Nidhi Gulati
Principal, Business Consulting Sustainability & Design, Infosys
Nidhi is a sustainability practitioner and social impact strategist with twelve years of experience in the built environment sector. During this time, she has held various positions leading community-based consulting projects, managing a team of place makers, to serving as a Co-Executive Director. In addition, she has served on advisory bodies for international programs led by The Brookings Institution, the World Economic Form among others. She holds a Principal Consultant position within the Sustainability and Design Unit at Infosys Limited in Amsterdam. On a daily basis, she works on projects and assignments coalescing urban transformation and digital transformation towards resilient, regenerative, and just built environments.
Anton Kotov
Head of Strategy, Business Development and Sustainability, Electrification Business, ABB
Anton Kotov is heading Strategy, Business Development, and Sustainability at ABB Electrification Business ($14bn). Anton leads the teams who run Strategic Planning, M&A and Portfolio Management, Venture Investments, Business Intelligence, Open Innovation, Partnership Ecosystem, and Sustainability at the global level, based out of the HQ in Zurich, Switzerland.
Prior to joining ABB in 2017, Anton spent 10 years at Schneider Electric where he was driving Business Optimization for the global business unit, worked on strategy projects and M&A deals within the Corporate Strategy & Development team, and held a position of Strategy VP for Global Segments & Strategic Accounts.
Salla Ahonen
Vice President, Sustainability at Neste
With over 20 years of experience in sustainability, PA & innovation, Salla is passionate about climate, innovation, partnerships and sustainability. Examples of milestones at Neste: Realigning Neste’s sustainability priorities and ensuring their integration to the business strategy; Publishing of the new sustainability vision as part of the company strategy; and approval of the climate strategy to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, and developing a roadmap to achieve this target, e.g. changing the investment criteria supportive of climate targets and linking the targets to executive remuneration. Prior to Neste, Salla has worked at the Brussels office of the Confederation of Finnish Industries, Microsoft, Nokia, among others.
Laia Mas Perez
Director, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Danone Iberia
Laia is a corporate business leader passionate about sustainability and brand impact. After more than two decades leading roles in corporate business she understands and has witnessed first-hand the change of business consciousness towards a more ethical and social impact model. Being a member of the Executive Committee in Danone Iberia, as Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Director, Laia is responsible for defining the strategic sustainability framework, setting up a steering committee to govern the inside and outside the company and promoting an ecosystem of alliances interconnected to the company transformational agenda, aimed to build company credibility and reputation. Laia believes in the genuine force of people and acknowledges the importance of building teams from trust, empowerment and mutual respect.
Randall Krantz
Head of Strategy & Partnerships, Global Commons Accountability Accelerator
Randall is a strategist, systems thinker and creator of constellations; a process facilitator with the goal of helping others solving today’s most complex environmental and social challenges. He has built partnerships with business and on climate change, circular economy, and nature. Over the past two years, he has set up the Accountability Accelerator, which is working with the Science-based Targets Network and standards setters to provide the tools companies need to reward corporate ambition and delivery, and punish greenwash and non-compliance.
Laurien Meuter
Founder, Tiny Miracles
Laurien Meuter founded Tiny Miracles in 2010 after a life-changing trip to India opened her eyes and heart to the harsh realities of poverty. Her firm, Tiny Miracles, is focused on helping people break the poverty cycle through a for-profit business model. Prior to Tiny Miracles, she was working in the investment division of ABN Amro Bank in The Netherlands. She was recognized as Alumnus of the Year by her alma mater, University of Groningen, in 2020.
Montse Montaner
Former Chief Sustainability Officer, Novartis
Montse Montaner is a visionary and strategically driven transformational leader with more than three decades of international experience across large pharma companies delivering excellence in Quality and Manufacturing Operations Management and Sustainability. Montse was the first Novartis Chief Sustainabilty officer .Prior to this appointment, Montse served as Novartis Chief Quality Officer , leading quality organization from research to commercial. Montse has received accolades for her work : she was awarded as 100 Top Women in Sustainability, awarded in the Sustainability Magazine´s Top 100 Leaders Program and short list for the European Diversity Award due to her commitment on promoting diverse teams in their organizations.
Ulli Waltinger
Partner, Siemens AI Lab
Dr. Ulli Waltinger is the Vice President for Artificial Intelligence & IoT (#AIoT) at Siemens Advanta Consulting and a Fellow of the Siemens AI Lab. Prior to this, he was the Technology Head of the Siemens AI Lab and Head of the Machine Intelligence Research Group at Siemens Technology, Siemens’ global research organization. He is passionate about enabling an open and interdisciplinary research and innovation culture with meaningful impact on people’s lives.
Maria Stapel
Sustainability Manager, InFarm
Maria Stapel is the Sustainability Manager at Infarm, a global vertical farming company. She helped operationalise Infarm’s sustainability goals and vision, and create a roadmap for its climate strategy. In June 2022, they released Infarm’s first Impact Vision Paper outlining the company’s commitments on climate, water, biodiversity, packaging, and waste; in November they became the first Vertical Farming company to set net zero science-based targets to 2030 and 2045; and in December 2022 Infarm was awarded B Corp certification.
Ryan Edwards
CEO & Co-Founder, Naked Innovations
Ryan Edwards 10 years international leadership experience at Cargill as European Head of Marketing & Innovation Leader. Then he began his entrepreneurial journey, co-founding and running 3 agrifood impact startups in the last 7 year, and is currently CEO of Naked Innovations. Ryan has a passion for developing and nurturing diverse talent focused on social and environmental impact. This led him to him designing, delivering and mentoring startup accelerators and incubators in the agrifood industry, with over 500 startups graduating through them. Ryan is also a strategic adviser, keynote speaker, coach and innovation designer for entrepreneurs with experience of teaching an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and designing and delivering learning programs for senior executives and high potential leaders in organisations such as UNICEF, Unilever, Bimbo, EIT Food, PepsiCo, and Danone.
Minerve Vicente
Innovation Consultant, Business and Technical Executive
Minerve is a business and technical executive with close to 20 years of experience in the corporate food industry at KraftHeinz and in Research and Development, now she is helping organizations to thrive in purposeful innovation. She is eager to positively impact the world through helping to change behaviours and through technology. Her purpose is to drive sustainable and responsible growth of organizations through innovation by connecting people and helping them to see what the other side of the medal holds! Dream Big.....Always looking for the next adventure!
Natalia Kruger
Sustainalytics
Natalia is a highly driven and communicative professional with over 6+ years of experience in the financial services industry, comprising Sustainable Investing, Private Banking and Business Development in Brazil, London and Amsterdam. She is a certified ESG CFA investing, CFP® and CPA. She is proud of adding value to clients throughout her career and is very interested in working with multi-dimensional teams. During her MBA Program at IESE Business School, she led IESE’s Impact Investing Fund, organizing the Impact Investing Competition, gathering 50+ participants. She is also the founder of the Investment Fund run by students at IESE.
Úrsula García Giménez
Finreg
With more than 19 years of experience, Ursula is a founding partner of finReg, a financial regulatory consulting and advisory firm. She started her career working at Cuatrecasas Abogados, subsequently working at Deloitte Legal (Spain), in the financial regulatory practice, where she was appointed partner in 2015. Úrsula is responsible for the Sustainable Finance area at finReg, currently leading different projects for the implementation of this regulation in management companies, banking groups and insurers. Úrsula is a member of the Eurosif Public Policy advisory group, professor of the PDD in Sustainable Finance and contributor to numerous media specialized in Sustainable Finance.
Jan Peter Balkenende
Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Professor Jan Peter Balkenende was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010. During 2011-2016, Balkenende worked as Partner at EY. Since 2016, he is an External Senior Advisor to EY and since May 2021 Associate Partner at Hague Corporate Affairs. Balkenende chairs the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition, and the Noaber Foundation. He is a Professor Emeritus at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Member of the World Leadership Alliance - Club de Madrid, and since October 2022 Minister of State of The Netherlands.
Teresa González Barreda
Head of Sustainability and ESG, Arcano Partners
Prior to joining Arcano, Teresa worked at Johnson and Johnson as a Corporate Social Responsibility Coordinator. During this time, Teresa designed and implemented the CSR strategy for Spain. Previously, Teresa worked at Fundación Codespa, helping companies to integrate CSR programs in their business operations. Formerly, and also at Fundación Codespa, she spent five years in Latin America, doing projects and consulting work in the field of micro-finance, development and impact for different local governments and international organizations (United Nations, Inter-American Development Bank, Latin American Development Bank). Teresa started her career at Arcano and spent four years working as a member of the Private Equity investment team. Teresa has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) and a master's degree in international Cooperation and Development.
Elena Aguirre Martin
Head of Ratings Operations, BeZero Carbon
Elena is Head of Ratings Operations at BeZero Carbon, leading on the end-to-end delivery of carbon project ratings. She has more than 7 years of experience in the sustainability sector. Before joining BeZero, Elena worked as a senior consultant at Global Factor, an international climate change consultancy. Her main work involved managing projects and teams to help industries comply with all the requirements of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), creating carbon foot-printing tools and emissions reduction plans, helping to report to the CDP and assisting in several verifications based on different standards.
Gilles Tisserand
Vice President Climate and Biodiversity, Tetra Pak
Gilles leads a multicultural and multidisciplinary team that contributes with actions and solutions to the company’s net-zero trajectory, including the reduction of carbon emissions, the development and roll-out of a sustainable product portfolio, the responsible sourcing of materials, as well as the restoration of biodiversity. After starting his career at Business France, he joined L'Oréal as International Marketing Manager before becoming part of the Tetra Pak team in 2012. Here, Gilles has been working in different marketing, sales, business development and sustainability positions, before being appointed Vice President Climate and Biodiversity, in 2021.
Mauro Accurso
Senior Business Development manager for Iberian Peninsula, South Pole
Mauro Accurso is the Senior Business Development manager for Iberian Peninsula of South Pole, the world's leading climate solutions provider and carbon project developer. Previously, he was the communications and sustainability manager for Latin America at the GSMA (global association of the mobile industry), leading industry actions on climate change, electronic waste management, child online protection and disaster response. He completed the executive education program in corporate social responsibility of Harvard Business School, has a Higher Diploma in Law and Economics of Climate Change from FLACSO Argentina and a Diploma on the environmental dimension in the design and execution of public policies from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Andrea (Ginka) Christenson
Senior Advisor at Rhodion Advisors
Andrea works with family businesses, supporting them with strategic, organizational, but also personnel issues and helps prepare these companies in the long term and, if necessary, prepare them for a transfer of generations.
Her main interests are in the areas of governance, human resources, structuring the implementation and complex decision-making processes. She is a member of advisory boards and administrative boards of European companies, among those, Cementos Molins Spain, Corvatsch/Diavolezza AG.
professionalizing the production. In 2013, the company was sold to a strategic investor. Ginka Christenson studied business economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and earned an MBA at IESE in Barcelona. She also holds a diploma in Mediation from the IMS (Institute for Mediation) in Munich (2004). She is the mother of three grown sons.
Daniel Truran
B Corp Ambassador at B Lab Europe
Daniel is a strategist, impact innovator, speaker and enabler. He has dedicated the last 20 years to explore and harness the connection between the values, the purpose and the actions of people and companies, inspiring and creating communities and movements that are building the future - a better, more prosperous, sustainable and just future.
He is currently director general at EBBF - ethical business building the future, B Corp ambassador at B Lab Europe, Partner at BforGoodLeaders.org, Professor of Impact Innovation at EOI and Visiting Professor at IESE & ESADE, Uni Cadiz, UCJC teaching at various master's in business schools, to spark the transition that people and the world want and need.
Ernesto Barcelo
ESG Corporate Director at Gestamp
Ernesto Barceló Rodríguez joins the ESG area of Gestamp after a long career at a global level in Spain, France and Switzerland. His professional career has a strong focus on Sustainability, Health & Safety, Regulatory Affairs and Quality, among others. His experience includes managing the coexistence of linear and circular economies, while transitioning to a new low emissions system. With a degree in Industrial Engineering (Textile Chemistry) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), a Master's in Industrial Quality Management (UPC-EFQM) and a PDD in Executive Education from IESE Business School, Barceló began his career in 1995 as Head of Quality Assurance in Nubiola (formerly Colores Hispania). Subsequently, he joined Omya in 1997, first as Director of Quality, Environment and Safety in the Spanish division of the Swiss company, which later led him to different global positions such as Marketing Director, Commercial Director, Head of Regulatory Affairs and Group Vice President Sustainability .Barceló also actively participates in ESG academic research in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems of the Aalto School of Chemical Engineering (Finland).
Peter Zandee
Global Relationship Manager, Tony's Chocolonely
Peter Zandee is a Relationship Manager at Tony’s Chocolonely. Peter joined Tony’s Chocolonely in 2014 and was responsible for launching Tony’s in the USA, the first expansion outside of the Netherlands. Tony’s Chocolonely has grown quickly into a highly coveted brand in the US with distribution across the country in national retailers. Currently he manages the expansion of Tony’s in the France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. Tony's Chocolonely works to realize a 100% slave-free chocolate industry by making great tasting chocolate without the bitter aftertaste and urging other - much larger - chocolate manufacturers to take responsibility for their cocoa. Honest, transparent and scrumptious chocolate!
Katherin Kirschenmann
Co-founder, The DO
Katherin Kirschenmann is founder and Chief Program Officer of The DO. Katherin is an international speaker, executive facilitator, and TV host with Deutsche Welle. She draws on her wide international experience across sectors to develop new ways to co-create innovation, develop Purposeful DOers, and impact entrepreneurs. Engagements under her leadership have empowered thousands of individuals and businesses to create meaningful innovation and lasting social change. Her firm, The DO empowers people to take action and create positive impact in their companies, their communities and the wider world. It is home to The DO Group, where they work with companies and organizations on their purposeful transformation, The DO School, a life-long learning center that believes in the power of hands-on learning, and, a social business, The DO Community, an effort to connect their global ecosystem in the belief that together, our actions can solve the big challenges of our time.
Henrietta Onwuegbuzie
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship (Lagos Business School)
Dr. Henrietta Onwuegbuzie is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School and a certified Management consultant. She is passionate about economic development and social transformation in Nigeria and Africa, and has initiated the creation of over 100 profitable, impact-driven businesses through the MBA and Executive programmes at Lagos Business School (LBS), where she leads sessions in Entrepreneurship on the MBA and Executive programmes. Onwuegbuzie was one of the first two African Visiting Faculty at Yale School of Management, in the US in 2019. She is currently the Director of the Business Innovation Accelerator (BIA), and Project Director for the Impact Investing initiative at LBS. She was recently conferred the Excellence award in Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing and appointed a Distinguished Fellow of the Global Africa Leadership Council.
Antonino Vaccaro
Professor, IESE Business School (IESE in Spain)
Antonino Vaccaro is a Professor of the Department of Business Ethics and of IESE’s Negotiation Unit. He is also the Academic Director of the Center for Business in Society and of the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship platform. In addition, he serves as the Academic Director in various IESE’s custom programs for multinational companies and educational institutions. His areas of research include corporate social responsibility, social innovation and entrepreneurship, and compliance and security management.
Susan Hunt Stevens
Founder and CEO, WeSpire
Digital behavior change expert and innovator Susan Hunt Stevens has long had her eyes on the combination of employee engagement, digital tools, and positive impact. Founded in 2010, her company WeSpire is an award-winning employee experience technology platform, which uses the power of the workforce to inspire positive change, empower distributed teams, and drive business, social, and environmental outcomes. WeSpire works with diverse, global companies on sustainability, social impact, wellbeing, and inclusive culture initiatives that reach millions of employees worldwide. Susan was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for New England, a Boston Business Journal Woman of Influence, and is listed on the Environmental Leader 100 list.
Diego Sanz
Founder and CEO, Reforestum
Diego is a software engineer with 15+ years of experience building web applications. He holds an Executive MBA degree from IESE. His true passion is finding practical ways for sustainable living on this planet combining cutting-edge and traditional technologies with nature-based solutions. Reforestum is an online marketplace to drive reforestation and forest conservation, incentivizing companies and individuals to easily offset their carbon footprint by acquiring and tracking forest shares and carbon credits.
Anil Sachdev
Founder and CEO, Grow Talent Company Limited & School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL in India)
Beginning his career at Tata Motors in 1975, Anil has gained diverse experience in India and across the world covering areas such as talent management, strategic change and organizational transformation. Recognized as a thought leader in leadership development and organizational transformation, Anil has done pioneering work with leading global and local firms. He has been adjunct Faculty to leading business schools such as Indian School of Business, Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, GMI, Flint Michigan, Antioch University, Seattle, Ohio University and the University of New Brunswick, Canada. Anil is a member of the Academic Committee of CEDEP, the leading Leadership Institute of Europe, located at Fontainebleau. He is a member of the World Compassion Council, based in Seattle and a Trustee of the Chinmaya Mission.
Alexander Holst
Managing Director, Sustainability Strategy & Services Lead, Accenture
He is the Managing Director of the Management & Technology Consultancy Accenture and is part of the European Leadership Team of the Sustainability Strategy & Services practice. He has supported clients for more than 23 years to integrate sustainability into their core business ensuring their future viability. With his background of working in the specific field of Digital and Sustainability since 2008 and leading numerous studies and client engagements, Alexander is a thought leader in this field
