UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Tom Hogan, professor of practice in human resource management and the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging officer for the Penn State School of Labor and Employment Relations, has been selected to serve on the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) strategic advisory group on environmental, social and governance (ESG) ecosystem.
“I previously served as a member of the ISO workgroup that was responsible for developing and publishing an ISO standard on diversity and inclusion,” said Hogan. “At this time, there is an intense focus on ESG from organizations, employees, suppliers, government, institutional investors, and the global community. This includes identifying and managing potential opportunities and risks, particularly if we view the environment and society from a governance lens. Our group will serve as strategic advisers and consultants to advise ISO on what they should be doing to help promote ESG.”
ESG criteria are a set of standards that evaluate an organization’s collective conscientiousness for a wide range of social and environmental issues.
ISO is the world’s largest independent, nongovernmental international organization that brings experts together to develop voluntary, consensus-based, market-relevant standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.
After a highly selective process, Hogan was assigned to a specific subgroup that is responsible for identifying the key stakeholders and stakeholder engagement strategies.
“Based on my experience with ISO and my work in the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) space, being part of this project is seeing everything come together,” said Hogan.
He added, “As HR professionals, we should be in the business of tapping into and realizing human potential in organizations. The question that drives me is: What are the barriers preventing people from bringing their best selves to work? Whether that’s a social barrier or an environmental one, I see the connection between climate change and DEIB. Discussions about climate change open the door to discussions about DEIB.”
Hogan’s appointment also parallels his teaching interests. His class, the Virtual Transformational Leadership Development Experience (VTLD), leverages the arts in a virtual setting to promote student engagement, engaged scholarship, and develop the next generation of leaders to serve as agents of change in pursuit of a more civil, equitable and just society.
“In another class I teach, Ethics in the Workplace, we have multiple lessons that focus on 'grand challenges' like climate change, sustainability and DEIB. We talk about exactly what my group has been tasked with doing for ISO,” Hogan added. “They’re the challenges we face not only as individuals and a society, but also as a global community.”
The United Nations has developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals that form the framework for ESG. The group’s desired outcome is to develop a strategy and recommendations for ISO’s value proposition in the ESG ecosystem and then propose next steps.
“I see myself as a boundary-spanner — my teaching, research, service and thinking goes beyond just HR, and I want my students to see themselves as thought leaders, solutions providers, and trusted advisers, too,” he said.
Hogan describes himself as a human capital management scholar, strategic adviser, executive coach, and EdTech thought leader. He is an internationally recognized subject-matter expert on business ethics, diversity, equity, inclusion, ethical and socially responsible AI, and an enabler of executive leadership and organizational excellence.
In August 2020, Hogan was appointed to the SHRM Blue Ribbon Commission on Racial Equity. In May of that year, he was invited by the World Economic Forum’s Empowering AI Leadership Initiative to collaborate with global thought leaders to develop and publish an Ethical AI Toolkit for C-suite executives. In June 2020, Hogan was selected to serve as a Penn State University Teaching and Learning with Technology Faculty Fellow for the 2020-21 academic year. Previously, Hogan served as a scholar for the Penn State Student Engagement Faculty Academy from 2019 to 2021.
Before joining the School of LER faculty, Hogan began his career working in corporate America. He gained practical experience managing operations during his 23 years at AT&T. In his last assignment at AT&T, he served as director of strategic talent acquisition and retention, workforce diversity, and equal employment opportunity/affirmative action.