The ability to maintain healthy, positive, fair, and ethical relationships is critical to long-term success. Social factors are difficult to quantify but their significance will intensify in years to come and it is imperative to plan for them.
- Determining which definitions to use and how to identify social risk categories
- Assessing the social risks posed by existing risk categories
- How is reputational risk tied to social risk and what are the differences?
- Finding the right metrics for measurement and putting a number on social risk
Olga Puntus
As Head of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) team, I lead Wells Fargo’s efforts to understand customers’ E&S impact and performance, and manage E&S risks across the enterprise. ESRM team also engages with key external stakeholders to understand their perspectives about the industries Wells Fargo supports, and identify solutions to pressing and emerging E&S issues.
The ESRM function provides lines-of-business the clarity and tools they need to make informed decisions when growing relationships in sensitive industries. The ESRM approach also helps the corporation more effectively manage business and credit, strategic and reputational risks to Wells Fargo, while at the same time allow it to deeper understand customers’ operations and long-term viability. We help the company protect people, communities and the environment.
Prior to joining Wells Fargo, I spent 14 years at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) conducting global E&S risk management, due diligence, supervision, and audit in the infrastructure, apparel, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, and health and education sectors. At IFC, I worked in a number of regions, including Europe, Central Asia, Northern Africa, Middle East, Central and Southern Americas. I hold an MS in Environmental Science and Sustainability Management from Columbia University in New York; Masters of Law from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany; and the equivalent of a JD from Belarusian State University in the Republic of Belarus. I am fluent in English, Russian, German, and Spanish. I am a certified yoga teacher and mindfulness practitioner. For fun I travel the world and practice circus arts. I have a daughter who is a joy and light of my life.