Originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. Read the June 2025 issue here.
The aviation industry is responsible for 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions, so what was a former industry CEO like Rich Corrado, MBA ’92, doing lecturing about implementing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies? He knows a thing or two about creating change.
After reading last summer about Professor and Joseph L. Sweeney Chair Mary Ellen Carter’s undergraduate class, “ESG Reporting and Analysis: Accounting for a Changing World,” Corrado realized his experience establishing an ESG program as CEO of Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) could be useful to students learning about the concept. He has since spoken to two of Carter’s classes, offering real-life insights from a shifting industry.
Rich Corrado, MBA '92
Back in 2021, ATSG—an Ohio-based aviation company that leases planes and facilitates air cargo transportation for companies like Amazon—had been looking to amplify their sustainability efforts due to growing stakeholder interest. At the same time, companies in the International Air Transport Association, including ATSG, committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “The environmental side of aviation is a very difficult space to mitigate,” Corrado says. But he still wanted to make progress at ATSG, however incrementally, while the industry developed the technology needed for more sweeping changes.
Within a year, ATSG released its first sustainability report outlining a broad strategy. “People look at ESG, and focus on environment, but the S and the G are just as important,” he explains. On the governance side, the company diversified its board of directors, making a conscious effort to hire women and people of color. On the social side, ATSG instituted a parental leave policy, built an on-site health clinic for employees, and worked with the Ohio governor’s office to open a vaccination site at its headquarters during the pandemic.
“ People look at ESG and focus on environment, but the S and G are just as important. ”
While hopeful that future industry-wide advancements would help scale back carbon emissions, Corrado and his team looked for improvements they could make right away. Alongside investing in technologies to cut fuel usage, ATSG took steps like installing LED lighting in its two 400,000-square-foot hangars—which saved enough energy to power 600 homes for a year. “You look at that number and you feel like you’re doing something right,” he says.
Corrado left the company in 2023. Now semiretired in Chestnut Hill—he has a consulting business and does some private equity work—he is sharing his experience to help students envision the real-world possibilities of their lessons. “What they’re learning is not just words on the page of a textbook,” he says. “Everybody’s going to have to deal with [ESG] one way or another."
