Speakers

Nick Aster is Director of Marketing, North America, for South Pole, the world's leading climate solutions provider and carbon project developer. Prior to South Pole Nick was founder and publisher of Triple Pundit a leading publication on sustainable business, acquired by 3BL media in 2016. Nick is committed to advancing sustainability as a mainstream priority for all businesses and believes effective communication around climate change and related topics is the key to progress.

Abbey is an Associate Professor and Extension Specialist in Soil Health at North Dakota State University. She works with growers, crop advisors, government agencies, industry, researchers and other educators in the evaluation and adoption of soil health building practices in the northern plains. She co-leads the Trusted Advisor Partnership with the Sustainable Food Lab to support farmers in their soil health journey.

Abby catalyzes regenerative business leaders with human sustainability and helps them to embrace radically collaborative ways of working together, producing strong business results and sustainable cultures. Abby draws from nearly two decades of experience building human-centered design teams and product development processes; co-founding a mission driven and venture funded startup; over 12 years of mindfulness study and teaching; expertise as a Certified Professional Co-active Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute (CTI); and her roots as a trained product designer and strategist. Abby holds an MFA in Product Design from Stanford University and a BFA in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Alice Thomas-Smyth is the Technical Lead for the Science Based Targets Network's Oceans Hub, part of the Oceams Team at WWF US. She brings together leading science and best practices with industry voices to develop metrics and standards of equitable, nature positive, and net-zero industries, starting with the seafood supply chain.Prior to joining WWF she worked at Environmental Defense Fund in the Oceans Program, focusing on sustainable fishing and climate-resilient systems that are inclusive and benefit communities using data-driven methods. Alice has a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University and lives in Hayward, California.

Alisha Bellezza has over two decades of finance and chemical industry experience and leads Chemours’ Thermal & Specialized Solutions business (formerly fluorochemicals).Alisha joined Chemours in 2015, where she helped to establish and led the investor relations function at spin. Within a year, she also took on the role of vice president and treasurer during which she led the company's first public debt offering post-spin, helped increase financial flexibility and liquidity, and initiated a share repurchase program.Always ready to take on new opportunities, in her third year with Chemours Alisha stepped into the vice president, global sales, commercial operations and supply chain for the Titanium Technologies business where she delivered significant business growth in her first six months. She also developed and implemented new go-to-market strategies, including an e-commerce platform, innovative pricing mechanisms and differentiated offerings.Before joining Chemours, Alisha held positions in investor relations, corporate strategy & development, and finance at FMC Corporation in the Agricultural Products Group and at the corporate level. She began her career as a financial analyst in banking at Bank One Corporation and First Bank & Trust, holding progressive leadership positions before joining Verizon Communications.Alisha received her Bachelor of Science in economics from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and earned her Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Alison Whritenour has spent nearly a decade at Seventh Generation, contributing to transforming the world into a healthy, sustainable and equitable world for future generations. Using business as a force for good drives Alison in all she has done with Seventh Generation across various roles in everything from brand activation to product innovation. Most recently, Alison was the head of channel and customer development at Seventh Generation, where in 2020, she delivered more than 40% growth, while navigating COVID-19’s business and consumer impact. Prior to her work with Seventh Generation, Alison worked in brand management at Colgate-Palmolive. Alison holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Loyola University. She lives in Vermont with her husband and three children.

Allen is an interdisciplinary water expert with over 10 years of progressive experience working at the intersection of agriculture, energy, and health systems. He’s advised a sitting US Ambassador on foreign water-energy policy, worked within a Fortune 100 company on corporate sustainability, and has served in numerous consulting roles globally and across sectors. Allen leads WWF’s freshwater work on Science Based Targets for nature, and facilitates the harmonization of metrics across WWF’s Freshwater & Food team. Allen has a Master of Public Affairs in Water Governance and Policy from Indiana University Bloomington, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Clemson University. He is finishing a PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Virginia. His research interests include environmental stewardship, water governance, and merging understanding of human behavior and design.

Alpa is the Senior Vice President, Strategy & Sustainability for WestRock, a global paper and packaging company. She works with the leadership team to drive growth, industry leadership and deliver on WestRock's purpose: "Innovate Boldly, Package Sustainably.

Aly is an Investor on the Closed Loop Ventures Group team –– the seed and pre-seed investment division of Closed Loop Partners focused on catalyzing innovations in the circular economy. She leads sourcing, diligence, transactions and portfolio management. Prior to joining Closed Loop Partners, Aly was an Engagement Manager in McKinsey & Company’s Sustainability and Energy practices. She has deep expertise in cross-value chain innovations and cutting–edge technologies supporting circular business models in advanced manufacturing, textiles, building products and consumer goods. Aly has supported companies ranging from early- and growth-stage startups to Fortune 50 enterprises with a focus on operations, investment and top-of-house strategy. Aly earned her Master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her BA from Davidson College. Originally from the Midwest, Aly currently resides in New York City where her love for fresh pressed beet juice may have tipped the scales to an obsession.

Amanda Tucker is Senior Manager of Risk & Disclosure at The Coca-Cola Company. In her role, she leads risk and disclosure work across the company’s sustainability goals: Water Stewardship, World Without Waste, GHG Emissions Reduction, and Sustainable Agriculture procurement. She ensures that the company is incorporating sustainability-related risks into its Enterprise Risk Management Framework, providing relevant disclosures, and ensuring that external reporting demonstrates how the company is building resilience in its business and communities.She was previously Associate Director of the Reporter Services team at CDP North America where she led a team that supported companies with their CDP disclosures.She holds an M.Sc. in Integrated Water Resources Management and a B.A. in International Development in Environment and Agriculture, both from McGill University.

Amath Gomis is a sustainability leader that brings a diverse skill set to solve many of the environmental, social, and governance issues leading companies in commercial real estate, telecommunications, and information technology face. He’s a Director of ESG in the Americas at CBRE. Amath’s hobbies include collecting art, home renovation, gardening, and collecting orchids. He has an ESG podcast called ESG Matters, where he interviews ESG leaders and professionals about Sustainability, their programs, and the struggles we face implementing ESG activities. Amath has a M.R.P. from Cornell University, and a B.A. from George Mason University.

Amelia Meyer is a Senior Program Officer for Nature Metrics on the Forests Team at WWF-US. She coordinates SBTN technical information across goal teams and country offices at WWF. Dedicated to developing and implementing quantifiable and holistic nature/science based solutions. She is educated as an Environmental Scientist with MSc, BS, and BA degrees and is working to make a progressive difference for the well-being of Earth and all living things.

Amelia Meadows, manager, forests at WWF, works to drive sustainability in global operations and supply chains across the food, beverage, retail, consumer packaged goods, hospitality, technology, and finance sectors. She has extensive expertise in global production, trade, and consumption of forest products and soft commodities. Amelia applies the most current science on environmental issues and translates it into meaningful actions and strategies to help businesses deliver on integrated sustainability goals, align sustainability goals with broader business strategies, and achieve real environmental impact. Amelia leads WWF’s over $90 million forest collaboration with HP Inc., WWF-US’ largest corporate partner. This 10-year, innovative effort addresses potential deforestation and forest degradation for all paper used in HP products, irrespective of brand, by scaling up investments in forest restoration, protection, and improved management in critical forest landscapes around the world. The collaboration aims to help combat climate change and nature loss through investments in high-integrity nature-based solutions and sets the bar for corporate action, inspiring other companies to address their downstream environmental impacts. Amelia has a master of arts in international relations, with concentrations in international business strategy, sustainability, and social responsibility, from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She holds a bachelor of arts in international studies from the University of Richmond.

As SAC CEO Amina is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the organization. She leads the executive team and works with the board of directors to develop and implement the organization’s strategic plan.
 
Previously, Amina was the Vice President of Membership at the SAC, a leadership role in which she focused on providing exceptional customer service, account management, member value and business development for the organization. Amina worked with global members to increase adoption of the Higg Index and improvement of Higg scores through impact solutions.
 
Prior to joining the SAC, Amina was a senior manager on the Global Sustainability team at Gap Inc. where she led environmental initiatives across owned and operated facilities as well as in their supply chain. She led the development of Gap’s environmental sustainability strategy and the creation, execution and achievement of ambitious enterprise goals on energy and waste at owned and operated facilities. Amina also led the first large-scale deployment of the Higg Index across Gap’s supply chain, and has been involved in the creation, development, piloting and rollout of the Higg since its inception.
 
Trained as an architect, Amina has designed and managed construction of retail stores, skyscrapers, houses, hotels, and museums. She has a B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Illinois and a Master of Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Anastasia is a Sustainability Operations Specialist at Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest healthcare company, where she leads business case development for priority projects related to global environmental sustainability as well as financial planning, data analysis and governance processes. She started her career at Johnson & Johnson in 2015 in corporate finance supporting the R&D and Supply Chain functions. In 2021, Anastasia worked on an assignment with the Sustainability organization, focusing on employee culture and engagement, and in September of 2022, she followed her passion for sustainability and joined the team full-time.

Anastasia O’Rourke serves as a Managing Director at the Carbon Containment Lab. She has 20 years experience in the environmental sustainability field, as a consultant, entrepreneur, and researcher in Australia, Sweden, France and the US.  Anastasia has specific subject matter expertise in standards and certification systems, cleantech venture investing, and sustainable and green purchasing. Prior to joining the CC Lab, Anastasia was a Senior Technical Consultant with Industrial Economics, where she led a sustainability consulting practice working with federal and state governments, large companies, NGOs, and International organizations on program design, management and evaluation. She co-founded Big Room Inc, developers of the .ECO top level domain and the Ecolabel Index website. She was also a founding Board member of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), a US based 501c3 non-profit. 

Anastasia holds a Ph.D. from Yale University with a dissertation focused on cleantech venture investing, a M.Sc. in industrial environmental management and policy from Lund University, Sweden, and a B.A. with first class honors from Sydney University, Australia, for which she was awarded the University Medal. 

Andrea is the Chief Sustainability Officer for LyondellBasell, one of the world's largest plastics and chemicals companies. She joined LYB in November 2019 and is responsible for setting the strategy and ambitions to advance LyondellBasell's Future Focused sustainability vision focused on Plastic Waste, Climate Change and a Thriving Society. Prior to this, she led impact strategy for Quadia, a private equity company in Geneva, Switzerland investing in scaling the circular economy and spent ten years at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the leading CEO-led organization working to accelerate the sustainable transition. Andrea started her career in public policy in international energy relations and trade policy in Canada. She holds a Masters Degree in Global Policy and Bachelors Degree in International Relations.

Anisa is a sustainability and philanthropy executive with a track record of connecting environmental, social, and governance issues to business performance, reputation, and shareholder value. She currently serves as Chief Sustainability Officer at Rivian as well as President and Trustee of the Rivian Foundation. Previously Anisa worked at Tiffany & Co. for nearly two decades. During her tenure she served as Tiffany & Co.’s first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer as well as Chairman and President of the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, focusing the company’s philanthropic strategy on supporting nonprofit organizations dedicated to the stewardship of natural resources and empowerment of local communities, in the areas of responsible mining and marine conservation. She developed Tiffany & Co.’s metrics-driven ESG effort, which has been recognized by investors and the private and nonprofit sectors for its substance and transparency, including Tiffany & Co.’s commitment to become a net zero company. Her career has focused on catalyzing collaborative, mutually beneficial relationships among an array of stakeholders, scaling programs and impact, and effectively communicating strategy and purpose to diverse constituencies and audiences. She is a recognized expert in philanthropic, environmental and social impact issues with extensive board leadership experience on a variety of domestic and international nonprofit, industry, and multi-stakeholder bodies.

Annabelle brings over 15 years of experience supporting organizations to define and implement sustainability solutions, including many Fortune 500 companies. As the Director of Sustainability Strategy, she advises Edison’s key clients on meeting their sustainability and carbon reduction goals. Originally from the UK but based in the US for almost a decade, she’s worked across Europe, Australia, South Africa, and North America.

Annabelle is a frequent speaker and thought leader on the topic of sustainability. She was involved in the setup and organization of the New York Area Sustainability Group (NYASG), a network of 1,000+ sustainability professionals, and is a guest lecturer at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and Columbia University.

Anoushka is Head of ESG Banking, Americas at HSBC. In this role she works with HSBC’s clients across sectors to develop solutions to achieve their sustainability goals. She also founded and leads Gender Lens Finance. Anoushka Chairs HSBC’s US Sustainable Finance committee.Anoushka joined HSBC in 2013 and has held a number of roles in both New York and London.She founded HSBC's 'Coaching Circles', an internal mentorship program now being rolled out globally and is on the US Exec Committee of BALANCE, HSBC’s Gender Equality group.Anoushka currently serves as a Global Board Member for Women for Women International. Anoushka has featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance and INvolve/Yahoo Finance Top 100 Future Female Leader lists.

Anya is an Investment Manager within Climate Asset Management, her current focus is on CAM's Nature Based Carbon Fund, looking to invest in the development of nature based solutions projects around the world in exchange for carbon credits. Anya has been with CAM since its formation in 2020 and prior to that worked in impact investing and investment banking.

Ariel leads Climate Strategy + Solutions at Patch, the platform powering climate action. Ariel brings vast carbon markets knowledge to the team, where she currently focuses on developing new commercial solutions to unlock investment in climate solutions and advising companies on carbon credit portfolio builds to maximize climate goals. Prior to Patch, Ariel worked at Carbon by Indigo Ag, helping to develop their soil carbon credit business strategy. Ariel also spent time in impact investing strategies at The Rise Fund and was a consultant with Bain & Company. She forgoes a permanent address in favor of traveling around the western US with her dog, Nelson, to experience the natural world and wild places we are all working to protect.

Asheen (he/his) is the Director of ESG & Sustainability for PagerDuty (NYSE: PD), a digital operations management company. Prior, Asheen has served as the global head of sustainability for Dassault Systèmes, and has consulted in sustainability strategy for companies in tech, fashion, chemicals, and financial services. In these roles, Asheen co-authored the aerospace sector guidance to the GHG Protocol, co-developed a net-positive innovation handprinting methodology, and contributed to the Higg Product eco-index. He also co-founded the public benefit corporation Eleven Radius to catalyze the circular economy in the fashion industry. Asheen holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Babson College, and teaches Biomimetic Design at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD).

In his downtime, Asheen is into travel, cooking, fashion, languages (because of the travel), and running (because of the cooking). He concocts dishes with his daughter and coaches his son’s town soccer team. If you’ve read this far, he’ll buy you a bourbon.

Betty Cremmins serves as the Director for Sustainable Supply Chains in the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Previously, she helped CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) transition thousands of companies and cities towards a climate-resilient, water-secure and deforestation-free economy and led corporate engagement for 1t.org (Trillion Trees Platform) with the World Economic Forum. Betty is an Advisory Council Member of the American Resilience Project and Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project.

Bill Weihl is the Founder and Executive Director of ClimateVoice, a non-profit initiative launched in February 2020 that is mobilizing the workforce to encourage companies to go “all in” on climate - especially in their use of their voice and influence to support public policy, everywhere they operate.

From 2012 to 2018, Bill was Director of Sustainability at Facebook, leading work on sustainability across the company, and helping to launch the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance. Prior to Facebook, Bill was Green Energy Czar at Google, where his team pioneered Google’s work to buy clean energy for its data centers and helped found the Climate Savers Computing Initiative with Intel and WWF.

Bill is on the board of directors of the Sierra Club Foundation and of Acterra, and also on the boards of WeSpire and Common Energy. He has received numerous awards, including Time Magazine's Hero of the Environment (2009), the Global Green Award for environmental leadership (2016), and the VERGE Vanguard Award (2018).

Blake McGowan is the Solutions Executive at VelocityEHS. Based in Ann Arbor, MI he joined VelocityEHS (Humantech) in 1999. Blake holds a Certificate in Leading Sustainable Corporations from the University of Oxford, a MSc Degree in Human Neuromechanics, and a BSc Degree in Biomechanics & Neurophysiology from the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has also achieved recognition as a Certified Professional Ergonomist.

For over 12 years, Blake has worked with Fortune 500 companies, industry associations, NGOs, foundations, family offices, and governments to develop and execute sustainability leadership strategies.  He advises clients from a variety of industries, including energy; apparel, footwear, and textiles; CPG, retail, and packaging; and food and agriculture, among others.  Blake also works closely with multi-stakeholder initiatives, like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), to help transform entire value chains.  During the formation of the SAC, Blake led the design of the prototype Higg Index.

Before Blu Skye, Blake worked in the Strategy & Operations practice of Deloitte Consulting. Blake holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and BSB from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.  Outside the office, Blake enjoys many outdoor activities including paddling, fishing, gardening, road and mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and, America’s newest obsession, pickleball.

Brad Sparks is Executive Director of A4S (Accounting for Sustainability), part of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation. He leads the US Chapter of the A4S CFO Leadership Network, supporting Fortune 500 CFOs and their finance teams in embedding sustainability into strategy and business decision-making. He also leads A4S activities across the US, including working with asset managers, asset owners and the wider finance community. Brad previously served as an Executive Director with KPMG focused on ESG issues. Brad is a lecturer at UCLA Anderson and an Executive-in-Residence at Cornell University’s Center for Global Sustainable Enterprise.

Bradford has worked in the renewable energy and energy infrastructure industries for over 15 years and is currently a Senior Director in NextEra’s Integrated Clean Energy Solutions group. He leads cross-functional teams in the development of tailored clean energy solutions that help reduce the carbon footprint of large government and corporate clients. He specializes in interpreting rapidly changing energy markets and simplifying complex transactions for C-level approval and shareholder/stakeholder engagement. 

Prior to joining NextEra, Bradford worked for NRG Energy and Carrier focused on counseling corporate executives and public officials on innovative funding strategies, public-private partnerships, project delivery methods and sustainable commitments. Bradford holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University and a Master of Science, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts from Arizona State University.

Ms. Colander has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Offer since January 2023, charged with maintaining and enhancing Enviva’s role as an industry leader in sustainability and environmental stewardship. She brings extensive policy, sustainability, and external affairs experience, most recently leading the enterprise sustainability portfolio at WestRock as Chief Sustainability Officer. Previous roles include Associate Vice President of Natural Resources and Energy at the National Wildlife Federation, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the United States Department of the Interior, Deputy General Counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the White House, and an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Ms. Colander holds a Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from Vermont Law School, and a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University.

Brandy Wilson is the Sustainability Director for the J.R. Simplot Company, a vertically integrated, global agribusiness firm. She works with Simplot’s customers and business groups, as well as industry stakeholders and NGOs, to develop and implement a company-wide, leading sustainability program. Since Simplot does everything from phosphate mining and fertilizer manufacturing, to crop advising services, to farming, ranching, and food processing (Simplot is best known for its delicious French fries), she works with partners across the entire agricultural supply chain, from growers through customers, to define and measure sustainability outcomes.

Prior to joining Simplot, Brandy enjoyed a 20-year career at CH2M (now Jacobs Engineering), serving as their Global Sustainability Director. She split her time between developing and implementing CH2M’s award-winning sustainability platform, and helping her clients develop sustainability strategies and programs that delivered positive outcomes and business value. She led CH2M’s collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to advance green infrastructure solutions that protect communities and assets while enhancing natural resources. Outside of work, you can find Brandy (literally) outside: hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, and of course, gardening.

Brendan Shane is the Climate Director at Trust for Public Land, leading efforts to leverage the power of nature through park creation and land protection to meet the climate crisis and build healthy, resilient communities. He previously served as Regional Director for North America for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Chief of Policy and Sustainability for the District of Columbia Government, and Environmental Director for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation. Brendan is a watershed hydrologist and attorney, with a BA in government from Franklin & Marshall College, MS in geology from the University of Maryland, and JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Brenden is a recognized leader with 20 years of experience in built environment sustainability across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. At JLL, Brenden works with both Investors and Occupiers to decarbonize their real estate portfolios. Trained as an engineer, Brenden has deep technical expertise paired with broad experience in business strategy. Prior to joining JLL, Brenden led consulting work at Integral Group, the global leader in Net Zero Energy design engineering. At Integral, Brenden developed sustainable real estate strategy for 5 global technology companies and created the Equitable Climate Action Plan for one of the largest cities in California Previously, Brenden worked in the nonprofit sector. He led US Green Building Council’s operations across California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii, leading program development, fundraising, and strategic partnerships. Before that, Brenden created the Urban Land Institute’s climate resilience and adaptation program. This program developed resources for real estate investors to prepare for and adapt to climate risk. Earlier in his career, Brenden led the Green Building Program at the City of Santa Monica. There he developed one of the first green building codes, that became the basis for the statewide CALGreen code that is used today.

Brian is responsible for leading the development and execution of Microsoft’s global data center energy strategy. These data centers provide the foundational cloud infrastructure for Microsoft’s online and cloud services for consumers and businesses worldwide. His responsibilities include oversight of all energy supply agreements, renewable energy purchasing, distributed generation, and strategic partnerships to ensure a power supply that is reliable and sustainable. As General Manager of the Energy Strategy and Research team, he creates end-to-end strategies that will drive innovations in the next generation of cloud data centers, and supports efforts to establish energy market policies that will foster end-user innovation. Brian joined Microsoft in 2011 after 12 years in the energy industry where he worked as a Sr. Consultant at Brubaker & Associates, assisting Fortune 500 companies with energy procurement, policy, and sustainability matters. Brian holds an MBA from Webster University, a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Missouri, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Missouri.

Brian King joined ADS in September 2020 and serves as Executive Vice President, Product Management and Marketing. He is responsible for leading marketing strategy and increasing customer demand by delivering the right product or solution, to the right customer, with the right message, at the right time, and place.

Before joining Advanced Drainage Systems, Brian served in a variety of roles with Owens Corning from 2013 to 2020, including Vice President of Strategic Marketing - Roofing, Director of Strategic Marketing – Roofing and Asphalt and Director of Products and Programs – Engineered Insulation Systems. Before that he held a variety of roles at Stanley Black and Decker, Elmer’s, and Avery Dennison.

He has 25 years of product management and marketing experience business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) and direct to customer business. Brian graduated from McMaster University with honors in Commerce and Business.

Briana is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance (A&A) group. She joined the Sustainability & ESG Services team after completing a two-year rotational role in the firm’s US CFO Program. She has over six years of industry experience serving audit clients in real estate, both nationally and internationally, public and private. In audit, she worked on the largest REIT IPO on the NYSE.Briana authored three ESG related articles in The CFO Journal, a subset of the Wall Street Journal. She also published CFO Signals reports, one with a special topic on decarbonization. Today, she focuses her time on the impacts of the proposed SEC Climate rule by serving clients with assurance readiness and assurance engagements. Prior to joining Deloitte, Briana graduated magna cum laude from Marist College with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a minor in Marketing. She is a licensed CPA in the State of New York, is IFRS accredited, and is an FSA candidate.

Bridgette McAdoo leads the Global Sustainability practice at Genesys. As the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, she has built a holistic sustainability management approach for Genesys from the ground up. This approach optimizes the company’s economic, social, and environmental impact across various functions and regions. She also continues to leverage advanced sustainability metrics to deliver integrated analysis to our stakeholders and fine tune sustainability initiatives in real time. A hands-on, cross-departmental leader, Bridgette prizes stakeholder engagement and education. The goal: To make sustainability an organic extension of how each employee works and lives at GenesysBridgette has more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles where she utilized her expertise in sustainability, operations, and engineering. This experience spans multiple sectors, including the international non-governmental operation (NGO), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). There Bridgette led corporate strategy and engagement for WWF’s Freshwater and Food goals. Previously, she was Global Director of Sustainability for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). There she led sustainability issues for the brand, both internally within Yum! Brands, as well as with various external stakeholders. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and an MBA in Strategy from Claremont Graduate University.Bridgette lives in Maryland with her husband, Shannon…and English Bulldog, Captain.

Bruno is a sustainability and ESG executive with more than 20 years of experience operating at the forefront of social and business transformation, leading through rapid and disruptive change and is experienced in advising clients at all stages of maturity on their ESG and sustainability journey.He helps global companies develop and execute their climate and sustainability strategies and programs.Bruno has proven success managing complexity and providing results in fast-changing environments, with key strengths in integrating ESG performance into core business operations and strategy. He is a trusted partner to C-Suite executives and boards of directors and is a sought-after speaker.Prior to joining EY firm, he was president of leading ESG disclosure nonprofit CDP North America. Bruno also held sustainability leadership roles for a leading US power company and a large global tech company. Bruno is also a professor of practice in Arizona State University's School of Sustainability.

Bryan Yuji Walker leads the organizational design portfolio at IDEO. He actively pursues new ways that designers can catalyze and support massive change of complex, human systems, and has worked with organizations in a diversity of industries (consumer electronics, health care, fashion, sports apparel, retail and hospitality, food and beverage and financial services). He is passionate about collaborating with organizations to design innovation strategies that build upon existing assets to meet future needs and goals—and ultimately support enterprise-wide transformation. He has a bias towards action, believing the best way to help an organization become more innovative is by working together to bring more innovative "products" to market.

Bryan’s work has been widely recognized. His innovative design research on a baby stroller was awarded the product design of the year by the Human Factors Ergonomic Society and was later featured in the Smithsonian. His work has also been written about in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, USA Today and Fast Company.

In addition to his work at IDEO, Bryan is a core design team member for the Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship Program. He also lectures at Cornell University, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and the California Center of Arts on the topics of design thinking, organizational design, consumer experience design and service design.

Bryan Lewis leads the Emerging Leaders program at GreenBiz.org, which elevates, cultivates and supports the next generation of Black, Indigenous and other leaders of color (BIPOC) in the climate community. His work connects underrepresented young professionals to global leaders in the sustainability industry and builds lasting connections that bridge the gap towards a diverse and well-resourced green workforce.
Prior to joining GreenBiz, Bryan served as Executive Director of EcoWorks Detroit where he led climate and energy education, building decarbonization, and local community organizing initiatives. He has a background in youth mentorship and career development and currently leads a network of emerging clean energy leaders in Michigan. Bryan received a Masters in Energy Science, Technology, and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

Byron leads corporate responsibility and ESG at Organon, a new pharma company focused on the health of women. Prior to joining Organon in 2021, Byron led global ESG communications at Teva Pharmaceuticals and ESG for Teva USA. Before joining Teva, Byron led the healthcare practice at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a global business network and consultancy focused on building the capacity of large companies to become more sustainable and socially responsible. At BSR, he advised over 25 companies in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industry on their ESG and sustainability strategies. Prior to BSR, Byron managed and developed global health partnerships at Johnson & Johnson, where he engaged a variety of stakeholders in the fields of NCDs, HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and digital health. Byron began his career in global health at an HIV/AIDS NGO based in South Africa called mothers2mothers International and later served as a management consultant at Rabin Martin in New York City.Byron earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and his BA from Princeton University.

Candace Clark is a Tuskegee University Alumna from Chicago, IL; with a BS in Agricultural Business with a concentration on sustainability and a certificate in International Relations, as well as a former USDA 1890 Scholar. Her experiences abroad as an Afro-Indigenous woman cultivates her internal obligation to honor her ancestors by serving her community and those like it abroad.​​ Aware of racial injustices, she views them- and their potential solutions- from an intersectional, generative lens. She hopes to empower developing communities by learning and being a conduit for regenerative agricultural techniques to small and middle farmers, internationally.​​She holds two Masters degrees in International Affairs and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from American University and The United Nations University for Peace, respectively. She is currently enrolled in Tuskegee University’s Integrative Public Policy and Development program, pursuing her PhD.

Cara Pike is the founder and director of Climate Access, a nonprofit focused on building political and public support for climate solutions through its strategic communications learning and training center, pilot projects that test new engagement approaches, and research and consulting services. Her work includes creation of the Preparation Frame: A Guide for Understanding and Engaging Around Climate Impacts; the Ecological Roadmap, a values-based approach to building support for environmental protection; Climate Communications Behavior Change – A Guide for Practitioners, and other widely used publications and toolkits. Cara regularly advises government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Clients have included the City of Boston, Ocean Science Trust, Union of Concerned Scientists, Urban Sustainability Director Network, and others.

Carlos Silva is a remote sensing scientist at Pachama. He helps guide the company’s efforts to integrate satellite observations into our evolving platform for high-integrity, transparent, and scalable forest carbon crediting. Carlos holds a PhD in remote sensing and global ecology, and previously worked on the NASA GEDI mission, a spaceborne instrument that measures 3D forest structure globally. He also holds a master’s degree in economics and public policy, and has developed forest carbon projects for both the voluntary and compliance markets.

Carolina García Arbeláez is a leader with over 10 years of experience working for a more equitable and sustainable world. She is a One Young World Ambassador and one of the 88 women around the world chosen for the Homeward Bound leadership program and its Antarctic Expedition in 2019. She is the founder of Still New, a sustainable fashion for children start up. Currently she works as Global Sustainability and Innovation Director for ABInBev and is the Co-lead of the 100+ Accelerator. She has been working for ABInBev over the past four years in Sustainability at a local, regional and global scale. She graduated as a lawyer from Los Andes University and later from a specialization in Economics from the same university. She is a fellow from the Aspen Institute Early Movers Fellowship. She has published several articles in national and international media. For more than 3 years she worked in WWF in the international climate negotiations (from COP19 to COP22) and in local climate advocacy. She has taught international environmental law courses at Rosario and Externado University. She is the author of the climate change book “Cambio climático: lo que está en juego” and author of the booklets “El Acuerdo de París: así actuará Colombia frente al cambio climático”, amongst others.

Carolina Leonhardt is the Sr. Manager of Environmental Stewardship at Clif Bar & Company and has been on the company’s sustainability team for the last 5 years. In her role, Carolina leads strategy development, integration, and implementation of sustainability programs, communications, and employee engagement in the areas of climate and energy, zero waste, organic and sustainable sourcing, and natural resource conservation. She also leads cross-functional efforts in support of the company’s goals to transition to sustainable packaging and become net positive on climate by 2030. Carolina has worked in the sustainability field for over 15 years with experience in the non-profit, private consulting, and government sectors. She holds a Bachelor of International Studies from American University and is a TRUE Zero Waste Advisor.

Carsten Wachholz is Senior Policy Manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. In his current role, he co-leads the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty (https://www.businessforplasticstreaty.org/) that brings together businesses and financial institutions committed to supporting the development of an ambitious, effective and legally binding UN treaty to end plastic pollution. The coalition is convened by the Foundation and WWF, in collaboration with aligned businesses and supported by strategic NGO partners.Throughout his career, Carsten has worked on a broad range of sustainability issues both for environmental Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and different management consultancies in Germany and at European level. His expertise covers climate change, energy policy, biodiversity, natural resources management, circular economy and sustainable finance. He also worked for the Corporate Responsibility Department in the European Investment Bank.

Carter has over 20 years of experience at the forefront of integrating nature into sustainable development and corporate sustainability across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Currently, Carter is an Executive Director at Pollination where she focuses on nature-based solutions and advises clients who have food and fiber supply chains. Prior to joining Pollination, Carter was a Senior Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice where she advised food/agriculture, real estate, infrastructure and tourism businesses in designing and implementing ESG goals and strategies, programs and impact measurement, with a focus on natural capital. Carter’s previous experiences include launching and leading the Ecosystem Services program and the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) for the Wildlife Conservation Society, where she worked with governments, multi-lateral institutions, NGOs and businesses to advance conservation and sustainable development globally. Carter completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and has a M.Sc. and D.Phil. from the School of Geography and the Environment of Oxford University. She has co-edited two books and written over 60 articles, reports and publications on biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change, poverty reduction and economic development. Carter is currently an Adjunct Associated Professor in the School for Foreign Service at Georgetown University and serves on the SNAPP Science Advisory Council, the Technical Advisory Council for the UNDP Equator Initiative, Terra Alpha Investments Advisory Board, HQ Capital Ayuda Deep Impact Fund Expert Group, and co-led a USG working group on Natural Capital Accounting in the United States.

Casey Brown is Provost Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University. He is an internationally recognized expert in water resources systems analysis and climate risk assessment. His primary research interest is the development of analytical methods for improving the use of scientific observations and data in decision making, with a focus on climate and water resources, and he has worked extensively on projects around the world in this regard. Dr. Brown earned a doctorate in Environmental Engineering Science from Harvard University.

Catherine Berman is CEO and co-founder of CNote, an award-winning impact platform on a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. Using the power of technology and a community-first framework, CNote enables corporations and individuals to efficiently invest at scale in fixed income and time deposit products that advance economic equality, racial justice, and climate change initiatives. Catherine is a three-time entrepreneur with experience launching and building scalable businesses. Her previous startup, Global Brigades, grew into a multi-million dollar firm in less than four years and is now the world’s largest student development firm. Prior to launching CNote, Catherine served as Managing Director of Charles Schwab, one of America’s leading financial services businesses. At Schwab, Catherine led a strategy group focused on the intersection of predictive analytics, data, and product development. Before joining Schwab, Catherine served in management positions including Senior Vice President of Astia (venture capital), Strategy & Operations Manager at Deloitte Consulting, LLP (management consulting), and Vice President of Evins Communications, LLC. Her international work experience spans the globe with extensive work in Central and South America. Catherine graduated magna cum laude from Boston University and earned her Masters Degree from the University of Oxford. She founded the Oxford Women in Business Network which remains a powerful business network for women.

Chandra Farley serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Atlanta. In this role, Chandra sets direction for the City’s sustainability and resilience goals and leads the interdepartmental, and community-wide, engagement necessary to address the inequitable effects of climate change. Chandra’s charge is the development of a comprehensive climate resilience strategy that will address energy insecurity, healthy housing, food systems, waste diversion, building decarbonization, workforce training, and fleet electrification while advancing the City’s goal to achieve 100% clean energy for 100% of Atlantans by 2035. Chandra is also developing the strategy to leverage the historic federal investment in clean energy and the Justice40 Initiative to advance these goals through a lens of environmental justice. Prior to joining the City, Chandra founded ReSolve Consulting, an energy justice consulting firm and the “Good Energy Project,” a social space connecting the transformational power of Black Women and their community leadership to the movement for an equitable clean energy economy. In 2022, Chandra completed a historic run for the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Chante Harris is a champion of social and financial innovation. Throughout her career. she has successfully scaled nationwide campaigns, technologies, and ideas for the Obama Administration, Fortune 500 companies, and startups. Her writing and work have been featured by ImpactAlpha, Business Insider, The Milken Institute, and other notable publications.

As an operator, she has secured and effectively deployed millions of dollars for the implementation of climate projects and energy-efficient technologies. In 2020 she built a $10 million early stage climate tech venture studio in the U.S. focused on global companies deploying technologies across mobility, buildings, agriculture, waste, water, materials, and carbon. Chante recently completed a residency with Schmidt Futures and is now developing new financial and deployment models with a broader group of catalytic funders to address the funding gap for hard tech and material science climate technologies at the critical early infrastructure project stage.

Named by Forbes as a 30 Under 30 in the Energy Category, Nasdaq as a Woman to Watch in 2022, ACEEE as a Champion for Energy Efficiency, GreenBiz as 30 Under 30 Leader, America on Tech as an Innovator and Disruptor, and Women Enews as a Pioneering Woman in Sustainability, Chante is at the helm of driving climate innovation and advancing the energy transition across the globe. Chante has traveled the world to speak at global events like COP, GreenBiz, and TechStars.

In addition to her work leading in climate tech and investment, Chante launched and built the only global digital collective and community that is 100% dedicated to advancing women of color working across the sustainability industry. Since its launch in the summer of 2019, the community has brought together over 5,000 women of color through virtual and in-person events, social media channels, a digital community, and online publication. 

Chante is on the advisory committee for the first-ever global Climate Center being built on Governor's Island in NYC and sits on the Board of Summit Impact. She is a lover of nature and music, an avid meditator, and a poet.

Charles Cannon is the manager of RMI’s Climate Intelligence program.

Before joining the Rocky Mountain Institute, Charles worked as an Engineer with Pure Power Engineering, designing 50MW+ of commercial & industrial solar projects across the US. Prior to his role as an engineer, Charles was a Fellow with Fraunhofer CSE’s Module Innovation Group, working on a DoE Sunshot initiative to reduce soft costs in solar installations.

Executive Director Avasant Foundation and Principal AvasantChitra has more than 25 years of Management and Business Development experience. She leads the development and implementation of the foundation’s mission through global initiatives to empower deserving young women and men through education, employment & entrepreneurship in the new digital economy. Chitra has also worked with state and local governments, international organizations including World Bank, USAID, and Fortune 500 corporations. Under Chitra’s leadership Avasant Foundation was recognized by Clinton Global Initiative for its Youth Empowerment initiatives in Jamaica and Haiti in 2015 and 2016. She received the Stevie award in 2018 and the Red Ladder award for Women in business in 2020. In 2022 she was recognized for her work as Unstoppable woman. Chitra is part of the Leadership team for Center for Social Impact, IAOP.

Chris Lee represents Kailua, Waimanalo, and Hawaii Kai in the Hawaii State Senate. He currently serves as Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, and previously chaired the House Committee on the Judiciary and House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection. He has authored laws making Hawaii the first state to commit to 100 percent renewable energy, a carbon negative economy by 2045, and eliminating all fossil fuels from ground transportation. He has worked to advance efforts on climate change and the electrification of transportation. Chris also serves as Vice President of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, and is a graduate of Oregon State University.

Chris Gaither is an executive and team coach for regenerative business leaders. He helps senior leaders light up with purpose, drive wide-scale change, and replenish their energy to do the work the Earth and our communities so desperately need.His clients have done brilliant work at prestigious organizations such as Google, Apple, Levi Strauss, Daily Harvest, Airbnb, and the Nature Conservancy. He also serves on the coaching faculty at X, Alphabet's moonshot factory.In previous roles at Apple and Google, he oversaw global storytelling campaigns; built and managed effective teams; and advised VPs and C-level executives on how to inspire, communicate more effectively, and drive change. He was director of strategy and engagement for Apple's Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives team, overseeing programs and campaigns experienced by millions of customers and employees around the world.Chris is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation, and a member of the Climate Coaching Alliance, the Humanitarian Coaching Network, and the Forbes Coaches Council. He proudly serves on the Alameda County Community Food Bank’s board of directors.

At Independence Point Advisors, Chris helps clients drive value in the capital markets through ESG while helping steer the capital markets to drive impact and systemic change in the world. Chris brings more than 20 years of business expertise when working with clients to advance sustainability, impact and Environmental Social Governance (ESG). Chris’ expertise was developed through her years as a leader at EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice as well as her hands-on experience as an entrepreneur and across multiple functions within the corporate world. Chris is a spouse and mother of two, an avid runner and gardener, a wanna-be skier and chef.

Chris Coulter works with leadership organizations to help them better understand and respond to shifting stakeholder expectations, build trust with key constituencies and exert greater influence in shaping the future. Chris has two decades of experience in providing evidence-based counsel in the areas of reputation, purpose and sustainability. He is passionate about building trusted and recognized leadership for GlobeScan’s clients. Chris has substantive international experience having lived in North America, Europe and Asia and works with GlobeScan clients in all regions of the world. He is also a member of SustainAbility’s Council and is a Board Member of Canadian Business for Social Responsibility and Good World Solutions.

Christina Shim is the Global Head of Strategy and Sustainability for IBM Sustainability Software. In this role, she oversees the overarching growth, business development, venture, and partnership strategy, as well as leading IBM’s sustainability platform for technology. Most recently, she was Managing Director and Head of New York for Palladium International, a global impact firm. She built the Commercial Innovation Practice, supporting companies with sustainability and ESG strategies and execution. Ms. Shim’s global experience includes time with several top-tier management consulting firms - including Booz Allen Hamilton, Bain & Co, and PricewaterhouseCoopers – in New York, London, Singapore, and Washington DC. As part of these roles, she grew global offices / teams and defined and implemented the trajectory of the business. She specializes in sustainability / ESG, growth and transformational business strategy, investment strategy, innovation / incubator management, commercial due diligence, and ecosystem-based implementation. Her clients, partners, and networks have included Fortune 500, Global 3000, and private equity firms, as well as federal government organizations and technology start-ups. Additionally, Ms. Shim worked at the Central Intelligence Agency, augmenting her global commercial experience with public sector service. Christina has mentored entrepreneurs at various venture funds and has served on the Board / as an Advisor to fintech and climate tech startups, accelerators, non-profits, and to Princeton and Columbia University around sustainability and responsible investing. She has also been invited to speak with media and at events globally, including with Reuters, Politico, Bloomberg, International Business Times, AI and Sustainability, and the UN, among others.Ms. Shim has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. She was also a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Christine Brynaert is a CPA and Partner in Deloitte Tax’s Global Investment & Innovation Incentive Services (Gi3) practice. Christine has over eleven years of professional experience in public accounting, including state and federal tax areas such as Credits & Incentives, Audit Defense, Controversy, and Tax Return Preparation. Christine is a lead in Deloitte Tax’s ESG practice and primarily advises clients in tax credit structuring and syndication for ESG focused areas such as the New Markets Tax Credit Program, Renewable Energy Tax Credits, Green Manufacturing Tax Credits, Qualified Opportunity Zones, Disaster Relief Retention Credits, and COVID-19 Employee Retention Credits.

Chuck Hanna Vice President, National Accounts & Solutions SalesProfileConstellation is the largest supplier of electricity to commercial and industrial customers in the US deregulated markets. Chuck leads the National Accounts & Solutions team that works closely with customers, channel partners and associations across the US to assist customers in achieving their business, sustainability and energy goals. Our team supports customers in managing risk & budgets, sustainability & carbon reduction, energy data insights and energy infrastructure solutions. Chuck has extensive experience in other areas of the energy sector including wholesale markets, renewable & carbon free energy, transmission and distribution businesses. He formerly served as the vice president of the Mid-Atlantic Region at Constellation and previously led the Exelon retail sales business for power and natural gas. Civic InvolvementChuck and his family are active and supportive of a number of charities and community groups in southeastern PA. He is a past board member of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Kennett Area YMCA and United Way of Southern Chester County.EducationHe is a graduate of the University of Delaware where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He earned his Master of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Bath in England.

Claudia is passionate about corporate sustainability and social impact. She has worked at Bain & Company, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). Claudia enjoys writing, traveling, and singing (even though she's not very good at the latter).

Claudia is presently serving as Program Manager at the United Nations Global Compact USA and is the Founder & CEO of Wasi - an iOS app that helps users change the world from the comfort of their own homes. She is also a Founding Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Queens Hub.

Claudia was recently selected to the Environment + Energy 100 and the GreenBiz 30 Under 30 lists. She holds a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of Bath, a MA in Global Governance and International Diplomacy from Columbia University, and a MSc in Sustainability, Enterprise and Environment from the University of Oxford.

Colleen Corrigan, Ph.D., is a Senior Sustainability Advisor for Pure Strategies. She works with corporate clients on developing strategies to promote sustainability in company operations, value chains, material selection and natural resources management. Colleen focuses on helping companies set science-based targets for nature to protect and regenerate biodiversity. Her work in this area helps companies understand their impacts and implement strategies, collaborations, and business process changes to mitigate harm to and restore affected ecosystems.Prior to joining Pure Strategies, Colleen was the founder of Conservation Matters, an organization that consults on biodiversity protection, strategy development, and program delivery with a focus on marine protection, indigenous issues, and environmental governance for clients including National Geographic, UNESCO, and the World Wildlife Fund.Previously, Colleen was a senior officer in protected areas at the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Center in the UK. She was also senior manager for international sustainable development policy with Conservation International and learning facilitator for international field programs at The Nature Conservancy. Her career has included working with three branches of the U.S. Department of the Interior.Colleen holds a Ph.D. from the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Management at the University of Queensland, Australia and an M.S. in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Conrad MacKerron is Senior Vice President at As You Sow, a non-profit that promotes corporate social responsibility through shareholder advocacy. Conrad manages corporate dialogues and initiatives on circular economy issues. He specializes in the resource efficiency of products and packaging. His current focus challenges consumer brands to stop plastic pollution by making plastic packaging recyclable, taking financial responsibility for recycling, and reducing use of plastic overall. His work has led five major brands including Target and Walmart to commit to use less virgin plastic, Apple to greatly increase e-waste take back, McDonald’s and YUM! Brands to phase out polystyrene foam packaging, and Starbucks to shift from single-use cups to reusable cups. He was formerly director of social research at Piper Jaffray Philanthropic & Social Investment Consulting, and Washington Bureau Chief for Chemical Week. He received the Socially Responsible Investment Service Award for outstanding contribution to the social investor community. He is author of Business in the Rainforests: Corporations, Deforestation and Sustainability.

Courtney Thompson is an Executive Director and Head of Products & Solutions in Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainability Office, supporting the development of sustainable finance products and solutions across the firm’s Institutional Securities, Investment Management and Wealth Management divisions. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Courtney worked in strategic advisory at Next Street and economic consulting at Analysis Group. Courtney graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. She also serves as Board Co-Chair of Microlumbia, a student-led impact investing fund.

Craig Beatty is the Manager of Forests Research & Strategy at World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world's largest nature conservation organization. Craig is responsible for representing WWF within the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) as the co-lead of SBTN Land which is developing guidance that will allow companies to set quantifiable targets on Nature as a necessary companion to their commitments to climate. In SBTN Land Craig coordinates the development of the first methods that will allow companies to set targets that address their operational and supply chain impacts on land, develops analytical and spatial tools and resources to answer key data and information gaps, and collaborates with partners and stakeholders to ensure broad uptake and support among industry and non-governmental organizations. Craig is an expert in landscape restoration, biodiversity, and the role that forests play in supporting many dimensions of human health. He holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of South Florida and an M.S. in Environmental Science & Policy from George Mason University.

Crystal Barnes is Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG at Paramount. In this role, Barnes is responsible for Paramount’s social responsibility program including employee engagement, global giving and cross-portfolio campaigns and partnerships, as well as the expansion of the company’s Content for Change initiative. Her work spans the areas of philanthropy, volunteering, cause marketing, disaster relief and pro bono investments.  Barnes also leads Paramount’s ESG efforts inclusive of strategy, external reporting and assessments and is responsible for driving culture initiatives across the organization.  

Prior to joining Paramount, Barnes served as Senior Vice President of Global Responsibility and Sustainability at Nielsen, and Executive Director of the Nielsen Foundation. She held positions leading the Industry Relations team, focusing on developing strategic alliances with industry, trade and business associations, and worked on the communications and public affairs team where she initiated and managed Nielsen’s partnerships with civic, social service and business organizations.  With diversity, equity and inclusion as pillars in her career, Barnes also worked closely with Nielsen’s African American Advisory Council to drive diversity efforts across the company. 

A native of Pennsylvania, Barnes received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcast Telecommunications and Mass Media from Temple University. She serves on the board of Citizen Schools and Get Schooled and resides in New Jersey with her husband and 3 children.

Cynthia Muffuh joined the UN Global Compact Office in March 2022 as the Head of Human Rights and Gender Equality where she is responsible for articulating and delivering on the strategy to support business align their strategies andoperations with the Ten Principles especially around human rights and gender equality and move from commitment to action. She brings over 20 years’ experience leading global programs oninternational development and social sustainability. Throughout her career she has worked across the private sector, non-profit and intergovernmentalorganizations engaging and working with stakeholders and partners on complexglobal issues. She is a dual qualified legal practitioner with a focus on International Human Rights Law. She is married with 2 children.

Dan is the Corporate Responsibility Manager at the Gold Standard Foundation. Building on the work of SBTI and others alike, Dan works to bring together businesses, experts, civil society, and governments to support sectoral and organisational efforts to create, implement and succeed in science-aligned climate and nature targets. This includes identifying and collaboratively building solutions to critical challenges in decarbonising value chains whilst protecting nature. Dan's background is in the UK Civil service where he has a track record of delivering major government priorities in collaboration with other governments,  business, academia and civil society including; the UK Net Zero Strategy, Agricultural Commodity Companies roadmap, UK 10 Point plan for a Green Industrial revolution, FACT dialogue and more.

Daniella Flanagan with 20 years of Merchant and Card Services experience including the launch of the prepaid card at eBay Paypal is also a domestic abuse survivor. Daniella also enjoys advocacy for the environment, the houseless/homeless, and domestic abuse survivors.

2019 saw Daniella left a decade long domestic violent relationship and was finally able to get into a women's shelter with the support of friends she was able to walk away from her 5 bedroom and donating ALL of its contents to charity *while being abused and surviving an attack by a racist.

A client of HAWC (Houston Area Women's Shelter) and AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse), she volunteers with the Coalition of Community Organizations (COCO). Through COCO, Daniella helps coordinate food and water distributions from the Houston Food Bank often sponsored by community leaders such Councilwomen Tarsha B Jackson and Dr. Leticia Plummer, DDS; covid-19 vaccinations and feedback surveys; collecting and reporting Houstonians in need of repairs due to Winter Storm Uri and Hurricane Harvey; environmental justice projects such as Data2Action for lead sampling in Fifth Ward and Creosote Man for the cancer and leukemia clusters in Fifth Ward.

She also founded SoulFoodie Healthy Living Tips, a soon-to-be, 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on health and wellness information distribution in BIPOC communities.

Dirt Road Treats™ (DRT™) was founded by Daniella to a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) B-corp focused on private enterprise in economic development corridors or TIRZs like TIRZ 18 in Fifth Ward.

Danielle leads the Microsoft datacenter environmental justice strategy towards a measurable, positive impact on the climate resilience and capacities of under-resourced communities. She has also launched the zero waste, supplier sustainability and embodied carbon reduction programs for Microsoft datacenters as part of the company’s carbon negative, zero waste, waster positive and ecosystems protection goals. Danielle has a background in strategy, process improvement and change management with Microsoft, AREVA North America and IBM. She serves on the board of 3rd Creek Foundation, an organization dedicated to poverty alleviation. Danielle lives in West Seattle with her husband, daughter, and dog. She is a food enthusiast who loves to travel and stay active in the Pacific Northwest splendor.

Dave is the founder of [OPLN] Ocean Plastics Leadership Network. The OPLN, made up of 130+ organizations, is an activist-to-industry network dedicated to solving the ocean plastics crisis. The OPLN launched the Global Plastics Treaty Dialogues series with WWF and Greenpeace in March 2020, an ongoing multi-stakeholder series engineered to build capacity and understanding around a Global Plastics Treaty, with global, regional, and country level tracts. Participants include over 400 organizations from 40 countries across the vast plastic stakeholder spectrum.

Dave Stangis is Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer at Apollo and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. Prior to joining Apollo, Dave founded 21C Impact, an advisory firm dedicated to delivering a differentiated impact on business results with a focus on ESG and corporate sustainability initiatives. Previously, he was Chief Sustainability Officer at Campbell Soup Company where he created and led the company’s ESG, Corporate Citizenship, Sustainability & Public Affairs strategies. Dave joined Campbell from Intel Corporation, where he served as the Company’s first Global Director of Corporate Responsibility.
 
Dave currently serves as a mentor to the AgFunder Network. He previously served as Executive Adviser at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson College, and Instructor in Villanova University’s Sustainable Enterprise Executive Education program.

David Kuhn is WWF US’s Corporate Resilience Lead with the Resilience team. He previously worked on the Private Sector Engagement team and has been at WWF for 8 years.

In his role, he works with multinational companies to provide guidance on sustainability initiatives and goals, helps them develop a deep understanding of current climate change impacts and future risks, and works in landscapes around the world to take a participatory, multi-stakeholder based approach to prioritize, design, and test adaptation and resilience innovations that help people and nature.

David has worked with the Coca-Cola Company, McDonalds, Columbia University, the BioPlastic Feedstock Alliance, McCormick, and others along with local communities and governments to disseminate and scale lessons learned from this process to mainstream social-ecological resilience approaches across landscapes and industry.

David Grayson CBE Independent commentator, adviser and speaker on Responsible Business, Corporate Sustainability, and collaboration between businesses and other parts of society. David is Emeritus Professor of Corporate Responsibility at Cranfield University School of Management. He was founder director of Cranfield’s Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility 2007-17. David joined Cranfield in 2007 after a 30-year career as a social entrepreneur and campaigner for responsible business, economic regeneration, disability rights and diversity. David has chaired several public bodies and charities in the UK. He currently chairs The Institute of Business Ethics and the pan-disablity charity Leonard Cheshire. He is part of the Circle of Advisers for Business Fights Poverty and a member of the faculty for The Forward Institute.David is the author of eleven books. The latest - “The Sustainable Business Handbook,” - is co-authored with Chris Coulter and Mark Lee (Kogan Page 2022). He has also contributed chapters to almost 20 further books.During his career, he has done work with numerous multinational businesses as well as for many Responsible Business coalitions around the world and for the OECD, European Union and the World Bank. Twitter @DavidGrayson_ www.DavidGrayson.net www.amazon.com/author/davidgrayson

Deb Gallagher leads BSR’s climate work in the US and works closely with BSR’s external partnership teams to accelerate decarbonization while engendering climate justice. Prior to joining BSR, Deb was a professor at Duke University, where her research focused on business leadership behaviors required to advance sustainability, including stakeholder relationship management, ESG data acquisition and use, public policy engagement, and design of strategic partnerships. Prior to Duke, she held environmental leadership positions in manufacturing and government. She holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern.

Deepa Poduval is a Senior Vice President, leading the Global Advisory Practice within Black & Veatch. In
this role, she provides executive leadership for Black & Veatch’s Strategic and Digital Advisory Services
including support for a wide variety of clients related to transactions due diligence, regulations, business
strategy, energy market planning, asset & risk management, operational technologies and infrastructure
modernization needs. Clients span governments, and electric, water, oil & gas, commercial, industrial
and financial sectors across the Americas, Europe and Asia who seek strategic and technical expertise
related to their critical infrastructure as they pursue goals around Sustainability, Growth and Resilience. 
Deepa also leads Black & Veatch’s strategic solutions related to Decarbonization and serves on Black &
Veatch’s DE&I Council. Deepa brings substantial finance, utility, and energy industry knowledge and has
advised various clients on strategic responses to key issues impacting their business. These issues
recently include creating executable pathways to achieve net-zero objectives incorporating project
viability, risk and future growth.

Dr. Denise Fairchild has spent her career leading campaigns and building alliances in environmental/climate justice and community development work, and is currently President Emeritus of Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national nonprofit of community, labor and business working at the intersection of environment, economy and equity.Denise is a 2021 Climate Breakthrough awardee, the largest global award for an individual in the climate field. She is using her grant to deepen her energy democracy work, finding cultural and business solutions to Scope 3 emissions, which typically represent the majority of a company’s GhG emissions. but are ignored by many carbon reduction policies. She is leveraging her relationships within the energy democracy and frontline communities, as well as government, environmental, and business communities to be a driving force in making cultural shifts as a cornerstone to carbon reduction and climate and economic justice.Denise holds a doctorate in urban planning, with expertise in community, economic, and real estate development working with and in low-income communities of color.

Ms Diane B. Holdorf is Executive Vice President (EVP) and a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), based in Geneva, Switzerland. Diane joined WBCSD in December 2018 as Managing Director of Food and Nature where she led business efforts to accelerate the system transformation in the areas of food, nature and water. In October 2021, Diane took the role of EVP for Pathways. In her role as EVP, Diane focuses on the Pathways as part of WBCSD’s strategy, leading business efforts to accelerate collaborative solutions in Food and Agriculture, Energy, Products & Materials, Mobility and Built Environment, and Health and Wellbeing – working in partnership to deliver business solutions for the Imperatives and Redefining Value Program pillars. Before joining WBCSD, Diane was Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Kellogg. Prior to joining Kellogg, Diane served as Vice President for Delta Consultants (now Antea), a global environment, health and safety and sustainability consulting firm. During her 17 years with Delta Consultants, she served in numerous management and consulting roles, based in the US and in the UK, where she worked with many consumer-packaged goods, forest products and manufacturing companies in development and implementation of global programs for sustainability, environmental management and risk management. in 2022 Diane was selected as one of the 25 Badass Women shaping climate action by GreenBiz. In 2015, Diane was recognized as a Maize and Wheat Super Woman by CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) as part of the United Nation’s International Women’s Day. She is also recognized as an Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassador. Diane received a Bachelor’s degrees in Public Communications and in German from Syracuse University. She also completed the Executive MBA Program at the University of St Thomas.

Dottie Schindlinger is Executive Director of the Diligent Institute, the think tank and global governance research arm of Diligent Corporation, leading provider of secure corporate board communication and collaboration software used by over 700,000 directors and executives globally. In her role, Dottie provides thought leadership on governance, cybersecurity, and technology topics through presentations to boards and executives dozens of times each year at events around the globe. Her work has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and multiple governance and technology publications. She is co-author of the book, "Governance in the Digital Age: A Guide for the Modern Corporate Board Director," ©2019, John Wiley & Sons, and she co-hosts the fortnightly show, The Corporate Director Podcast.

Dottie brings over twenty years’ experience in governance-related roles, including serving as a director, officer, committee chair, senior executive, governance consultant and trainer for private, public, and nonprofit boards. She was a founding team member of the tech start-up BoardEffect – a board management software provider focused on healthcare and nonprofit boards, acquired by Diligent in 2016. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of the Alice Paul Institute, and she is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar on Corporate Governance. Dottie is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, Ron.

Stephanie is the creative force behind the Impact Finance Center, which she founded in 2013. As an academic entrepreneur, philanthropic advisor, researcher, and educator in the field of impact investing, Stephanie sets the vision and provides leadership for the entire organization while focusing on business development, client engagement, and industry thought leadership through her research, writing, and speaking. Stephanie has 20 years of experience at the intersection of business and natural resources, working for the EcoProducts Fund $100 Ecosystem Service private equity fund, the Nature Conservancy, the USDA Forest Service, DOE Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Journal of Wildlife Management, and several universities. Stephanie received her Ph.D. from the Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program at the University of Montana. She has a B.S. in Biology & Wildlife Management from the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and a M.S. in Ecology from Utah State University. Stephanie is an Aspen Institute Environment Forum Scholar, Environmental Leadership Senior Fellow, Property Environment Research Center Fellow, Ford Foundation Community Forestry Fellow, and Boone and Crockett Professional Member.

Dylan has spent nearly two decades building better environmental and social impacts in the nonprofit and public sectors and the Fortune 500. Prior to GreenBiz, she was a lead strategist on the social innovation team at Verizon, where she introduced climate justice as a core element of the company’s climate approach and worked to address the rural digital divide. Formerly, at power company NRG, she developed climate and water strategy, and helped conceive and launch a consultancy to help commercial customers navigate climate action, resilience, clean energy, and energy efficiency. 

She now applies her experience in the field to lead and build upon GreenBiz’s offerings for sustainability professionals, working to support, drive, and lift up sustainability practice in business. A former music journalist, she lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Eddie Sherman (Diné | Umóⁿ'hoⁿ), Principal, will be the project lead for the proposed strategic planning process. Our highly competent and diverse team of project managers will support administrative functions. Eddie is a nationally recognized strategist, communicator, community leader, and entrepreneur. Throughout his career, Eddie has committed his efforts to social justice, serving underserved communities, and improving the quality of life for Native Americans and communities of color.Eddie is committed to building power, capacity, and influence for indigenous, black, and people of color with his clients and partners. Before reigniting ATCC, Eddie served as a partner for Hilltop Public Solutions – a national public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C.Eddie brings invaluable experience in organizational development, issue advocacy, and leading communications practices as a nationally recognized expert in Tribal engagement, politics, and public affairs. Through his work, Eddie leads efforts to help important constituencies organize and maximize their influence on politics and policy. In prior roles, Eddie has held key leadership positions with the Oregon Native American Chamber (ONAC), Oregon Native American Business & Entrepreneurial Network (ONABEN), and the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA).Eddie has been appointed to the Portland Human Rights Commission and selected to participate in the American Leadership Forum – Oregon. In 2010, Eddie was nationally selected for the German Marshall Memorial Fellowship, but his leadership development journey has also included the AIO American Indian Ambassadors’ Program and the El Pomar Foundation Fellowship. In addition to his professional role, Eddie serves as the Vice Chair (Chair for 6 years) of the Native American Youth and Family Center’s board of directors, President of the Oregon Native American Chamber, and has just finished his term as co-chair of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians’

Edua Dickerson is the Vice President of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and Finance Strategy at ServiceNow. In her role, she is responsible for developing, activating, and overseeing the integrated ESG strategy and initiatives. She also creates and manages key activities to enable the Finance organization to operate effectively at scale. Entrusted with operationalizing ESG across ServiceNow, Edua leads the team as they incorporate ESG strategy across the internal enterprise, including governing policies, processes, and controls. Edua’s team also serves as customer zero for all relevant ESG-related solutions while delivering thought leadership expertise and developing strategic partnerships with product development, go-to-market stakeholders, and partners. Edua is an advisor for strategic learning, digital reskilling, and talent development initiatives at ServiceNow, leading the Finance career development strategy, including the post-university and post-MBA rotational programs. Edua joined ServiceNow as Chief of Staff to the Chief Financial Officer in July 2020. Prior to ServiceNow, Edua worked as Chief of Staff to the Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer at Google, eventually moving on to Head of YouTube Trust and Safety. She served as the Black Employee Resource Group Global Chair and partnered with Google leadership to develop racial equity commitments in 2020. She also held leadership roles within Google’s Finance operations, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte Consulting. Edua received her Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles, her MBA from Duke University, and she holds a California CPA. Edua lives in Oakland, California.

Edward is Senior Director, Global Sustainability at Meta. His team develops and executes Meta’s approach to efficient and responsible business operations. Meta has set an ambitious goal to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain (scope 3) in 2030 and, starting in 2020, Meta’s global operations (scopes 1 and 2) reached net zero greenhouse gas emissions and are supported by 100 percent renewable energy. Meta also prioritizes water stewardship across its operations and has set a goal to be water positive by 2030. Beyond operating responsibly, Edward’s team drives efforts to support global communities and make a positive impact on the world by minimizing Meta’s energy, emissions, and water impact, protecting workers and the environment in its supply chain, and partnering with others to develop and share solutions for a more sustainable world. https://sustainability.fb.com/

Elba is a finance and strategy professional with 20+ years of experience at UPS. She’s held roles in Finance, Investor Relations, Marketing and Strategy. In 2021, she joined the Sustainability team as Director Stakeholder Engagement. In this role she devises and executes strategies to influence value creation for all UPS Stakeholders including employees, customers, communities, suppliers and investors through environmental care, social responsibility and governing ethically – ESG. Elba was the Chair of the UPS Hispanic Business Resource Group, Crecer. During her leadership, Crecer was recognized as the #1 Hispanic Employee Resource Group by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Latina Style Magazine. Elba is also the founder of a 501(c)(3) social impact organization seeking 50% women in senior leadership positions by influencing change in workplace cultures and talent management practices. Elba holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Master of Science in Supply Chain Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. She was named one of the 50 Most Influential Latinos in Georgia by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of The Women’s Collective, an initiative to promote and enhance women leaders. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and enjoys growing hybrid tea roses.

My life’s work is centered on sustainability. Throughout my 30-year career, I have developed, commercialized, and scaled new technology and business models across the globe. As an experienced divisional CEO and P&L owner on a worldwide scale, I have hands-on experience in delivering exponential growth, shareholder value, and positive ESG outcomes with my teams. As an experienced publicly listed company Board member, I also have practical experience with ESG governance, risk, corporate strategy and capital markets. As Corporate Vice President of Sustainability at Microsoft, my team and I accelerate progress toward a more sustainable future by creating, executing, and implementing scaled IT-based solutions that help organizations around the world practically solve their sustainability and business objectives, while advocating for policies that support progress towards a just and inclusive NetZero economy.

Elizabeth Geller is a consulting professional, engineer, and project manager with over eight years of experience in the environmental compliance and sustainability fields. She received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University and spent the early part of her career conducting air quality emissions analyses and advising industrial clients on compliance with the US Clean Air Act. In her current role, Elizabeth advises corporate clients on climate goal setting, renewable energy procurement strategy, carbon credit procurement strategy, greenhouse gas emission quantification, and supplier engagement.

Elizabeth has supported clients in a wide variety of industries including power generation, natural gas transmission, materials manufacturing, consumer goods, aerospace, mining, data centers, and food manufacturing. Combining her background in engineering and air quality compliance with her current focus on climate mitigation, she brings a unique perspective of understanding corporate sustainability goals alongside operational facility needs.

Elizabeth directs climate impact and net zero acceleration at EDF+Business, the private sector engagement division of Environmental Defense Fund. She has led EDF partnerships with Walmart, UPS, United Airlines, Airbnb, Lyft and FedEx. Elizabeth also leads coalition collaborations with the Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions (BASCS), Transform to Net Zero (TONZ), and works with the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA). Under her leadership, EDF+Business created the first-of-kind Supply Chain Solutions Center and the Pathways to Net Zero report series with pragmatic, actionable tools to cut emissions now, set interim targets and invest in climate technologies for hard-to-abate sectors.

Ellen Lenny-Pessagno is Vice President for Global External Affairs and Sustainability for Albemarle (ALB), a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. We power the potential of companies in many of the world's largest and most critical industries, from energy and communications to transportation and electronics. In this role, Ellen leads a global team to develop and implement the Energy Storage external affairs and sustainability strategy, works proactively with government authorities and communities to create long-term relationships, and develops partnerships with organizations such as industry associations, think tanks, and other external stakeholders to support Energy Storage growth. As a member of the Energy Storage Leadership Team, Ellen and her colleagues developed and are currently leading the execution of the 10-year energy storage growth strategy. Prior to this role, Ellen was Global VP Lithium Sustainability and Country Manager Chile. She was responsible for developing the sustainability strategy for the Lithium Global Business Unit (recently renamed to Energy Storage Global Business Unit). Ellen led Albemarle to become the first lithium company to complete the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) self-assessment globally in Albemarle´s Salar mine site in Chile and the first to begin its third-party audit. The comprehensive IRMA mining standard is the only standard to be collaboratively developed by NGOs, affected communities, unions and end users. As Country Manager, Ellen represented Albemarle in Chile, executed the corporate strategy, and led all external affairs and community and environmental management. 

Ellen has worked at the intersection of sustainability and human resources as a recruiter and consultant for 25+ years. A super connector, Ellen’s passion for sustainability and ESG was sparked while obtaining her MBA from Yale and interning at L.L.Bean. Ellen is a regular speaker at industry events, and pens a column with GreenBiz entitled “Talent Show.” She frequently shares her perspective with global media outlets, including Marketplace, the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s.

As the Executive Director of Perpetual, Ellie is focused on facilitating the transition to the reuse economy, starting with foodware in smaller US cities. Ellie has been working on solutions to the plastic waste problem since she was the lead author for Sea of Opportunity in 2017. Since then her work has included 'The Dirty Truth about Disposable Foodware,' commissioned by The Overbrook Foundation, and the development of the Living Landscape of Reusable Solutions (www.reuselandscape.org), also commissioned with Overbrook in partnership with The Plastics Solutions Fund. Other work includes Reducing Plastic Pollution: Campaigns That Work (www.campaignsthatwork.org), advising Morgan Stanley on their Plastic Waste Resolution, and working with the Reusable Packaging Association. Ellie began her work as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in 2005 and spent six years with Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting working with companies such as Walmart, Nestle Purina, Energizer, and Microsoft. Ellie has a dual degree in Economics and Public Policy from Brown University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Emily Nyrop leads Conservation International’s climate strategy team within the Center for Natural Climate Solutions.She is Conservation International’s leading climate change expert — responsible for driving the organization’s strategy to catalyze nature’s full potential as a climate solution. Her team focuses on guiding innovative climate initiatives and engaging key stakeholders to identify high-impact climate solutions in critical ecosystems and communities globally.Prior to joining Conservation International, Emily’s work centered on climate change mitigation and adaptation, carbon markets, nature-based solutions, and poverty alleviation. She served as a strategy consultant and advisor to corporations, financial institutions, governments, nonprofits, and philanthropists. Her work with CEOs and senior leaders has been instrumental in helping shepherd opportunities from strategy development to implementation, both in the United States and globally. Emily holds a master’s from Harvard University, an MBA from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Colgate University.

Emily grew up in rural Northern California in a sustainable subsistence farming and ranching environment. She attended Connecticut College where she double majored in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. After college she attended Flinders University of South Australia where she obtained a Masters Degree in Environmental Management and a second Bachelors Degree in  Education. Emily has worked in a variety of jobs related to natural resources including nine years managing Tribal Environmental Programs in California and Nevada and assisting other Tribes in a variety of capacities related to Natural Resources, Hazard Mitigation, and Environmental Sustainability. Through Intertribal Agriculture Council Emily works to assist Tribes and Tribal Producers with regenerative practices, soil building, soil health knowledge, climate change challenges, drought, water quality, pest management, habitat protections, riparian buffers, pollinator protection, and other natural resources related inquiries.

As a sustainability expert with a focus on corporate strategy, Emily helps organizations align communications strategies with growth goals. For nearly 20 years, she has consulted with clients from startups to the Fortune 50 in the food, climate tech, consumer products, financial and energy sectors. At Edelman, she and her team lead advisory services work to help clients research, create and execute impactful programs that deliver business results as well as award-winning fully integrated social purpose communications campaigns.Previously, at GreenOrder, a boutique management consultancy, Emily led sustainability strategy for Facebook, IKEA, Intuit, steelcase inc, Zappos, and a large investor-owned utility. Her work focused on helping companies develop sustainable business models and integrating communications on sustainability for customers, media, investors, partners, and regulators. Emily has also worked at Pacific Gas & Electric Company helping guide strategic analysis of PG&E’s renewable energy portfolio, developing content strategy for the company’s sustainability reports, and shaping policy implementation of California’s climate change law, AB32. Earlier in her career, she worked in forest conservation policy in Washington DC and in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Strategic Communications practice. Emily holds a BS cum laude from UC Berkeley in Natural Resource Management and an MBA from The University of Maryland. She has served on the Advisory Board at SXSWEco from 2012-2016 and was named one of Forte Foundation’s 2017 MBAs on the Move.

Erika L. Chan joined U.S. Steel as the Corporation’s first Head of Sustainability.  In this role, she has enterprise-wide responsibility for all aspects of the Corporation’s sustainability efforts. Prior to joining U.S. Steel, Erika worked for Dell Technologies where she shaped the corporate sustainability strategy, advanced long-term goals, and identified opportunities to integrate sustainability practices into business units. Erika has also led the Asia Pacific marketing team at The Nature Conservancy, and she practiced international development consulting at Deloitte Emerging Markets Group.

Erika received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Resource Management and Business from The University of Texas at Austin.

She serves on the Advisory Council of The University of Texas at Austin Environmental Science Institute and is an Advisory Board member of The Nature Conservancy of Texas.

Erin Fitzgerald serves as the CEO of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA), a 501(c)(3) organization that represents over 1.6 million farmers and ranchers and works with leaders in the food value chain on a shared vision of co-creating sustainable food systems and a belief that bold action is needed. USFRA drives a broad range of projects that advance meaningful action and results in the co-creation of solutions for sustainable food production, climate change, and economic sustainability. USFRA is serving as the secretariat for a Decade of Ag, a shared vision for the food and agriculture sector, now endorsed by 150 leaders.  Fitzgerald is also recognized as a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture and an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow.

Ethan is a farmer and the Chief Innovation Officer at HowGood, the Sustainability Intelligence Platform. He manages innovation partnerships with Fortune 500 Brands, Retailers, and Suppliers through the world's largest product sustainability database, which covers 247 impact attributes across 33,000 unique ingredients and 2 million products. Ethan leads HowGood's Regenerative Innovation working groups and is the author of Regenerative Enterprise and the Levels of Regenerative Agriculture.HowGood is a Saas Sustainability Intelligence Platform with the world's largest product & ingredient impact database. We partner with Restaurants, Brands, Retailers, and Suppliers to unlock the regenerative potential of global food systems.

Evan Belser specializes in legal and policy matters concerning air pollution control, climate change, environmental enforcement and remedies, and the decarbonization of transportation and energy. In 2022, Evan joined Ford Motor Company. He is a Policy Strategist and Managing Counsel in Ford's Office of General Counsel. In this role he leads legal and policy matters concerning emissions and fuel economy standards for vehicles and engines, zero-emission vehicle goals, energy storage and the potential for vehicle-to-grid, critical minerals supply chain for electric vehicles and battery recycling, and other environmental, social, and governance priorities for Ford. Before 2022, Evan was a leader in the United States' efforts to enforce air pollution standards for stationary sources, mobile sources, and consumer products. He served in numerous management roles, including Acting Director, in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Enforcement Division. Among a wide range of investigations and enforcement actions, Evan led the agency’s enforcement responses to automakers and aftermarket parts companies for illegal “defeat devices,” and he brought the Nation’s first cases to enforce laws that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.Before EPA, Evan graduated with honors from Vermont Law School. Before and during law school, Evan served as organizer, litigator, and spokesman for numerous environmental advocacy organizations. He handled matters concerning water protection, waste management, energy infrastructure, contaminated sites, and renewable fuels.Evan lives with his wife and three children in Washington, DC.

Evan Harvey manages sustainability strategy and execution at Deloitte, helping client companies become more transparent, efficient, and responsible. In this capacity. He assists with ESG research, analysis, measurement, M&A, and stakeholder/media engagement. In addition, he has experience leading global volunteerism, social responsibility, and philanthropy programs.

Ezgi Barcenas is AB InBev’s Chief Sustainability Officer, overseeing the company’s sustainability vision and strategy. In this role, Ezgi coordinates across all business functions to advance sustainability and inclusive growth. Her team focuses on agricultural development, water stewardship, circular packaging, climate action and responsible sourcing to build a resilient value chain spanning nearly 50 countries. She leads ESG engagement and reporting, and also oversees the 100+ Accelerator, an award-winning program which pilots and scales sustainable innovations. Since joining the company in 2013, Ezgi has held key roles within the Corporate Affairs and Procurement functions. Prior to AB InBev, she worked in international trade, public health and international development. Ezgi is a member of Adweek’s Sustainability Council and INSIDER’s Financing a Sustainable Future Council. She was also recognized as a 2022 Sustainability Trailblazer by Reuters’ Responsible Business Awards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, a master’s degree in Environmental Health from Harvard School of Public Health and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Fernando joined CEMEX in 2002 and has been leading CEMEX’s Corporate Financing team since 2019 where he is responsible for debt and equity financing, derivatives, financial risk management, rating agencies and banking relationships. Prior roles at CEMEX include Treasurer of US Operations and International Financing Manager. He is currently a member of CEMEX’s Global Pension Governance Committee and CEMEX’s Corporate Development Committee. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, and a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Humanities from Universidad de Monterrey.

As Director, Sustainability and ESG at United Airlines, Frannie is responsible for leading the development and implementation of sustainability initiatives as part of United's overall global environmental strategy. She leads a team of professionals and technical experts focusing on United’s ESG strategy, value chain, and strategic customer engagement with the objective of driving progress towards meeting United's climate ambitions. This portfolio supports United’s pledge to be 100% Green by 2050 and the communications and disclosures that tell United’s climate story with integrity, transparency and consistency. Frannie is a business leader focused on not only addressing and mitigating environmental risks and reducing long-term liability, but also advancing strategic initiatives with a focus on environmental sustainability and resiliency. Frannie has worked in a wide range of market sectors across the country, leading various cross-functional initiatives that yield environmental and operational benefits. Frannie has earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies with a concentration on environmental science from St. Norbert College. She currently resides in the Chicagoland area with her husband and two small children, who are her daily reminders that tomorrow’s promise is held in the work we do today, and that we must act now to provide younger generations with an opportunity to thrive.

Registered forester, Freddie Davis III, serves as the Director of the Rural Training and Research Center (RTRC) for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund located in Epes, Alabama. The Federation owns and operates more than 1300 acres of land collectively which includes its unique training and agroforestry center. 

The RTRC has long been the site for local, state, regional, national and international groups to hold meetings, trainings, and recreational activities. The Southern Regional Agro-forestry Center (SRAC) was established in 2016 through a memorandum of understanding between USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the US Forest Service, and the National Agroforestry Center. A multi-dimensional initiative, the SRAC was designed to conduct research, extension and training to assist African American landowners in the South in adopting sustainable agroforestry practices as well as serve as a regional forestry demonstration site and national showpiece. The goal of the center is to be an integral part of the US Forest Service’s network of experimental forests to conduct leading-edge research on all aspects of forestry, forest uses, and socioeconomics related to limited resource landowners and communities of color.

Mr. Freddie Davis has always been up for a challenge and is a known problem solver in the field.  With more than 20 years-experience in agriculture, forestry, and natural resource conservation, Davis has brought a unique combination of skills to the RTRC. His background includes, Forestry Technical Service Provider for USDA, Procurement Forester and Harvest Contract Manager for Weyerhaeuser Wood Products in Alabama, Land Management Forester for International Paper Company in North Carolina, and military veteran of the US Army and Mississippi National Guard. He has been a successful entrepreneur, establishing himself as a reputable resource for landowners in the region.  Mr. Davis supports limited resource farmers and landowners and advances the mission of the Federation.

Gabriela Tonon, I&D Global Manager and Talent Management Manager for Brazil at Sylvamo. She holds a bachelor degree in Psychology. With more than 15 years of experience in Human Resources, Gabriela has been working with Inclusion and Diversity since 2019. In 2021, she took over this global role, where together with I&D representatives from the regions, she’s been discussing the strategy and the I&D ESG goals for North America, Latin America and Europe for Sylvamo.

Gail Grimmett is a Senior Vice President of Corporate Innovations at Delta Air Lines.  

Gail leads Delta’s efforts to drive forward innovative, sustainable solutions that will empower the next chapter of aviation, which includes next generation technologies, partnerships with educational institutions and other corporations. 

Prior to joining Delta, she was the Chief Experience Officer for Wheels Up overseeing the member experience, including event programming, marketing, public relations, social and digital channel performance, as well as member experience and member benefits.  

Gail has spent 20 years at Delta Air Lines, serving in multiple key executive functions including SVP of Global New York, SVP of Pricing and Yield Management and Managing Director of Investor Relations. 

She served as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s appointee on both the New York State Tourism Board and the New York City Regional Economic Development Council for a decade. 

For six years straight, Gail was consecutively named among the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in New York by Crain’s Business.   

Gail holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and an MBA from George Washington University. 

Gaurab is the co-founder and CEO of Solugen. As a physician-scientist, Gaurab took an oath to first do no harm—and for him, that goes beyond patients or medicine. So in 2016, he started Solugen to decarbonize the chemicals industry, one of the most damaging for people and the Earth. Gaurab believes in using biology in unconventional ways to solve incredibly complex problems and is building a world-class team to join him on the journey. Gaurab studied computational neuroscience as an undergraduate at Brown University and received his MD & PhD in cancer biology and enzymology at the University of Texas. He is an author or co-author on more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and patents, and he is a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Industry and Manufacturing.

Gordon has extensive experience of data analytics and risk modeling, risk management and risk transformation gained across the private, public and financial services sectors. Gordon has a specific focus on supporting companies to implement Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)-related risks and to integrate ESG-focused ERM in business operations and decision-making.

As Director, Sustainable Finance & ESG, Grant leads on program development for GreenFin – the premier sustainable finance and investing event aligning the sustainability, investment and finance communities. Grant works to direct the vigor of capital markets toward the realization of a clean and just economy, and to make GreenFin the launchpad of the ideas, insights and connections that will shift capital allocation to support sustainability.

Grant previously served as Senior Account Executive with GreenBiz, working with clients across financial services, transportation, tech and consulting. Prior to joining GreenBiz, Grant worked under the auspices of the USDA implementing reforestation projects in fire-affected regions of Northern California. Grant holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in Environmental Governance from Oxford University. He is animated by a healthy diet of existential anxiety and an enduring faith in humans’ ability to solve problems together. Grant loves, more than most things, to surf.

Gregg Allard is a member of the Commercial and Strategic Partnerships team at Truterra where he is responsible for building and implementing regenerative agriculture programs with food, fuel, feed and fiber companies. These projects include both supply chain insetting and carbon offsetting projects to support the Truterra network of growers across the US. Gregg has extensive experience in both consumer foods and foodservice. A six-year veteran of Land O’Lakes, he joined the Truterra team in October 2021 following several roles with Land O’Lakes’ Dairy Foods Business.

Heather Tanana is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and Assistant Professor & Wallace Stegner Center Fellow at the S.J. Quinney College of Law. She holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Utah and a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University. Heather is experienced in state, federal, and tribal courts and clerked for Judge Nuffer at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. Heather’s research interests include exploring the overlay between environmental and health policy in Indian Country. Over the past few years, much of her work has focused on the Water & Tribe Initiative’s Universal Access to Clean Water project. The project seeks to bring awareness to the lack of clean, safe, and reliable drinking water in Tribal communities and to make tangible progress on securing water access for all Americans.

Heather Quinley is Managing Director, ESG & Sustainability, at Duke Energy. Her role helps enhance Duke Energy’s reputation as an ESG (environmental, social, and governance) leader. Her team is responsible for setting the enterprise wide ESG strategy including disclosures and helps foster transparency in both reporting and partnerships at the national and local level. Heather has been with Duke Energy for more than 20 years. Prior to her current role, Heather was Director, Stakeholder Engagement, and led external affairs engagement in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Heather led a team focused on three areas: philanthropy, energy and environmental affairs, and external engagement. She facilitated the Duke Energy State Presidents’ Advisory Councils in the Midwest region, and assisted the Duke Energy State Presidents with engaging a variety of external stakeholders in the local community. She facilitated a six-part, multi-year integrated Resource Planning stakeholder engagement process in Indiana and helped invest over $4 million annually in education, workforce development and environmental programs in Duke Energy Foundation investments.In addition, Heather managed environmental stewardship and public-private partnerships. In concert with the State Department, she managed a public-private partnership between U.S. and Chinese industry and government (Duke Energy, ENN, the City of Charlotte and the City of Langfang) on joint clean technology projects. Heather worked in a variety of capacities at Cinergy before the merger with Duke Energy. Prior to joining the energy industry in 2000, Heather was a consultant in an anti-trust economic consulting firm, Economists Incorporated, in Washington, D.C., and worked in Hungary through a multinational nongovernment organization.

Heather Clancy, vice president and editorial director at GreenBiz, specializes in chronicling the role of technology in enabling corporate climate action and transitioning to a clean, inclusive and regenerative economy. An award-winning journalist, she started her journalism career on the business desk of United Press International, and her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fortune, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.

Clancy was the launch editor for the Fortune Data Sheet, the magazine's newsletter dedicated to the business of technology. She co-authored the Amazon best-seller for entrepreneurs, "Niche Down, How to Become Legendary By Being Different." She is proud to serve on the boards of the WSLA Alumnae Group, a mentorship organization dedicated to nurturing feminine leadership in the corporate sustainability movement, and EcoAthletes, a collective of collegiate, professional and amateur athletes dedicate to using their voices to surface solutions to climate change.

Dr. Helen Crowley Helen is a recognised nature and biodiversity expert, delivering pioneering and impact-led climate and nature focused solutions across public and private sectors. Formerly the Head of Sustainable Sourcing Innovation at the French company Kering for over a decade, Helen crafted new solutions for best practices in sustainability, supply chains an sourcing for luxury and lifestyle brands. Prior to this, Helen across Africa and Madagascar leading conservation programs for Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Early in her career, she worked as a senior consultant to companies on building out environmental health and safety programs to encompass broader sustainability issues. Over the last several years, Helen has also advised the Nature Action Agenda at the World Economic Forum and has been a member of the WEF’s Global Futures Council. Helen has a PhD in Zoology from the Australian National University and has contributed to various non-profit Boards and Advisory Groups including Textile Exchange, Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature US, UK’s Digital Catapult Supply Chain Hub and the Global Environment Facility.

Helen Ripmeester is Associate Director Private Sector department and Inclusive Value Chains for Oxfam America where she leads the Behind the Brands 2030 initiative.
 Behind the Brands 2030 is aimed at strengthening corporate commitments, policies and practices of multinational food companies and of those providing capital to the food system in terms to drive economic justice, gender justice, climate justice and equal human rights. In parallel, the BtB 2030 team works with allies in 10 important sourcing countries to assess impacts of corporate practices and to execute programs.

Previously Helen served as international director market transformation WWF and as procurement & CSR leader of Maxeda, a leading retail holding company with worldwide sourcing.

Helene oversees Neste North America’s supply chain sustainability in Europe and the Americas. Prior to joining Neste, Helene started her career at the French Ministry of Defense and later worked for the Qatar Foundation and Shell. Helene earned her Ph. D in Political Science from Sciences Po, Paris. 

Helle Bank Jorgensen is an internationally recognized expert on sustainable business practices, with a 30-year record of turning environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks into innovative and profitable business opportunities. She works with many global Fortune 500 board members and executives, as well as smaller companies and investors.Helle is the founder and chief executive of Competent Boards, which offers online climate and ESG programs that draw on the experience of over 180 renowned board members, executives, and investors. Hundreds of directors and senior executives have enrolled in these programs to mitigate the risks and seize the opportunities presented by ESG and climate change.Helle serves at:-Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence’s Sustainability & ESG Insights Council;-World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network for Corporate Governance, Leadership, and Emerging Multinationals;-His Royal Highness Prince of Wales A4S (Accounting for Sustainability) Global Expert Panel;-The Non-financial Digitisation Working Group of the Impact Management Project (IMP);-The Reuters Panel of Expert Judges for the Responsible Business Awards;-Canadian Climate Governance Experts –- a Commonwealth Climate & Law Initiative;-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the ESG Exchange.In 2020 she was awarded the Global Impact Award and named one of "5 people in ESG to look out for." She was also selected as one of LinkedIn's Top Voices in the Green Economy in the US and Canada for 2022. Ms. Bank Jorgensen is the author of the newly published book Stewards of The Future: A Guide for Competent Boards, an Amazon bestseller.

Mr. Hugh C. Welsh is the President & General Counsel of DSM North America a global leader in health, nutrition and materials. DSM is traded on the Amsterdam stock exchange with 23,000 employees worldwide and $12 billion in annual sales, DSM develops, manufactures and sells nutritional and food ingredients, biomedical materials, specialty plastics and resins, fibers and renewable energy. Mr. Welsh currently serves on several DSM global and regional management teams and has direct responsibilities for legal, government affairs, corporate communications, other shared services, corporate partnerships and DSM’s sustainability, inclusion and diversity initiatives in the region North America. Hugh currently serves on the Board of Directors of Partners in Food Solutions, the US Chamber of Commerce Citizens Center, the Seafood Nutrition Partnership, Tri-State Diversity Council, Board of Governors of Union County College, and BIO. He previously served on the board of Patheon and the American Chemistry Council.

Ingrid Irigoyen serves as the Associate Director, Ocean and Climate, for the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program (EEP) where she leads EEP’s work on ocean and coastal sustainability and decarbonization of the ocean economy. She is also Director of the Aspen Institute Shipping Decarbonization Initiative (Aspen SDI), which partners with leading organizations and companies to drive the transition to zero emission maritime shipping. She is the lead facilitator for Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV), a coalition of major multinational consumer products companies and other freight buyers working to accelerate the pace of decarbonization in maritime shipping and is the President and CEO of the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), a non-profit organization and coZEV initiative to enable companies access to zero-emission shipping solutions that are not currently available. Ingrid holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of New Hampshire.

Jamie Ezefili is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for the Corporate Sustainability, Inclusion and Social Impact at Northern Trust. In this role she is responsible for understanding the emerging Sustainability and ESG trends, risks, and opportunities to inform the corporate strategy and demonstrate how this impact the organization. She also oversees the execution of the annual Sustainability report, the Northern Trust Net Zero Strategy and the Modern Slavery Program. Her team is responsible for responding to to assessors and rating agencies including CDP, Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good. Prior to joining Corporate Social Responsibility, Jamie served as a Senior Consultant in GFS Product Development. In this role she was responsible for managing capital funded change initiatives, complex products and projects across multiple streams within C&IS and GFS North America. Jamie was previously a Second Vice President in Global Fund Services at Northern Trust. She managed the North American Transfer Agency Operations Department for Daily Valued Registered Funds, Commingled Funds and Group Trust. Prior to joining Northern Trust, Jamie managed the Transfer of Accounts Department at Mesirow Financial. Prior to relocating to Chicago, she worked as an analyst in the Transfer Agency at Boston Financial Data Services. Jamie has a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Kansas.Jamie has a certificate in Design Thinking from Emeritus Institute of Management and is a Certified Corporate Responsibility Executive through The University of Notre Dame and has a certificate in Sustainable Business Strategy from Harvard University. Jamie is a 2021 Chicago Urban League IMPACT fellow. She currently serves on the loan committee for Greenwood Archer Capital and serves as mentor the Baumhart Scholars MBA program for Loyola University.

Janice Lao is an internationally multi-awarded environmental scientist and economist, with nearly 20 years’ experience in the field of corporate sustainability working in conglomerates and multinational companies based in the United States, United Kingdom, and Asia-Pacific. She has been recognized by Forbes Magazine, Fortune, etc for her work on sustainable financial deals/green bonds, sustainability/ESG strategies development and implementation and sustainable supplier engagement.

Janna Irons has led clients across industries to develop sustainability and social impact strategies and transform them into cohesive, engaging narratives, reporting, and activations. With a decade of experience as a magazine editor and editorial writer, as well as a Masters in Communication with a focus on marketing and strategic brand management, Janna expertly weaves strategy and creativity into effective, inspiring communications. Working with clients from Eli Lilly to International Paper and Keurig Dr. Pepper, Janna has helped organizations drive performance, build engagement, rally teams, and achieve audience- and business-specific goals. Outside of work, Janna is a travel enthusiast who is happiest adventuring with her husband, daughter, and goofy golden retriever in the mountains or by the ocean.

Jared helps companies achieve their ESG goals through increased understanding and mitigation of risk. He has over a decade of leadership in human rights, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and environmental issues. Jared has conducted on-the-ground audits around the globe to support labour rights, environmental and Responsible Sourcing. He's authored multiple standards including the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT).

Jason Rissman brings over 20 years of experience growing businesses, innovation ecosystems and impact programs amidst societal change. 

As Managing Director, Jason helps lead IDEO's climate practice, supporting our partners in developing the strategies, teams and innovations needed for the climate transition. Jason previously led IDEO's open innovation business (OpenIDEO), overseeing programs related to food systems, food waste, renewable energy, circular economy and several other topics. Jason thrives in developing impact and investment strategies, supporting entrepreneurs, and building communities around societal problems. 

Jason is also the host and founder of the podcast Invested in Climate, recently ranked in the top 20 by GoodPods for both the Career and Investing categories. Jason is an active climate tech investor and startup advisor.

Prior to his role at IDEO, Jason helped manage Google.org's renewable energy portfolio, led partnerships for Google PowerMeter, and built partner and launch strategies for products addressing a broad range of issues, including: civic engagement, response to natural disasters, protection of endangered languages, expansion of Internet access, combating illicit networks, and supporting free expression. These diverse projects shared the ambitious aim to catalyze innovative solutions with global reach and transformative potential. Before his work with Google.org, Jason helped Google develop its mobile advertising business.

Jason is passionate about social innovation, collaboration, early-stage ventures and the potential to recruit new ideas and talent to tackle long-term challenges. His optimism is fueled by the inspiration of managing and advising startups, producing theatrical productions, working with micro-entrepreneurs in Nicaragua, and long ago running his own hotdog stand.

Jason received his MBA from the New York University's Stern School of Business where he won a $100,000 startup competition for a sustainable lifestyle media company. He received a BA from Cornell University, where he was the Harrop and Ruth Freeman Prize Winner for Peace Studies. He also won a Pilsner Urqell - sponsored trip to Prague, which he regrets not taking.

Jay Watson leads efforts to advance progress on General Mills global impact initiatives, notably the 2030 regenerative agriculture commitment and enterprise climate ambition. In his role, Jay collaborates with farmers, farm advisors, NGOs, suppliers and retailers to deploy programs seeking to improve ecological and economic outcomes of agricultural systems in targeted supply sheds.

Prior to joining the Global Impact Team in 2017, Jay spent 10 years in a variety of buying roles within the company’s global sourcing organization. Jay holds B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

Jay Kairam is currently Vice President, Society (ESG) for Diageo North America, the world's leading premium beverage alcohol company. He brings almost twenty years of experience and leadership with government, not-for-profit community and environmental organizations, and the private sector. Prior to joining Diageo, Jay was at Walmart, where he accelerated the company’s sustainability leadership by establishing and implementing the global environmental policy agenda, driving partnerships to support Walmart’s goals to reduce emissions, promote circularity and protect nature. Jay has worked across the country engaging local, state, and federal leaders and NGOs on environmental and social issues. As Program Director for the National Association of Counties, he oversaw a $15M project portfolio delivering technical assistance to county governments across the country. At the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the nation’s preeminent environmental NGOs, Jay led advocacy campaigns in California and nationally to advance clean energy and environmental justice initiatives. Jay served in the Bloomberg Administration in New York City as Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Operations and then as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of the Business Integrity Commission, where he championed reforms that transformed the environmental performance of the solid waste sector. In San Francisco, he worked for the Public Utilities Commission, where he led a multi-million-dollar community benefits program that leveraged public-private partnerships to address environmental justice concerns. Jay holds a BA from Vassar College and a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde. He sits on the Boards of the Anacostia Watershed Society and Fuse Corps and lives in Washington, DC.

Jeff has spent the last 30+ years helping companies demystify and capture the potential of emerging technologies. This journey started with a shift from the mega-mainframes to personal computers, to web, to mobile, to cloud, and to the internet of things. His primary focus today is on the intersection of rapidly evolving tech and the rapid evolution of new energy. While tech is at his core, Jeff sincerely believes it only matters if, and when it works for people. Jeff’s recent projects have focused on technology to decarbonize commercial transportation, and solutions to educate and build consensus among corporate leaders and their teams to solve a global problem together.

Jeff Senne is the Founder and CEO of Sandbar Solutions, LLC, a consultancy that supports CEOs, C-suites, Boards, Investors, and their teams working to define and activate their Purpose and drive holistic value creation through their corporate responsibility (CR) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. A multi-lingual, global executive with two decades of experience, Jeff is experienced in the complexities of international business and societal change efforts. Known for bringing purpose from a concept to a set of concrete actions, he is an authentic and accomplished resource who helps companies connect their purpose and ESG efforts, commitments, and ambition to their business goals (growth, cost containment, and trust). He also serves as a trusted advisor, coach, and retained Chief Sustainability Officer in the areas of strategy and goal setting, program design, execution and management, partnerships, impact measurement, communications, and reporting to established organizations and ones that are new to the space.A husband, father, and avid kite surfer, Jeff has lived in six countries, worked in dozens more, and conducts business in three languages. He is currently based in Buenos Aires.

Jeffrey Hogue is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Levi Strauss & Co. – the iconic brand with a 167-year history. In his role, he leads the sustainability and circular economy efforts for the organization to create positive impact across the environmental and social aspects of their global operations. Prior to joining LS&Co., Jeffrey has held several CSO and lead roles in a variety of industries including, Biotechnology, Food and Agriculture, Retail Food and Fashion. Preceding his leadership role at LS&Co. he designed and led C&A’s global sustainability strategies and established notable leadership in the co-development of Fashion for Good, leading C&A to the world’s largest user of certified organic cotton, guiding the organization to create the world’s most sustainable denim and circular knit products certified to Cradle to Cradle™ GOLD, developing the company’s sustainability brand value proposition #WearTheChange and in-store takeback program #WeTakeitBack, and leading the organization to leadership positions in transparency and prevention of forced labor and slavery. Before his role at C&A, Jeffrey led CSR and Sustainability team at McDonalds Corporation. In this role, he successfully led the development of McDonald's first global sustainability strategy and climate change positions. Prior to this, Jeffrey served for 17 years at Danisco A/S & Genencor International their VP and Chief Sustainability Officer and led the integration of Danisco’s Sustainability and Regulatory programs into the DuPont organization. He has held numerous non-profit board positions including the C&A Foundation, the Innovation Committee of Fashion for Good, Textile Exchange, Organic Cotton Accelerator, Sun Valley Institute, , Presidio Graduate School, and The Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute.

Jen Lee is Beautycounter’s first chief impact officer with the goal of deepening the brand’s commitment and industry-leading achievements related to sustainability, advocacy and ingredient safety. Previously serving as Beautycounter’s SVP of Supply Chain, Jen understands the challenges and opportunities of creating safer and cleaner products, and brings her relationships with manufacturing, transportation, and fulfillment partners to further align its operations and social impact.

Dr Jennifer McGowan is a decision and strategy scientist and spatial Planner currently serving as the Chief Scientist of Untamed Planet. She previously worked at The Nature Conservancy where she advised on conservation prioritization for global strategies including Durable Protection, Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation, and supported TNC's business and industry-facing Center for Sustainability Science. She uses aspects of spatial ecology, economics, operations research, policy and decision theory to help make transparent, repeatable and robust decisions about the allocation of resources to inform conservation actions on the ground. As the managing director of the world's most impactful spatial planning tool, Marxan, she teaches conservation planning theory and training to build capacity in governments, the private sector, and NGOs to embrace systematic conservation planning in their biodiversity and climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. She holds affiliate research positions at Yale's Center for Biodiversity and Global Change and The University of Queenland's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation Science.