Tae-Young Paik and Elizabeth Seeger appointed as inaugural members of the IFRS Foundation’s ISSB

The Trustees of the IFRS Foundation have appointed Tae-Young Paik and Elizabeth Seeger as inaugural members of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and are at advanced stages of the remaining appointments to reach the full complement of 14 members.

Dr Paik brings a wealth of accounting and sustainability experience to the ISSB, having worked as an academic and policy advisor on accounting and sustainability matters for over 30 years both in Korea and internationally. He currently serves as professor of accounting at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul and chair of the Sustainability Evaluation and Disclosure Committee in the G7 Korea Impact Alliance, an organisation created to support the G7 Impact Taskforce initiatives. He has previously served on several committees focused on improving financial reporting in the Korean public sector and has recently completed a presidency of the Korea Accounting Association. Dr Paik has a PhD in accounting from University of California-Berkeley and studied economics in the Bachelor and Master programmes at Seoul National University.

Ms Seeger has over 20 years’ experience of standard-setting, investment and working on corporate environmental and social issues. She joins the ISSB from global investment firm KKR, where she has served as Managing Director, Sustainable Investing, responsible for helping oversee the firm's consideration of sustainability matters throughout KKR’s investment process and part of KKR's Global Impact team. Since 2017 she has also served as a member of the SASB Standards Board. Before joining KKR in 2009, she served as a project manager in the corporate partnerships programme (now known as EDF+Business) of Environmental Defence Fund and a consultant with the Corporate Executive Board (CEB, now known as Gartner), where she advised companies from a broad range of industries in Europe and the United States. She has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in environmental studies from University of Chicago.

Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, said:

I am delighted to appoint Tae-Young and Elizabeth to the ISSB. The interest in and support for the ISSB has resulted in applications from highly qualified candidates worldwide, enabling us to carefully create a diverse board that reflects the calibre and importance of the work ahead.

Emmanuel Faber, Chair of the ISSB, said:

We have a unique opportunity to build a new standard-setting board from scratch and will shortly have a complete ISSB with the balanced expertise that will enable us to deliver on our important mission. I’m excited to welcome Tae-Young and Elizabeth to the team as we prepare for the ISSB’s inaugural meeting.

Tae-Young Paik said:

It is an honour to be appointed as an inaugural member of the ISSB and to contribute to the development of the global baseline of sustainability disclosures. I look forward to meeting my new colleagues at the board table in Frankfurt this month.

Elizabeth Seeger said:

The ISSB represents a unique opportunity to end the current confusion resulting from competing definitions, frameworks and metrics and to give investors the information they need to understand sustainability risks and opportunities. I am thrilled to join the ISSB to continue this important work.

Both Dr Paik and Ms Seeger are appointed for a three-year term, effective July and November 2022 respectively.

The appointments bring the ISSB to 10 members with diverse expertise and from different geographical backgrounds: Emmanuel Faber (Chair), Sue Lloyd (Vice-Chair), Richard Barker, Verity Chegar, Jeffrey Hales, Michael Jantzi, Bing Leng, Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, Tae-Young Paik and Elizabeth Seeger.

The Trustees expect to announce the remaining four ISSB members later this quarter, taking the ISSB to its full complement of 14 members. The remaining appointments are expected to include one member from Asia-Oceania (Japan), two members from Europe―including a candidate with experience in preparing financial reports ―and one ‘at large’ member (‘at large’ members can be from any region) .

The ISSB is currently consulting on its first two proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. The consultation period closes 29 July 2022.

The ISSB will hold its first board meeting in Frankfurt 20-21 July. Among the topics to be discussed are the ISSB’s future priorities, on which the ISSB will undertake a public consultation later this year, and feedback from stakeholders on the current consultation.

The meeting can be observed on the IFRS Foundation’s website. Access the meeting papers and information on how to watch online.