Speakers - edie Sustainability Leaders Forum

Solitaire Townsend
Author
The Happy Hero - How to Change Your Life By Changing the World

Jamie Quinn
Corporate responsibility and environment director
ENGIE

Katie Leggett
Sustainability manager
innocent drinks

Rhea Horlock
Corporate social responsibility manager
NHS Property Services

Natalie Gourley

Boots UK

Clare Noble
Head of healthcare
phs Group

Tom Kay
Founder
Finisterre

Cat Leggat
Youth panel lead and programme assistant
Global Action Plan

Charlotte Zamboni
Marketing director
Global Action Plan

The Rt Hon Claire Perry
Minister of State for Energy & Clean Growth
BEIS

Claire Perry worked at the Bank of America, McKinsey and Credit Suisse, and founded her own financial advice business before moving to the public sector as a political advisor to George Osborne. She was elected as MP for the Devizes Constituency in 2010 and again in 2015 and 2017. Since entering Parliament, she has served on the Justice Select Committee, represented Britain at the Council of Europe, worked as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence and been appointed by Prime Minister, David Cameron, to be his Special Advisor on child internet safety. She served as a Government Whip from 2013 - 2014, and as Rail Minister from 2014 - 2016. On 12 June 2017, Claire was appointed Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Since her arrival, she has led the delivery of the Government’s inaugural Clean Growth Strategy, established the Green Finance Taskforce, and launched the Powering Past Coal Alliance, a global initiative to drive the transition to cleaner energy. Claire attends Cabinet and was made a member of the Queen’s Privy Council in March 2018. Claire holds a degree in Geography from Brasenose College, Oxford and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Philippe Joubert
Founder and CEO
Earth on Board

Philippe Joubert is Founder and CEO of Earth on Board, an ecosystem of sustainability actors dedicated to informing and helping Boards to put sustainability at the centre of the company’s strategy, achieving an Earth Competent Board. Joubert is also Trustee of Client Earth, Senior Advisor and Special Envoy Energy and Climate for WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Advisor for International Development of World Energy Council (WEC), Chairman of HRH The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Fellow in this Institute. He is Advisor to several CEOs of leading global companies in the area of Sustainability and International Development. He serves as a member of the Sustainability Committee of the Board of Fibria, Board member for Nexans Foundation and Advisory Board Member of Nexans South America. He sits on the board of Voltalia, a developer in Renewable Energy, a listed Cie of the Mulliez family and is also a Non-Executive Director of ENEO, Electricity of Cameroun. Philippe was previously President of Alstom Power and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Alstom Group (a Group of 94,000 employees in 100 countries, with €20bn in sales for 2011/2012). Philippe is French and Brazilian, has been awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and graduated from Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC -76). Philippe’s leadership and opinions are regularly covered in mainstream, business and industry media; including the Economist, South China Morning Post, Huffington Post, Nikkei, L’Express, CNBC Africa, VICE Impact, De Standaard, BusinessGreen, edie and EcoBusiness.

Jean-Marc Duvoisin
CEO
Nespresso

Jonathon Porritt - edie sustainability leaders forum speaker

Jonathon Porritt CBE
Founder director
Forum for the Future

Jonathon Porritt, co-founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK’s leading sustainable development charity. The Forum has a growing presence in the United States, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In addition, he is a non-executive director of Willmott Dixon Holdings, a trustee of Ashden, and a director of Collectively (an online platform celebrating sustainable innovation). He was formerly director of Friends of the Earth, co-chair of the Green Party and as chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission until 2009, he spent nine years providing high-level advice to government ministers. Jonathon was installed as the chancellor of Keele University in February 2012. Recent books are ‘Capitalism As If The World Matters’ (2007) and ‘The World We Made’ (2013) - which seeks to inspire people about the prospects of a sustainable world in 2050. Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.

Karen Hamilton Unilever edie Sustainability Leaders Forum speaker

Karen Hamilton
Global VP sustainable business
Unilever

Karen Hamilton is global vice president sustainable business at Unilever with more than 20 years’ experience of driving market share and catalysing innovation in 100+ countries. She spearheaded the creation of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan in 2010. She works with Unilever’s leading brands, such as Knorr, Persil and Wall’s, to bring their purpose to life through their marketing, products and actions, and with Unilever’s local businesses to develop their sustainable business strategy aiming for a win-win of business and societal value. She has developed open source tools such Unilever’s ‘Five Levers for Change’ and ‘Making Purpose Pay’.

Therese Noorlander
Sustainability director Europe
The Coca-Cola Company

Therese Noorlander is currently the Sustainability Director for The Coca-Cola Company in Europe. She is responsible for driving the corporate sustainability agenda in Europe. Together with Coca-Cola’s bottling partners she works to ensure that her organization meets the sustainability commitments of the Western European This is Forward strategy. Therese holds a university degree in Business Administration. She has experience in both the public and private sector: before joining The Coca-Cola Company, she worked for Heineken, Nutricia Medical Nutrition, Pfizer and the Dutch Ministry of Health.

Erin Meezan
VP and chief sustainability officer
Interface

As chief sustainability officer, Erin gives voice to Interface’s conscience, ensuring that strategy and goals are in sync with its aggressive sustainability vision established more than 20 years ago. Today, Interface has evolved its thinking to go beyond doing less harm to creating positive impacts, not just for Interface and the flooring industry, but for the world at large. Erin led the company to unveil a new mission in 2016 – Climate Take Back, tackling the single biggest threat facing humanity: global climate change. This mission is focused on creating a path for Interface and others to reverse global warming, not just reduce carbon emissions. As CSO, Erin leads a global team that provides technical assistance and support to this audacious goal and the company’s global business, addressing sustainability at all levels – from operations and management, to employees and customers, and in policy forums. Erin and her team also develop industry-leading approaches to measurement, driving transparency and innovation in the field of sustainability, while also capturing successes as the company nears its Mission Zero targets in 2020. Erin is a frequent lecturer on sustainable business to senior management teams, universities and the growing green consumer sector. She has keynoted at a variety of conferences and forums around the world. Erin serves as a guest faculty member at Harvard University for the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program. She also serves on the Sustainable Entrepreneurship MBA (SEMBA) program advisory board for the Vermont Grossman School of Business. Erin is a magna cum laude graduate of the Vermont Law School, where she earned her master’s degree in studies in environmental law and her juris doctor degree.

Rupert Maitland-Titterton
Senior director, corporate communications & sustainability
Kellogg Europe

Rupert Maitland-Titterton has been senior director, corporate communications & sustainability, Kellogg Europe, since 2014. He is also a member of the company’s European leadership team. Rupert has worked at several multinational companies, including Procter & Gamble, Heinz, Nestlé and Tetra Pak in marketing, corporate communications and sustainability roles. Rupert has held a number of trade association roles in the food and beverage industry. He currently sits on the Ipsos Mori Reputation Council. He also works at his local foodbank, feeding homeless and marginalised families, where he is in charge of “spuds and veg”! He is married to Sarah and they have three sons.

Mike Barry
Director of sustainable business (Plan A)
Marks & Spencer

Kené Umeasiegbu
Head of environment
Tesco

Kené Umeasiegbu is the Head of Environment at Tesco. He is responsible for Tesco’s environmental sustainability strategy, addressing impacts of retail operations as well as agricultural and manufacturing supply chains on forests, climate, marine and freshwater ecosystems. Kené led Tesco’s key environmental milestones, including setting ambitious science-based climate change targets on a 1.5 degree trajectory, setting science-based targets for agricultural emissions, rolling out UK’s largest electric vehicles charging network, defining a roadmap to 100% renewable electricity and zero deforestation soy. Kené studied geology at the University of Nigeria and responsible business at the University of Bath. Prior to Tesco, he worked at Cadbury, Carbon Trust and Carnstone Partners.

Gabrielle Ginér
Head of sustainable business policy
BT

Gabrielle has worked on BT’s environmental sustainability programmes since 2009. Her work has spanned BT’s carbon targets, including BT’s recent 1.5 degrees Celsius science-based carbon reduction target, BT’s net positive carbon abatement target, ICT’s carbon abatement potential and BT supply chain engagement initiatives, such as the award-winning BT Better Future Supplier Forum. Gabrielle represents BT in external fora - WBCSD, We Mean Business and the UNFCCC Momentum for Change Advisory Panel. Prior to joining BT’s sustainability team, Gabrielle held roles in regulatory and public affairs and programme management. She has an MSc in telecommunications business (University College London), an MA in international economics and relations (SAIS Johns Hopkins University) and a BA in international relations/Asian studies.

Liz Goodwin OBE
Senior fellow & director, food loss and waste
World Resources Institute

Liz Goodwin is a chemist by background and started her career in the chemical industry. In 2001, she joined the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and was appointed CEO in 2007, a position she held until June 2016. Liz joined the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2016 as senior fellow and director, Food Loss and Waste. She is a Champion of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 whose aim is to halve global food waste by 2030. In 2015, Liz was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to the business resource efficiency and the environment. In March 2017, Liz was appointed chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB) by the Mayor of London.

Will Gardner
Founder
Mission in Action

James Pitcher
Director of sustainability
Whitbread

Léon Wijnands
Global head of sustainability
ING

Léon has more than 25 years of experience in banking, particularly in the field of sales and marketing. Prior to his current position, Léon led the ING Bank Customer Contact Centers. Over the years, he was responsible for the 21 branches in the “District Amsterdam” and has led many marketing initiatives as well as change programmes. Léon holds a master’s degree in business economics, business administration and in financial economics. He joined ING in 1990.

Ramon Arratia
Chairman, Every Can Counts and sustainability director
Ball Beverage Packaging Europe

Beccy Speight
Chief executive
Woodland Trust

Luke Nicholls
Content director
edie

Felix Finkbeiner
Founder
Plant-for-the-Planet

At the age of 9, Felix Finkbeiner, inspired by the story of Wangari Maathai, developed the idea that children could promote climate justice by planting a million trees in every country. With the support of children from over a hundred countries, Felix launched the children and youth initiative, Plant-for-the-Planet, in 2007. So far, more than 70,000 children and youth in 67 countries have been trained in Plant-for-the-Planet academies. As climate justice ambassadors, these children and youth give speeches to adults, make them act and fight for their future. In May 2018, the German President awarded Felix the Federal Cross of Merit to honor his commitment for climate justice. Plant-for-the-planet.org

Benedict Orchard
Environmental sustainability manager
Adnams

Ben is the environmental sustainability manager for Adnams, an independent values-based family brewer, distiller and retailer, who is committed to a sustainable future. Adnams has been brewing from Southwold, on the Suffolk coast, for 146 years meaning longevity, and therefore sustainability, is fundamentally critical to its business. Since joining in 2012, Ben has developed and implemented an environmental framework to progress Adnams’ already leading position on sustainable business. By combining his passion with his research skills from his first-class environmental sciences degree from UEA, Ben identifies the best solutions and develops the business case for sustainability, highlighting the clear links to economic and social improvements too.

Richard Gillies
Senior sustainability advisor
Helistrat Management Services

Daniël Nijkamp
Customer success manager
Nedap

Pascale Wauters
Senior communications manager
CSR Europe

Pascale started her career in London,UK & Dusseldorf, Germany working as an account manager for a large retail company. Back in Brussels, Belgium she became a journalist specialised in human resources. She moved later in various leading roles as Corporate Communications Manager in the B2B sector (energy, cement and gas) working on press and relations management, digital transformation and environmental communication. Accompanying her wide array of Business to Business (B2B) communications experience, Pascale has established herself in the field of CSR and Sustainability. With the launch of a biodiversity campaign ‘Quarry Life Award’ in 2011, Pascale’s interest in sustainability has continued to grow with her career - clean transportation, climate change, safety at work and stakeholder management are only a few of the many topics that she has campaigned on. Pascale has a Master’s degree in English & Spanish. As a Board Member of the C² Communications Community, Pascale has formed a wide network of partners in Belgium and across Europe.

Michael French
Managing director, business & community solutions
E.ON

Michael graduated with honours in Chemical and Process Engineering in 1991 and worked in Asia and the USA mainly as an Engineer and Risk Manager. He returned to Europe in 2000 to complete an MBA at INSEAD in France. Michael then worked for Boston Consulting Group primarily in the Energy and Telecommunications sectors before leaving to join a team completing a management buyout of a technology start-up. In 2007 Michael joined E.ON and worked in various headquarter positions in Düsseldorf and Munich before moving to Istanbul at the start of 2013 as E.ON formed a joint venture with a local partner in the Turkish Energy market. Michael developed the free-market sales and marketing business as the Turkish market liberalised. Over the next three years the company grew to be E.ON’s largest regional customer base and the leading player in the Turkish market with more than 20% market share. At the start of 2016 Michael returned to Düsseldorf as SVP of Corporate Strategy. During this period E.ON split into two companies, Uniper – the traditional generation unit, and E.ON a renewables, networks and customer business. The Uniper part has been successfully floated. E.ON then made a move to acquire innogy, a strategic play that would create the largest European energy company in terms of customer base and networks. At the end of 2018 Michael joined the Board of E.ON UK and is primarily responsible for energy sales and management and growing our self-generation and sustainable energy solutions offerings for cities and business.

John Walsh
Senior strategic account manager
E.ON

An experienced sales leader with a proven track record of success in the Energy Solutions sector. Currently I lead a team of Strategic Account Managers in EON's new B&CS sales business. I have over 20 years’ experience of working in the energy industry that has helped me develop a range of skills across areas such as Energy, Renewable Energy, Business Development, Energy Efficiency & Stakeholder Management. Myself and my team build long lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with senior professionals’ at large blue chip companies. Helping these companies to become 'Energy Fit' and stay competitive in their market places.