Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, announces that Aragon St-Charles has been appointed as the Firm’s first Global Head of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG).
Aragon will work with Dentons’ global leadership team and Global Board to design and implement the Firmwide ESG strategy, bringing together critically important efforts across the Firm, while coordinating with Stephen Shergold, Chair of the Firm’s Global ESG Steering Committee, responsible for developing market-leading ESG products and services for Dentons’ clients.
Dentons ESG practice has experienced fast and successful growth, delivering market leading support for clients by optimizing the synergy between its ESG subject matter experts and broader practice and sector teams whilst developing innovative tools to anticipate the rapidly changing regulatory environment.
Aragon joins Dentons from Hogan Lovells, where he was the Firm’s first Head of Sustainability, alongside his role as Head of Operations for the Asia Pacific Region. In addition, he served as Co-Chair of the Responsible Business Committee in Hogan Lovells’ Tokyo office, where he led the firm’s community investment programs within Japan, as well as championing the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion and LGBTI initiatives.
“In Aragon, we have hired an operations leader to embed ESG into all that we do – which differentiates us from the approach of other law firms who put ESG either into their Marketing Department or their charitable and pro bono activities. Aragon’s impressive resume and deep acumen in the ESG space will help distinguish Dentons as a leader and innovator in the global ESG marketplace,” said Joe Andrew, Global Chairman. “Investing in ESG is a key tenet of our business strategy, and I am excited to get to work with him and to transform how Dentons thinks about ESG so that we can drive meaningful change in the legal profession and business community.”
“I am honored to be joining Dentons to continue the important work of holding ourselves accountable to meeting our ESG commitments as a Firm, as well as expanding ESG offerings for the benefit of our clients around the world,” said Aragon St-Charles. “I look forward to leveraging my experience of designing and implementing key ESG programs to embed sustainability into Dentons’ core functions and to positively impact our clients’ sustainability goals.”
Prior to Hogan Lovells, Aragon spent more than a decade in senior operations and human resources and recruiting roles across professional services firms in Japan. His experience in the Asia Pacific region will be critical to giving Dentons a unique perspective on the ESG challenges and opportunities at hand.
“I am delighted to work with Aragon to elevate our firmwide ESG efforts and commitments and take urgent action where it counts,” said Elliott Portnoy, Global CEO. “Aragon’s expertise will allow us to ensure we sustain our market-leading ESG offerings and continue to differentiate the Firm in the hearts and minds of our clients and the 200+ communities where we live and work.”
Aragon attended the University of Kent at Canterbury in the U.K. for his undergraduate studies, achieving a B.A. in Philosophy & Politics. Additionally, he has received certifications in business sustainability management from the University of Cambridge and sustainable business strategy from Harvard Business School Online.
