Professor Dr. Kerstin Lopatta is a globally recognised authority in financial accounting, auditing, and corporate sustainability. She plays an active and influential role in bridging empirical scientific research with high-level policy-making, and has contributed substantially to the development of European and global sustainability disclosure standards. In May 2026 she was appointed Chair of the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board (SRB) following nomination by the European Commission after consultation with the European Parliament and the Council. She had previously served three years as Vice-Chair of the EFRAG SRB and has been an academic observer to the German Federal Ministry of Finance’s Sustainable Finance Committee.
Since 2018 she has held the Chair of Financial Accounting, Auditing and Sustainability at the University of Hamburg. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Luxembourg (Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance), a Visiting Professor at City University of Hong Kong, and a member of the Academic Advisory Board of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK). Her earlier academic career includes professorships at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg and Freie Universität Berlin, complemented by research stays in Hong Kong, New York, and Copenhagen.
As a firm believer in the transformative power of sustainable finance and corporate responsibility, Professor Lopatta combines her scholarship with extensive public and corporate service. She began her professional career in auditing at Deloitte and earned her Ph.D. in Business Administration (summa cum laude) from Goethe University Frankfurt.