Each year the Sustainability Leaders Awards entries are judged by an esteemed panel of sustainability experts, hand-picked for their specialist knowledge and experience within their own specific field.
Scroll down to check out who will be judging the 2023 entries. The judges will whittle down a shortlist of finalists and decide upon the winners.
Char Love
Global Director of Advocacy
Natura &Co
Char is inspired by people in business who use their power as a force for good. Char recently joined Natura &Co, the world’s biggest B Corp, as the Global Director of Advocacy where she is focused on supporting the business take a stand on key issues, and deepening relationships with partners who share a commitment to engaging in system level change. She also continues to teach and learn with students at Said Business School, University of Oxford where she designed the popular MBA course The Regenerative and Circular Economy: How to Do Business in a Climate Emergency, and the executive course The Oxford Climate Emergency Programme. Char is a serial entrepreneur having been the co-founder of Volans, Heliotropy and B Lab UK where she held the role of Chair and Activist in Residence. She is on the board of Make My Money Matter and a member of the ICAEW’s Sustainability Advisory Committee (because she truly believes accountants will save the world). Char’s personal purpose in life is to create space for others, to share her energy and to seek experiences where she can feel the magic that materialises when people come together to activate for positive change. To tune into some of her thinking you can check out her TEDx talk and recent articles in HBR, Wired and Forbes.
Crista Buznea
Head of Marketing
Ecologi
Crista Buznea is Head of Marketing at Ecologi, the market leader in collective climate action. She has spent her career working in the marketing, tourism and sustainability industries for some of the world’s best brands including Heathrow and TUI, where she created award-winning content that positioned sustainability as a key marketing message for TUI UK, reaching 4.5 million holiday-makers in the process. After many years in the tourism industry, in 2020 Crista joined Ecologi one year after their launch with a focus of scaling their marketing team and impact. Since its inception in 2019, Ecologi has planted over 47.8 million trees and avoided 2.2 million tonnes of carbon, with the aim to reduce half of the world’s emissions by 2040. Crista holds a MSc in Responsible Tourism from Manchester Metropolitan University and is an alumni of Edie’s 30 Sustainability Leaders Under the age of 30.
Ryan Jude
Programme director
Green Finance Institute
Ryan is the Programme Director for Green Taxonomy work at the Green Finance Institute, with a focus on advising the UK Government on implementing a UK Taxonomy - a common framework setting the bar for economic activities and investments that can be defined as environmentally sustainable - through the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG). Ryan previously led the Institute's Zero Carbon Heating Taskforce and Local Climate Bond (LCB) Campaign. He also co-hosts the Institute's Green is the New Finance podcast series. Before joining the Institute, Ryan worked in investment banking, specialising in power, energy and infrastructure transactions.
Sarah Mukherjee
CEO
IEMA
Sarah Mukherjee is the CEO of IEMA. She was the BBC’s Environment Correspondent for many years, presenting on national and international BBC radio and television news, working – and winning awards – across the world. Since leaving the Corporation, she has had leadership roles in utilities and agriculture. She was a panel member for the National Parks Review and sat on the National Food Strategy Advisory Panel. She is also a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Environment Agency. Sarah was awarded an MBE for her services to agriculture and farmer well-being in 2021. Sarah has been a Campaign for Real Ale beer judge and a rugby supporter in the past – two activities she still enjoys – and is a runner and yoga addict.
Libby Peake
Head of Resource Policy
Green Alliance
Libby Peake is head of resource policy at Green Alliance, an independent charity and think tank focused on achieving ambitious leadership for the environment. She works closely with other NGOs, academics and businesses to promote better use of resources throughout the economy. This includes managing the Circular Economy Task Force, a forum for business thinking on resource efficient policies, which has recently advocated for a systemic approach to tackling plastic pollution, a more targeted approach to reducing resource use, and a smarter strategy on critical raw materials. Her recent reports include The bigger picture: addressing the UK’s hidden carbon footprint and Critical point: securing the raw materials needed for the UK’s green transition.
Mike Pitts
Deputy challenge director
Innovate UK
Mike is the Deputy Challenge Director for Transforming Construction – the government’s Industrial Strategy programme linked to the sector deal and managed by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation. He acted as interim Challenge Director in securing the programme as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Mike was previously Head of Urban Systems at Innovate UK, covering the priority areas of Urban Living and Smart Infrastructure. He joined Innovate UK in 2012 to lead on embedding sustainability across Innovate UK’s strategy. He has also led Clean and Cool entrepreneur Missions in 2013 to Brazil and 2015 to San Francisco and ran the Resource Efficiency programme during 2013/14. Previously Mike spent five years driving sustainability-led innovation in the chemical industry with Chemistry Innovation. He has developed and managed projects on lifecycle analysis, renewable chemicals, industrial biotechnology and resource efficiency across the chemistry-using industries. Mike holds a PhD in organic chemistry and spent his early career in several technology spin-outs leading R&D teams developing process technology for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and electronics industries.
Lola Okunrinboye
Environmental Manager
Archirodon Group
Lola Okunrinboye is a Chartered Environmentalist and Sustainability professional. She is an Environmental Manager for Archirodon Group, NV, an international construction company. She is a self-motivated leader, inspiring speaker, and facilitator. She is a change maker, innovative thinker, goal focused with proven achievements. Lola’s passion for engagement has encouraged her to leverage technology as a tool for connecting and building a strong network. Lola commentates on BBC Scotland as a specialist contributor on environmental and sustainability issues. she mentors and coaches environmental and sustainability professionals and helps sustainability professionals enhance their visibility and vocalize their value so they can land their dream career. She has presented as a speaker and panellist in several forums and conferences internationally discussing topics ranging from career progression, intersectional environmentalism, and sustainability. Lola is a graduate of University of Sheffield, UK where she completed a BEng degree in Chemical and process Engineering and an MSc in Environmental and Energy Engineering. Lola sits on various committees and working groups which include the OEUK diversity and inclusion Ally Network Steering Group, Energy Institute Professional Affairs committee. She is a full member of the Energy Institute and IEMA. She is a Women in Sustainability Leader.
Elaine Cohen
Managing director
Beyond Business
Elaine (@elainecohen) is an expert voice in the field of sustainability strategy and reporting. As the founder-manager of Beyond Business Ltd (www.b-yond.biz), she has supported 150+ client ESG/CSR/Sustainability Reports and other disclosures since 2005. Elaine has authored three books on sustainable practice and collaborated on several academic papers and book chapters sustainability topics. Elaine is ESG Competent Boards Certified (2021) with the designation GCB.D. Elaine helps shape the reporting landscape as an independent contributor and writes the CSR Reporting blog since 2008. She lectures widely, co-chairs the annual Asia Sustainability Reporting Summit and other events and serves as a judge in several sustainability and reporting award programs around the world each year. Elaine was selected as Trust Across America 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. Prior to founding Beyond Business, Elaine gained over 20 years of business experience with Procter & Gamble, Unilever and other companies. Elaine is married and mother of two children, a dog and a cat, and contributes to social causes (mainly supporting children with autism and animal welfare) and pro-bono services for non-profit groups or academic institutions advancing sustainable practices.
Trewin Restorick
CEO
Sizzle
Trewin Restorick was the Founder and CEO of Hubbub UK www.hubbub.org.uk which transforms the way environmental messages are communicated by bringing people and organisations together as a force for good. In 2020, Hubbub won Charity of the Year and Trewin was recognised with a Global Leader of the Year award. In 2021, he won the Business Green ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ and in 2022 voted by peers as the most influential person in the UK’s recycling and resource sector. Trewin is now starting a new environmental venture called Sizzle www.sizzle.org.uk looking at how to bring organisations together to make is as easy as possible for people to live greener lifestyles. Trewin has a track-record of creating successful environmental enterprises including PaperRound a flourishing recycling business and Global Action Plan a long-established environmental charity. These enterprises were created built on experience gathered through roles he filled at Friends of the Earth where he was Director of Fundraising and at Plymouth City Council where he supported the creation of new social enterprises. Trewin is a frequent media commentator on environmental issues and was trained by Al Gore as one of his climate change ambassadors. He is currently an environmental advisor to Tetra Pak, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the National Lottery Climate Fund.
James Bidwell
Chair
Springwise
James Bidwell is CEO of Springwise, the leading global platform for innovation and positive change, described by Seth Godin as “almost too good to share”. Every day, Springwise publishes the world’s newest, most important innovation solutions for positive change and the transition economy, for a global community of over 2 million. Springwise is the trusted innovation and sustainability content partner for many leading global brands and organisations. Springwise is a member of 1% for the Planet and a certified B Corporation – part of a growing community of businesses committed to redefining their role in society as a force for good. Committed to positive change and innovation that matters, Springwise is essential reading for CEOs, innovators, investors, educators, and corporates in all sectors and geographies. James specialises in leading positive and transformational change in business, and has held many Board level and CEO roles including CMO at Selfridges, and CEO at both Visit London and Anthropologie, Europe. James also co-founded strategy consultancy Re_Set. He outlines his philosophy in his bestselling book, Disrupt! 100 Lessons in Business Innovation (Hachette 2017). He has been listed in the Financial Times Creative Business Top 50, and was named as one of London’s 1,000 ‘most influential’ by the London Evening Standard. During his time as Marketing Director at Selfridges, he was described as the “ringmaster extraordinaire” and “a theatrical agitator”. James is also a well known moderator, speaker and commentator. He speaks regularly on navigating disruption, the rapid pace of change, the role of innovation in helping solve the climate crisis and how to achieve cultural shift.
Henry Majed
Co-founder
MyMynd
Henry is a Future Proofer tackling the impact of Covid19 on Mental Health & Wellbeing in business and society. He recognises the potential for business to contribute at scale towards achieving the SDGs, and passionate about developing the next generation of responsible leaders. Henry was previously the Partnership Director at Innovation Gateway.
Jonas Persson
Head of Sustainability and ESG Finance
Lloyds Bank
Jonas Persson is the Head of Sustainability and ESG Finance at Lloyds Bank, having lead Energy & Utilities businesses for the best part of 2 decades. He has been driving the financing development of renewable energy across technologies including the large scale wind farms in the UK. He joined Lloyds Bank in 2008 and has been driving the Renewables and the ESG agenda both internally and externally, and proud to have supported the first baseline target by any bank in the pursuit of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Jonas has a strong track record of steering the business in a commercial and sustainable way, taking into account major challenges such as political, regulatory, technology, and more recently, climate risks. He has a great passion for successfully building strong teams and developing diverse and emerging talent.
Claire Shrewsbury
Director Insights & Innovation
WRAP
Claire is Director of Insights & Innovation at WRAP, in which role she is responsible for WRAP’s policy and insights work, technical support for local authorities and grant management across the UK. The teams support Defra in its implementation of the Resources & Waste Strategy and similar support programmes for the devolved governments in Wales and Northern Ireland. Claire joined WRAP in 2008 and was previously a consultant with AEA Technology.
Alan Law
Chief Officer for Strategy and Deputy CEO
Natural England
Alan has worked in practical conservation for 30 years. Having started at WWT Martin Mere in the early 1990’s, Alan joined English Nature, later setting up the first UK Biodiversity Programme. He provided operational leadership across SE England for many years; including the Thames Basin Heaths programme and designation of the South Downs National Park. Alan overhauled Natural England’s systems for engaging with the planning system and delivering statutory advice. Subsequently he ran England’s marine designation programme, delivering the first tranche of Marine Conservation Zones. Alan was the architect of NE’s conservation strategy, C21, which set out ambitious plans to fundamentally change the way nature conservation is practised; working at a larger scale, securing lasting benefits, and putting people at the very heart of conservation. More recently he has worked with DEFRA to develop tools to deliver the Environment Act, including Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies. Alan has worked to secure greater investment in environment through a spending review, and he continues to inform and influence future plans for conservation through work on the Nature Recovery Green Paper.
David Bent
Senior Associate Consultant - Sustainability & Futures
Skating Panda
David Bent is an advisor, strategist and futurist in the field of sustainability, often as an associate of Skating Panda, a creative social impact consultancy. He is exploring 'what can we do in these powerful times?’ as a podcast series. He was Director of Sustainable Business at Forum for the Future, where he helped leading corporations around the world to be more successful by creating a better future. As an independent advisory has worked with the UK Cabinet, UNDP, Sustainable Shipping Initiative and more. David is an Edmund Hillary Fellow (‘incubating solutions to global problems from Aotearoa New Zealand'), is chair of the EIRIS Foundation ('pioneering the next steps towards sustainable finance'), and an Honorary Lecturer at the UCLInstitute for Sustainable Resources.
Dr. Becky Heaton
Director of Environmental Sustainability
Lloyds Banking Group
Dr Rebecca Heaton has a 20 year global career working at the interface between business, science and policy. After an early career in academia, she has held senior roles in a number of large energy companies. Rebecca is currently the Director of Environmental Sustainability for Lloyds Banking Group and joined in early May. A Chartered Forester, her expertise spans energy, climate change and land-use and the role business has to play in enabling the UK to decarbonise. She was a member of the UK Committee on Climate on Change from 2017 to 2021.
Jamie Plotnek
Director
Hawthorn Advisors
Jamie is a Director and Head of ESG at Hawthorn Advisors, a leading strategic communications consultancy. He is a sustainability, climate and ESG specialist, with over 15 years of global experience in corporate communications, campaigning, issues management, and thought leadership. He joined Hawthorn from the international non-profit, Climate Group, where he developed and led a global campaign on zero emission vehicles. Jamie’s previous roles included leading communications on sustainable sourcing, climate and energy at Unilever, managing corporate communications and thought leadership for the Carbon Trust, and heading up business and public sector engagement for one of Britain's biggest climate change campaigns. He holds a Master's degree in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge and a BA in English Literature from the University of Leeds. Qualified as a barrister, Jamie was called to the bar at Gray's Inn and briefly practiced law in his early career, working for banking clients. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
Charlene Collison
Associate Director - Sustainable Value Chains & Livelihoods
Forum for the Future
Charlene directs Forum for the Future’s Challenge Lab on Sustainable Value Chains, which works to make value chains of land-based commodities regenerative, just and resilient. She leads multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives across a range of sectors and themes, including directing the Cotton 2040 initiative. Charlene also leads strategy projects with brands, retailers and foundation partners, with a focus on using futures tools to diagnose and act on complex systemic challenges in commodity value chains, and on prototyping solutions. She directs Forum’s inquiry into the future of value chains. Drawing on over 20 years’ experience in futures, systems thinking, and organisational change, Charlene is a lead facilitator on Forum’s School for Systems Change, and supports Forum’s thought leadership on systemic and collaborative change processes. Previous roles included futures and scenario planning with the UK Department of Business and Innovation & Skills), communications and narrative leadership.
Richard Carter
Lecturer
West Suffolk College
Richard is a lecturer in finance and sustainability across the Eastern Colleges Group based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. His primary interest is the commercial imperative for sustainability and ethical business practice. Richard was previously head of finance and sustainability at Adnams plc, the award-winning brewery and distillery based in Southwold, famous for its eco-distribution centre, its energy-efficient brewhouse and its 500,000 honey bees. Under Richard's tenure, Adnams won 15 major awards (including several from Edie) for their sustainability achievements, all of which were linked to clear financial business cases. Richard holds a first-class accounting degree from the University of Wales and qualified as a chartered management accountant shortly after. He held a series of commercial finance and controller roles at BT before joining Adnams. Outside of work, Richard is a non-executive director at IEMA, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, where he chairs the finance, risk and audit committee. He sits on several other advisory boards at not-for-profits.
Mike Barry
Director
mikebarryeco
Mike is a change agent, committed to helping business big and small, new and established to prepare for and succeed in the great sustainability disruption that will wash through the economy in the 2020s. He’s worked with organizations such as Unilever, SAP, Grosvenor GB&I, GSK, Kite Insight’s Climate School, Ball, Nestle, Reiss, CCEP, Lidl, Ikea, IBM, Nomad Foods, The Climate Pledge, the Environment Agency, Which, Royal Society of Chemistry, British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, IGD, Edrington, Lagardere, CoGo, Liverpool University, Clim8Invest, Bord Bia and Climate Action. Mike was until 2019 Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer, spearheading its ground-breaking Plan A (because there is no Plan B for the one planet we have) sustainability programme. He co-chaired the Consumer Goods Forum’s sustainability work bringing the world’s largest retailers and fast moving consumer goods brands together to work on issues such as deforestation, plastics and forced labour. He is a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and a Trustee at Blueprint for Better Business.
Anita Longley
Former chair
Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability
Anita is a board level sustainability professional with over thirty years experience of embedding sustainability at the heart of corporate and public sector decision making. A passionate advocate for collaboration and transparency she has delivered impactful sustainability strategies across the UK, Europe and India. Anita is currently a trustee of the Scottish Power Foundation and a wildlife gardener. She is a Churchill Fellow and a Fellow of the ICRS.
Wayne Hubbard
Chief Executive
ReLondon
Wayne is the Chief Executive Officer of ReLondon (formerly known as the London Waste and Recycling Board), where he is responsible for helping London’s boroughs to reduce waste and increase recycling rates and accelerating the development of a low carbon circular economy. He has been working for ReLondon since 2008. Prior to this he was the Head of Waste Policy at the Greater London Authority. Wayne is a trustee on the board of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management. He has 25 years’ experience in the waste and resource management industry.
Peter Wang Hjemdahl
Co-Founder
rePurpose Global
Peter Wang Hjemdahl is a Chinese-Norwegian social entrepreneur and Co-Founder & Chief Advocacy Officer of rePurpose Global, the world’s leading Plastic Action Platform. Peter has frequently spoken on climate finance, purposeful business, and sustainability behavioral change for global publications and forums such as Ellen MacArthur Foundation, TEDx and United Nations.
Nicky O'Malley
Director of Corporate Partnerships
Global Action Plan
With experience across NGO's, ad agencies and brand-side roles, Nicky convenes partnerships that catalyse positive impact and mobilise support for a sustainable future for both people and planet. Previously heading up Corporate Partnerships for Europe's largest conservation organisation, the RSPB, Nicky has recently been working alongside WWF and National Trust on partnerships supporting the forthcoming David Attenborough series 'Wild Isles' for the BBC. Now as Director of Corporate Partnerships at Global Action Plan, working towards a green and thriving planet where everyone can enjoy happy and healthy lives within the Earth's limits by reconnecting human and planetary health.
