Abrdn's Dan Grandage Succeeds Amanda Young as Chief Sustainability Officer: 4 Things to Know

Financial services firm Abrdn has named Dan Grandage (pictured, top left) as chief sustainability officer (CSO), according to his LinkedIn profile.

Grandage succeeds former CSO Amanda Young (pictured, top right), who exited the asset management firm, Financial Times reported on May 14, 2024.

The CSO change comes amid multiple business challenges and a CEO transition at the company. Here are four things to know about Grandage's experience, along with Abrdn's business scope and sustainability strategy.

1. Business Scope, Scale and Revenues: Abrdn, founded in 1825, is a global investment company. The firm, formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen, has faced plenty of skepticism since a 2021 rebrand.

Abrdn is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company generated revenue of 1.474 billion GBP (roughly US$1.88 billion) in 2023 -- down roughly 4% from 2022.

2. Layoffs and CEO Change: Amid those weak results, Abrdn layoffs will impact roughly 10% of employees in 2024, Reuters estimated. Moreover, CEO Stephen Bird stepped down in mid-May 2024. CFO Jason Windsor will lead the company on an interim basis amid the search for a new CEO, Reuters reported.

3. Sustainability Strategy and Goals: Abrdn is striving to achieve operational net zero by 2040. Moreover, the company is pursuing a 50% reduction in reported emissions by 2025 vs. 2018.

Former CSO Amanda Young is widely credited for many of Abrdn's sustainability goals and progress milestones. Among her personal credits: Young has appeared on the Financial News top 100 most influential women in European Finance multiple times. She was the inaugural winner of Women in Investment Awards Sustainable & ESG Investment Woman of the Year in 2021 and was on Financial News’ inaugural 50 Most Influential in Sustainable Finance list in 2022, according to her biography.

4. New CSO: Dan Grandage previously was head of sustainable investing at abrdn. In that role he focused on ways to "enhance investment performance through integrating ESG and sustainability in the investment process via the creation and oversight of standards and market-leading frameworks," according to his company biography.

Chief Sustainability Officers: Why Technology Partners Should Care

By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.

The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.