DrAnna Young-Ferris

Dr. Anna Young-Ferris is an ESG/sustainability and climate change pioneer bringing over two decades of academic, corporate, and consulting experience. With well-rounded capability in responsible investment, ESG integration, social/Indigenous and climate impact and reporting and proven ability to shape systemic change, advise Boards and executives, and lead high-performing teams to drive meaningful social impact. A published academic author, international and domestic speaker, United Nations award recipient, and advocate for social inclusion, Indigenous stewardship, and business sustainability. Adept at designing and implementing frameworks, fostering strategic partnerships, and influencing policy to drive long-term, measurable change.

Anna is the recipient of a 2023 United Nations award for leading the strategic integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into teaching, research, and organisational practices across the Business School and the wider university. She is also the recipient of the University's 2022 Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability.

Anna's award-winning research lies at the intersection of responsible investment, sustainability/carbon accounting and social impact, and how investors translate this nascent information in their investment decisions. More recently, she has been translating this interest into scholarly research in the field of responsible management education with a focus on Indigenous inclusion and impact. Anna publishes in top A* business journals and has presented her research at numerous international and domestic settings including the United Nations, Harvard University, the London School of Economics and HEC Paris.

Anna is also an award-winning educator and passionate about transforming business narrative from the single-minded pursuit of profit to advancing a responsible business mindset where social and environmental impacts are understood as interconnected with financial impacts. She designed and lead one of the biggest units in the Business School with over 2000 students and 60 staff each semester called Responsible Business Mindset (BUSS5220). Students are asked to challenge assumptions and critically reflect on the extent (or not) to which business practices can be transformed and contribute to a more sustainable and conscious capitalism, and to the achievement of the SDGs.

Anna recently returned to the corporate sector as Head of ESG for an ASX-listed real estate investment firm, and she regularly consults to industry, providing expert advice on leading ESG strategy in a dynamic and ever evolving business environment. Previously Anna worked for a decade in the corporate sector and helped build the Ernst & Young Climate Change and Sustainability practice in Sydney. Anna joined academia in 2010 to pursue her research in the field and was awarded her PhD in Responsible Investment (Accounting) in 2014. She graduated with Honours in Economics (Social Science) her thesis examined Triple Bottom Line accounting in 2001.