Beth Sasfai is a partner in Cooley’s public companies group and leads the firm’s environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and sustainability advisory practice. She regularly advises boards of directors and management on a wide range of corporate governance, disclosure, and regulatory compliance matters, including corporate governance policy and trends, shareholder engagement and activism, shareholder proposals and proxy season matters, and ESG. She is a seasoned professional with a distinguished career spanning more than 20 years in a Fortune 20 company, which positions her as a trusted advisor to boards and executive teams.

Sasfai closely monitors and advises clients on evolving best practices and on ESG proposals put forth by Congress, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, stock exchanges, and other stakeholders. Sasfai brings a wealth of experience in guiding US and international clients through the complex ESG regulatory landscape, including reporting and disclosure controls, engaging with stakeholders, and operationalizing governance and risk management processes. In addition to her public companies practice, Sasfai counsels companies of all market caps across a broad spectrum of industries, helping to integrate sustainability strategies, oversight, and risk management principles into the life cycle of early-stage growth companies and pre-initial public offering companies to facilitate their evolution into large, publicly traded entities. In advising companies on ways to integrate sustainability principles into business strategy and operations early on, Sasfai helps companies build resilience, enhance stakeholder relationships, and future-proof their operations.

Before joining Cooley, Sasfai was Verizon’s chief ESG officer and senior vice president of corporate governance. She also served as a management liaison to Verizon’s board of directors’ corporate governance and policy committee, which was charged with overseeing sustainability, governance, public policy, and reputational risk. Prior to joining Verizon, Sasfai practiced in the corporate and litigation groups of prominent New York City law firms.