About Kathy Hobbs
Kathy Hobbs leads our sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) services team across the north-west, focusing primarily on helping our clients with their overall ESG and sustainability goals.
She leads projects on ESG strategy, horizon scanning and ESG reporting, including reporting under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Taskforce for Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). Additionally, Kathy leads sustainability assurance projects to the ISAE 3000/3410 standard.
Kathy regularly engages with colleagues across the 91探花international network to drive a collaborative approach to new ESG reporting and regulation impacting our clients, particularly European regulation such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
She works closely with RSM’s internal private equity team to develop our ESG offerings for our private equity clients and their portfolios.
Previously, Kathy was Head of ESG at a lower-mid market private equity firm. In that role, she was responsible for ESG across the firm, including monitoring ESG regulation, investor reporting, TCFD and PRI reporting, and portfolio ESG data management.
Kathy has an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School, where she completed a number of projects across ESG, including net zero, Science-Based Targets and the Social Value Act.
Kathy is a chartered accountant with the ICAEW, having qualified in 2015 with a Big 4 auditing firm and subsequently worked in a number of financial reporting roles.
Kathy is passionate about helping businesses navigate the confusing world of ESG and sustainability, making it relevant and meaningful for them to drive change and create value for all stakeholders. She says:
"The world needs to transition to a low-carbon economy, and while there are small things individuals can do, we will not achieve net zero unless investors and businesses lead the change. Equally, studies have shown that diverse businesses make better decisions and have greater longer-term financial success – strong ESG credentials can help make all businesses diverse, inclusive, and equitable."
Kathy is married to her husband, Sam and lives in Worsley, outside of Manchester. She is regularly in her local CrossFit gym, enjoys spending time with family and friends and visiting the beach or mountains as often as she can!
Kathy's 91探花timeline
- 2024: promoted to Director
- 2022: joined 91探花as an Associate Director