ascal Baltussen is the Global Vice President, Procurement & Sustainability for Mars Wrigley Confectionery. He leads procurement worldwide for some of the most beloved and delicious brands, from M&M’s® and SNICKERS® to Orbit®, Juicy Fruit® and Altoids® to Starburst® and Skittles®. In this role, he guarantees the product quality and consistency, cost effectiveness, seamless delivery and sustainability strategy across all regions. Pascal also is part of the global leadership teams.

Pascal joined Mars Chocolate in 2010 in Europe, where he formulated the ingredients for a new procurement approach that streamlined strategic, operational and transactional approaches – a winning combination that was ultimately applied across the business worldwide. In 2013 Pascal moved to the US to assume global commercial leadership for Mars Chocolate, and he was promoted into his current role in July 2017. From buying cocoa, mint, peanuts and sugar, to sourcing packaging and talent, Pascal’s experience in both developed and emerging markets positioned him to now lead all procurement operations for Mars Wrigley Confectionery. In this role, Pascal is committed to working with his teams, suppliers, industry partners, not-for-profit organizations and governments to improve the social and environmental impact on the supply chain.

Pascal’s thirst for global procurement initiatives brewed at Inbev, where he moved to China to lead the strategy and implementation of sourcing in Asia, and unified process and reporting improvements across the business for the global beer maker. He started his career as a purchasing manager for Ericsson.

Pascal earned a bachelor’s degree in business engineering and administration from Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. He is married with three children and a Hungarian Viszla named Toby.

Ashley Schulten, is the Head of Responsible Investing for BlackRock’s Global Fixed Income platform. She is a portfolio manager on global green and socially responsible mandates and leads the coordination of the firm’s green bond effort. She partners with BlackRock's Global Fixed Income team, Investment Stewardship team and Sustainable Investing team to bring ESG and climate risk integration tools and strategies to the investment process. Prior to this role, she spent several years in the Global Rates Trading team. Previous to BlackRock, Ms. Schulten’s work included 20 years as a sell side interest rate and options trader.

Ms. Schulten earned a BA in Political Science from Vanderbilt University in 1992. She serves on the Executive Committee of Green Bond Principles and Cicero's Climate Finance Board. She has contributed to publications on green finance including 'Investor Expectations of the Green Bond Market' through Ceres and 'Categorizing Climate Risk for Investors' through the Cicero Center for International Climate Research. In her personal capacity, she sits on the Board of the Mianus River Gorge, the first Nature Conservancy land project.

Michele Malejki is currently the Global Head of Strategic Programs for Sustainability & Social Innovation at HP Inc. In this role, Michele drives strategy related the company’s global social impact initiatives, including programs focused on empowering women and girls through inclusive learning and economic opportunity. Michele is an advisor the HP LIFE program and sits on UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change, a cross-sector collaboration aimed at marshalling technology and innovation to empower women and girls around the world.

She previously served as Deputy Director of Program at the Clinton Global Initiative, where she developed research and strategic content for issues related to climate change, refugees and displaced people, financial inclusion, and girls’ and women’s education worldwide.

Before CGI, she was based in Thailand at the Alliance for Financial Inclusion, where she managed an executive committee composed of central banking heads from developing and emerging countries. Michele also worked in Cambodia for One Acre Fund, where she developed and implemented the NGO’s first micro-lending initiative in Asia; this saw her building and training a local team, identifying key stakeholders for partnerships, working directly in the fields with smallholder farmers, and deploying over 150 micro-loans.

Her career began in investment banking at JPMorgan, where she covered credit risk within the insurance sector.

Michele holds a MSc in Sustainable Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and a BSc in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Abby Maxman joined Oxfam America as its president in 2017. She brings over twenty five years of experience in international humanitarian relief and development to her new post. Prior to joining Oxfam, she served as Deputy Secretary General of CARE International in Geneva providing leadership of the Secretariat and across the CARE confederation. She previously served as Vice President of International Programs & Operations for CARE overseeing regional management units and their country offices in East & Central, West and Southern Africa; Latin America & the Caribbean; Asia; and the Middle East/Europe and in regional and country leadership and management roles since 1995.

Prior to CARE, Maxman worked with the U.S. Peace Corps, German Agency for Technical Cooperation, UN World Food Programme, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Colorado College and a Master of International Administration from The School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Joelle Tanguy is a humanitarian, women's and human rights, sustainability, and leadership development champion. She is currently Director of the Strategic Partnership Division of UN Women. She served previously as Under-Secretary-General at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Federation, Managing Director at the GAVI Alliance and Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders.

Joelle received her MBA from France's HEC MBA in a joint program with Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and worked with technology ventures in California, Europe and Japan, before volunteering on humanitarian frontlines. She led field humanitarian missions worldwide, often at the height of political and military turmoil, and became US Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Joelle then supported the launch of a public private partnership for TB drug development and went on to serve as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS led by the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and was focal point for the private sector on the board of directors of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. 

She became Managing Director at GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, in 2009 and successfully orchestrated the first major refinancing effort (US$ 4.3 billion) to immunize more than 250 million of the world’s poorest children against life-threatening diseases by 2015 and prevent more than four million premature deaths.

She subsequently served as Under Secretary of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Federation in charge of humanitarian diplomacy at the height of crises such as the Syrian conflict, the Ebola outbreak and the migration crisis.

Joelle is a board member of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative & the Access to Medicines Foundation; Fellow of the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

James Gowen is vice president, Supply Chain Operations and chief sustainability officer for Verizon.  Since taking on these complementary roles in 2009, his team has enlisted more than 22,000 Verizon employees in 34 countries around the globe in helping to reduce the company’s environmental footprint while increasing the efficiency of a growing enterprise.

Gowen has been deeply involved in the advancement of innovative and sustainable technologies and recently spearheaded the launch of Verizon’s flagship $137M green energy initiative which enabled Verizon to eliminate 20,000 metric tons of CO2.  Gowen also oversees other green initiatives being implemented across Verizon including the introduction of a carbon intensity metric, paper suppression, waste reduction and recycling, and management of end-of-life-cycle material recovery.

In his supply chain role, Gowen leads centralized operations including regional distribution centers and the global customer premises equipment program with responsibility for over $10 billion in annual through-put. Gowen also has responsibility for Verizon’s Global Manufacturing Operations, producing customer premises equipment deployed to Fios customers.

Most recently Gowen spearheaded the start-up of Verizon Services Ireland Limited in Dublin, Ireland. He was responsible for transitioning 15 billion dollars in annual spend for strategic sourcing of Verizon’s Network and IT operations. Over 70 industry professionals were hired and a state-of the art center of excellence was built under Gowen’s leadership in less than 7 months.

Having held several positions of increasing levels of responsibility at Verizon, Gowen was the lead architect of the company's supply chain strategy and led the strategic shift from a fixed to a variable inventory business model. While in corporate sourcing, he led the implementation of Verizon's eProcurement effort, and the standardization of Verizon's supply chain systems.

Gowen earned his master's degree in business administration from Long Island University and his bachelor's degree from Manhattanville College. He is a member of Penn State University’s Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board.  Gowen is located at Verizon Center in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

His current role involves technical leadership of innovation, materials productivity, quality systems and reporting, scientific and regulatory affairs, and nutrition initiatives across the region.

Rob worked for PepsiCo for 18 years, most recently as SVP R&D for the $14Bn Europe Sector, based in the UK.

This role included full R&D accountability for the savoury snacks, FC and NFC juices, breakfast cereal and dairy categories. His other roles included VP R&D Health & Wellness platforms for Frito Lay in Dallas, TX 2002-2006; Senior Director Asia Pacific Region R&D in Sydney, Australia 2000-2002; and R&D Director Eastern Europe Foods in Warsaw, Poland 1996-1997.

Rob began his career with Procter & Gamble in UK as a product developer in the laundry detergent category.

A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Rob holds a Master degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London.

Mr. Kelley has been a partner at Lindsay Goldberg LLC, a private equity firm, since January 2017. From December 2012 to June 2016, he served as president and chief executive officer of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., a beverage company which was acquired by JAB Holding Company in March 2016. From 2007 to November 2012, Mr. Kelley was employed by The Coca-Cola Company, a consumer beverage company, serving as the president of still/non-carbonated beverages and supply chain from April 2007-August 2012; and president, Coca-Cola Refreshments from August 2012 to November 2012. Mr. Kelley’s prior experience includes serving as president and CEO of Sirva, Inc. a relocation services company from July 2002 to April 2007. As CEO, Brian led the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2003. Prior to that, Mr. Kelley was involved at Ford Motor Company from April 1999 to July 2002 where he served in a number of executive roles including president, Lincoln Mercury Division. From April 1994 to April 1999, Mr. Kelley was a corporate officer at General Electric (GE) where he served in a number of roles ultimately becoming vice-president/general manager of sales, service and distribution of GE Appliances. Mr. Kelley began his career at Procter & Gamble from August 1983 to April 1984 where he served in a number of sales and brand management assignments. Mr. Kelley currently serves as vice chairman of the board of directors of Keurig Green Mountain where he has served as a member since December 2012. In addition, Mr. Kelley has served as member of the board of Blue Apron since May 2017. Mr. Kelley holds a B.A. degree in economics from the College of the Holy Cross.

Ms Minna Aila (b. 1966, LLM) has well over ten years of experience in sustainability in different business sectors. She is currently Vice President, Corporate Affairs, at Nokia, responsible for communications, government relations and corporate responsibility. She has held senior leadership positions in two other listed global companies, Outotec and Elcoteq. She has also worked for the financial sector, as well as served the European Commission for ten years.

Twitter: @MinnaAila

IlLonka (Javette) Hines is Director, Head of Supply Chain Development, Inclusion and Sustainability at Citi. Javette leads Citi’s efforts to ensure the consideration and inclusion of diverse firms within Citi’s sourcing practices. Additionally, she is responsible for working across the firm with sourcing and business units to align supplier selection efforts with Citi’s 10 year $100B Climate initiative and 5 year Sustainability Strategy.

Supplier Div Citi

Javette has over 20 years of experience in procurement, leadership, diversity, contracts, and management. Prior to joining Citi, Javette worked at International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) where her responsibilities included: recruitment of supply chain talent, management of US and global sourcing activities, globalization of the supplier diversity program, strategic planning, and software & technical services sourcing.

Javette is passionate about her work in the supply chain, as well as her efforts to focus on leadership development and capacity building. She continues to work with peers and various organizations to develop capacity among MWBEs and works with several HBCUs and the Institute of Supply Management to mentor students currently in the supply chain area and legal field. She also supports mentoring excellence via high school students associated with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s ASCEND ℠ as well as the L.I.F.E. Program via The Links, Incorporated.

Javette holds a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Grades Education from Clark Atlanta University and a Juris Doctor from the Wake Forest University School of Law. Javette is a Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (CPSD) and a member of the New York and GA State Bar Associations. She represents Citi on several Boards, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and Women Presidents Educational Organization (WPEO). Javette is Life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and a number of other civic and community organizations who support and encourage a more strategic plan and path to global sustainable living and inclusion. 

Cari Boyce serves as senior vice president of stakeholder strategy and sustainability for Duke Energy and president of the Duke Energy Foundation. She leads the company’s philanthropic activities to address the needs of the communities where its customers live and work. The Duke Energy Foundation annually provides more than $30 million in charitable grants with a focus on kindergarten to career, the environment and community impact. In addition, she is responsible for developing the company’s stakeholder outreach strategy and overseeing sustainability initiatives and reporting.

Previously, Boyce was Duke Energy’s vice president of policy, sustainability and stakeholder strategy, a role that she held since November 2015. She was responsible for the development, communication and integration of the company’s position on environmental and energy policy issues, sustainability initiatives and reporting, as well as stakeholder outreach. From August 2016 through March 2017, she also served as the interim lead of the company’s federal government affairs office.

Boyce served as vice president of environmental and energy policy from 2012 through 2015. She also served as vice president of corporate communications for Progress Energy from 2009 through 2012. Boyce joined Progress Energy in 2006, initially serving in the role of director, external communications. She assumed her current position in May 2017.

Prior to her employment at Progress Energy, Boyce worked in state government in New York and North Carolina for 15 years. She served as the director of communications for the North Carolina governor’s office, and was later promoted to the role of director of external affairs, where she was responsible for managing the federal and regional offices for the governor, as well as the governor’s communications and constituent relations offices. She also served as senior adviser for policy and communications for the North Carolina attorney general; and as a legislative assistant in the New York State General Assembly.

Boyce currently serves on the board of directors for the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), the board of the Raleigh Chamber and the board of visitors for the University of North Carolina Institute for the Environment.

A native of Ticonderoga, N.Y., Boyce earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from Siena College. She also earned a Master of Education degree from North Carolina State University. Boyce has two shelties, Boone and Archie.

Duke Energy, one of the largest energy holding companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electric services to approximately 7.5 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest. The company also distributes natural gas services to approximately 1.6 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Its commercial business operates a growing renewable energy portfolio across the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 125 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

Prior to joining LACI, he was appointed as the first ever Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles by Mayor Eric Garcetti in August 2013. As L.A.’s first CSO, Petersen was the chief architect of the Sustainable City pLAn which is a roadmap for a L.A. and helped create the Climate Mayors.

Petersen co-founded Global Green USA and led the organization for 19 years as President and CEO. The organization was a pioneer in greening of affordable housing, schools, and cities as well as helping grow the solar sector. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Petersen put forth a vision and mobilized resources to green the rebuilding of New Orleans, including schools, the Lower 9th Ward, and more.

Petersen is chair of the Climate Mayors board, and a board member of Global Green USA, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, Center for Environmental Health, and the Sir Edmund Hilary Institute for International Leadership. Petersen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the LA Sustainability Leadership Council, and served as an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative on energy and the environment while a CGI member for 10 years. He has a son, and is a retired AYSO coach.

With 20 years of experience in sustainability and consumer-focused supply chains, John C. Scott serves as the Vice President of Global Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility for Subway®, the world’s largest restaurant chain.

In his role, John will oversee the global agenda for an integrated sustainability and CSR program in collaboration with Marketing, Retail Operations, Communications, Public Relations, Innovation, Menu Development and Procurement.

Prior to Subway in 2017, John held global leadership roles at PepsiCo, The Chefs’ Warehouse and Nabisco. John has also served on the board of Sedex, a world-wide technology platform for sharing responsible sourcing data, and co-chaired the AIM-PROGRESS CPG initiative on responsible sourcing.

Sara Link is head of Oath For Good, and is president of the Oath Foundation.

Oath For Good’s call to action is to build a better world by investing in women and future leaders, strengthening communities around the world and empowering our brands, employees, partners, clients and audiences to make an outstanding impact on the world’s biggest challenges. The Oath Foundation is focused on improving the lives of women, girls and underserved youth around the globe

Before Oath, Sara led the Citizen AOL team and built the AOL Charitable Foundation. She’s led partnerships with game-changing global organizations like Girls Who Code, The Peace Corps, The UN Foundation, NYC Foundation for Computer Science and Step Up.

Prior to AOL, Sara co-founded Little West Group, a philanthropic consulting firm and was head of the Social Impact and Philanthropy practice at Korn Consulting Group.

Before that, she spent more than nine years at Goldman Sachs. Sara holds an M.A. from Columbia University in Organizational Psychology and a B.A. from the University of Maryland in Psychology. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Eric their son Dylan and daughter Sage.

Ronald den Elzen is originally from the Netherlands and has been with HEINEKEN for over 20 years. He's held various positions in Finance, Sales and General Management in HEINEKEN's businesses in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Portugal. In his previous role as Managing Director of HEINEKEN Portugal, he mobilized and energized the organization around a powerful growth strategy during an economic depression. Ronald resides in Connecticut, and lives with his wife and three kids.

Thomas Brostrøm serves as the President for Ørsted North America (formerly DONG Energy). In this role, Thomas oversees all North American operations for Ørsted North America, including the company’s utility-scale offshore wind development projects in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Thomas initially joined Ørsted in Denmark in 2009 where he served as Business Developer and Mergers & Acquisitions and later Head of the Renewables Strategy team.

He moved to Ørsted’s UK office in 2012 where he was instrumental in building the company’s utility-scale offshore wind business. He initially served as Head of Project Development UK for Ørsted where he led and oversaw offshore wind project development of Ørsted’s large UK portfolio. In this role, Thomas led the development of the 1.2 megawatt Hornsea project, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, and the Burbo Bank Extension project, which uses 8 megawatt Vestas turbines – the largest turbines in the world.

Thomas also served on the board of RenewableUK – the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. In 2014, Thomas was named Director of Commercial and Market Development where he oversaw all commercial and market development activities for Ørsted.

Prior to joining Ørsted, Thomas was in the investment banking and venture capital business.

Thomas studied Business Analysis & Valuation and Mergers & Acquisitions at Harvard University and received his master’s degree in Finance and International Business from Aarhus University in Denmark. He was also an Instructor in corporate finance at Aarhus School of Business in Denmark.

Al Naqvi is the pioneer of the field of Applied Artificial Intelligence in Business and Strategy, Executive Director of Society of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Healthcare, and CEO of American Institute of A.I. His goal is to democratize artificial intelligence responsibly. He has developed Body of Knowledge for the field, culminating in the development of 12 courses in Applied A.I. including Applied A.I. in Corporate Strategy, Applied A.I. in Finance, Applied A.I. and Marketing, Applied A.I. in Human Resources, Applied A.I. in Competitive Intelligence, Applied A.I. in Supply Chain Management, Applied A.I in Healthcare. His courses and body of knowledge are being taught in offerings by highly reputable organizations such as APICS and SCIP. In 2017, Naqvi has published 4 articles on Applied Artificial Intelligence in academic journals, written 2 book chapters, co-edited upcoming Business Expert Book Strategy in the Artificial Intelligence Economy, co-authored a strategy book Beaver Bots of Yellowstone – a parable that explains A.I. in a fun and interesting manner, and launched an academic journal. Naqvi is currently authoring and co-authoring 7 books on the subject. His seminars, conferences, and lectures are attended by executives of world’s leading companies. Naqvi was the Subject Matter Expert for the first ever Artificial Intelligence course developed for High School Students (Praxis). Naqvi is currently Subject Matter Expert for a Robotics course. In 2017, Naqvi has presented in 8 conferences and is scheduled to speak at major events in US, Europe, South America and Asia. Under Naqvi’s leadership American Institute of A.I. has become the central source of knowledge for Applied A.I. His SADAL® model is at the core of RPA (Robotics Process Automation) and A.I. automation. Naqvi has also developed the first and most comprehensive A.I. governance framework. [Formerly CEO, CFO, CPO/VP F 100, Tech Founder, Strategy Consultant, Investment Banker]

J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr. began his career with Gallagher as an intern in 1972, started working for the company full time in 1974 as a Production Account Executive and was promoted to Vice President- Operations in 1985. He was elected to the Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Board of Directors in 1986. In 1990, he was named President and Chief Operating Officer and, in 1995, was appointed Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Directors. In 2006 he was appointed Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Gallagher joined the Board of Trustees of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters in 2003, and serves on the Board of Founding Directors of the International Insurance Foundation and the Board of Directors of InnerWorkings, Inc. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Council of Boys Hope/Girls Hope and the Board of Advisors for Catholic Charities, and is a member of The Economic Club of Chicago, the Executives Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago.

In 2007, Mr. Gallagher was granted Freedom of the City of London by the city’s Lord Mayor in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Lloyd’s insurance market and for his support of the Gallagher Lifelong Learning scholarships. In 2009, he was honored by the Spencer Educational Foundation (which is affiliated with the Risk and Insurance Management Society) for his ongoing support of the Foundation. And in 2013, he was named Insurance Broking CEO of the Year by Reactions Magazine.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University.

Matthew has dedicated his career to leading mission-based organizations through the challenges of achieving growth, scale, and self-sufficiency. His work experience spans government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors, and he has led teams in entering new markets, launching products and programs, and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of operations.

As President, Matthew works with the Board of Directors to develop the organization’s strategic objectives and then lead the staff in implementing them. He oversees the financing of the organization through fundraising and commercial activities, and is responsible for the operations that support these areas and the work of the SASB standards-setting board and its technical staff.

Matthew has broad experience in strategy, operations, and product development, developed through senior roles at Kaplan Test Prep, Kaplan K12 Learning Services, Junyo, Teachscape, and The Rotary Foundation. Years of experience with education programs, software and data products, and research studies give Matthew a good background for equipping the market with offerings that support education and use of the SASB standards.

Matthew holds a BA from Grinnell College and a MPA in management and public policy from Columbia University. He is member of the Grinnell College Board of Trustees, where he has served on the Finance and Development Committees. He currently chairs the Academic Affairs Committee.

Timothy J. Mohin is the Chief Executive of GRI, developer of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards. A veteran in the field of corporate sustainability reporting, Tim is responsible for leading GRI in achieving its vision of creating a future where sustainability is integral to every organization’s decision making process.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive, Tim was Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). He is also a former Chairman of the Board for the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and former member of the Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative’s steering committee.

Previously, Tim founded and led Apple’s Supplier Responsibility program. He also led Intel’s environmental and sustainability functions. Tim started his career with the US government. With the Environmental Protection Agency, he led the development of the toxics provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments. Later, Tim was senior legislative staff for the Chairman of Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Tim earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the State University of New York at Cortland and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University.

Dr. Jennifer Holmgren is CEO of revolutionary carbon recycling company, LanzaTech. Prior to joining LanzaTech, Dr. Holmgren was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. She was one of the key drivers of UOP’s leadership in aviation biofuels, and under her management, UOP technology became instrumental in producing nearly all of the initial fuels used by commercial airlines and the military for testing and certification of alternative aviation fuel. Today, under Dr. Holmgren’s guidance, LanzaTech is working towards developing a variety of platform chemicals and fuels, including the world’s first alternative jet fuel derived from industrial waste gases.

Dr. Holmgren is the author or co-author of 50 US patents and more than 30 scientific publications. In 2003, she was the first woman awarded the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research (CCR). In 2010, she was the recipient of the Leadership Award from the Civil Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) for her work in establishing the technical and commercial viability of sustainable aviation biofuels. In 2015 Dr. Holmgren and her team at LanzaTech were awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award and she was awarded the BIO Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology. Sustainability magazine, Salt, named Dr. Holmgren as the world’s most compassionate business woman in 2015. In October 2015, Dr. Holmgren was awarded the Outstanding Leader Award in Corporate Social Innovation from the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. Dr. Holmgren was named as #1 of the most 100 influential leaders in the Bioeconomy by Biofuels Digest for 2016-2017.

She currently serves on the board of The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Biofuels Advisory Committee. Dr. Holmgren is also on the Governing Council for the Bio Energy Research Institute in India. The institute has been set up by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Indian Government) and IOC (Indian Oil Corporation).

Dr. Holmgren holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Pieter joined DSM in 2012 as Managing Director DSM Venturing and Vice President of Royal DSM’s Innovation Center.  Before DSM he gained fifteen years of “startup through commercialization” experience as CEO at OrthAlign, Inc., Aliso Viejo, CA, a pioneer in orthopedic surgical navigation and as CEO at IsoTis, Inc., Irvine, CA, a leading regenerative medicine company.   Pieter worked the first decade of his career in international M&A and investment management in Europe.  He holds a law degree from Leiden University, NL.  Pieter works and lives in Boston, MA, USA.

www.dsm.com

www.dsm.com/venturing

www.linkedin.com/in/wolterspieter/

Richard Howitt is Chief Executive Officer of the International Integrated Reporting Council. As such he is spearheading the adoption of Integrated Reporting globally and is a major thought-leader in international debates on good corporate governance, shifting investment to the long-term and inclusive capitalism.

Richard travels extensively internationally to meet with the over 1,500 global businesses who are adopting Integrated Reporting as well as with advocates of Integrated Reporting in policy and investor communities. He is a member of the B20 group of international business leaders who dialogue with G20 governments. Richard has spoken widely on issues of financial stability, sustainable development and capital market reform as part of the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Forum on Responsible Business Conduct, the UNCTAD Expert Group on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting and at other international fora.

Richard has been involved in the evolution of Integrated Reporting from the outset, as a member of HRH The Prince of Wales Annual Forum on Accounting for Sustainability, and was at the original meeting of the Forum which led to the setting up of the IIRC in 2009.  He subsequently served as an Ambassador for the IIRC representing it at international meetings including the Rio +20 UN Summit for Sustainable Development before taking over as Chief Executive Officer in November 2016, succeeding the IIRC’s first Chief Executive, Paul Druckman.

Prior to being appointed to the IIRC, Richard served as an elected Member of the European Parliament for over twenty years and was rapporteur on corporate responsibility. In this capacity, he was key architect of the EU’s non-financial information directive, one of the biggest transformations in corporate disclosure anywhere in the world.

Pam Strifler is Vice President Global Sustainability, Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Insights. In this role, Pam and her team are responsible for key stakeholder collaborations, societal outreach and market intelligence. She oversees the development of Monsanto’s global sustainability strategy and execution of key initiatives such as the Carbon Neutral Operations commitment, Biodiversity programs, Midwest Row Crops Coalition and the company’s partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Water Efficient Maize for Africa.

Prior to this role, Pam served as the Integrated Farming Solutions Lead in Corporate Strategy where she was responsible for the development of the company’s digital integrated farming strategy, and its acquisition and investment portfolio.

Pam joined Monsanto as Director of Marketing for the Dairy business in 1997. During her tenure at Monsanto, Pam has served in a number of other roles, including Commercial Development Manager for its Animal Agriculture Division; U.S. Marketing Operations Lead; Director of Customer Operations; Business Director for the Regional Seed Brands; as well as U.S. Marketing Lead, for Row Crops and Chemistry.

Pam is a Board Member of The Keystone Policy Center and the Global Harvest Initiative. She also is a member of the BIOSTL coalition council.

Pam holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Deaconess School of Nursing and a Masters of Business Administration from Webster University. 

Paige Goff is Vice-President of Sustainability at Domtar, the largest integrated marketer and manufacturer of business and office copy paper in North America. In this role, she is responsible for communicating Domtar’s pulp and paper initiatives, identifying and leveraging the latest sustainability trends and strategies for the business, as well as developing and managing partnerships with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO) and customers. 

Goff has 18 years of experience in the forest products industry and joined Domtar in 2004.  In her previous Domtar roles, she was also the Senior Manager, Brand and Advertising Operations as well as a Product Packaging Manager.  Prior to joining Domtar, Goff was a marketing analyst and planner at Resolute, a major North American paper industry supplier. She has a Master of Business Administration degree. 

Doug Walters is the Chief Sustainability Officer with the City of Los Angeles’ Bureau of Sanitation. He manages the strategic planning and implementation of Sanitation’s work related to environmental, economic and social equity issues to help realize Mayor Eric Garcetti’s vision of making Los Angeles the cleanest and greenest City in the U.S. Recently, he led the development of the One Water LA Plan that integrates all water related projects and policies within departments and agencies through effective collaboration with community stakeholders to ensure that Los Angeles’ water supply and quality is sustainable through 2040. His previous efforts helped the City win the inaugural U.S. Water Prize in 2011.

During Mr. Walters’ tenure with LA Sanitation, he oversaw the planning for large wastewater collection system projects while reducing overflows and odors. Other praiseworthy projects include transforming ocean disposal of biosolids to a 100% beneficial reuse program, the design and implementation of the Griffith Park Composting Facility and the marketing of TOPGRO®, managing landfill closure construction and energy recovery at the City’s landfills and implementing the Proposition O program—a $500M bond that reduces flooding, improves water quality and provides multiple benefits in and around the City’s River, lakes and beaches.

Walters earned his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at UCLA, is a registered Civil Engineer in California and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer with the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. As the creator of Project Green Leadership, he leads the recruiting and mentoring efforts of aspiring environmental engineers. He lives in Los Angeles and is currently pursuing certification in Sustainability at UCLA.

Mr. Per-Olof Loof is the Chief Executive Officer of KEMET Corporation (NYSE:KEM) a leading global manufacturer of electronic components with 16,000 employees, operations in 24 countries and headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Mr. Loof is also the past President and Chief Executive Officer of Sensormatic Electronics Corporation, the world's leader in electronic security. He led the organization through a turnaround and managed its successful acquisition by Tyco International, Ltd.

Due to his past successes, Mr. Loof was honored by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Carolinas in 2012. In addition, he was awarded the South Florida Business Journal's Broward Ultimate CEO in the same year. Mr. Loof was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) in 2014. He was recently inducted into Nova Southeastern University's H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business & Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Mr. Loof has served as Honorary Consul of Sweden for the State of Florida since January 18th, 2006, and was elected Freeman and Citizen of the City of London in 2001.

Bob Dixon fulfills two roles within Siemens, Head of Sustainability for Siemens US and Head of the Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Center of Competence for the Building Technologies Division.

In his role as the head of Sustainability for Siemens US, working in concert with Siemens’ global sustainability organization, he is responsible to develop, communicate, and execute strategic sustainability initiatives. This includes assisting and advising Siemens’ businesses, clients, industry, state, local, and federal government and governments on efficiency and sustainability, and guiding the Siemens US organization towards Carbon Neutrality.

In his role as the Head of the Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Center of Competence for the Building Technologies Division, he is responsible to create and lead the Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Center of Competence. This includes strategy, market, business, and portfolio development, staff recruitment and management, and profit and loss for this newly developing business for the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc.

He previously served as the Head of Enterprise Sales and Industry Affairs, Building Performance & Sustainability, for the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc.  In this position, he was responsible for strategy development, market positioning, enterprise sales and industry leadership to businesses, industry, and governments on efficiency and sustainability in buildings in the Americas.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Efficiency Valuation Organization (EVO), and previously served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the Board of Directors and Vice President for the Energy Services Coalition, the Industry First-Vice Chair for the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE), and is a past president of National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO). 

Previously he served as the Global Head of Efficiency & Sustainability, Vice President, and Senior Advisor to the Management Board for the International Headquarters of the Building Technologies Division of Siemens.  In this position, he was responsible for advising government and business leaders around the world on global initiatives for building efficiency and sustainability that reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption, and conserve natural resources.

Prior to that, he served as the Senior Vice President, Global Head, Energy and Environmental Solutions, with worldwide P&L responsibilities.

In addition, he served as the Industry Member on the Buildings and Appliances Task Force under the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.

He was the first designated Senior Principle Expert for the 39,000 employee Building Technologies division in the division’s history.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, and is a graduate of the Minnesota Executive program at the University of Minnesota.

He was commissioned and served as an officer in the California National Guard. 

Michael Perry is the Director of Kit and Product at Shopify. As the founder of Kit, a virtualemployee for small business owners, Perry and his team work to push the limits of Kit'scapabilities as industry leaders in an ever-changing ecosystem. A serial entrepreneur, Perryfounded GVING, which helps small businesses manage, reward and engage consumersthrough a merchant CRM system. Named one of Forbes Top 30 under 30 in marketing andadvertising and one of Inc.'s Top 10 chatbot marketing influencers and keynote speakers tofollow, Perry continues to build the future of employment for small business owners.

Simon Messenger joined the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) as Managing Director in 2017, with over 10 years of academic and professional experience in sustainability and non-financial reporting.

He currently heads the team working with investors, companies and regulators to understand how to most effectively report environmental and natural capital information in mainstream reporting. He currently leads their work relating to the Taskforce on Climate-related Finance Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations and works with companies to provide a framework for reporting environmental information with the same rigour as financial information.

Previously, Simon was Head of Consulting at the Energy Saving Trust and a Sustainability Manager at PwC and Deloitte. In his roles at PwC and Deloitte, he focused on a wide range of sustainability, risk management and non-financial reporting issues, working across multiple countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America in a range of sectors.

Caroline Rees is the President and Co-Founder of Shift. She is a leading voice globally on how companies and their stakeholders can advance business respect for human rights, and works extensively with business, governments, civil society, investors and others to build capacity and tackle key challenges.

Caroline previously spent 14 years with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 2003 to 2006 she led the UK's human rights negotiating team at the UN and she ran the negotiations to establish the mandate of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on business and human rights. The success of this initiative led to Professor John Ruggie’s appointment, and from 2007-2011 Caroline was a lead advisor on his team and deeply involved in the drafting of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. From 2009 to 2011 Caroline was also the Director of the Governance and Accountability Program at the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School and she remains a Senior Program Fellow there.

Joe Verrengia is the architect of Arrow’s corporate social responsibility program (CSR), combining targeted charitable investing, sustainability and government relations into a strategic initiative to establish Arrow as an innovation catalyst. Arrow is the 2017 Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Company in its industry, including #1 in CSR.

He also directs the Arrow SAM Car, Solar Suitcase and DigiTruck projects, which demonstrate technology concepts for humanitarian purposes.

Arrow CSR was awarded PR Daily’s 2017 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Awards for best education program and best CSR report, and the 2016 PR 360 Global Award for CSR

In 2016, the Arrow SAM car was named the #1 car innovation in the world by Business Insider.

Joe graduated from Columbia University and has held fellowships at MIT, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Kellogg Foundation.

Maria I. Arcaya is currently Vice-president and Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Cisneros, a global enterprise founded in 1929, focused on media & entertainment, digital advertising and real estate. Maria brings twenty years of experience at Cisneros in the development of educational and social responsibility initiatives, including a distance learning program that reached more than 13,000 elementary and secondary school teachers in Latin America and a the first pan-regional educational channel, cl@se, offered throughout Latin America via DIRECTV to subscriber homes and schools.

In her current role, Maria has been responsible for aligning the Cisneros companies' philanthropy and sustainability vision with the corporate strategy by engaging internal and external stakeholders, establishing strategic partnerships and further integrating social responsibility efforts with the business agenda and objectives. Initiatives include gender equality awareness, job-readiness and entrepreneurship education programs, and sustainable tourism, among others.

Maria Ignacia Arcaya holds a BSc and MSc in Education and has completed CSR certificate courses at Venezuela’s Institute for Superior Education in Administration (IESA) and Harvard Business School.

As Executive Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Michael leads a dynamic team that is at the forefront of domestic and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote climate change adaptation through pollution control, resource management, land use planning and green finance. Past and present projects involve collaborations with local and national environmental groups and government representatives, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, and the International Red Cross. Michael is a widely published scholar, a frequent speaker at conferences and symposiums, and a regular source for media outlets. He has taught at Columbia Law School, NYU Law School and Roger Williams School of Law, and has lead short courses on climate change and human rights in the Hague and Grand Cayman. He is also a co-founder and member of the Environmental Law Collaborative.

Prior to joining the Sabin Center Michael was an associate professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, where he taught environmental law, administrative law, and law and literature, and was founder and director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Clinical Externship program. He previously taught in the Lawyering Program at New York University School of Law, and served as an attorney in the Environmental Law Division of New York City’s Office of the Corporation Counsel. Michael is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an articles editor for the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law; and of Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude and received the Ratcliffe Hicks Prize for highest standing in language and literature. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Creative Writing program at NYU.

Anna Lisa Lukes is director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Golden State Foods and executive director of GSF Foundation. As director of CSR, Anna Lisa directs and implements external and internal engagement plans to support GSF’s enterprise-wide strategy relating to the sustainability and community development. Among other objectives, she works with cross-functional operational, management and executive teams to reduce GSF’s carbon footprint from its fleet and facilities, achieve Zero Waste to Landfill, use green building strategies and incorporate renewable energy into the organization’s logistics and manufacturing divisions. As Executive Director of the GSF Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families in need in the areas where GSF associates live and work, she oversees all operations, including strategic planning, fundraising, and organizational management, and collaborates with internal and external partners. Engaging a diverse team at GSF, Anna Lisa within her first year as executive director launched the Foundation’s food program which now raises awareness and funds for childhood hunger and secured a national partnership for one of the Foundation’s core programs. Anna Lisa has a passion for creating shared value and brings a unique set of skills to her work, including a background and experience in law, business management, program development and fundraising. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UCLA, and holds a Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School and an MBA (emphasis in Entrepreneurship) from Chapman University. Anna Lisa serves on the North American Logistics Council for Sustainability, working with all distributors in the supply chain of one of GSF’s customers to drive efforts to reduce carbon footprint and achieve Zero Waste to Landfill. Anna Lisa is active in her community and has served on various non-profit boards. She serves on Board of Challengers of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship at Chapman University, is an Executive Partner emeritus at the Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and is a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals.

Patricia Jurewicz is Founder and Director of Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), a project of As You Sow. RSN champions human rights for vulnerable communities working in the mining and harvesting of raw materials found in products we use every day.

Since 2006, Patricia has worked with the shareholder community to address labor and human rights abuses. She writes and speaks extensively on the issues of modern slavery, human rights benchmarking, traceability, and supply chains. Currently she sits on advisory committees for Know the Chain, ICCR’s Human Trafficking Group, and Cotton Campaign. Her latest project is spearheading the initiative YESS: Yarn Ethically & Sustainably Sourced, which aims to eliminate forced labor from cotton sourcing globally.

Preceding As You Sow, she researched US adherence to global treaties at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP); she rewrote Gap, Inc.’s Vendor Handbook; and she volunteered with women's craft cooperatives in Latin America.

Patricia has degrees from Thunderbird School of Global Management, Cornell University, and Fashion Institute of Technology.

Andrew is Senior Vice President and Head of Sustainability for KeyBank, a $135 billion financial institution that operates across 15 states in the U.S. Andrew uses his sustainability and organizational change expertise to lead the bank in the development and execution of a sustainability strategy that positions the bank for growth. In his role, he works with the corporate responsibility team and bank leadership to balance margin and mission to achieve dependable results.

Prior to his position at KeyBank, Andrew was senior consultant at BrownFlynn, a sustainability and corporate responsibility consulting firm located in Cleveland, OH. Previously, Andrew was the City of Cleveland’s first Chief of Sustainability and led the coordination of Sustainable Cleveland 2019, an action plan to create an economic engine to empower a green city on a blue lake.

Andrew holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and economics from Bates College and a master’s in Positive Organizational Development from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Mrs. Bank Jorgensen is one of the world’s most experienced and renowned sustainability, climate change and ESG advisers. She serves at His Royal Highness Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Expert Panel and is a Global Board Facilitator for the world’s largest network of responsible businesses, UN Global Compact.

Helle brings over 25 years of experience advising global companies and investors within sustainability and climate change. 11 of those years as a partner with PwC in Europe and in the U.S. leading the sustainability and climate change practices. She was the creator of the world's first Green Account and later the world's first Integrated Report and first holistic supply chain program.

She is a regular key-note speaker and the author of many thought-leading articles and books about sustainability, climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the roles and responsibilities of Board members. This includes the featured article “Stability through Sustainability” published by West Point - The United States Military Academy.

Helle is a business lawyer and a state authorized public accountant and was the first in North America to receive Certificate of Achievement for passing the GRI G4 Exam. She is also the President of the Global Compact Network Canada, Canadian Chapter of UNGC; chair of eRevalue, and serves on the Release Council for the Future-Fit Business Benchmark; and Cornerstone Capital Global Advisory Council.

As a sustainability reporting specialist at ABN AMRO, Herma is responsible for clear and up-to-date reporting of ABN AMRO's sustainability performance. She channels and supports communication on ABN AMRO's performance towards various target groups, and guides the cooperation with several sustainable rating agencies. Furthermore, she has co-developed ABN AMRO's Human Rights reporting approach which resulted in ABN AMRO's first Human Rights report in December 2016. Previously, she worked as a comunications consultant in the food & fashion industry. She holds a MSc in International Business Administration at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Nancy Wildfeir-Field is President of GBCHealth, where she oversees organizational strategy, operations and leads outreach to governments, multilateral organizations, foundations and companies to advance GBCHealth’s role as a hub of private sector collaboration and collective action for global health. GBCHealth’s mission remains focused on driving private sector input and investments towards the areas where business can have the greatest impact.

Wildfeir-Field has spent nearly half her career living and working overseas, and brings extensive international experience in global health, cross-sector partnerships, and business in work spanning more than 30 countries at a number of high-profile organizations including USAID, BSR, The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), and Burson-Marsteller.

Having worked internationally across the public, private and nonprofit sectors, she marries a global perspective with local experience, and passionately believes in collaboration, cooperation and communication as the impetus for innovative, scaled and sustainable solutions for business and development challenges.

Jeff works with companies to advance sustainable operations and sourcing, oversees WWF’s internal process for business partnerships and manages WWF’s partnership with McDonald’s. Jeff began at WWF in 2008, has led projects with McDonald’s, Walmart, Cargill, General Mills, Sodexo, P&G, Royal Ahold, among others, has been global lead for certification and standards, developed WWF’s Supply Risk Analysis and was part of the WWF team that developed the Water Risk Filter. Jeff completed an International MBA and a Master’s degree in Global Economics from the University of Denver and previously worked in international education.

Christina L. Alfandary is Managing Director, ESG and Sustainable Investments at GAMCO Asset Management. Since 1987 GAMCO has worked with Socially Responsible Institutions to meet their values based investing objectives through individual mandates as well as a mutual fund. At GAMCO, Ms. Alfandary oversees the company’s expansion of its ESG integration efforts and ESG investing capabilities across the organization. She is a member of the firm’s Proxy Committee. Ms. Alfandary has over twenty- five years of experience in the investment business. Prior to re-joining GAMCO, she served as Senior Managing Director, Co-Head of Nikko Asset Management Americas, Inc. until 2015. Among her responsibilities, she was instrumental in a US product launch for an green bond product developed in collaboration with the World Bank. Ms. Alfandary has spoken at conferences on impact investing to family offices and foundations looking to develop ESG and impact investing portfolios. Prior to Nikko AM, she was a Vice President at GAMCO Investors from 2000 to 2005 where she worked with institutional and high net worth clients. Her investment experience includes working at Morgan Stanley from 1990 to 2000, as both a banker and in institutional fixed income sales and trading.

A native of California, Ms. Alfandary received an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School after earning her B.A. from Lewis & Clark College.

Adam Muellerweiss is Executive Director of Sustainability for Johnson Controls Power Solutions – the world’s largest manufacturer and recycler of automotive batteries. Muellerweiss is responsible for driving life-cycle material and energy management efforts including the company’s circular supply chain for conventional vehicle batteries. This model has been globally recognized as a successful large-scale example of a circular economy. His charge includes working with automakers, aftermarket retailers, suppliers, NGOs and policymakers to optimize sustainable product design, expand product use benefits, increase use of reverse logistics and grow end-of-life reuse and recycling.

Muellerweiss was the driving force behind the formation the Responsible Battery Coalition, a coalition of companies, academics and NGOs committed to the responsible management of the batteries of today and tomorrow. He chairs the Landscape Assessment of End-of-Life Management of Lithium Ion Batteries for the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment and is a subject matter expert supporting the development of the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance.

He presented at the G7 Workshop on the Use of Life Cycle Concepts in Supply Chain Management to Achieve Resource Efficiency, co-authored “Bringing Life Cycle Thinking to Corporate Metrics for the American Center for Life-Cycle Assessment” and was responsible for the development of the “Climate Solutions Framework for Events” used to offset the greenhouse gas footprint of the last three Olympic games. Muellerweiss serves as a Transportation Expert for Katerva’s Breakthrough Innovation Awards and is a member of NetImpact’s Advisory Council.

Prior to joining Johnson Controls, Muellerweiss was Commercial Director for Climate Change at Dow Chemical where he also led the formation of the Independent Advisory Panel on Chemical Security as well as managed the company’s Sustainability External Advisory Council. He led development of start-up companies focused on resource efficiency at Accenture, and served as a staff assistant for the US Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music and political science from Kalamazoo College and a master’s in sustainability and environmental management from Harvard University.

Dr. Paul Zeitz is a physician, an epidemiologist, and a tenacious, energetic, award-winning advocate for global justice and the realization of human rights. Most recently (2014-2017) he served as Director of the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development at the U.S. Department of State, where he helped create and launch the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and innovative data-driven programs around the world to advance global health, the control of AIDS, climate resilience, and sustainable development. Dr. Zeitz is currently focused on waging justice to ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. He co-founded the SDG Compacts, an initiative incubated at the Global Development Incubator that drives mutual accountability agreements between local-level stakeholders to allow cities, counties, and regions to make progress toward achieving the SDGs.

Aileen Nowlan leads EDF’s work to identify, accelerate, and scale transformative environmental technologies. Aileen began with an innovative collaboration to minimize methane emissions from the oil and natural gas industry through continuous detection of leaks. This collaboration dramatically accelerated the pace and improved the quality of deployed solutions. Aileen is applying this successful model to air pollution, chemicals exposure, and other health and environmental challenges.

Katja Zastrow is Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility – Better World at Anheuser-Busch. Katja is responsible for leading the robust CSR-Better World programs in the U.S. driving environmental and social impact at scale across three key pillars – Alcohol Responsibility, Community, and Sustainability. She is responsible for communicating the company’s environmental and sustainability efforts to key internal and external stakeholders. She also plays a pivotal role in scaling Anheuser-Busch's engagement and strategic partnerships with external stakeholders and non-profit organizations, pioneering cross-industry partnerships that deliver on Anheuser-Busch’s commitment.

At Anheuser-Busch, Katja has climbed the ranks of the company starting as an intern and later progressed from manager of corporate relations to region VP of state affairs. In her previous role, she led legislative affairs in 16 states and developed the State Affairs best practice program, including the “What’s Brewing” stakeholder outreach campaign.

She holds a Sociology degree from Boston University and MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Rakhi Kumar is Managing Director and Head of ESG Investments and Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors (SSGA).

As Head of ESG Investments, Rakhi leads SSGA's efforts to strengthen integration of ESG into the investment process. She is responsible for developing the firm's ESG investment philosophy and global business strategy. As Head of Asset Stewardship, she oversees all of SSGA's proxy voting and engagement activities and is responsible for developing SSGA's thought leadership and voting guidelines in this area.

Rakhi is Chair of SSGA's ESG Investment Working Group and is a member of SSGA's Senior Leadership Team, Global Proxy Review Committee, International Class Actions Committee, and State Street's Corporate Responsibility Working Group. She is also a member of the Council of Institutional Investors' Corporate Governance Advisory Council and a member of the Principles of Responsible Investors' (PRI's) Bondholder Engagement Working Group.

In 2017, Rakhi was honored with the Abigail Adams Award by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and was named on the Ten to Watch list of innovators and influencers in 2018 by wealthmanagement.com and on the Power50: Newsmakers list by the Boston Business Journal for her efforts to enhance gender diversity on company boards. She was also named to the 2017 and 2016 NACD Directorship 100, the annual list of the most influential people in the boardroom and on corporate governance. In 2015, she was a recipient of the North America Industry Leadership Award by the 100 Women in Hedge Funds group for her work in the field of corporate governance. Prior to that, Rakhi was named as one of the ten most influential people in corporate governance in 2014 by the Global Proxy Watch magazine.

Rakhi earned her MBA ('02) from Yale University and her Bachelors of Commerce ('95) from Bombay University. She has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1997.

Mark Tulay is Director, Strategic Investor Initiative (SII) at CECP which is addressing short-term market constraints that inhibit corporate strategies and investments to build resilient businesses and sustained long-term value.

Mark has served in leadership roles in sustainability initiatives for over 25 years, focusing on advancing the metrics, materiality and measurement of corporate sustainability performance. As Program Director and the first employee of Ceres, he was involved in the early stages of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

Mark served as Head of Sustainability Research for Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and RiskMetrics (now MSCI).

Mark is a frequent speaker on ESG issues and conferences and has written extensively on environmental, social and corporate governance issues.

Mark serves on the Advisory Boards for Cornerstone Capital Group and GISR, and holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

Twitter: MarkTulayESG
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mtulay

Jessica Rosman is the Vice President of Procurement responsible for regional procurement operations, supplier diversity and sustainability for Caesars Entertainment Corporation. She manages a team of 200+ supply chain specialists across 34 casino hotel properties and is responsible for optimizing the company’s inventory levels and property procurement strategies.

Marrying diversity and sustainability into her sourcing role, Rosman led Caesars’ efforts in identifying, recruiting and positioning a diverse group of entrepreneurs to grow their business in innovative ways by partnering with and then facilitating its vendors increased growth through mentor protégé relationships. Additionally, Rosman remains an integral part of the company’s People Planet Play team originally spearheading the company’s lauded Clean the World campaign on the strip and integral part of the Las Vegas recycling strategy and sustainable supply chain initiative.

As a Las Vegas native, Rosman takes pride in the community and is dedicated to helping anyone she can currently on the board of WBEC-West (Women’s Business Enterprise Network) and WRMSDC (Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council) and helped Caesars become a founding member of SPLC (Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council). Jessica has won the Corporate Advocate of the Year for WBEC-West as well as NV Engagement Partner of the Year for WRMSDC and is a past recipient of the prestigious Corporate Eco-Forum award traveling to the Brazilian rainforest.

She earned her MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management- CSGE program focusing on sustainability and a bachelor’s in International Development Studies from UCLA. In 2007, Rosman was selected as a Fulbright scholar in Mexico to further her work making Mexican companies more efficient and better CSR partners. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her fiancé and sharing her love for the history of mescal.

Rodrigo Arias is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow. He currently leads projects and initiatives for the Technology, Media and Digital Industries at WEF in the areas of internet of things, sustainable development, infrastructure and digital transformation. In his current position, he engages with C-Level executives, government officials, academia and other leaders from public sector and civil society to advance the digital agenda contributing to the Forum’s mission of improving the state of the world. Through this work, he has designed and facilitated high level workshops and roundtables at international events including WEF Annual Meetings in Davos, Mobile World Congress and MWC Americas or WEF Technology Pioneers CEO Summit at MIT. Prior to joining the World Economic Forum he worked at technology start-ups and at Amazon, helping to build their mobile and digital content business in Europe.

Roel studied Economics, Law and Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He worked at the European Commission and was a consultant in New Zealand. He worked for several years as management consultant at Arthur Andersen.

In 1998 he became interim manager at the Ministry of Education. From 2001 until August 2006 he was managing director of the Entrepreneurship Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

From September 2006 until May 2013, he was managing director of the International Trade Policy & Economic Governance Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands. His responsibilities concerned trade policy (WTO), investment policy, corporate responsibility, and the regulation of trade in weapons and strategic goods.

In addition to his job he wrote his PhD dissertation about the interaction between ministers and top civil servants. From 2010 to 2014 he was part-time Professor of Public Administration at the University of Amsterdam. He still teaches at several universities.

Roel was Chair of the OECD Working Party on International Investment and in that capacity chaired the sensitive negotiations on the 2011 revision of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. He chaired the Voluntary Principles for Security & Human Rights in the Extractives Industries in 2009 and 2013.

Since June 2013, Roel is Chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, the intergovernmental committee overseeing the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. As such he leads the body of governments in charge of the OECD corporate responsibility work, including the sectoral programmes for the financial, mining, garment, and agricultural sectors. In this capacity, he also chairs the Network of National Contact Points on Responsible Business Conduct, which represent the unique grievance mechanism under the OECD Guidelines.

Sabrina El-Chibini, Founder & President of The Collaboration Vector Inc. (TCV), is the originator of Transformative Community InvolvementTM, a unique and proven approach that is inspiring reflection about the way companies interact with their communities. Sabrina supports clients in transforming their community investment programs through engagement of internal and external stakeholders, alignment with the UN SDGs, and implementation of social and business impact plans and measures. Sabrina has extensive experience in the private, non-profit, and public sectors and has facilitated 13 private/non-profit partnerships in 10 countries that align with 5 of the 17 SDGs. Sabrina was nominated for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards for last 3 consecutive years.

Brian Reaves is the Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer of Dell, responsible for Dell’s global diversity and inclusion initiatives. In this role, he partners with leaders and team members across the organization to deepen and advance Dell’s culture of inclusion as a fundamental business imperative.

Brian is an experienced technology executive with a track record of success in advancing diversity and inclusion within the tech industry. Prior to joining Dell, Brian was a Senior Vice President (SVP) within SAP’s Office of the CEO organization, where he led Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) initiatives for the company. In that role, Brian focused on the development and implementation of D&I strategies and tactics that drove sustainable business value.

While at SAP, Brian was the key innovator for two of SAP’s major diversity initiatives: Project Propel, which provided trainings on the latest technologies to a variety of groups, including Minority Service Institutions (MSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); and Project Dream, which aimed to increase exposure of SAP products to a more diverse range of consumers.

Over the past 30 years, Brian has held senior executive software development and management roles in a number of industries/technology sectors including cloud computing, supply chain, healthcare, finance, telecommunications and utilities.

Brian began his career as a software developer at Xerox Corporation and had the opportunity to participate in ground-breaking technology innovation at locations across the globe including the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), which is well known for key innovations including laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer and object-oriented programming.

Brian’s passions include design thinking, international travel and professional/amateur sports. Brian holds a B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science from UCLA and grew up in the South-Central Los Angeles area. 

Adam Roy Gordon is Engagement Director for Global Compact Network USA, the U.S. Network of the United Nations Global Compact. The U.N. Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative and Adam leads engagement for U.S.-based signatories.

Previously, Adam worked at CDP in their Supply Chain program, supporting the integration of climate change, water, and deforestation disclosure into corporate purchasing. He was an EDF Climate Corps Fellow at Colgate-Palmolive Company in the Global Supply Chain. He has diverse experience in sustainability that ranges from advising the government of Montenegro on green building policy to founding NYC’s first commercial composting waste hauler, New York Compost. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and a M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.

Brendon Steele is a Senior Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Future 500 specializing in climate and energy. His project work focuses on the intersection of corporate, advocacy, and local and national politics on a range of sustainability issues. He holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Davis, and an M.A. in Climate and Society from Columbia University.

Mr. Linsky has been involved in the carbon and renewable energy industries since 2003. Dan works with companies, organizations, and events to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. At ClimeCo, Dan oversees all voluntary carbon sales for the firm; coordinating sales strategies and managing carbon offset inventories for this growing market. Dan is a recognized industry leader who has developed a trusted sustainability network. He helps companies through market education and planning initiatives in order to align carbon offset use with their sustainability goals.

Prior to joining ClimeCo, Dan served as Marketing Analyst and Inside Sales Manager for Parabel, a biomass-to-fuel start-up company. His previous branding and consumer education efforts at DrivingGreen led to national media recognition of the retail carbon offset company and website application under his direction.

In addition to spending time with his family, Dan serves in the worship band at the church he attends and is an avid racquetball player and concert-goer. Dan has a Bachelor of Science in Business and Finance from the University of Miami.

Jeff Hanman joined Teck Resources Limited in 2011 and was named Vice President of Corporate Affairs in 2017. In that capacity, he is responsible for Teck's employee and external communications as well as sustainability reporting.

Mr. Hanman was elected Chair of the Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) in 2017, after previously serving as Treasurer and Vice-Chair of MABC.

As Chair of Mining for Miracles, the mining industry's charity of choice in support of BC Children's Hospital, since 2015 he has raised over $5 million in support of child health in British Columbia.

Before joining Teck, he held the position of Deputy Chief of Staff with the Office of the Premier of British Columbia, Canada.

Jessica Ginger is the Director of Implementation at The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) where she leads and coordinates global implementation projects with retailers, TSC members, and other users of TSC tools and services. She also runs TSC's service provider training program and supplier support services. Jessica's passion for social sustainability has been the driving force behind her 12 years of global, multi-stakeholder, and multi-issue experiences. Currently, she lends that expertise and passion to the Surya Institute for Sustainable Energy and Resource Solutions as a Senior Advisor for the southern India non-profit. Prior to joining TSC, Jessica managed partnerships in Africa and the Middle East for the AmeriCares Foundation where she worked to improve the quality and increase the quantity of medical aid delivered to marginalized populations. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Moldova and was a Technical Advisory Committee Member for the UNDP's 2014 Equator Prize. Jessica received her M.A. in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and her B.S. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University.

As Chief Program Officer at PYXERA Global, Amanda MacArthur leads the organization’s global programs. Amanda leads a team which designs, implements and measures the impact of an array of programs that link the power of human capital to initiatives addressing complex development challenges while building leadership competencies, enhancing global perspectives, and encouraging innovative and “out of the box” thinking for corporate employees. Since joining PYXERA Global in 2002, Amanda has worked in over twenty countries, designing and implementing programs that create mutually beneficial outcomes. In addition to serving on the Advisory Board of the Corporate Responsibility Association, she is on the Leadership Faculty for Points of Light’s Corporate Institute. She has lived in Paraguay, Russia and Scotland and is a magna cum laude graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

Amanda has also contributed to the design of the Center of Excellence for International Corporate Volunteerism (CEICV) – a first of its kind public-private partnership between USAID, IBM and PYXERA Global. CEICV is an innovative forum that promotes best practices in international volunteerism, while preparing companies with the tools to create employee volunteer programs that focus in emerging markets.

With 15 years experience of living and working in over 60 countries, Natalia Cohen has chosen to follow an unusual and fascinating path. Her broad range of professional experience within the travel industry includes adventure tour leading, operations management, teaching/training, volunteer and project coordination, as well as working within the Super Yacht industry and Eco-lodge management, running a remote Safari lodge in Tanzania. Natalia is no stranger to being outside of her comfort zone and has made an art of embracing and adapting to change. Her understanding of team dynamics, the importance of a positive mindset and the ability to live in the moment led her to become part of the first all-female team to row unsupported across the Pacific Ocean.

Natalia and the crew completed this challenge in January 2016 setting two world records and gaining an international following. This was a journey of just under 9,000 miles from San Francisco, USA to Cairns, Australia in a 29ft ocean rowing boat. The expedition was not only a challenge of extreme conditions and perseverance but also a journey within to better understand the strength of human spirit, the importance of being aligned with your values, developing mental resilience, the diversity within a team and enjoying the journey.

Natalia’s vision is to empower others to reach their potential, push through their self-limiting mental boundaries and meet and overcome the challenges that life throws at them.

While she may have crossed her literal Pacific, we all have our own Pacific to cross.

Melanie George Smith is an attorney at Richards, Layton & Finger, where she began her career practicing in the firm’s business and alternative entities department after clerking for Justice Carolyn Berger in the Delaware Supreme Court. Representative Smith also serves as State Representative of the 5th District of Delaware. Representative Smith chairs the House Appropriations Committee and the Joint Finance Committee, and she is the immediate past chair and current vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Since elected as a representative in 2002, Representative Smith has sponsored and championed all of the annual corporate and alternative entity bills, ensuring that Delaware remains at the forefront of identifying and serving the business community’s needs. For the past six years as chair of the Joint Finance Committee, which writes the state’s budget, she has produced a balanced, fiscally responsible budget every year, often requiring difficult cuts.

Representative Smith co-founded and for six years co-chaired the Delaware Kids Caucus, a group of legislators who advocate for children’s issues. She is also a member of the Child Protection Accountability Commission, which monitors Delaware’s child protection system to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the state’s at-risk children. In 2012, Representative Smith received the prestigious Commissioner’s Award from the U.S. Administration on Children, Youth and Families in recognition of her exceptional contribution to the prevention and treatment of child abuse. She was also honored as the Delaware Superior Court’s 2007 Legislator of the Year. Furthermore, she serves on the board of directors of the Delaware National Guard Foundation, which raises funds for Delaware’s Guard and Reserves.

Representative Smith’s interest in global sustainability arose out of her pro bono legal work in the community. She provides pro bono assistance to veterans, the elderly, and victims of domestic violence, and she serves as a guardian ad litem for children in foster care. Representative Smith has also worked with the Combined Campaign for Justice, which raises money for legal aid groups in Delaware. Through Richards, Layton & Finger’s commitment to ensuring that it is a leader in serving others and helping to improve the community, Representative Smith has had an opportunity to research and develop a global sustainability option for all Delaware entities, thereby furthering and strengthening the global sustainability movement.

Representative Smith earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A., magna cum laude, in economics from the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar.

Karen serves on the faculty Business and Marketing at the College of New Jersey and Copenhagen Business School ISUP program. She has published in the area of CSR with a focus on CSR communications. Her work has been featured in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, and Journal of International Marketing as well as Harvard Business Review Latin America. Most recently she has authored work for the Handbook of Integrated CSR communication. Additionally, she has consulted with several firms on CSR communication and worked with UNCity on SDG communication campaigns. Karen is very interested in how firms can better prepare, retain, and promote women to leadership positions, and has created a workforce development program which uses cultural training and field experiences to build critical soft skills for senior management and board positions.

Ahsiya serves as the Global Director of Volunteering for GSK, ensuring that employee volunteer efforts-from the award-winning skills-based PULSE program to the annual day of community service (Orange Day)-help people do more, feel better, and live longer. As a purpose-driven leader, she has worked in human resources, corporate social responsibility, international development, leadership development and organizational change for over 20 years. Her experience ranges from grassroots implementation in under-served markets to designing and leading international programs and partnerships. Her focus is to cultivate and strengthen diverse individual leaders and teams to enhance organizational performance, not only within GSK, but also with GSK's partners, across public, private, and social sectors. In 2017, she was named to the '100 Most Impactful CSR Leaders' by World CSR Day Global Listing. Ahsiya graduated from Swarthmore College and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She worked for various NGOs in the US, Africa and the Middle East, and also taught at the high school and university levels, before pivoting to the private sector. She lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two young children and enjoys travel, running and staying active outdoors.

As one of the top members of the leadership team in IBM Corporate Citizenship and the IBM Foundation, Gina’s portfolio spans multi-million-dollar investments in three strategic areas:  education & skills, health and community resiliency.  She leads Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability across IBM, covering employee engagement, environment, human resources, public policy, supply chain, governance and research.  Gina also leads IBM’s award-winning Corporate Service Corps and Smarter Cities Challenge initiatives.

Celebrating its 10th year, The Corporate Service Corps was established to provide a triple benefit for IBM: leadership development for employees, high quality problem solving for communities, and greater visibility for IBM. Nearly 4,000 IBMers from 61 countries have served in 40 countries, applying their problem solving expertise to build capacity and help transform organizations serving people around the world faced with challenging societal issues. Gina has brought her passion for women’s empowerment to the program and in 2017, 75% of teams included a project focused on either economic development, health, safety or education for women & girls.

Under Gina’s leadership, the program has been widely and consistently recognized by major media including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, CNBC, The Washington Post, Forbes, Fortune and Fast Company. She has also guided the adoption of pro bono consulting by a number of Fortune 100 companies. Gina has also been instrumental in the integration of business & society education at over 50 leading business schools around the world, including the Yale School of Management and the Global Network for Advanced Management and via the Aspen Institute Business & Society Case Competition.  An offshoot of Corporate Service Corps, the Smarter Cities Challenge program, now in its 8^th year, has provided executive-level problem solving for cities around the world.   

Gina is an innovator who developed tri-sector partnerships that include:  designing the IBM and Peace Corps partnership in Ghana, the Philippines, Mexico and Peru; creating the Global FoodBanking Network partnership which includes $1.2M in contributions 5 countries across Latin America; and collaboration with The Nature Conservancy on environmental management in Brazil, Peru & Colombia.

In 2013, Gina was recognized as “Best of IBM,” one of only 500 employees among more than 400,000 IBMers worldwide, for her contributions to corporate citizenship. She also serves on the board of Atlas Corps Tech.

Gina has held roles at IBM in strategy & change consulting, marketing and business development.  She holds an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Before joining IBM, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, working in Community Economic Development. She also had a successful career in advertising which included roles with Microsoft at McCann Erickson in San Francisco, and with IBM at Ogilvy & Mather in New York City.

Sue is currently Chief of Participant Relations and Communications, United Nations Global Compact. She is working with the business community to help make progress towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through bold innovation and responsible business practices encompassing labour, human rights, environment and anti-corruption. Sue spent most of her career running consumer brands, latterly Lipton Tea, Surf and Skip detergents, and Laundry Innovation globally. In all roles Sue led sustainable development and social purpose as a core part of the brand development with a key focus on product, supply chain, and idea development.

Prior to these roles, Sue was Global Vice President of the Unilever Marketing Academy building capabilities across the global marketing community. In this role, Sue joined a private-public partnership on hand washing to deliver training on behavior change campaigns in private and public sector teams. Through this initiative, hand washing behavior is increasing and the incidence of diarrhoea (one of the major causes of preventable deaths) is in decline. In 2014 Sue made a move to work in the public sector to run marketing for Save the Children UK. In this role, Sue delivered several successful campaigns and contributed to a doubling of impact and income. Latterly, Sue spent time in adult social care addressing the elderly care crisis in the UK, significantly increasing media coverage for the issue, and developing new products and solutions to help care with dignity for older people in the UK.

Sue was born in Pakistan and raised Hong Kong. As a teenager, she worked for UNHCR in Vietnamese refugee camps caring for children and preparing them for transit to the US. Sue says it feels like deja-vu to be at the UN again after 35 years and, most sadly, to be seeing history repeat itself: vast numbers of refugees crossing the waters to escape conflict.

At EcoAct, William works with companies across sectors in the US and internationally on developing and implementing carbon neutral strategies. A graduate from Boston University with an MBA from HEC Paris, William began working in climate finance with the Gold Standard Foundation, a certification body headquartered in Geneva that evaluates carbon reduction and sustainable impacts using results-based methodologies. Following this role, he worked with NGOs Nexus for Development (Nexus) and the Group for the Environment, Renewable Energy and Solidarity (GERES) to scale-up more than a dozen carbon reduction projects in Asia and Africa by leveraging innovative market mechanisms such as carbon finance and crowd funding. As a Director at Nexus, William established partnerships to support these projects with numerous companies worldwide. William also performed in field research in collaboration with Yale University while based in Mali focused on the evaluating the risks and opportunities in the value chain for carbon finance and clean cookstove programs in West Africa.

As VP of Business Development at Datamaran, Susanne helps to align market developments and corporate needs with Datamaran's product and services. She works closely with our global network of users from multi-national corporations, which underpins her belief in the value of practical, data-driven solutions to influence corporate behavior. With a research background in emerging markets, Susanne has global experience advancing ESG strategy in business. She has worked with various industries and stakeholders (regulators, international organizations, academics, businesses, industry associations, accountants and the media), is a published author and guest lectures at MBA programs. With previous experience working at the Global Reporting Initiative alongside our CEO Marjella Alma, Susanne possesses a strong overview of the key issues that we cover at Datamaran.

Paul is a founder and director of Rain Barrel Communications, LLC, working with its 55+ independent consultants who provide their expertise on a range of communications projects around the world.

Paul has more than 45 years of media experience as a print and radio journalist, editor, producer and speechwriter. His work in public information and strategic communications during 23 years with the United Nations required continuous interaction with the UN family of organizations, serving for six years as a formal liaison with the Secretariat’s NGO partners.

Paul has worked as a writer and editor with publications such as The New York Times and Newsweek International, and as a union organizer and as a university instructor. He has lived for extended periods in Africa, Latin America, Asia and his home base, New York. City.

Barry is a media professional with 30+ years of leadership experience within CNN and Turner Broadcasting. Most recently, and for 18 years, he was Sr. VP and General Manager for Cartoon Network Latin America, a leading network and brand for children and families. In that capacity he was responsible for linear and digital programming, content and platform development, operations, communications and partnerships, as well as the very successful CSR program, The Cartoon Movement.

Barry is a member of the board of directors and head of the Advancement Committee for Visiting Nurse Health System, the largest not-for-profit home healthcare and hospice provider in Georgia.

Barry has an MBA from the University of South Florida and is currently acting as a Senior Advisor for Rain Barrel Communications, a New York-based consultancy.

Chris Thomas is Chief Innovation Officer at the Sierra Club. His main focus is on engaging the Club’s current and future members and supporters through technology, and on how interactive virtual environments enable real-world change. Before this, he ran the Digital Products Program at Greenpeace International in Amsterdam. Chris has held leadership roles in both tech startups and Fortune 500 companies including Elle Magazine, The International Herald Tribune (now The International New York Times), Alstom, Joost, Oracle, and Eurovision. A dual American/French national, Chris has extensive experience in technology, media strategy and production in both the United States and in Europe.

Chuck is the Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer of Hannon Armstrong (NYSE: HASI) a capital and services provider focused on sustainable infrastructure markets that reduce climate changing greenhouse gas emissions. HASI was the first U.S. company to commit to the Climate Disclosures Standards Board (CDSB) initiative to implement recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Prior to joining Hannon, he served in a number of roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) since 2005, including as a Senior Manager in the National Professional Services Group where he focused on complex financial instruments accounting issues for energy clients. Chuck received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy, a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Science degree in Accountancy from Wheeling Jesuit University. He holds a CPA license in West Virginia and Maryland.

Mr. James Michael Stephens has been Director Global Government & External Affairs at Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. since August 2015. He is responsible for government affairs, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder relations for Aston Martin Lagonda worldwide.

Prior to Aston Martin Lagonda he served in a number of senior positions for Nissan Motor Company in Europe and BAE Systems in both the UK and United States.

He first joined BAE Systems in their London HQ in 2003 as a Government Relations Executive, leading on defence and strategic policy. In 2008 James was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to the UK’s Head of Defence Procurement before taking up a posting in Washington DC as the Director of International Government Relations in 2010.

In 2012 James joined Nissan Motor Company in the UK as Head of UK Government Affairs dealing with all policy and strategic engagement relating to Nissan’s activities in the UK. In 2014 he took on the role of Head European Strategic Policy in addition to his UK responsibilities.

Born in Hampshire, England, he earned a degree in Information Technology in 2003 from Southampton Solent University and studied International Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington DC. James is married with two children.

Scarlet is the Senior Director of Private Sector Partnerships at Tent. Prior to Tent, Scarlet worked at the Clinton Foundation for nearly eight years. She was the associate Director of the Commitments Department and head of the Response & Resilience track at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). In this role, she advised corporate, philanthropic, government and non-profit leaders responding to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Before that, Scarlet worked at the Elie Wiesel Foundation, founded by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin.

Where Suzanne sees opportunity, you can bet results will follow. With nearly three decades of experience and vision in the advertising industry, Suzanne has led Shelton Group to become the nationally recognized, energy- and environment-focused marketing agency that it is today. As president and CEO, she directly manages our marketing efforts and works with our research team on our proprietary studies. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the industry, Suzanne provides unparalleled strategic insights for agency clients from a bird’s eye view.

Suzanne is a guest columnist in multiple publications and websites, such as GreenBiz.com, and she speaks at over 20 conferences a year, including Sustainable Brands, ACEEE, LOHAS and Green Build. She also regularly contributes to the Shelton Insights blog.

Jamie Barsimantov, Ph.D, COO at SupplyShift. Jamie is a driving force behind SupplyShift's cloud-based supply chain network that connects companies and their supply chains. Jamie has over 15 years of experience in sustainability measurement and supply chain responsibility, including leading consulting projects, academic research, university-level teaching, and supporting multiple industry-wide supply chain transparency collaborations with technology. He received his doctorate in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz with a focus on economics and resource management. He speaks in both academic and corporate sustainability venues on sustainability measurement and commodity traceability and assessment.

Andrew J. Troup is Director of Corporate Giving & Engagement Strategy at Blackbaud. In this role, Andrew helps organizations develop a comprehensive corporate giving & engagement strategy aimed at building authentic collaborative relationships with nonprofit partners, aligning philanthropy and engagement efforts with the core values of the business, fostering active executive support, designing programs that resonate with customers, attracting & retaining top employee talent, measuring impact, and leveraging technology to ultimately share a story of success using data, results, and a shared language. Andrew is also currently leading efforts toward mapping employee engagement efforts to measurable outcomes, and is participating in collaborative efforts to map overall employee giving and volunteering impact in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals.

When he’s not working on developing strategies and solutions that power the greater ecosystem of good, he can be found performing as a freelance artist in the New York metropolitan area. Andrew is regular tenor soloist with Musica Viva NY, a professional choir and nonprofit based in NYC driven by a desire to share the transcendent power of choral and instrumental music with audiences in New York City and beyond. Other recent highlights include performing the role of Betto di Signa in a production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at the Narnia Arts Festival in Narni, Italy in July 2017 and performing the role of Gastone in New York Opera Collaborative & Mid Atlantic Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata in September 2017.

In addition, Andrew also serves on the board of TU Dance. Founded in 2004 by Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands in Saint Paul, Minnesota, TU Dance is a leading voice for contemporary dance. The 10-member, professional company is acclaimed for its diverse and versatile artists, performing work that draws together modern dance, classical ballet, African-based and urban vernacular movements. Through celebrated performances of the professional company and accessible dance education at TU Dance Center, TU Dance provides opportunities for everyone to experience the connective power of dance.

Sophia Mendelsohn has 10 years’ experience leading corporate citizenship, including program design, branding, and organizational change management, in the US and China. Sophia drives business growth through innovative program creation and execution, stakeholder engagement, and market intelligence. Ultimately, Sophia delivers business models for a resource-constrained world. 

Sophia is currently the head of sustainability at JetBlue, where she is shaping policies and practices that enhance JetBlue’s competitive advantage and reduce environmental impact. Prior to JetBlue, Sophia was head of sustainability, emerging markets, for Haworth, a multinational manufacturer in the corporate real estate industry. Previously, she worked for the Jane Goodall Institute in Shanghai, establishing environment programs in offices and schools in China. Sophia has a master of science in sustainable management from Columbia University.

Over the course of her career, Sophia has been recognized for her leadership and commitment to corporate citizenship. In 2016, she won the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leadership Award and was named Climate Leader of the Year by Ethical Corporation.

Sophia currently serves on boards and advisory councils for NOAA, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.

Ms. Castillo is the founder and principal of SB Services, Inc., a consulting firm focused on business process improvement with a core expertise in Supply Chain Diversity. The company’s mission is simple: To help clients develop proven strategies that work.

With over 30 years’ of experience, the company has worked with customers in all stages of process improvement providing strategy development, execution, and operations consulting to Global 250 corporations, government agencies, and rapidly emerging businesses. Specific clients span a wide range of industries including (but not limited to) Technology, Healthcare, Financial Services, Agriculture, Food and Beverage, Transportation/Logistics, and Retail. Additionally, SB Services conducts benchmarking for industry groups like The Conference Board, Institute of Supply Chain Management, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the Food Marketing Institute.

Company experience includes:

• Work with multinational corporations based in the US, Canada, and Africa;
• Development and implementation of Supply Chain Diversity initiatives across a wide range of industries;
• Over 300 Supply Chain Diversity training sessions, from C-Suite orientations to global sourcing organizations and cross functional management teams;
• Precedent setting research referenced in Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting, published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and GRI in partnership with the governments of Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland;
• Numerous published articles and white papers in a variety of industry publications.

Cassandra is part of South Pole's business development team, where she combines her passion for engaging with people about sustainability and her ability to identify opportunities for businesses.

Cassandra’s journey in the environmental sector began in 2009, when she recognized the importance of sustainability in business. She created a Green Team at Novartis to raise environmental awareness among employees in addition to her primary role as Brand Manager. She hasn’t looked back since and now has over 8 years’ experience working in sustainable business. Fluent in German, Spanish, Portuguese and English, Cassandra grew the client base of her previous companies internationally.

She holds a BA in Global & International Business and minors in German and Spanish from the University of California, Santa Barbara.