ESG Summit: Embracing a green and sustainable recovery

Hannah joined the lab in 2017 and has led the FRC’s climate change thematic, Lab’s work on climate-related reporting and workforce-related reporting and performance metrics. She moved from the FRC’s Corporate Governance Team, where she worked on reviews of the Stewardship Code and UK Corporate Governance Code.

Hannah is a qualified lawyer and prior to joining the FRC, worked in the Australian Department of the Treasury on corporations and corporate law policy.

Founder Member of the Chapter Zero Board, Dr Carol Bell has served on the boards of public and private companies as well as charities in the Cultural and Educational sectors for 15 years. With a background in Oil and Gas, Carol has been instrumental in defining climate change as a principal risk on several boards and supports Chapter Zero’s initiative to help other board directors to evaluate and negotiate the risks and opportunities arising therefrom.

She was Senior Independent Director of Ophir Energy until its takeover in May 2019 and currently serves on the boards of the BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust, TransGlobe Energy, Tharisa plc and Bonheur ASA (a Norwegian listed company with interests in renewable energy). Among Carol's not for profit involvements, she has recently become the first female board member of the Football Association of Wales and she also Chairs the Investment Committee of the Development Banks of Wales and serves on its board.

Before writing a PhD in Archaeology and subsequently building a portfolio career, Carol was an investment banker. As Head of European Equity Research at JP Morgan, she helped establish the bank’s presence in Equities in Europe and led its global oil and gas team in research. She also worked for Credit Suisse, UBS and was a Managing Director of Chase Manhattan’s Global Oil and Gas Group. On graduating from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences, she spent six years working for North Sea Oil and Gas companies in business development and strategic planning.

Madeleine acts as a Project Manager, Capital fundraiser and Partnership builderat Desolenator. One of her major projects is Scaling sustainable, decentralised water purification, as the foundation to generate social impact, particularly to improve gender equality.

Louise is the Development and Impact Lead at Desolenator. She is responsible for driving the lifecycle of high impact projects, from securing financing, to partnership building all the way to execution and impact monitoring and measurement. Louise is currently managing Desolenator’s flagship humanitarian project in West Bengal and laying the foundations for a second installation in Haiti. Louise also leads the development of Desolenator’s impact story and nurturing partnerships between multinational and development agencies.

Kim has worked for Novo Nordisk for more than 20 years and held the position as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Finance & Compliance since 2019. Kim is overall responsible for accounting, tax, internal audit (financial, business ethics and IT audits) and business ethics compliance at Novo Nordisk. The area also includes the Audit Committee Secretariat and the Ombudsman function, and consists of approx. 120 employees. Kim is also the co-owner of the annual report process including ESG reporting and has close interactions with the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk.

Previously, Kim was the SVP of Business Assurance (2007-2019) and responsible for designing and implementing effective global assurance activities regarding finance, business ethics, IT, Compliance Hotline and the Novo Nordisk Way as well as for defining the global business ethics standards within Novo Nordisk.

Kim has also been Corporate Vice President of Product Supply, Finance & IT (2006-2007) and Accounting, Financial Corporate Governance and Tax (1999-2006) at Novo Nordisk. He was also closely involved in managing the demerger of Novozymes in 2000.

Before joining Novo Nordisk, Kim worked 10 years in senior auditor functions at PWC (1989-1999). Kim is a State Authorised Public Accountant and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration and Auditing from Copenhagen Business School. He has also attended numerous leadership programmes, including at Harvard Business School and IMD.

Dr. Marzena Chodor has over 20 years of professional experience in senior managerial positions and advisory roles, of which 16 years of experience in the carbon market, international climate negotiations, and in the EU ETS administration. During her professional career, she worked in public administration, including ETS Competent Authority, the European Commission, where she was a member of the team working on the review of the ETS as part of the EU 2020 Climate and Energy Package, and in the private sector, as project director and key expert on climate policy, regulatory reform and carbon markets.

Currently, she is Co-Chair of the Paris Committee on Capacity Building, a UNFCCC body established under the Paris Agreement, and a member of the COP24 Presidency team. She has been a member of the EU and Poland’s negotiating teams in international climate negotiations since 2005 and acted, among others, as the facilitator of capacity-building negotiations.

Janhavi has been described as someone who brings a rare combination of legal and entrepreneurial pragmatism to the world of governance. Having spent several decades in the City as a corporate and media lawyer she went on to be a senior partner in a Indo-UK boutique advisory firm where she specialised in helping clients navigate international governance frameworks.

Her focus now is helping boards and organisations achieve sustainable success through better governance and she does this through her various roles on boards and as a thinking partner for all those who are stewards of organisational performance. Her breadth of experience spans various jurisdictions and clients from a multitude of sectors from banking and energy to sports, media and technology. As an experienced professional, Janhavi has works with the senior leaders in multinational, governmental and supranational organisations but is equally passionate about helping entrepreneurial individuals and diverse stakeholders whose voices are less heard in the governance and sustainability discussions.

Deborah Gilshan FCG provides strategic advice on investment stewardship, sustainable finance and diversity. She has extensive experience engaging with board directors, senior leaders, regulators and investors on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Previously, Deborah was an Investment Director in the ESG team at Aberdeen Standard Investments and Head of Sustainable Ownership at RPMI Railpen, the investment arm of the UK Railways Pension Scheme, having started her career in responsible investment at the Co-operative Insurance Society in December 2000. Deborah initially worked in corporate tax at EY and read Mathematics & English at the University of Manchester.

An Ambassador for the 30% Club, Deborah was instrumental in building the 30% Club UK Investor Group into a global coalition of investors with £11 trillion assets under management. Deborah is a Fellow of ICSA: The Governance Institute and holds the ICSA’s Professional Award in corporate governance. She chairs the Ethics & Systemic Risk Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network and holds the CFA’s Investment Management Certificate. In October 2011, Deborah founded The 100% Club, a multi-sector alliance dedicated to gender equality. She advises the Women Societies Alliance, which seeks to create equal opportunities in the finance industry for female graduates. Deborah has been recognised for her work on empowering the female talent pipeline and promoting gender diversity.

Deborah is the lead author of two publications: “The Ethics of Diversity” with Mark Chambers for the UK’s Institute of Business Ethics (December 2020) and “Say on Pay: Six Years On – Lessons from the UK Experience” for Railpen Investments with Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (September 2009). She is a regular commentator on corporate governance, shareholder engagement and diversity and her work has featured in the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and other mainstream financial media.

Liam Healy is the Managing Director of Diligent, EMEA. Diligent is the leading provider of modern governance technology used by over 17,000 worldwide customers and 650,000 directors, executives and governance professionals. In his role, Liam works closely with service providers and private and public organizations of all sizes and regulation including notable members of the FTSE 100, Fortune 1000, Dax 30 and ASX.

Liam’s experience, over the last 15 years, centers around industry trends and best practices, business growth and technology innovation. He has held numerous Director and Officer roles including, most recently, becoming a member of Brainloop AG’s Supervisory Board in Munich.

In addition to his business roles, Liam is passionate about...

• the personal and professional development of those he leads
• putting others and community first
• learning and solving problems

and being…

• an American living in London
• a loving husband and new dad
• a former professional athlete

He is a graduate of Towson State University in the US and lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Ioannis is a Professor, an Advisor and a Keynote Speaker on Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility. Through his academic work, advisory roles, teaching, and engagement with executives, he seeks to understand and explore whether, how and the extent to which companies and capital markets can lead on the path towards a sustainable future. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, majoring in Economics and Mathematics and holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University and the Harvard Business School. He is currently an Associate Professor with tenure at London Business School.

Prof. Ioannou regularly publishes in top-tier peer-reviewed academic journals and due to the popularity and impact of his research, he regularly ranks in the top 100 authors on the social science research network (SSRN). Among other advisory roles, Ioannis is a member of the ESG Advisory Board of the DWS Group, and a member of the World Economic Forum Experts Network.

He is also very active on social media and is frequently quoted in articles in the popular and managerial press including outlets such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, BBC, and Forbes, among others. Ioannis has recently successfully launched a 6-week online course on Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility.

Marta Jankovic is a Director in BlackRock’s EMEA Investment Stewardship Team and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Marta leads ESG research and analytics for the global team to ensure key issues and trends are implemented in BlackRock’s voting and engagement policies and guidelines, including frameworks for assessing company progress on sustainability issues. Marta is also responsible for voting and engaging with companies in the EMEA region.

Mark is Company Secretary at Halma plc, a purpose-driven FTSE 100 group of global life-saving technology companies. He leads the company secretariat, which has responsibility for the Board, employee share plans, annual report, AGM, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, global insurance and UK pensions. His remit over his 5 years at Halma has also included legal, property, HR, Health & Safety and Environmental Social and Governance.

Mark’s 20 year career as a company secretary has been predominantly within FTSE 100 companies across the retail, oil & gas, building materials and technology sectors but he also worked for the privately-owned global pharmacy group, Alliance Boots, culminating with the merger with Walgreens Inc. He is a Chartered Secretary, regularly working with The Chartered Governance Institute to support and further the profession, and holds an LLB in Business and Finance Law.

Steve has managed the Secretariat of the UN Global Compact Network UK since 2008, connecting UK companies and other organisations in a global movement dedicated to driving corporate sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals. He also Chairs the UN Global Compact’s Global Network Council and sits on the UN Global Compact Board.

He was previously a Programme Director at the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) leading projects across a wide range of responsible business issue areas. Prior to joining IBLF, Steve was the founder and Managing Director of a successful retail sports equipment business in Canada.

He has a B.Comm from the University of British Columbia and an MSc in Business & Environment from Imperial College London.

Tjeerd leads the work within IIRC’s special interest group on Integrated Thinking & Strategy, which consists of around 40 companies and knowledge partners. The focus of the group is to offer world-renowned and innovative organizations the opportunity to share thinking about developing strategy across multiple capitals, learn from world leaders and co-create a common view of integrated thinking that is globally relevant to help build resilient, future-fit businesses.

Tjeerd is also working for ABN AMRO in Amsterdam, as Global head of Business Advisory, Reporting & Engagement, and a member of the Group Sustainability Management team. With more than 20 years of experience in the banking sector he started as a private banker and investment advisor and later on as head of investment teams. For the last seven years he has been heading up a team that offers advice on sustainability and is responsible for integrated thinking and reporting.

He is also a member of the advisory board for the Center for Corporate Reporting in Zurich.

Byron Loflin is the Global Head of Board Engagement at Nasdaq, where he leads the Board Engagement team in providing a strategic, collaborative, and technology-based approach to support boards’ efforts in strengthening governance effectiveness.

The portfolio of governance services and products includes a variety of board, CEO, and management evaluations, streamlined Directors’ and Officers’ Questionnaire and pre-proxy disclosure processes, and the Nasdaq Boardvantage board portal.

Byron is the founder and former CEO of the Center for Board Excellence (CBE), which was acquired by Nasdaq in 2019. His experience and expertise are in the design and administration of evaluations, as well as advising boards, board chairs, CEOs, and executive management on board strategy.

Martina Macpherson is Head of ESG Strategy at Oddo BHF Asset Management and Oddo BHF Private Equity.

Martina has held several global leadership roles in ESG strategy, product development and innovation including Senior Vice President, ESG and Engagement Strategy at Moody’s, Global Head of ESG Index Products and Research at S&P DJI, Managing Director of Sustainable Investments Partners Ltd. and Vice President of ESG Solutions at MSCI. Prior to this, she worked in (ESG) product, research and engagement roles at Insight Investment, F&C AM and at Deutsche Bank AG.

Martina has been a member of multiple sustainable finance associations and policy working groups at an EU and an international level. Currently, Martina is part of The Global ESG Leaders Forum – UK/EU/China, the European Law Institute's Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee, and the Enterprise Data Management Council’s Working Group on ESG Data, Innovation, Technology and Metrics.

Martina is a visiting fellow in sustainable finance at University of Zurich and Henley Business School. She has an MBA certificate in finance and business from LSBF / UK, and a MA in Law and Human Sciences from University of Frankfurt in Germany. She is a fellow member of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS) UK, and an alumnus of the German National Academic Foundation. Martina is a public speaker in sustainable investing and has co-authored a range of ESG and Fintech books, including “The AI Book” (2020).

David Mortimer is Head of External Affairs at The Chartered Institute of Governance UK & Ireland. He joined in February last year with an initial focus on setting the case for reform of all employee share schemes for the Institutes sister body, ProShare. He works closely with the policy team on issues of key focus for the Institute.

David was previously Head of Policy and Communications at the Employment Related Services Association, a membership body for organisations supporting people into work. He has held a number of senior positions in not for profit, private and public organisations during his career working on national campaigns such as the changeover from analogue to digital TV, the adoption of smart meters and digital inclusion services for older people.

David spent several years at the BBC, primarily in corporate communications after deciding to leave his early legal career as a solicitor in Scotland.

Raluca has been internationally active for more than 14 years as legal expert, business advisor, lawyer and policy expert in the private and public sectors. She has broad expertise in the governance, market introduction, scaling and financing of sustainable technology.

Raluca is currently General Counsel and Company Secretary at Fairphone BV in Amsterdam, a technology company whose sustainable smartphones were included in the list of Time's Magazine Best 100 Inventions of 2020 and have received the United Nations Momentum for Change Award at the Paris COP 21.

She worked in Belgium as independent counsel for the European Commission, investor advisor in renewables policy and as lawyer for Dentons Bucharest. Raluca has a triple degree in law, business and M&A/ finance from leading universities in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.

Jake is Executive Director, Sustainable Economy, at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership where he is responsible for CISL’s research, including the pioneering Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship Programme. He acts as a senior advisor to CISL’s Centre for Sustainable Finance which develops practical thought leadership through long-running collaborations with the investment, banking and insurance industries. As architect of CISL’s 10-year vision and plan, Rewiring the Economy, his team offers robust analysis, tools and evidence for leaders seeking action on sustainability.

Peter has 25 years of progressively relevant expert knowledge in the sustainable and renewable energies sector. He also has extensive managerial experience, including Agile programme management, strategy, securing significant partner funding, climate change risk & resilience, agroforestry financing, natural capital, international affairs and international development policy and programmes.

His investment industry experience has included managing assets up to €730m, and he is currently working on an EC development sustainability fund of €60bn. His progressive leadership experience and reputation have gained in the finance and development sectors (international organisations programmes) over 24 years. Peter has appeared as a key expert on France24 Global News several times concerning current issues on climate change.

Peter is currently a member of the UNECE PPP Business Advisory Board and has also been a Steering Committee member for the UN President of the General Assembly's High-level Thematic Debates. Also, Peter is a member of the IFC's Fast-Infra platform targeting both the supply and demand side of infrastructure finance. Peter has coordinated with inter-governmental sustainable project development management organisations to develop effective programmes. He has well-developed expertise in coordinating and facilitating intergovernmental diplomatic meetings and negotiations.

Ritva Sotamaa joined Unilever in 2013 as Chief Legal Officer. As member of Unilever’s Leadership Executive, she is responsible for Unilever’s Legal, Intellectual Property and Business Integrity functions. In 2018 she was appointed as Group Secretary, in addition to her Chief Legal Officer role.

Ritva has spent most of her career in the healthcare industry. She joined Unilever in 2013 from Siemens AG, where she was General Counsel for the global Healthcare business since 2009, based in Germany.

Between 2003 and 2009 Ritva held several global General Counsel roles at General Electric Company - GE Healthcare, mostly based in Wisconsin, USA.

Ritva started her career in Finland in 1989 at Instrumentarium Corporation, a Finnish publicly listed healthcare company, as legal counsel for international business. Between 1996 and 1998 Ritva was legal counsel for Partek Corporation and returned to Instrumentarium in 1998 as General Counsel, in which position she served until 2003.

Ritva holds a Master of Laws degree from University of Turku, Finland.

Since 2015 she serves as a non-executive director in Finnish branded consumer goods company Fiskars Corporation.

Dr. Christoph Soukup, native of Austria, is a Business Economist by trainng and a proven change management expert by passion. Over his career, he has come to be dedicated sustainability manager by conviction.

He brings more than 2 decades of experience from international manufacturing to the table, most of which in management responsibility. After leaving the corporate world he has started his own business. As the director of the Steinbeis Consulting Center Circular Economy he today facilitates enterprises on how to substantially improve their sustainability all, while sustaining profitability.

Next to heading the Steinbeis Consulting Center Circular Economy he also founded the think & do-tank materialkreislauf. There, they focus on circularity as a broader vision and aim at making the ideas around thinking in loops accessible for a wider audience.

Christoph hosts the (German-speaking) podcast #MüllistMist where he meets the makers of the circular solutions of tomorrow already today.

Alice Steenland joined Dassault Systèmes in 2020 as the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer.

Previously, she was the founding Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at AXA Group, where she helped the company rise to a leading position in global sustainability rankings, thanks in part to a pioneering responsible investment strategy including the landmark decision to divest from coal and, later, tobacco. Prior to joining AXA, she led the investor research arm of Vigeo (now a subsidiary of Moody’s), worked in the business consulting unit of Arthur Andersen, and acted as an independent consultant in the field of strategic planning for Save the Children USA.

Alice currently serves as a board member of ShareAction and Arvella Investments, as a lecturer at France’s Ecole Polytechnique and as an advisory committee member at the Yale School of Management, the impact fund Giant Ventures, and the leading French sustainability think tank IDDRI.

Alice Steenland received her bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Susanne Stormer is partner and head of Sustainability at PwC Denmark. She is a recognized global leader in corporate reporting, with more than 20 years of practical experience of being in charge of reporting strategy, design and data. Susanne is a member of the EFRAG Project Task Force EFRAG’s Project Task Force on Non-financial reporting standards, member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and was a founding member of the International Integrated Reporting Council, to whom she is currently an Ambassador.

Until 2020, Susanne was Vice President and Chief Sustainability advisor at Novo Nordisk where she led the evolution of the company’s trendsetting integrated report. Susanne is also an adjunct professor of Corporate Sustainability at Copenhagen Business School and a Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley Haas, California.

Peter Swabey is Policy and Research Director at The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland. He is responsible for developing the Institute’s profile to members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership and lobbying campaigns aligned to the Institute’s strategy and promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.

Peter started working at the Institute in 2013 and has almost 30 years’ industry experience. Previously, Peter was at Equiniti where he was Company Secretary and Industry Leadership Director; he was also a Director of Equiniti David Venus, Equiniti’s Company Secretarial Services provider.

Peter is a member of the Institute’s Company Secretary’s Forum, the CBI Companies Committee, the QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group, as well as being an Alternate Member of the Takeover Panel and a past Chairman of the Institute’s Registrars Group. A history graduate, and Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland, Peter is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and corporate governance matters.

General Counsel and Company Secretary and member of the Executive Leadership Team of Coca-Cola European Partners plc since June 2016, leading risk, compliance, security and legal teams across 13 countries, sponsor of the Diversity Council. Previously General Counsel of Kingfisher plc and Tube Lines plc, Head of Legal at Post Office.

Currently NED at Modern Pentathlon Great Britain and The City of London Investment Trust, previous directorships include encryption and digital signatures, sheltered housing and retail.