Name: Alasdair Campbell-Birkett
Job: ESG Due Diligence Manager, KPMG
Industry: Financial Services
Class of: 2012
House: Moore

What do you do?

I’m an ESG Due Diligence Manager in KPMG‘s Deal Advisory practice. We work with private market fund managers and private equity houses on the analysis of a target company before they buy or sell it. We’re trying to identify key sustainability risks, or opportunities to make money (“value creation”) at different points as the company grows. ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It speaks to a method of considering non-financial risk and opportunity factors in different companies such as climate risk, greenhouse gas emissions or diversity and inclusion.

How did you get to where you are today?

My accounting and finance degree at the University of Bath included a year in industry which I spent working at UBS, a Swiss Investment Bank. The experience piqued my interest in M&A (mergers and acquisitions). After joining KPMG as a graduate in 2016, I qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2019 before moving over to the firm’s ESG practice.

What is a standout memory of your time at The High School of Glasgow?

The exposure to all kinds of sports and extra-curricular activities. Picking up a passion early on in life seems much easier in hindsight than it is once you’re deep into a career and the other commitments that brings! We are showered in opportunities at school and university, with the expectations and time to pursue them.

What one piece of advice would you give to current pupils and recent leavers as they look to their futures?

Recognise and pursue topics you’re passionate about. Be curious, close the loop on career thoughts and ideas you have by reading into it or speaking with people in that industry through networks or resources, such as HSOG’s ReConnect. If you’re not sure what you want to do, the more questions you ask and answers you receive you can begin to piece together a clearer picture of what roles you would enjoy or succeed within and which ones the world needs!

To ReConnect with old classmates, forge new business links and seek mentoring advice, please sign up to HSOG Connect, our networking platform.

ReConnect with Alasdair here: https://hsogconnect.co.uk/user/778926.

You can read more of our ReConnect submissions here.