TPG Capital, L.P. – francois-jerome selosse – 2017

Goals

FJ Selosse worked with TPG’s Sustainability & ESG Team for a 10 week summer fellowship program based in the San Francisco office.

The objectives of the fellowship were two-fold:  (1) to collaborate with several portfolio companies on specific sustainability value creation opportunities and (2) to assist the ESG team to co-develop and scale portfolio company engagement tools.  The projects covered a wide array of sustainability themes: reporting, employee engagement, waste reduction, sustainability go-to-market strategy, supply chain, benchmarking, communication and stakeholder engagement.  

Solutions

Selosse advanced ESG value creation initiatives across five projects:

1. To engage employees and customers at a food & beverage retail company, Selosse developed a survey for store managers and identified three near-term value creation opportunities in communications, responsible sourcing and waste reduction.
2. To assist an oil & gas portfolio company on its first sustainability report, he created a materiality framework and developed a reporting document, highlighting key aspects of prior sustainability work.  He also created a GRI-inspired report outline and engaged with key company executives.
3. Selosse collaborated with a data center company to integrate sustainability in its go-to-market strategy by identifying and synthesizing target customers’ energy efficiency and renewable goals for data center procurement and reviewed peer programs to identify opportunities to attract potential customers.
4. To assist a fast-casual restaurant chain design its meat sourcing strategy, Selosse conducted a competitive analysis of responsible sourcing strategies to inform the company strategy development.
5. Selosse also developed a sustainability benchmarking tool and applied it to a recent portfolio company investment.  The tool highlighted key sustainability metrics within the company’s competitive set, and helped set the groundwork for an initial conversation with management.

Potential Impact

Selosse collaborated with TPG and its portfolio companies to design and scale a set of engagement tools and tactics that identify value creation opportunities and highlight best practices in a diverse set of industries. These tools will enable a more efficient and deeper engagement model and will accelerate the reach of the Firm’s already successful ESG efforts.