87 minute read
Five minutes with Kathryn Kaminsky
5 Minutes With...
Kathryn Kaminsky
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As Vice Chair Trust Solutions Co-Leader at PwC, Kathryn Kaminsky says boards play an important role in helping businesses take action on social issues
One of the constants throughout the many roles Kathryn Kaminsky has held during her 30-year career at PwC has been serving clients.
“I work across boardrooms and with executives to help them achieve their strategic goals, as well as solve their biggest problems,” Kathryn tells Business Chief.
“I love the ability to connect with clients while also continually learning something new. No day is ever the same because the opportunities are always changing, especially now!” This can also prove challenging as Kathryn and her team must stay ahead of the trends and help clients plan ahead in order to thrive.
“Doing this while working to instill the confidence and knowledge across others on the team to lead client engagements can be a lot, but also is what makes it fun.”
As Vice Chair – US Trust Solutions Co-Leader for the last 18 months, Kathryn oversees one one of PwC’s core businesses, the Trust Solutions segment, which brings together the firm’s audit, other assurance services, ESG, digital assets and tax reporting & compliance capabilities. She is also responsible for overseeing the quality of service and excellence in the work performed by more than 21,000 partners and staff.
“PwC is in the people business and a big part of my responsibilities is to help our people come together in new ways – in diverse and inclusive teams – to better serve our clients. By supporting our people, we’re better supporting our clients!”
We talk to Kathryn about the importance boards play in helping businesses take action on social issues and how to do that effectively.
Q. What factors are putting pressure on boards to make social change and purpose? » Boards are navigating more stakeholders than before, and the demands are increasing! This presents an added challenge for boards to find a way to balance the pressures from stakeholders, especially when these demands are conflicting.
In this multi-stakeholder environment, boards play an important role in helping businesses take action on social issues including ESG and DEI initiatives. The multistakeholder pressure has definitely grown given the continual challenges boards have been facing, from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine. It’s challenge after challenge. During the pandemic, business became one of the most trusted institutions. With that increased trust, stakeholders began to look for companies to get involved in social issues in new ways.
Q. Given this, why then are just
39% of boards discussing the
company’s stance on social issues? » Consumers, employees and suppliers are oftentimes expecting corporations to take a stand on social issues. Boards and their directors are working in the right direction to respond to these stakeholder expectations.
As a 2022 PwC survey found, 39% of directors say their board has discussed the company’s stance on social issues in the
past 12 months. While this number is not as high as it should be, we’re seeing progress. But some of the reasons why there’s a lag is that many of the current social issues are often polarising topics. That makes it tricky to take a hardline approach especially in a multi-stakeholder environment.
A specific stance may please one stakeholder group, but not another. Finding the right balance between diverging stakeholder interests and expectations may be difficult, but it is important. It’s also important to value diversity within boards, and acknowledge how each members’ background and perspectives contribute to their voiced opinions and priorities.
Q. Why is it so important that these issues are discussed and embedded at board level? » It’s important because ultimately, a company’s stance on societal issues needs to be tied back to the overall vision of an organisation. What a company says and does needs to be aligned with its purpose and values. Boards play a key part in overseeing that alignment and making
sure there’s cohesion and connection. You want symmetry!
The consequences of taking a stand on an issue and not following through can be bad for a business’ reputation and its bottom line. Stakeholders may lose trust and confidence in a business’ ability to make commitments and see them through. That can mean consumers go elsewhere to buy a product and investors seek alternate investments that more closely align with their goals from a social impact perspective.
Q. How can boards balance these pressures alongside pressures on profit? » The pressure to balance societal issues with profit expectations is tough. It’s tough for businesses even when they’re not facing economic pressures and uncertainty. To balance the two, boards should continuously assess how their social impact strategy aligns with the organisation's profitability goals, in light of macroeconomic conditions.
Addressing social issues can directly correlate with profitability – the two are intertwined and the focus needs to be on decisions that will both create and preserve value all while not knowing exactly what comes next. It’s important to link profit strategy with larger social issues, including DEI initiatives and investments in employees, because the expectation to address these challenges will become even greater with increasing economic uncertainty.
It’s important to not let up in difficult times and instead consider profit strategy and social responsibility one and the same.
Q. What are the common pitfalls boards make in this regard? » One of the biggest challenges I see is that many boards want to focus just on the problem at hand. But today, you shouldn’t
PwC's innovative, digitally advanced audit services
operate that way. We no longer live in a time where there’s only one pressing issue. Instead, businesses are facing challenge after challenge. Boards should be forward-looking and strategically assess how they can get ahead of potential future challenges.
When it comes to investments, whether that be in new technologies or in employees, another pitfall is that boards can push management to quickly show what the return on investment (ROI) is. But, it takes time for ROI to be realised. Boards can put less pressure on management to deliver and show ROI quickly by seeing the end goal of a specific investment. Seeing the long-term strategy instead of being focused on the timing is important.
Q. How important is it then for boards to be tying goals to ESG metrics? » It’s very important, boards need to be strategic in balancing pressure on profit with social purpose to not only satisfy stakeholder demands, but also thrive amongst the competition. For example, if your board doesn’t consider DEI investments as integral to its profit strategy, there’s another board of another company that does, and that company may pull ahead in being both more trusted by investors and other stakeholders and also driving profit.
When it comes to tying ESG metrics with profit goals, boards should be tying the two together. Ultimately, ESG is a business issue that is directly connected to value creation. Being open and transparent about your ESG metrics and the success in achieving them is a data point stakeholders, including investors, are likely expecting from businesses. Transparent ESG reporting can be an integral part of the overall business strategy, especially as it relates to long-term value creation.
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Bring your weird – how CEO Jill Stelfox transformed Panzura
As the only female CEO in data management, Panzura’s Jill Stelfox has a vision for a new kind of company, one that values performance, innovation, and compassion
It’s 25 years since a certain Apple computer company coined the slogan Think Different for its advertising campaigns. This signalled a return to the then struggling brand’s maverick roots, championing creativity and heralding the return of Steve Jobs. And while a mere slogan alone will not turn around the fortunes of any company, it seems thinking differently remains solid advice.
Just ask Jill Stelfox. Jill took over struggling data storage company Panzura in 2020 – making her the only woman CEO in data management. Within three years, innovative leadership and forward-thinking people management has seen Panzura become the market leader in hybrid, multi-cloud data management, with 485% growth since May of 2020, when Jill refounded the company.
Jill has a vision for a new kind of company, which she shared with Business Chief.
“We created a set of values that are unique,” she says. “I think a lot of companies create values but they can be like corporate speak, or a little bit of Mumbo Jumbo, to use a technical term.
“Our number-one value is ‘Bring your Weird’, and that means bring your authentic self to work, and what is so cool about it is when employees are free to be their authentic self, they can get into this creative flow because their minds are clear. That's unstoppable. You can't teach it, and you can't train it. It's unbelievable.”
Jill points to the amount of innovation undertaken at Panzura in the last twoand-a-half years in the middle of a “pretty challenging time”, but also a time where the company has launched seven new products and achieved those incredible revenue growth figures – not to mention a growing cabinet of business awards.
Jill’s vision is to build an equitable environment that values performance, innovation, and compassion. She intentionally sought to create a culture that attracts the best, starting with concrete measures that deliver equity in the workplace and drive performance, reimagining how to attract and care for employees as a cornerstone of the company’s success.
Jill Stelfox
CEO, Panzura
If you’re unfamiliar with Panzura, they help customers both store their data but also gain deeper insights into that data using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Large scale enterprises across healthcare,
JILL STELFOX CV
financial services, manufacturing, oil & gas, gaming, engineering, construction, and even government agencies have been quick to turn to Panzura. Jill’s route to heading Panzura is far from typical, as she explains in an anecdote that reminds this writer of Jill Stelfox is the Executive Chair and CEO of Panzura. Prior the late Remington to joining Panzura, Jill founded and acted as Co-CEO of owner Victor Kiam. marketing consulting firm EDGY, helping companies from McAfee “A good friend of to Adobe to USAA to transform business and technology processes. mine, Dan Washman,
Jill received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from started a consultancy California State University, Chico. She is a sitting board member of called Edgy,” recalls Women in Sports Tech and ROUTE Inc. Jill. “We fancied ourselves as a sales
Jill Stelfox
CEO, Panzura
and marketing expert for technology companies that had great tech but didn't really understand how to scale or go to market – and that's like our superpower.
“If we fell in love with the product or the company, we would make an equity investment, and so we fancied ourselves as part consultancy, part investor. When we got to know Panzura, we were like ‘this is so amazing, we should actually buy the whole thing’. And that's how it happened.”
But that is not the most interesting part of this story. Falling in love was just the start. The decision to buy the San Josebased company was made and then terms formally agreed in a matter of weeks, with the deal completing on 7 March 2020. That date is significant, as it was also the day that California ‘closed’ due to COVID.
“We officially took over the company on 7 May, and that was the first day of the COVID lockdown in California and we have employees all over the world,” says Jill. “Imagine doing an employee all-hands on Zoom at that moment in the pandemic and finding out the company's been sold and I'm your new CEO. What I saw on that Zoom call was employees that, yes, they were excited, but they were also concerned. That kind of solidified for me that I have to focus on employees first, and if our employees were super happy and mentally strong, that we would be a great company.”
Jill and the leadership team put personal coaching in place, with every employee having access – not just for health, wellness and business issues, but life complications caused by COVID too, such as home schooling.
“People first led us to caring about customers which led us to the growth that we've had in terms of a company since we bought it – 485% growth,” says Jill.
That growth has been achieved with a number of tailwinds – not least the rapid digital transformation accelerated by the
See it to be it
Jill argues that just because you don't see it doesn't mean that you can't do it. “You can definitely do it. It's a proven fact that whether it's people of minority, race or gender equality, people need to see it to be it, and more is always better. And there's literally not enough of us. I mean, why am I the only female CEO in data management? There should be more of us for sure. That's a big part of my goal. I'm all about making sure that there are more women by the time I leave this industry.”
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Upskilling for the digital world isn’t that complicated but it is urgent, argues Tom Moore, CEO of WithYouWithMe – a social impact tech firm founded by veterans
Ispeak to major employers in the technology sector every day – from the US and Canada to the UK and Australia – and they all say the same thing – we can’t get the people we need to grow.
The ‘digital skills gap’ is well documented – and while the task at ‘solving’ the problem may appear mammoth, the good news is that bridging this digital skills gap is not as complex as it seems. The solution is straightforward, but it’s one that will require a paradigm shift. In essence, we need to overhaul the way we think about skills.
For instance, we know millions of students go through university each year, often in fields unrelated to the needs of the economy. Put bluntly, we are creating a workforce that is over-educated and underemployed. While it’s admirable that so many people go to university – and certainly critical for many vocations – it’s not the only way. How many students are graduating with the high-demand skills the economy needs?
Part of the problem is that current employment methods – which typically assess candidates solely on CVs and interviews – are not keeping pace with society’s needs. These outdated methods simply describe a person’s past without any thought to their future potential – which in turns feeds this dangerous trend of over-education.
Contrary to common belief, proficiency in the digital skills that will fuel our economy – for positions like cyber, analytics and JavaScript – does not require three years of study and a mortarboard.
This is where technology itself becomes the solution. At WithYouWithMe, we have created the ‘Potential’ platform, the world’s first – and only – end-to-end talent pipeline system.
By creating a data-led employment tool that guides employers through a process of discovery, training and deploying talent, we produce high-performing individuals and teams. Key to this is an ‘ethical AI’ model, which uses psychometric and aptitude testing to assess potential and match skills to digital careers.
It doesn’t matter what university you went to, or if you went to university at all. If an individual has the aptitude and attitude
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If we are to continue to prosper in the industries of the future and provide high skilled, well-paid jobs across developed nations, we must be fierce about how we find, assess, and develop talent. And that starts with changing how you think about digital skills
Tom Moore
How CFOs are primed to
lead business in uncertain times
CFOs are increasingly seen as co-CEOs, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Business Chief talks technology and collaboration with two finance chiefs
WRITTEN BY:KATE BIRCH
The days when CFOs were merely responsible for the numbers are long gone.
Once perceived as risk-averse gatekeepers in charge of financial reporting and forecasting, CFOs are increasingly seen as co-CEOs, reliably helping leaders navigate all-important business strategies and securing overall business stability during periods of great ambiguity.
And at no time in recent history is this more true, as digital transformation accelerates, ESG is prioritised, and economic volatility picks up pace amid sky-high inflation and a likely recession.
“The pandemic along with inflation and the economic crisis have forced CFOs to enter a role far beyond the numbers,” says Nancy Person, CFO of content management platform provider Hyland Software.
And Nancy should know. She took the financial reins of the Ohio-based, 3,500 employee-strong software firm in April 2020, as the pandemic was in full swing, replacing the finance chief of nearly three decades.
“We [CFOs] became a critical role during the pandemic and because of this gained the trust of not only CIOs and HR leaders but the CEO as well,” says Nancy.
Add to this the Great Resignation and organisational acceleration of digital transformation, and finance chiefs are now stepping into a role beyond just the finances.
While Nancy acknowledges that numbers will always be the centre of a finance chief’s role, she sees CFOs as “transitioning into strategists and market experts as we continue to navigate the unexpected”.
One of the biggest issues CFOs have had to deal with over the last six months, she says, is how to model for the future, with the most difficult part making assumptions about how the pandemic, and now a possible recession, might impact the business.
But in such uncertain times it has become critical for CFOs to be at the forefront of strategic decision-making, to help ascertain how best for a business to proceed, she says.
“It’s my role to ensure the company is set up for success even when the unexpected occurs,” she says. “These things are hard to predict but staying ahead of it as much as possible and readying ourselves for any financial pivots that need to be made is the key to a successful and trustworthy relationship between the CEO and CFO.”
As Interim Chief Financial Officer at San Francisco-headquartered software company Anaplan, Nadine Pichelot believes
Nadine Pichelot
Interim Chief Financial Officer, Anaplan
finance chiefs hold the potential to be their company’s change agents.
“While they aren’t expected to lead all parts of business operations, it’s clear that organisations are leaning increasingly on their CFOs to develop and manage strategies and transformations beyond the bounds of traditional finance.”
Expert Panel
Nancy Person, CFO, Hyland Software
Joining Hyland in 2010, Nancy has held various finance leadership roles, becoming CFO in April 2020. Prior to Hyland, Nancy worked in the financial services industry in reporting and audit roles, serving as manager in the Risk Review Group at KeyBank and senior manager of financial reporting at Charter One Bank. She began her career with Deloitte in their Audit & Assurance group.
Nadine Pichelot, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Anaplan
A seasoned finance executive, Nadine has more than 25 years of finance and operational expertise and experience in leading large international teams, including roles at Philips, Lightning, Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, and Dell. She joined Anaplan in 2015 as Finance Director for EMEA, becoming SVP Interim CFO six months ago.
Nancy Person
CFO, Hyland Software
She says that when the pandemic first hit, CFOs were naturally well positioned to help their organisation respond quickly, and strategically, and now with business growth top of mind for leaders, finance chiefs are being called on to navigate what is a much more dynamic landscape.
“Given that all operational decisions have a financial impact, CFOs have a unique level of visibility across a company. They also have experience using data to respond to micro or macro disruptions.”
Moving from siloed to collaborative working
But while the post-pandemic business environment requires leaders to be confident in their ability to quickly adjust plans according to ever-changing realities, many find the approach taken by businesses to planning doesn’t allow for this.
Historically, planning and therefore strategic decision-making has been a siloed and highly manual process for businesses. At the end of the year, each department head would propose their strategy to move forward, and the CFO would review their individual budget requests – either offering approvals or adjustments based on company financials – and from there a large business plan would be formed.
This often results in a broader scheme that is neither agile nor strategic, Nadine explains, and ultimately one that is difficult to execute effectively. That’s because static tools that require manual input, like Excel, create operational silos within an organisation – so real-time visibility doesn’t exist. When plans are being developed, leaders are not able to collaborate effectively to unlock opportunities for the business because they don’t have a view into what other departments are doing. “In a dynamic environment like the one we are in today, that lack of visibility can mean the difference between profits and losses,” she says.
ESG primarily a CFO concern
As a critical concern for today’s businesses, ESG strategy is one area finance chiefs have an important part to play, Nadine Pichelot, Anaplan’s Interim CFO tells Business Chief.
And a report by Anaplan and Deloitte titled Architects of Business Change: Awakening the Potential of the Modern CFO backs this up. The report finds that a significant portion of business leaders believe ESG is primarily a CFO concern, cited as the second-most frequent challenge that CFOs play a role in addressing (66%), just behind regulatory change (68%).
For CFOs, management of ESG initiatives isn’t a particularly high priority however (ranking fifth), with just 78% believing they have successfully delivered in this area, compared to 91% of wider business colleagues who say ESG is one of their CFO’s top three successes.
“This is clearly an opportunity for CFOs to act with more confidence and take on a bigger role in driving their organisation’s ESG initiatives forward,” says Nadine, adding that to do so successfully they must first embrace ESG as one of their core priorities.
Driving digital transformation
The digital transformation of finance and accounting can create a seismic shift for CFOs bold enough to embrace it, giving them more time to analyse data and make more informed decisions.
“In recent years, as their role has evolved, we’ve seen more CFOs call into question the idea of an annual operating plan or an annual forecast,” says Nadine. “The type of change we’re experiencing, and the rate at which it continues to happen, has proven that CFOs can’t create a plan once a year and walk away or expect to make small adjustments every six months or every quarter and be okay.
“Instead, they must be able to identify the real-time levers that are going to help them mitigate risk, manage cash flow and liquidity, and cut costs to drive performance and growth in the future.”
That’s why digital transformation has become a high priority for modern CFOs, and why finance chiefs are critical to driving digital transformation and expanding growth opportunities, she says.
Nadine argues that with the right technology, CFOs can connect all their organisation’s critical data points in a single environment that users across the business can access at the same time. Leaders from finance, supply chain, workforce, sales, and marketing departments can leverage this data to model multiple scenarios quickly, build more accurate forecasts, and make more confident decisions – all at the pace of change.
This is something we call connected planning, or as Gartner calls it, Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A),” says Nadine. “By embracing connected planning, CFOs can help bridge the gaps between departments and ensure the entire business is aligned and working towards the same strategic outcomes.
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“Finance chiefs make the best CEOs”
Hanadi Khalife, Senior Director, Middle East, Africa, and India Operations at Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), argues the case for CFOs as CEOs
Traditionally, CEOs of B2B companies were typically chosen from among those with strong operations, engineering, or technical backgrounds until well into the beginning of the new millennium, whereas CEOs of consumer-facing companies hailed from strong marketing or sales backgrounds.
However, in recent years, an increasing number of CFOs are taking on the CEO mantle.
Because of their rising capacity to comprehend the subtler aspects of the company, while bringing forth an aptitude for interpreting numbers, there is a growing – and I must say logical – trend of CFOs being considered for the position of CEO.
According to recent studies, the CFO-CEO transfer rate peaked in 2007 and 2008, with 20% and 17% of all transitions occurring in those two years alone. A second, slightly more modest peak was also seen in 2012 when 11% of CFOs from 2004 became CEOs.
CFOs most likely to become CEOs during uncertain times
But that’s not all. The outlook for the global economy in the short-to-medium term is paved with greater uncertainty.
Fluctuating energy prices brought about by geopolitical and other macro-economic challenges have led to significant supply disruptions, large currency fluctuations, commodity prices rising, public government deficits and cost cutting, inflationary pressures in some countries, and ongoing environmental challenges.
All this is taking place against the backdrop of an inexorable longer-term shift of power gravitating from west to east, born by the growth of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC countries), which are in turn facing their own growth challenges with the rise of new emerging economies.
These macro-economic trends have a significant impact on the way in which businesses operate, the priorities they face, and the strategies they develop to succeed on a global platform. This is the global environment in which tomorrow’s CFOs will operate. It presents challenges they must embrace, and opportunities they must leverage.
To gain a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the dynamics that make CFOs more likely to become CEOs, the first factor leadership considers is economics.
Financial acumen is more likely to be in demand during times of hardship – a theory that was proven during the pandemic. This includes a range of skill sets related to various company verticals, such as strategic leadership, performance management, policy regulation, stakeholder management, corporate communications, digital technologies including Big Data, and analytics.
How CFO roles are changing – what tomorrow holds
But hang on, there is more. CFOs now have an increasing personal stake in, and accountability for, regulatory adherence and compliance – engaging policymakers to ensure new regulatory requirements provide benefits to the business.
The CFO position has expanded in scope because of the increased external exposure of businesses to the whims of the financial markets and greater shareholder scrutiny. Companies in highly regulated sectors like banking and utilities are more likely to hire a CEO with prior finance
experience due to increased regulatory requirements, particularly relating to reporting and accounting standards. The CFO function has developed into a practical business partner for operations, bringing the position closer into line with the rest of the company.
Just as the demands on CFOs have expanded, the CEO skills gap has shrunk becoming easier to close over the past 10 years. However, the transition from CFO to CEO — from inward-looking to outwardfacing — will not always be simple. By nature, the CEO position is one of the most demanding in the business.
Tomorrow’s CFOs will need to play a role in preventing overly onerous and burdensome regulation. They will need to lobby on behalf of the business, put in place business processes and protocols that negate the need for more regulation, and influence relevant policy development. They will also need to ensure that the finance function has specialist expertise to resolve regulatory challenges.
For CFOs who aspire to become CEOs, they must possess the will to steer their business in a clear direction while still maintaining an open mind, as well as an intense desire to learn. Even though these traits can be learned via experience, if they are not already present, they should immediately be integrated into the CFO current toolkit.
As Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo’s former CFO, who rose to take over the CEO position in 2006, put it: “In many ways, being a CEO is like leading a Jazz orchestra. You improvise, you pick up the cues from other players around you. CEOs have a framework but they’ve got to create the symphony with a bunch of people who’re all wanting to improvise on their own. CFOs tend to be very good at the symphony – they just need to be taught to work the jazz orchestra.”
How the CFO came to be, and changed over time
History always serves up interesting insights and the rise of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is no exception. For most of the 20th century, the role did not exist. The truth is, financial considerations did not play as significant a role across enterprises as they do today and hence, company heads had
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Digital upskilling – PEOPLE | UPSKILLING how to create a culture of learning
Digital upskilling is an organisational imperative helping to improve retention, boost employee experience and drive business growth – here’s how to do it right
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
The digital skills gap is growing. A recent study by McKinsey revealed that 87% of executives say they are already facing massive skills gaps, a trend expected to continue growing over the next few years. And according to a PwC report, experts predict that half of all employees will need to be completely reskilled by 2025.
Not only has the fast pace of technological advancement and digital transformation significantly and rapidly changed the skills employees need to do their day job, but the evolution of new ways of working and transformation calls for the development of new strategic skills.
“The transition to hybrid working, and the increased acceleration of transformation efforts we saw during the pandemic have made the need to upskill even more vital to businesses’ survival,” says Suneet Dua, Products & Technology Chief Growth Officer at PwC. “The ability to navigate and solve today’s complex problems requires a different set of skills and not enough employees have them.”
Suneet argues that it is the job of business leaders to equip the workforce with the skills needed to take business where it needs to go, but believes businesses also have a bigger responsibility to their employees – to ensure they are preparing them for what their jobs will look like in the future.
He says upskilling should be considered table-stakes today, a must-have employee benefit to help improve retention and employee experience and contribute to business growth.
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Digital upskilling – from beneficial to business imperative
Businesses are not only increasingly recognising the benefits an upskilling program can bring (Udemy Business has seen a 44% increase in its customer base over the last year) but importantly the consequences if they don’t implement one.
According to an IPSOS report on Talent Transformation, 46% of enterprises have experienced project delays due to the lack of job-ready digital talent and 59% report that not having enough skilled employees has an impact on their business.
“The lack of highly skilled digital talent in critical technologies is impacting business outcomes, employee retention, and innovation,” says Sarah Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer at global online talent transformation platform Udacity.
Sarah says it is simply a matter of “bad planning” if organisations are not already building out their digital capabilities, as digital maturity is already essential to business success.
She cites a Deloitte report which showed a 30% difference in revenue growth between digitally mature companies and those that hadn’t made much progress with their digital transformations.
“As a company today, if you are not already looking at digitally upskilling your workforce, you are a step behind.”
Greg Brown, President of corporate learning solution Udemy Business tells Business Chief that while digital skills were once considered a nice-to-have, they are now a must-have for organisations given continuous technology advancements and the new hybrid work environment.
“Providing employees with the opportunity to learn in the flow of work has never been more critical as organisations continue to undergo massive shifts to keep pace with innovation while also navigating an ongoing battle for relevance.”
Greg Brown
President of corporate learning solution Udemy Business
Upskilling as a talent strategy
Not only do digital upskilling resources give employees the opportunity to grow and foster a shared culture and vision within an organisation, says Suneet, they also allow companies to train workers from a wide range of educational backgrounds, job titles and geographies to fill urgent business needs, while further empowering their people to explore new areas they may not have considered for themselves. Cyber upskilling is a case in point. PwC’s 2023 Digital Trust Insights Survey found that more than half of CISOs and CIOs recognise that talent attrition is a problem and about 40% are monitoring it closely. “Instead of relying solely on finding skilled cyber workers, we’ve seen many companies use digital upskilling to create a cybersecurity
Suneet Dua
Products & Technology Chief Growth Officer at PwC workforce from amongst their existing employees to stretch their IT personnel.”
Suneet says that at PwC they have noticed first-hand just how powerful upskilling can be, not only as a business operations strategy, but also as a retention strategy tool to keep our people happy, challenged and engaged.
Greg acknowledges the same and says this is particularly relevant given the current labour market “where highly-skilled individuals are both scarce and immensely valuable as organisations continue to face resource constraints.” And with Gallup reporting that 50% of the US workforce are ‘quiet-quitting’, and hiring freezes on the rise, employees are increasingly looking for organisations to invest in their career growth.
“With the right programs, organisations can experience less turnover, bridge skills gaps of existing talent, achieve higher productivity, and save money, all while investing in their employees,” says Greg – pointing to Udemy Business, which facilitates firms with digital upskilling programs that seamlessly integrate into employees’ flow of work, allowing them to develop their careers while simultaneously making progress toward business objectives.
After integrating Udemy Business into their flow of work in an effort to upskill their employees, Booz Allen Hamilton unlocked talent retention and productivity with 65% of learners indicating that the platform had a positive impact on productivity. Additionally, the firm experienced a 93% retention rate for graduates of the program, a 9% increase over non-graduates.
Udacity’s Sarah tells Business Chief that, as demand for digital skills grows, classic hiring strategies simply won’t stand up to the intense competition to recruit and onboard tech talent – there simply aren’t enough digitally skilled candidates to fill the roles.
Expert Panel
Suneet Dua, Products & Technology Chief Growth Officer, PwC US
Suneet is responsible for driving more than US$1 billion in product revenue and executing PwC’s product revenue strategy. He’s focused on driving innovation, delivering world-class, forward-thinking products, and digitally upskilling the workforce and society at large – playing a critical role in designing and implementing digital tools that upskilled more than 55,000 of its US employees. Suneet has 20+ years of technology, media, and entertainment industry experience, and is an advocate for digital transformation.
Greg Brown, President, Udemy Business
As President of Udemy, the largest global marketplace for learning and teaching online, since December 2020, Greg leads the Udemy team to help thousands of customers achieve better business outcomes and drive innovation through learning. A software executive, Greg has more than 20 years of executive experience leading high-growth and mission-driven technology companies, including as CEO at Reflektive, a performance, engagement and analytics solution platform.
Sarah Reynolds, CMO of Udacity
An award-winning marketing executive, DEI advocate, and nonbinary, Sarah joined Udacity in July 2022. Here, she leads Udacity’s global marketing organisation, focusing on support its growth in the enterprise and government sectors – scaling the team and customer base, and positioning Udacity as the leading digital talent transformation solution for enterprises globally. She has more than a decade of expertise in managing and scaling diverse-distributed teams.
Udemy Business
Udemy Business Corporate learning solution offering fresh, relevant learning anytime, anywhere, via an online collection of high-quality courses taught by real-world experts. With content in 14 languages covering a wide range of topics from data analysis to leadership, Udemy Business helps organisations close skills gaps and drive innovation. More than 12,500 organisations globally, from VW to TCS to GoFundMe, are using Udemy Business to upskill and reskill their employees. With tools like the Skill Insights Dashboard, administrators can unlock learning insights within their company by visualising the skills of their workforce based on the content being consumed – allowing leaders to understand their employees’ learning priorities by drilling into categories and topic data to see where exactly their time is being spent.
Udacity Enterprise
Udacity Enterprise Global online talent transformation platform focused on in-demand digital technologies, mentor support, and project-based learning taught by industry experts. Programs include real-world content for job-ready competencies in cyber security, AI, ML, data science, autonomous systems, and cloud computing, among others. Udacity’s Enterprise solution provides tailored, end-to-end learning paths, helping companies choose the right learning path for their workforce and help their high-performing employees continue to gain the right skills to excel and innovate. Udacity has more than 140 enterprise customers including Airbus, Bertelsmann, BNP Paribas, Leidos, Mazda, and the US Air Force, and collaborates with more than 200 global industry partners including Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, and NVIDIA to power technical education.
PwC ProEdge
PwC ProEdge ProEdge is PwC’s cloud-based end-to-end digital upskilling solution designed to give organisations a roadmap for upskilling an organisation at scale and to meet each company’s upskilling goals. It takes a data-driven approach to closing the skills gap with automatically generated personalised learning pathways. The solution starts by establishing a digital baseline for an organisation’s talent, and helps businesses find the best path forward for their unique needs and workforce. With immersive and learning experiences, the platform gives employees access to a world-class tailored library of online industry-leading content from companies like MIT Technology Review, Coursera and The Economist that employees can listen to, watch or read. ProEdge includes 13K technical, digital, and behaivoural courses over 110 immersive learning experiences that span a wide range of organisational functions.
Sarah Reynolds
Chief Marketing Officer at global online talent transformation platform Udacity
However, when hiring graduates, recruiting based on soft skills rather than pre-existing digital skills opens up the hiring pool to a much larger range of “excellent candidates”, so while there are not enough STEM graduates to meet the number of technical jobs, there are plenty of “smart and motivated graduates” who can be trained for technical roles.
“By digitally upskilling staff, organisations can circumvent the issue and reduce their need to compete for tech talent in the open job market.”
Having digital upskilling programs in place also allows the organisation to change with the times, Sarah says. “Business is facing rapid and widespread change as it shifts increasingly in line with the digital. Investing in employees’ continued skills development allows an organisation to develop talent as the sector evolves and creates a more resilient and sustainable workforce in times of flux.”
Upskilling – create a culture of lifelong learning
While organisations increasingly recognise the need, many make the mistake of assuming that upskilling their workforce is a one-time investment, rather than a rolling project.
“As the tech sector evolves, digital transformations will continue,” Sarah tells
In-demand skills
While digital and technical skills are especially in demand, other business skills are also needed as organisations transform.
Udemy Business has seen a 49% increase in hours spent on technical skills courses, and a 39% increase in consumption of business skills, with some of the top skills in business pertaining to communication, management, and leadership, Greg Brown, President of Udemy Business tells Business Chief.
It’s a similar story at Udacity where customers are looking to “balance deep, practitioner-level technical skills development with fundamental digital literacy, data analysis and communication skill-building tactics that benefit broader sections of the employee population by helping to create a common digital language across the organisation,” explains Sarah Reynolds, Chief Marketing Officer at Udacity.
Among the top 10 in-demand skills at Udacity – professional communication, data presentation, Python, business intelligence & analytics, and probability and statistics.
Business Chief. “This means that workforces must also keep up and commit to life-long learning to ensure that they have up-todate skill sets that are required for their role and sector.
“Creating this culture of continuous digital learning for the broader organisation, a culture that engages expert practitioners, citizen learners, and leaders, is critical to ensuring the successful adoption and execution of digital transformation initiatives.
“Moreover, rather than hiring a batch of fresh staff members with each digital transformation project, investing in regular upskilling allows organisations to hold on to talented employees and benefit from the expertise gained from their years at the company.”
Greg agrees and says organisations must understand the difference between a training vs. learning mindset, and ask themselves – how do we build out a learning strategy? How do we construct a learning culture?
“Culture is not a one-off initiative but instead an ever-evolving commitment that is deeply and intrinsically linked with an organisation’s operational system. Upskilling and reskilling programs are not one-size-fitsall, they should be customised to the needs of each workforce.”
According to Harvard Business Review, this is why a majority of corporate training programs today are deemed ineffective, as they have flaws in timing, content and purpose.
Personalisation and flexibility matter
Research from Training Industry finds that personalised learning not only helps identify and close skills gaps, but that it can also increase employee motivation and work performance. Which is why it’s so important for organisations to look beyond a one-sizefits-all approach – to achieve high employee engagement and effectiveness.
Leveraging learner data, Udemy matches employees with on-demand content that directly aligns with their learning and career objectives. “We have a powerful community of real-world expert instructors that create high-quality, fresh and relevant content, allowing learners to customise their learning paths and ultimately help them achieve personal and professional goals,” says Greg.
Suneet tells Business Chief that the most common pitfall PwC sees when organisations try to implement an upskilling program is that they are too general.
“Reskilling efforts need to be versatile and personalised to each employee’s background and current experience – it’s not a one-sizefits-all approach. If businesses want to get the results they intend, personalisation is a key to a return on investment.”
When creating a digital upskilling program, businesses should have an adaptable and scalable upskilling experience that can help keep their workforce ahead of the curve, says Suneet – pointing to ProEdge, a PwC Product that gives employees access to a tailored library of online courses designed to meet each company’s upskilling goals.
Suneet highlights PwC’s work with a big-box retail chain in creating a more techenabled future by eliminating manual tasks. “Leaders were eager to reduce the time teams spent on manual tasks so they could contribute to the company’s future in new, exciting and innovative ways. ProEdge, in tandem with other solutions, was used to train employees to build their own automations and introduce capabilities that could remove thousands of hours of manual processes per year.”
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PEOPLE | UPSKILLING Why now is the time for a Chief Transformation Officer
Responsible for driving growth and change, the Chief Transformation Officer is the latest addition to the C-suite as business undergoes major change
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
The C-suite is expanding once more, this time to make room for a new role – the Chief Transformation Officer (CTO).
It’s a role, like Chief Sustainability Officer, that has emerged in the wake of today’s shifting business imperatives, as new priorities emerge, and change accelerates in the postpandemic era.
And it’s a role that will likely be a permanent addition to the executive table given the transformation efforts organisations are undertaking to thrive in today’s rapidly changing and complex business environment.
That’s according to a new CTO report from Accenture and the Project Management Institute (PMI).
“The role of CTO has emerged as a new permanent role at the executive table to assist companies with the complex transformations needed today,” says Accenture’s Global Technology Strategy & Advisory Lead, Greg Douglass, who helps clients achieve high performance through profitable growth, accelerated innovation, organisational agility, and operational excellence.
Enterprise transformation – multiple, technology-powered initiatives
While just a few years ago ‘transformation’ largely meant implementing new technologies to reduce costs and increase productivity, today’s transformations are evolving toward more strategically focused domains and results criteria.
“In the last few years, the nature of enterprise transformation has evolved, becoming far-reaching in vision and pragmatic in execution; deliberate and adaptive; competitive and collaborative; continuous and scheduledriven; value-focused and explorative,” says Greg.
TRANSFORMATION BY NUMBERS
Findings based on a survey of 350 transformation leaders across 25 countries and 18 industries, in a report by PMI and Accenture
70%
Enterprise transformation projects that fail to meet expectations
95%
Believe that the Chief Transformation Officer role is critical for transformation
93%
Believe that transformation offices have a significant positive effect
Success in transformation
The office and practices that will help to deliver successful transformation, according to a recent report by Accenture and the Project Management Institute.
• Create a transformation vision
and roadmap and articulate and communicate the vision, value drivers, and roadmap – this helps individual functions and teams see how they fit in.
• Establish a permanent Transformation
Office A PMI Brightline study shows that standardised processes can have a great bearing on an organisation’s ability to achieve successful transformations, as they facilitate alignment among vision, strategy, and implementation and help coordinate multiple, concurrent efforts. • Encourage ownership Be deliberate about communicating the value of the changes underway. Invite feedback from all levels and all roles. • Assemble tools Advanced technology can assist in ensuring the right data is available to the right constituents at the right time. • Develop internal talent A PMI Brightline study found that faster-transforming organisations are more likely than slowertransforming peers (34% vs 19%) to focus on development of internal talent.
• Promote ‘outside-in’ perspective
Teaming across business domains, offering workshops dedicated to context reframing, or working with external partners are some of the strategies successful CTOs employ.
Greg Douglass
Global Technology Strategy & Advisory lead, Accenture
And companies are increasingly engaging in enterprise transformations – multiple, concurrent, technology-powered reinvention initiatives designed to support constant innovation.
These efforts are driven by multiple forces – among them competitive pressures, blurring industry boundaries, residual pandemic effects, evolving geopolitical dynamics, and rapidly advancing customer expectations.
For some companies, transformation might be necessary because their industry is changing thanks to the looming climate crisis; for others, it might be digital disruption, demographic shifts, economic shifts, or labour shortages.
“Companies continue to adopt advanced technologies that promise to support transformative change and continuous innovation due to the competitive landscape, new opportunities to serve markets and evolving customer expectations,” says Greg.
However, Accenture research shows that seven out of 10 enterprise transformation efforts fail to meet business leaders’ expectations.
“While no two transformations are alike, at the core, they must be centred around achieving a strategic vision, fostering financial growth, and enabling a more nimble, responsible organisation in order to be successful,” Greg tells Business Chief.
This means every ounce of effort must be clearly aligned to transformation objectives, while the depth, scope, and complexity of such a transformation requires a leader whose time is dedicated to ensuring success.
According to Greg, organisations that are successful with transformation have three things in place – a well-formulated vision, a permanent transformation office, and a chief transformation officer who reports to the CEO.
What role does the CTO and Transformation Office play
The goal of the CTO is to build a permanent ‘changing capability’ or the business-
Tahirou Assane
Director, Brightline Initiative, PMI
wide ability to welcome and adapt to change, and seek improvements continually – and as such, must work across the C-suite and with all functions of the business.
Greg says CTOs who report directly to the CEO are most successful, as this increases their chance of success in communicating the value of changes and providing clear objections and intentions. “A Chief Transformation Officer who reports directly to the CEO can ensure that the transformation vision is properly disseminated throughout the organisation and ultimately deliver above expectations.”
He says CTOs need to team across the C-suite and business functions, serving as the orchestrator of all the facets of complex transformations and that CEOs and boards can support these leaders with the creation of a permanent Transformation Office (TO), rather than ad-hoc teams.
A transformation office can help to facilitate alignment among vision, strategy, and implementation, and coordinate multiple, concurrent efforts.
“Our research suggests that there is no dominant model for governance structure or organisation in today’s transformation offices, but governance and related controls
are imperative to establish clear decisionmaking and transparent reporting, so transformations can both move at speed and adapt to change,” adds Greg.
What traits best serve a Chief Transformation Officer?
So, what leadership characteristics are needed in a CTO to make transformation successful?
According to research from PMI and Accenture – credibility, vision, trustworthiness, strategic thinking, and honesty ranked most highly in terms of favourable qualities of CTOs.
Tahirou Assane, Director of Brightline Initiative at PMI, who led the development of the Organisational Transformation Series and pioneered the first Digital Transformation Action Conference, says that while transformation objectives across organisations may differ, the fundamental requirements are universal.
“They must be able to balance short-term and long-term goals, create stakeholder buy-in for these goals, and foster a culture where employees and customers alike feel positive about their experiences.”
Tahirou says CTOs should be strong communicators, as they are in place to frequently make tough decisions and challenge the status quo, and to do so, they must be able to instil confidence in their vision.
According to one CTO working in the luxury retail industry, transformation without high emotional intelligence just isn’t impossible. “All we do is change, and all we do is lead through influence. I have zero profit and loss accountability, no decision rights. All I have to do is to convince people every day to do the right thing for the future,
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Deloitte US’s Chief Purpose Officer Kwasi Mitchell tells Business Chief what drives him, how his leadership has evolved, and why purpose is a business imperative
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
Kwasi Mitchell believes everyone has a perspective worth listening to. It’s a belief he has held since childhood, and one that has fundamentally shaped his life and career – which includes 15 years driving impact at Deloitte US.
“I’m a firm proponent of everybody being treated with kindness and respect,” Kwasi tells Business Chief. “I believe everyone has a perspective worth hearing and giving them the time and energy to express that perspective is important”.
This style of leadership is one that has no doubt propelled Kwasi to his current role as US Deloitte’s Chief Purpose Officer, a role he feels privileged to inhabit given his long-held desire to give back.
“Impact has always been embedded in me,” says Kwasi, whose grandparents were huge proponents of ‘whatever you do, give back’. However, it was in fourth grade – after being taken under the wing of a chemist and set on an entirely different path to any he would have otherwise known given his family’s socioeconomic status – that Kwasi realised he would always have the need to “pay it forward”.
From his first day at Deloitte, in 2007, Kwasi was engaged in impact-related
Kwasi Mitchell
Chief Purpose Officer, Deloitte US
activities external to his day job – giving back to the community through pro bono engagements, and leading DEI and workforce development programmes within the firm.
Kwasi led diversity, equity and inclusion for Deloitte’s largest business, consulting, for many years before being given the opportunity two years ago to lead purpose for the largest professional services firm on the planet.
Kwasi recalls that while leading DEI for the consulting business, he was interviewed by a team established to research setting up a purpose office. “I talked to them about the magnitude of the things they would need to assemble to get this right, and then ended the interview, wishing ‘good luck’ to whoever they found for the role,” he says.
That person turned out to be Kwasi – “be careful what you wish for,” he says – and over the last two years, he has not only built Deloitte US’s Purpose Office and shaped his own role as Deloitte’s first-ever Chief Purpose Officer, but pioneered a path to corporate purpose – embedding Deloitte’s purpose into the firm’s business strategy and recently unveiling a US$1.5bn social impact investment aimed at fostering a more equitable society.
Kwasi Mitchell
TITLE: CHIEF PURPOSE OFFICER
COMPANY: DELOITTE US
As Chief Purpose Officer at Deloitte US, Kwasi Mitchell is responsible for leading the organisation-wide strategy that powers Deloitte’s commitment to purpose and driving a broader impact for its clients, people, and the communities in which it operates. Kwasi built and oversees the firm's first dedicated Purpose Office, focused on addressing some of the world's most complex societal issues - including DEI, sustainability and climate change, education and workforce development, and technology trust ethics - supporting clients on their journey to becoming purpose-driven organisations, and engaging employees to live their purpose daily. Kwasi also owns the firm’s CSR function and oversees Monitor Institute by Deloitte which works with non-profit philanthropies and advises them on their corporate strategy. “This brings best-in-class thinking to what we do based upon what is observed and also
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With this 10-year investment, Deloitte is working with leaders, organisations, and communities to help build pathways for social mobility and economic prosperity, with a focus on three areas – education and workforce development, financial inclusion, and health equity.
“My purpose is to drive impact at scale for societal issues, but also to enable our more than 110,000 professionals to engage in purpose-driven work that is meaningful to them,” says Kwasi.
Following the launch of this investment, and two years into his role as purpose leader at Deloitte US, we caught up with Kwasi to talk leadership, challenges, and what businesses need to do to successfully embed purpose.
As a Deloitte Principal for 15 years, and Chief Purpose Officer for the last two, how has your leadership evolved?
At Deloitte, we have this thing called ‘business chemistry’, and I take the assessment every two years to see how my leadership has evolved. Through and through, I’m a logic and a process person. I’m like, ‘I’ve laid this out and it’s self-evident that this is the direction we need to travel’. However, that doesn’t work with purpose, or with DEI.
Therefore, my leadership skills have evolved from the standpoint of, how do you take people in a partnership structure with several different generations within the workforce along on a journey that ensures they all feel heard and respected and knowing that logic may not matter as much as giving them 15 minutes to share a perspective with you. I have become much more of an integrator in my leadership style and a coalition builder.
However, the core aspects of who I am as a leader haven’t changed – I believe
Kwasi Mitchell
Chief Purpose Officer, Deloitte US
everyone should be treated with kindness and respect, and that everyone has a point of view worth listening to. It just doesn’t mean it is core to our strategy.
Does working in Purpose require any other specific skills?
For somebody working in Purpose, it’s essential they work with honesty and authenticity. People talk increasingly about how CEOs should now be interacting and leading with authenticity, and while I think that’s true, I also think CEOs can get away with having a business grow aggressively.
But in a role like purpose, being able to lead authentically and stay true to the power are essential if you want to make sure you get people on board.
What do you consider the most challenging aspects of your role?
The things we deal with in Purpose are highly personal to a lot of people – and having to craft a vision and path forward that requires focus also requires us to say ‘no’ to some worthy causes at times. This is the biggest challenge for me – remaining neutral and impartial, even on some causes that are fundamentally important and incredibly worthy but are not aligned to our strategy.
How do you use data in your role?
Data is incredibly helpful for my role. There are various mechanisms that we use now to collect data in a variety of ways that we are continually trying to improve – from aspects of different media monitoring to using our annual talent survey, which asks questions that are affiliated with purpose. We have
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Flying the flag for sustainable aviation fuel
WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) can help reduce soaring aviation emissions. Three experts discuss the pluses, potential and pitfalls of the technology
As sure as night follows day, every COP climate change event is accompanied by a lambasting of the aviation industry. Global leaders congregate, and inevitably that means arriving by aircraft for the vast majority – as it does for attendees.
COP27, held just two months ago in Egypt, was no exception, with claims by the Egyptian aviation authorities that 400 private jets landed in the first few days of the conference.
But while we can all admit that the aviation industry has a problem when it comes to emissions – accounting for around 2 to 3% of global CO2 emissions, with air travel expected to double in the next 15 years – the fact is flight is not going away.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a UN agency which helps 193 countries to cooperate together and share their skies. Speaking at COP27, ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano once again stated the ambition for the industry to reach net zero emissions by 2050. A significant part of that relies on more adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
Expert Panel
Susanne Bouma Head of Partnerships & Programmes, Renewable Aviation, Neste
Today, Neste produces 100,000 tons of SAF and production will increase to 1.5 million tons annually by the end of 2023. As Head of Partnerships & Programmes Susanne leads Neste's innovation to develop the partnerships, models and solutions required for combating climate change, and enabling organisations' Net Zero commitments.
Toby Edwards Co-CEO, Fly Victor Deloitte APAC
Toby joined Fly Victor in July 2012. Since July 2020 when he became co-CEO, he has driven growth, led the business to profitability, and overseen the UK office, ESG, Business Development, PR and Partnerships. As of June 2022, Victor partnered with Neste to offer SAF on-demand to Victor members, for every flight worldwide.
Nikhil Sachdeva Principal | Global Lead for Sustainable Aviation, Roland Berger
Nikhil leads Roland Berger's work into how the aviation sector can transition to more climate-friendly technologies, as well as the commercial and technological implications for the aerospace sector.
Nikhil Sachdeva
Global Lead for Sustainable Aviation at Roland Berger
Susanne Bouma
Head of Partnerships & Programmes, Renewable Aviation, Neste
Sustainable Aviation Fuel – challenges and opportunities
Sustainable Aviation Fuel is a solution available today that can help reduce CO2 emissions, so why aren’t more airlines and operators like Fly Victor using it? What are the barriers to adoption?
“SAF has been used in more than 450,000 flights since 2011,” says Susanne Bouma
Head of Partnerships & Programmes, Renewable Aviation at Neste. “However, current SAF production capacity is still limited, current global SAF production represents less than 0.1% of global aviation fuel needs.”
The biggest challenges, she says, are production capacity and the price of SAF. “We need to increase demand for SAF to attract the investments needed to ramp-up SAF production capacity. Businesses and individual travellers can play a key role as they can create demand by choosing to make their air travel more sustainable by voluntarily paying for using SAF.”
This is where there may well be an opportunity. Once companies like Neste are able to ramp production, as is planned, then consumers, and airlines, will have more choice. It may well be that environmentally conscious consumers are willing to pay an extra US$50 for an average flight in the knowledge that their emissions are being significantly reduced, or it could be a differentiator for commercial airlines to include a percentage of SAF as standard. After all, aviation is a competitive industry.
So what made Fly Victor decide to start offering SAF to its customers?
“Climate change has heavily informed the direction in which we have taken our business and brand since 2016 and the Paris Agreement, “ Fly Victor Co-CEO Toby Edwards tells Business Chief. “We cannot ignore that a private jet can emit up to 14 times more CO2 per person than flying commercially.
“Victor has been offering 200% carbon offsetting on all flights as standard since 2019. However, as SAF is now available to use as a direct in-sector emission reduction solution, providing our customers with a SAF solution was the next obvious move.”
Nikhil Sachdeva, Global Lead for Sustainable Aviation at Roland Berger believes the two main barriers to SAF adoption – which are also interrelated – are scale up and cost. And while he is positive about SAFs in principle, the sheer volumes
How to Fly Sustainably NOW! - Sustainability Live London September 8th 2022
Private jet promise
Fly Victor has seen a strong uptake from members since introducing the SAF partnership with Neste in July. “Many corporate entities are now signed up to Science Based Targets and are committed to significantly reduce their Scope 3 emissions,” Fly Victor’s Co-CEO Toby Edwards tells Business Chief. “They therefore require credible and measurable reduction strategies. We have created an industry-leading blueprint that gives corporates a very easy way to reduce, monitor and measure their emissions.”
Toby points to private jet users as an obvious and easy target but insists the publicity isn’t unfair if people are travelling irresponsibly. “The fact is that flying commercially is not practical or feasible for some people and the desire and need for private jets is not going to go away. If anything, demand is increasing and has been since the pandemic, despite the media scrutiny,” he says.
“It is therefore important that we encourage our members to make better choices and purchase SAF when flying privately. We have already seen that if you offer people a better solution, they will start taking it. In order for aviation to achieve its ambitious net zero targets we need these SAF early adopters. Their critical investment today should be acknowledged and supported so others feel more obliged to do the same.”
Toby Edwards
Co-CEO, Fly Victor required to make a significant difference are simply not possible right now, he says.
“SAF volumes remain extremely low (<0.5%) and need significant scale up, which will hopefully also allow costs to come down to affordable levels.
“Mandates in Europe help greatly by providing a clear, unassailable demand signal, targets and strong willingness to pay from corporate customers who have their own decarbonisation goals are boosting demand as well, and subsidies in the US (eg. under the new Inflation Reduction Act) will help to close the financial gap – so progress is being made.”
In a price-sensitive industry like aviation, cost is always going to be a stumbling block, and with SAF currently costing around 3 to 5 times as much as fossil jet fuel, the leap is significant. However, that fossil fuel price does not take into account the climate impact.
Although the sustainable fuel costs much more, Fly Victor does not take any margin on bookings including SAF. That said, it may be easier for a private jet charter company to absorb those costs compared to, say, a budget airline which is more price sensitive.
“It is really up to our customers to decide,” says Toby. “We would love to get to a point where each of our corporate and private members are purchasing 100% SAF on every flight that they charter. The slider at checkout starts at 5%. It goes up to 100%, and so far, those customers who have opted-in have chosen 30% on average as a replacement.”
How sustainable aviation fuel is made
There are currently seven approved ways of production for SAF (also called pathways) but the HEFA-pathway (Hydrotreated Esther and Fatty Acids) is currently the only commercially viable technology used and the one Neste uses for its SAF.
“Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel is produced from 100% sustainably sourced, renewable waste and residue raw materials like used cooking oil and animal fat waste,” says Susanne.
“Our current estimate is that with the current HEFA pathway, we could replace 10% of global fossil fuel needs, and enough feedstocks for that are available globally.”
In theory, this all sounds like good news for the environment, but it is also important to remember that we are talking here about reducing CO2 emissions, and that global air traffic is projected to double long before we reach the 2050 deadlines many are aiming for.
“SAFs can only ever be a net-zero solution – so if we're satisfied with net-zero as a global community in fighting climate change, we must be happy with SAFs,” says Nikhil.
He explains how SAFs are produced by removing carbon from the air in their production process, whether through natural processes for bio-based SAFs, or via manmade processes (ie. carbon capture) for Power-to-Liquid (known as PtL or eFuels).
However, he says there are two challenges we need to be aware of. Firstly, lifecycle emissions are a challenge. Unfortunately some emissions are produced in the SAF manufacturing process today. Today, SAFs decarbonise up to 50-80% per litre of fuel used – but this number should be increased. With bio-based SAFs, we will hopefully achieve 80-90% lifecycle emissions reduction, and PtL may allow 90-100% in the future.
Secondly, non-CO2 effects are important. “We must not forget that CO2 is not the only climate force, and SAF-powered aircraft will continue to produce NOX, particulates and contrails, albeit hopefully in lower quantities.”
More airlines and airports using SAF
More and more airlines are already using SAF or have committed to its use. Neste’s SAF is used by leading commercial airlines in Europe, North America and Asia including Lufthansa, KLM, IAG, Finnair, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and ANA. It is also available at many major airports, including San Francisco International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Heathrow Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Amsterdam Airport and Narita International Airport.
With Neste expected to boost production significantly in 2023, the future for SAF looks bright. Current limitations mean only 50% SAF can be used for flights when mixed with fossil fuel, so is SAF the only solution we should be considering? Are there alternatives?
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PLAY | BIG PICTURE PLAY
Ritz-Carlton superyachts set sail
Following a year-long delay, the first of the Ritz-Carlton’s luxury yacht collection, the Evrima, set sail last October, travelling from Barcelona to Nice.
This marked the legendary hotel brand’s first foray into luxury yachting and the first of many highly tailored getaways taking place in 2023 across the Med, Caribbean, Central and South America. Think highly curated 7 to 10-night itineraries, including to Spain’s Balearic Islands, coveted havens along the French Riviera, and the tropical coastline of Costa Rica; and one of the highest staff and space ratios at sea.
The 298-passenger Evrima offers 149 suites, all with private terraces and floorto-ceiling windows, and delivers everything from Michelin-starred restaurant Aqua and water sports from the yacht’s marina to discussions led by renowned experts and intimate jazz performances.
The Concierge Ashore will help you customise your own unique experiences at each stop, from yoga on a private beach to zip-lining through a rainforest. Bliss.
PLAY | PRIVATE CLUBS Culture Club – how private members’ clubs are reinventing
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
The pandemic has given birth to a new breed of private members’ clubs where work and play merge, membership and spaces are curated, and community matters
When Soho House exploded onto London’s social scene in the mid-nineties, it ushered in a new type of private members’ club – one that was cool, inclusive, and aimed at the young, citydwelling creative class.
Standing uniquely apart from the somewhat stuffy clubs that have been a London hallmark for more than two centuries, Soho House thrived – and nearly 30 years later is still going strong with 30 locations across the globe.
But now, the private members’ club concept is in transition once more, and a new breed is born.
Jonathan Frolich
Managing Director of Carlyle & Co.
Carlyle & Co. Hong Kong Exclusive but not elitist
It’s a similar story at Hong Kong’s newest club, the velvet-clad Carlyle & Co., where an initial conversation with prospective members never starts with what they do or who they know.
“We care far more about who you are than who you know,” says Jonathan Frolich, Managing Director of Carlyle & Co. “We’re interested in the stories and anecdotes that drive your passions and shape your characters. We’re exclusive in the sense that we seek excellence from every experience and encounter, but we’re never elitist.”
Jonathan tells Business Chief that members are looking to forge connections with genuine meaning, expand their horizons, be challenged, explore new perspectives, and do it all in a beautiful space where they can meet, mix, mingle and perhaps make a little mischief.
“They are looking for a place that enables them to come together, build authentic relationships and ignite meaningful conversations, and they want to have it happen somewhere they can trust to deliver exceptional experiences with charm, sophistication, and a sense of whimsy,” Jonathan says.
And Carlyle & Co. delivers this in bucketloads. Inspired by the impossible glamour and unrivalled legacy of its namesake New York City hotel The Carlyle and its once legendary and eclectic cast of colourful characters (from the Kennedys to Hunter S Thompson), the Hong Konglocated club offers members a myriad of curated spaces and experiences.
As well as numerous dining rooms and a speakeasy, there’s a library featuring 2000 books, a music room with 1000 vinyl records, and a rolling roster of cultural events, live entertainment, and culinary experiences.
Jonathan says Carlyle & Co. marks a “paradigm shift around community in the world of modern private member clubs” – offering members a sanctuary of people who dare to be different, and a space where they can relax, be entertained, inspired, and ultimately contribute to something greater than themselves.
The Third Space Work, play, converse, learn
As the dust settles on the pandemic, and a new way of living unfolds – one where the lines between work and play blur and community and connection are prioritised – people are seeking out social interactions in new ways.
Enter the post-pandemic private members’ club – a curated and interchangeable ‘third space’ where work seamlessly transforms into a space to socialise, and where culture flourishes and curious minds go to interact, explore, and learn.
These new and reinvented clubs not only feature workspaces where traditional clubs do not, but they offer culture-rich experiences, expert talks, and a diverse community – opening themselves up to more people from all walks of life irrespective of family pedigree or financial clout.
“We’re all in a cultural moment now where we’re vagabonds of sorts and the lines between office and restaurant and home – we want to blur those,” says Arsalun Tafazoli, co-founder of The Reading Club, a newly conceived members-only club on the rooftop of the InterContinental that opened in downtown San Diego last September.
The Reading Club, San Diego Culture, community, conversation
While the space provides members with everything they need to work, socialise, relax, and reflect (from a library to a heated lap pool) the ethos is what really sets The Reading Room apart with its focus on creating a culture and community that revolves around “conversation, reason, and humanity.”
Designed for “thinkers and makers”, the club provides cultural enrichment and diversity in both its offer and membership – think a perpetual library with a curated selection of reads, listening room with records, and a membership made up of people who love their work, whatever that may be.
Unlike the somewhat stuffy and elitist formula of traditional members’ clubs, The Reading Club – like many of the new-breed private members’ clubs – isn’t interested in your wealth, status, affiliations, or point of view.
Instead, when hand-selecting members, they ask questions like, ‘What would be the
title of your autobiography?’ and ‘What do you think is the biggest misconception about you?’ as they look to curate a club made up of “curious, articulate, interesting people who value conversation and are driven to learn.”
They even offer subsidies to assist those unable to afford the annual membership fees, because “if your values align and the only reason you can’t be a member is economic, we will subsidise those costs,” says Tafazoli.
Arsalun Tafazoli
Co-founder of The Reading Club
From India to Dubai to New York City Creativity, curiosity, culture
This focus on community, cohesion, collaboration, and creativity – heightened since the pandemic – is central to this new genre of private members’ clubs, which are popping up and/or evolving in every corner of the globe.
At India’s newest club, Jolie’s – the Mumbaibased brainchild of Indian entrepreneur Aryman Birla – the emphasis is on building a creative and curious membership, delivering a curated environment, and offering culture-rich experiences.
While in the making for a few years, the concept of Jolie’s evolved once the pandemic hit, with the club finally opening its doors to members in October 2021. “Covid-19 has upended the world,” a spokesperson for Jolie’s said. “As people look for a safe, hygienic and private place to work, meet and socialise with their close circle, a private-members’ club plays a huge part.”
Like the others, Jolie’s offers a “space that transcends lots of different experiences” so members can work, socialise, learn, interact, and enjoy suppers, soirees, and space to express themselves freely and authentically.
There are nine spaces for working, entertaining, art, music, cultural events, drinking and dining, from a business centre designed for ideation and innovation, to The Seen, a performance area for cultural showcases.
Like the others too, Jolie’s membership is made of people from all walks of life, from entrepreneurs to artists, thinkers to industrialists, which results in a “community of diverse high achievers with compelling individuality, who are culturally curious and passionately engaged with the world.
Cipriani’s first private club, Casa Cipriani in New York City, debuted last year with much the same aim – to attract eclectic, culturally curious, and interesting people, to mingle, relax, and connect.
Modelling itself on the first days of Harry’s Bar in Venice, where people from all walks of life would gather to sip Bellini’s and share stories, the Lower Manhattan club is rich in amenities (events space, wellness centre, dining room, bars) and cultural offerings.
Ciprianis joins a growing list of clubs in NYC, from NeueHouse to Zero Bond, curating communities, environments, and experiences post-pandemic.
Opening in NYC in 2020, and now the hotspot du jour, downtown Manhattan private club Zero Bond offers multiple spaces for different experiences – from a screening room and library to comfortable workspaces, an omakase, and libations room – and delivers curated exclusive experiences.
Like the others, membership matters, which is less about money (one-year membership is relatively affordable at between US$2,500 and US$4,000 and cheaper the younger you are), and more about the quality of the community. “I didn’t want to create a place that was just for rich people to spend a lot of money,” founder Scott Sartiano told Forbes.
Members are not selected on socioeconomic status or profession, but on character, and will only “accept members that display a high level of integrity and demonstrate an ability to contribute to our Zero Bond community.”
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PLAY | Private members’ PRIVATE CLUBS club for the globetrotters
These private members’ clubs have more than one international outpost providing members with global access when they travel.
Soho House Worldwide Born in London in 1995, Soho House now has 30 clubs all over the world, from Istanbul to Mumbai, Amsterdam to LA. They offer many types of memberships and handpick members with a focus on building creative community. The clubs offer lounge spaces, spas, pools, libraries, and restaurants and have recently introduced workspaces. They hold regular panels and talks, art exhibits and movie showings.
The Arts Club London, Dubai Attracting a culturally interested crowd of discerning thinkers and thought leaders is the premise behind The Arts Club, which opened in Dubai in 2020, but whose historic sister club in London dates to 1863 – a place where writers, artists, and musicians (Charles Dickens, Franz Liszt, and Whistler) once hung out. The Arts Club is a home away from home for creatives, entrepreneurs, and innovative thinkers, who come to meet, discuss, exchange ideas, and dine and participate in an extensive cultural programme, from literary discussions to art exhibitions, and musical performances Taj The Chambers Private Members’ Club India, Dubai, London First opening its doors in 1975 at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, The Chambers – Taj is the prestigious club for “global achievers” with outposts worldwide including in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, as well as overseas in Dubai, London, and coming to New York soon. The clubs offer a place to both work and relax and avail of privileges
Core Club NYC, Milan Launched in 2005 in NYC, Core Club operates a ‘self-selecting community’ where every individual in the team makes a deposit of US$100,000 and nominates another remarkable person. Their selection process isn’t based on money or family name, but personalities who are innovators with original perspectives from 13 industries – from architecture to fashion, healthcare to hospitality. Among the offerings, private movie theatres, fivestar restaurants, libraries, games rooms, and curated galas and soirees. Core San Francisco is opening in 2023.
Meat-free
Michelin-starred
With a move away from meat crucial to reducing emissions, more Michelin-starred restaurants are pivoting to plant-based and elevating vegetables
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
Eleven Madison Park, New York City
Last year, one of the world’s most critically acclaimed restaurants, three Michelinstarred Eleven Madison Park pulled off a culinary feat – becoming the first plantbased restaurant in the world with three Michelin stars.
It was during the pandemic that Chef-owner Daniel Humm made the plant-based pivot. Humm realised that the world and people had irrevocably changed, that the notion of luxury needed to be redefined, and that he simply couldn’t reopen in the same way.
“The current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways,” he says.
He’s not wrong. Climate experts are in widespread agreement that a move away from meat is necessary to avoid total climate breakdown. Animal agriculture creates at least 14.5% of all humanmade greenhouse gas emissions, using almost 80% of the world’s agricultural land to provide less than 20% of global calories.
So, in a stark departure, one described by The New York Times as a “bold vision of luxury dining”, in 2021, the Manhattan fine-dining establishment replaced its glazed duck, roast suckling pig and poached lobster with summer squash, lemongrass and marinated tofu, and cucumber with melon and smoked daikon.
Zineb Hattab
Chef, one Michelin star Kle in Zurich
Ark, Copenhagen
Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
Geranium, Copenhagen
Gaulthier Soho, London
Gary Yin
Chef-owner of three Michelin-star King’s Joy, Beijing
Turning the entire menu plant-based, bar milk and honey for tea and coffee service, was certainly a risk for such a high profile, highly acclaimed restaurant – but it was a punt that paid off with the restaurant retaining its three Michelin stars for the 11th year in a row.
Eleven Madison Park is not alone in its vision; nor in proving that fine-dining veganism can succeed. More and more Michelin-starred restaurants are ditching meat for plantbased dishes, recognising the impact meat especially is having on the planet, and proving that you can elevate plants to culinary heights.
When King’s Joy landed a coveted third Michelin star in November 2020, the acclaimed Beijing-based restaurant became the world’s first vegetarian (not vegan) three-starred Michelin restaurant, not to mention China’s first Michelin Green Star for environmental and sustainable practices.
Like Humm, Canadian-Taiwanese owner-chef Gary Yin is on a mission, to promote a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle – and to bring vegetarianism to China, a country that consumes 28% of the world’s meat and whose livestock is estimated to account for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“If more people eat vegetarian more frequently, it really could change the environment as a whole,” says Gary.
Using greens and seasonal produce only sourced from local, organic farms, Lin takes vegetarian cuisine to new heights, transforming tofu, wheat gluten and mushroom into inventive fake meat creations, with tasting menu highlights including sweet and sour money’s head mushrooms and hawthorn jelly and Comte-mountain yam rolls.
Around the world, restaurants are seeing green. Ranked the number one restaurant in the world in 2022, Copenhagen’s threeMichelin-starred Geranium removed meat from its menu at the start of last year, although it still serves seafood options for discerning pescatarians.
Speaking about his decision to drop meat from the menu, co-owner chef Rasmus Kofoed – the first chef in Denmark to earn three Michelin stars – said he hadn’t eaten meat for the last five years at home, “so to no longer use meat on the new menu was a logical decision and a natural progress for Geranium”.
Now, the plant-powered menu includes infusions of grilled white asparagus, pickled elderberries, truffle, and crispy grains, as well as dark chocolate and Jerusalem artichoke reductions for dessert.
Motivated by the environmental impact of meat production, in 2018, French chef Dominique Crenn (the first woman in the US to be awarded three Michelin stars) took a stand against factory farming and removed all meat from the menu of flagship restaurant – San Francisco-based Michelin-starred
restaurant Atelier Crenn, later removing it from all her restaurants. Though she too does still serve seafood.
Instead, she is partnering with foodtech Upside Foods to offer cultured chicken to diners – due to its relative sustainability and delicious appearance, aroma, and flavour.
“The pandemic is going to allow us to change the food system, and the food system needs to change,” Dominique says. “We need consumers to understand that it’s not about instant gratification; they need to understand the consequences of their actions. They need to understand where products come from and support their own community.”
Gauthier Soho’s plant-forward experimentation began well ahead of the plant-based food trend. The London-located restaurant, which secured a Michelin star within just a year after opening, switched to veganism in 2015 following a PETA campaign exposed the cruelty and exploitation behind the animal meat industry.
French chef Alexis Gauthier reinvented all his classic French dishes to make them entirely plant-based, even Fois Gras. Once selling 20kg of Fois Gras a week, the chef has since pioneered ‘faux gras’, an ethical alternative (think lentils, walnuts, mushrooms, and cognac) to the
Daniel Humm
Chef-owner of three Michelin-star Eleven Madison Park, New York City
controversial goose liver delicacy. As diners discover that non-meatbased dishes, and vegetables, particularly, can be both delicious and elevated, the hope is that more highly acclaimed chefs and Michelin-starred restaurants banish meat from their menus or take the plantbased plunge.
And importantly that more vegan or plant-based restaurants are awarded Michelin stars.
In 2021, Copenhagen-based plant-based fine-dining restaurant Ark became the first vegan restaurant to be awarded a Michelin Green Star in the Nordics for its innovations in plant-based cuisine. The same year, France also landed its first Michelin star for a vegan restaurant with ONA – a vegan restaurant near Bordeaux helmed by Claire Vallee (though this has recently closed due to not being able to find enough staff despite being fully booked months in advance). And for the first time in Switzerland, a vegan restaurant achieved a Michelin star in 2022. Helmed by international chef Zineb Hattab, Kle in Zurich works with organic farmers from the surrounding area to dish up vegan cuisine inspired by Moroccan and Mexican dishes. As Spanish-born Hattab puts it – “vegetables are the future”.
World’s most anticipated city hotel debuts
From Dubai to Tokyo, London to Sydney, Rome to Nashville, these 15 city hotels are top of Business Chief’s most anticipated openings for 2023 – get packing!
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
World’s most anticipated city hotel debuts 2023
Bellustar, Tokyo
The Lana, Dubai
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Designed by acclaimed architects Foster + Partners, this eye-catching 30-storey tower in Dubai’s Business Bay area will open as The Lana, part of the Dorchester Collection, in July 2023. Space, light and extraordinary views will be the defining features of the 225 ultra-luxury guest rooms, 69 of which are suites – with tall windows framing views of the Burj Khalifa or desert. Among standout features of The Lana – triple-height ceilings, plush furnishings (think dark marbles, sculptural furniture, and stone parquet flooring), deep-soaking bathtubs, a patisserie, secluded garden lounge, and oversized rooftop pool and bar. The Lana will also feature a spa, wellness centre and gym, and guests will have access to the Beach Club at One at Palm Jumeirah, reachable via a short boat ride.
W Sydney
AUSTRALIA
Having made its Darling Harbour debut late last year, W Sydney is the city’s hot property for 2023. Taking the anchor spot in The Ribbon Building, one of Sydney’s most striking new architectural landmarks, the hotel offers 585 stylish guest rooms with views of the harbour or city. Bespoke interiors are marine-inspired with luxuries including a custom soaking tub and in-room Mixbar. Relaxation is covered with a hi-tech gym, two heated pools (including an outdoor infinity with harbour views), and W’s signature AWAY Spa, while dining destinations range from a two-storey rooftop bar to W’s signature Living Room bar. And for business guests, there are eight versatile rooms, including the Great Room featuring floor-to-ceiling harbour-facing windows.
Six Senses London
UNITED KINGDOM
Six Senses is set to bring an arts, wellness, and community focus to its first UK home. Six Senses London will feature 110-rooms and suites, and 14 branded residences to buy, and will reside in the former art deco department store, Whiteleys, in Bayswater. The property has been redeveloped by Fosters + Partners, preserving the historic building’s Grade II façade, central courtyard, dome, and majestic staircase. The interiors deliver a nostalgic nod to the building’s art deco roots, while contemporary art from British artists adds local flavour. The jewel in the crown is the wellness club – a new kind of social and wellness community, home to the brand’s best-in-class spa, wellness rooms, pool, bar and restaurant, as well as coworking spaces and an experiential pioneering programme designed to encourage growth, reflection and reconnection.
The Peninsula, Istanbul
TURKEY
Hot on the heels of The Peninsula London’s opening in early 2023, The Peninsula Istanbul is set to make its debut. Located along the banks of the stunning Bosphorus, in the historic Karaköy district, the hotel will anchor a new waterfront revitalisation project that includes a promenade, museums, art galleries, restaurants, boutiques, and a cruise ship port. The heritage property is also within walking distance of Istanbul’s historic landmarks, like the famed Sultanahmet District. The Peninsula will be home to 177 opulent rooms and suites, and will feature classical-inspired architecture, and landscaped gardens and pools. Guests can enjoy local and international cuisine at various restaurants, before indulging in the ancient Turkish tradition of hammam steam baths at the decadent The Peninsula Spa.
1 Hotel Nashville
UNITED STATES
Opening late last year, 1 Hotels Nashville is the one to watch in 2023 thanks to its green luxury credentials. Marking the eighth property from 1 Hotels, a lifestyle brand committed to luxury sustainability, communities, wellness and natural design, this property is nestled in the heart of culture-rich downtown Nashville. Sustainability-themed touchpoints include wooden room keys, chalkboards to reduce paper use, in-room carafes made from recycled wine bottles, and beds made from locally crafted reclaimed wood. There are three dining concepts including farm-to-table 1 Kitchen Nashville with its nourishing, locally sourced seasonal menu, and Harriet’s Rooftop Bar, where guests can enjoy wellness cocktails, skyline views, and local musicians. There’s also a multipurpose conference space, spa, and fitness and yoga studio.
Bellustar, Tokyo
JAPAN
Pan Pacific Hotel Group is bringing the luxury Bellustar hotel to Tokyo, and specifically to Tokyu Kabukicho Tower, the city’s new landmark skyscraper, just steps from Seibu-Shinjuku Station, and Japan’s largest hotel and entertainment complex tower. Slated to open the first half of 2023, the Bellustar Tokyo will offer 97 spacious rooms (a rarity in Tokyo), each with sweeping views over the city, along with five ultra-luxurious suites and a supersized penthouse – the latter furnished with a personal spa treatment room for two, kitchen, Jacuzzi with breath-taking skyline vistas, as well as personal 24/7 hotel butler service and an in-room chef private dining. Sky-high facilities stand out with shared ‘sky dining’ on the 45th floor, complete with teppanyaki, a sushi bar and floor-to-ceiling windows.
The West Hotel Minneapolis
UNITED STATES
From Salt Hotels, a collection of artfully designed boutique properties in LA, Miami, Nantucket, and beyond, comes The West Hotel in Minneapolis. Located just steps from the Mississippi riverfront in the city’s culinary and design hub (North Loop), the 123-room hotel is housed within four historic buildings, with rooms featuring original exposed brick walls alongside oversized windows and locally commissioned art. The lobby doubles as a social hub with communal workspaces, a fireside lounge, library, and bar, while a rooftop bar with outdoor terrace delivers sweeping views of the city. Award-winning local chef James Beard helms the signature restaurant, dishing up the Basque-inspired cuisine of northern Spain with dishes mainly cooked over charcoal. He will also run an Eastern Mediterranean-inspired bakery.
Kempinski Floating Palace
DUBAI, UAE
For the first time, a luxury hotel is opening at the end of 2023 as a floating building with 12 floating luxury villas able to sail to other locations. Anchored next to one of the most exclusive beach stretches in Dubai, guests are brought to the 156-room and suite hotel or their villas by speed boat, or via their own boats or own helicopter (there is a helipad and yacht parking deck). The five-star hotel delivers everything from exclusive gourmet restaurants, bars, and a spa, to pools, boutiques and banquet areas; while the 12 luxury villas, connected by pontoons, each feature a roof terrace with infinity pool, panoramic windows, and smart home features. They cruise at a maximum speed of 6 nautical miles and are equipped with solar panels.
The St Regis London
UNITED KINGDOM
Storied New York-born hotel brand St Regis is bringing its signature Butler Service, rich heritage, timeless glamour, and bespoke service to London’s most glamorous destination – Mayfair. Located on the corner of Bond Street and Conduit Street, the hotel is a US$122 milliondollar transformation of the former Westbury Mayfair Hotel and is expected to open this year with 196 elegant rooms and suites, a signature restaurant, speakeasy jazz bar, fitness centre and spa. In a nod to the building’s heritage, the hotel will retain the iconic Polo Bar, originally designed for the Phipps family of America and avid polo players, where guests can enjoy a local twist on the Bloody Mary, St. Regis’ signature cocktail.
The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne
AUSTRALIA
When The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne makes its debut in March 2023, the stunning five-star hotel will be Australia’s tallest hotel. Located at the very top of an 80-story skyscraper in the city’s central business district, and set up above the city skyline, the 257-room five-star hotel will offer guests sweeping panoramic views of the city and Port Phillip Bay. As well as delivering the brand’s signature restaurant and an intimate library bar, the hotel will feature a heated indoor infinity pool and deck overlooking the city, a spa, gym, and club lounge.
Bulgari Hotel Tokyo
JAPAN
Travellers to Tokyo will soon be able to experience the glamour and timeless heritage of Italian band Bulgari. Housed within a new ultra-skyscraper near Tokyo Station, the Bulgari Hotel Tokyo will deliver 98 luxurious guest rooms including a lavish Bulgari Suite and will be home to the brand’s renowned dining venues, including Il Ristorante Niko Romito, a collaboration with Italian chef of 3 Michelin star restaurant Reale in Abruzzo. The hotel will also feature a 25m indoor pool and a 1,500sqm spa for the ultimate in wellbeing.
Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Saigon
VIETNAM
Opening its doors late last year, Oakwood marks the first international serviced apartment brand to open in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. The property offers a hybrid mix of 67 studios, one and two-bedroom serviced apartments with expansive windows that look out to the Saigon River or the iconic Landmark 81 skyscraper. The hotel’s location puts guests close to many of the city’s attractions, including the famous Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, and major office buildings.
Nobu Hotel Rome
ITALY
The new Nobu Hotel Rome is located on the world-renowned Via Veneto, a short walk from the Trevi Fountain, and is being transformed from the city’s Grand Hotel Via Veneto. It will house 122 rooms and suites across two 19th century buildings, and feature a green rooftop terrace, indoor and outdoor meeting space, a full-service spa, fitness centre, exclusive club lounge, and a Nobu restaurant, inclusive of 24-hour in-room dining. Nobu Rome is one of many Nobu hotel rollouts worldwide including Madrid and San Sebastian both opening this year.
The Peninsula London
UNITED KINGDOM
Enjoying a spectacular location overlooking Hyde Park Corner, in the heart of Belgravia, The Peninsula London is due to welcome guests from early 2023. The hotel, which will showcase the best of British culture, art, and cuisine, will reflect the distinctive heritage and grandeur of Belgravia – think a colonnaded courtyard lobby and 190 rooms and suites styled by Peter Marino. Destination restaurants include a rooftop venue with spectacular views and a chic Cantonese restaurant, while the one-storey shopping arcade will deliver nine stores. There is also a spa and grand ballroom.
Mandarin Oriental Dubai
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The second Mandarin Oriental property to reach Dubai, this one will be a 63-storey property with 257 rooms, suites and serviced apartments. It is said to have been designed to ‘reflect local culture, with features inspired by Mandarin Oriental’s Asian heritage’. Three will be ‘a lively rooftop sky bar with citywide views, a signature dining experience, an all-day dining venue, a poolside bar and restaurant, a lobby lounge, a club lounge, a cigar room and a Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop’.
Kimpton Frankfurt
GERMANY
Kimpton is set to make its German debut with the opening of Kimpton Frankfurt, bringing its signature bold and playful design and luxury, personalised service to one of Europe’s largest financial hubs. Set in a listed building right in the city centre, the luxury boutique hotel will feature 155 rooms, two meeting rooms and a fitness centre, As well as the hotel’s restaurant, there are also plans for a sky-bar and restaurant on the roof terrace.
