s essen tial to look at the landscape of corporations to appreciate the model of balance that the Community Associations Institute (CAI) National has become. The G of ESG is a bit unique because, unlike the “environmental”, when reducing carbon emissions could include building retrofits which take money, or the “social”, which is the social justices of a corporation and strategies that take time and money, “governance” involves bringing the balance of diversity to a board or C Suite level including representation of CEOs, CFO and COO, is about giving qualified candidates an opportunity they’ve earned. Thanks to Dawn Bauman, Senior Vice President of Government & Public Affairs for Community Associations Institute (CAI), and Lisa Cox of Sienna Associates, who is a past member of the Board of Trustees and past Chair of the Community Association Managers Council, for helping to explain CAI National Governance Structure and how CAI has become a model for diversification. Twenty-eight years ago, when Lisa started in the industry, it was dominated by males, so I asked her about what changes and challenges she may have faced. We all have those light bulb moments, and what was clear to me is that Lisa’s ability to manage a staff of 35+, and 11,000 homes, with another possible 4,000 to be built, has garnered the respect of any contractor, vendor, resident, and visitor who steps foot in the community. So, with community leaders like Lisa, it doesn’t seem necessary that CAI National consciously emphasize the G of ESG. Before you understand how the governance council does this, let’s look at what has changed over the past 19 years, from where ESG has gone from being adopted on the fly to how it is becoming part of our institutions.

“The G of ESG is a bit unique because... ‘governance’ involves bringing the balance of diversity to a board or C Suite level...giving qualified candidates an opportunity they’ve earned.”

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