Simon & Schuster Runs SB 261 Climate Risk Compliance On Beehive
Fast, credible, and scalable climate risk analysis—delivered by a compliance-focused legal team.
Dwayne DeHaven, SVP of Operations
“Beehive gave us a strong first draft of our report, and all we had to do was review and adjust. They turned a complex process into something simple.”
The Challenge
Simon & Schuster had completed preliminary climate-related work with guidance from its private-equity owner, KKR. But 2024 marked a major shift: the legal team—led by Jennifer Chung, VP & Counsel—needed to conduct formal physical-risk and transition-risk assessments, identify climate-related opportunities, and prepare their first TCFD-aligned disclosure.
Key challenges included:
Ensuring the process met legal-grade rigor and defensibility
Completing assessments quickly without hiring consultants
Understanding exposures across a global operational and supply-chain footprint
Translating complex climate data into insights suitable for Board and executive review
Dwayne DeHaven, SVP of Operations
“We knew compliance was coming and that we had to take it seriously, but figuring out how to do it credibly without spending a fortune was daunting. Consultants wanted six figures and endless hours of our time. Beehive stood out because it was structured, scalable, and actually made sense for an operator like us.”
The Solution
Beehive was built for exactly this kind of company — businesses with global footprints and limited bandwidth for compliance work.
The onboarding process took minutes. Simon & Schuster shared their asset information (data centers, offices, warehouses, and employees) and Beehive’s system did the rest. Instead of spreadsheets or consultants, the platform guided Simon & Schuster through a simple, checklist-style workflow.
Behind the scenes, Beehive’s AI-powered engine:
Mapped physical climate risks like floods, cyclones, wildfiresand heat waves across Simon & Schuster’s global operations.
Ran scenario analysis to show how those risks could evolve in the coming decades.
Benchmarked transition risks and opportunities against industry peers.
Auto-drafted disclosure text aligned to TCFD reporting standards required for SB 261.
Most importantly, the platform didn’t overwhelm. Jennifer paid the development team a direct compliment, "It was amazing. This was probably the most seamless product I've used in a very long time. The actual product is beautiful. So big props to whoever created the literal interfaces." Instead of asking Simon & Schuster to become climate experts, Beehive absorbed the complexity and surfaced what mattered most.
Dwayne DeHaven, SVP of Operations
“What impressed me most was how quickly we could get through it. One person on our team could upload the data, see risk scores for every facility and employee, and then instantly pull that into a board-ready report. It was night and day compared to the months of back-and-forth I expected.”
The Results
What the team expected to be a burdensome, drawn-out process turned into a surprising win:
Compliance in ~1 hour. From data upload to board-ready disclosure, the process took about an hour of real time.
Investor support. As a portfolio company of KKR, Jennifer needs to make sure that the PE firm’s high ESG standards are met. Beehive helped her build that confidence.
High-quality output. Jennifer left with a polished draft report, a board presentation template, and confidence that their disclosures would meet regulatory standards.
What started as a daunting requirement became a demonstration of how modern tools can transform compliance. In just an hour, Simon & Schuster went from unsure where to begin, to fully prepared for regulators, customers, and their board.
Dwayne DeHaven, SVP of Operations
“It was amazing. This was probably the most seamless product I’ve used in a very long time.”
Why Beehive
For Simon & Schuster, the alternatives weren’t appealing. Traditional consultants would have taken months, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and required Simon & Schuster to provide extensive staff time and manual data gathering. Internal teams were already stretched thin, and DIY approaches risked producing reports that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Beehive offered something different: a streamlined, automated process that combined enterprise-grade climate data with AI-driven reporting — all in a fraction of the time and cost.
Dwayne DeHaven, SVP of Operations
