John Alker , Director of Policy and Communications, UK Green Building Council
John has been working at UK-GBC since shortly after its launch in 2007. He leads on policy, government relations, campaigns and PR, working closely with the rest of the senior management team on the development and implementation of UK-GBC's overall strategic plan.
Prior to joining the UK-GBC John led political communications on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and sustainable homes campaign for the environmental charity WWF-UK. He has also previously worked as an MP's researcher and speech-writer in the House of Commons and in commercial public affairs.
Will Andrews Tipper, head of sustainable business, Green Alliance
Will joined Green Alliance in June 2012 to lead our work in the sustainable business theme. He is responsible for developing Green Alliance's work with the private sector through our Business Circle, and works closely with our head of research, Faye Scott, on strategic projects in areas such as housing retrofit. Will previously spent 8 years in consultancy in the Brussels office of FTI Consulting (formerly FD Blueprint). He holds an MSc in international relations from the University of Bristol and a BA(Hons) in English from the University of Birmingham.
Jo Confino, executive editor, Guardian News and Media
Jo is an executive editor of the Guardian, chairman and editorial director of Guardian Sustainable Business and sustainability consultant to parent company Guardian Media Group (GMG).
As a journalist for the past 24 years, he has worked on regional and national newspapers and websites. He was Wall Street correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and subsequently finance and business news editor for the Guardian. As well as producing an award-winning annual sustainability audit for GNM, the first one in the sector to be independently verified, he launched one of the world's first interactive sustainability reporting websites. He managed a unique multi-stakeholder development project in the village of Katine and supports the new Guardian global development website.
Polly Courtice, director, University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership
Polly is director of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL). She is also co-director of The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme.
Polly is a member of the University of Cambridge's board of executive and professional education and academic director of CPSL's master of studies in sustainability leadership. She is a non-executive director of Jupiter Green Investment Trust, an advisor for the Lloyds Banking Group sustainability advisory group and is also an advisor on the CR advisory board for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. In 2008 Polly was made a Lieutenant of the Victorian Order (LVO) announced in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
Nadine Exter, head of business development, Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Cranfield University
Nadine co-founded a successful SME, advised on change management in the public sector, and ran learning networks between public and private sectors. In 2008 she completed her MBA at Cranfield, where she focused on the triggers and barriers for organisations embedding sustainability. Nadine now focuses on developing opportunities and partnerships, runs the Centre's advisory services, and does specific research, writing and teaching on the role of employees in creating a sustainable business, embedding CR into the organisation, and driving cultural change in organisations. Nadine is also interested in the unique cultural characteristics that enable successful sustainable organisations.
Professor Nicolas Forsans, director, One Planet MBA programmes, and associate professor, University of Exeter Business School
Nicolas is of director, One Planet MBA programmes and associate Professor in International Strategic Management at the University of Exeter Business School. He is leading the development of the One Planet MBA, an innovative MBA at the forefront of thinking, emphasising financial, social and environmental sustainability aimed at preparing managers for the demands of global business in a resource-constrained world. Nicolas's expertise are in the fields of international business and corporate strategy, and in the disruption of business models by emerging technologies (digital in particular). His publications have focused on multinational firm strategies, the rising importance of emerging economies in global business and the foreign direct investment activities (mostly through mergers and acquisitions) of emerging country multinational firms in the western world.
Dexter Galvin, head of supply chain, CDP
Dedicated to harmonizing sustainability reporting, Dexter has worked on partnerships with other sustainability reporting organizations such as the DJSI to reduce duplication. He also works closely with the GHG Protocol Scope 3 group to encourage the wide adoption of the new Scope 3 company standard.
CDP acts by using investor authority to request disclosure, the outputs of which are used to form commercial, investment and policy decisions. Following this model, the Supply Chain programme has over 60 member companies from a variety of industry sectors including Walmart, L'Oreal and Acer. In 2012, over 2,400 companies submitted their carbon and climate change data, highlighting climate change risks and opportunities across the supply chain. Dexter's team also works closely with the leadership teams of member companies to help define their supply chain carbon management strategies.
Dexter 's supply chain experience is extensive having worked in time critical logistics prior to CDP. In his capacity as operations manager, he was responsible for dedicated air-charter solutions for major automotive and aerospace manufacturers such as Toyota, Audi, Bosch and Honeywell.
Dr Liz Goodwin, CEO, WRAP
Liz is a chemist by background and has a PhD in chemical physics. She started her career in the chemical industry with ICI and Zeneca. Liz became CEO at WRAP in 2007, having joined in 2001 as the first director of materials Programme.
The organisation is focused on helping deliver the economic benefits of a more circular economy, helping address resource security, increase competitiveness of UK businesses and deliver financial gains. Under Liz's leadership, a number of voluntary agreements have been driven forward e.g. the Courtauld Commitment, involving the major retailers, brands and their supply chains focused on tackling food waste and optimising packaging.
Oliver Greenfield, convenor, Green Economy Coalition
Oliver is the convenor of Green Economy Coalition which is the world's largest civil society network working together to accelerate the transition to a green, fair and inclusive economy.
The coalition works in three areas: mobilising a movement through national dialogues, building consensus of policy by shared analysis, projects and debate, influencing national and international economic policy decisions, processes and institutions.
Prior to this role Oliver spent nearly a decade leading WWF's sustainable business and economics work, where he pioneered systemic stakeholder change programmes: One Planet Business, One Planet Finance and One Planet Economy. He has degrees in engineering and business and has worked with many organisations and cultures for social, environmental and economic value
Sue Holden, executive director, Earthwatch
Sue Holden is the recently appointed executive director for the environmental charity, Earthwatch. Earthwatch is a leading provider of 'in the field' research experience for corporate sustainablity leaders and its mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Before joining Earthwatch, Sue was chief executive of the Woodland Trust, the UK's leading woodland conservation charity, for nine years and prior to this had roles at the National Trust and Shell.
Tony Juniper, independent sustainability and environment adviser
Tony is an independent sustainability and environment adviser, including as special advisor with the Prince's Charities International Sustainability Unit, fellow of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and as president of Society for the Environment. He is a founder member of the Robertsbridge Group that advises international companies. He speaks and writes on many aspects of sustainability and is the author of several books. He began his career as an ornithologist, working with Birdlife International. From 1990 he worked at Friends of the Earth and was the organisation's executive director from 2003-2008 and vice chair of Friends of the Earth International from 2000-2008. Juniper was the first recipient of the Charles and Miriam Rothschild medal (2009) and was awarded honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the Universities of Bristol and Plymouth (2013).
Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group
Mark Kenber is CEO of international NGO The Climate Group. He has worked on climate change for fifteen years and is an expert on international climate policy. Before becoming CEO, Mark Kenber was The Climate Group's deputy CEO (2010) and international policy director (2004-2010), and has played a pivotal role within the organisation for six years. Mark advised former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the joint policy initiative Breaking the Climate Deadlock, which produced a series of high-level reports outlining the economic and technological rationale for a global climate deal and its key components.
Mark has been instrumental in developing The Climate Group's global network and operations in India and China, and directed ground-breaking projects with the internaitonal finance, energy, technology and aviation sectors.
Jennifer Kho, US editor, Guardian News & Media
Jennifer Kho, the US editor for Guardian Sustainable Business, was the founding editor of Greentech Media and also served as an interim managing editor for GreenBiz. Her stories have appeared in Forbes.com, The New York Times blogs, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, MIT's Technology Review, The Christian Science Monitor, GigaOM, VentureBeat and many other publications.
David Nussbaum, chief executive, WWF-UK
David became chief executive of WWF-UK in May 2007. As well as leading the UK organisation, he also chairs the WWF network's Global Climate and Energy Initiative.
Previously he was the chief executive of Transparency International.
David qualified as an accountant with Price Waterhouse before moving into venture capital with 3i. He then worked in manufacturing industry, latterly as finance director of the quoted European packaging business Field Group plc through its management buyout and subsequent successful flotation. He joined Oxfam in 1997 as finance director and a deputy chief executive, and in 2000 was seconded for six months to head up Oxfam's operations in India. Between 1991 and 2006, David was a non-executive director, and later chair, of Traidcraft plc, the leading UK 'Fair Trade' company.
Matthew Pencharz, senior advisor, energy, Greater London Authority
Matthew first joined the Mayor's team at City Hall from the BBC in November 2009. He spent more than three years on the network section of the BBC One programme Politics Show, where he focused primarily on environment and energy stories. He was latterly a producer on BBC Breakfast, responsible for the programme's political output. He had previously worked at the London Borough of Barnet, where he started the work on the Council's ground breaking compulsory recycling scheme, and at the House of Commons.
Matthew has been a key member of the Mayor's team, serving as his political advisor for much of his first term. He was appointed environment advisor following the Mayor's re-election and took on responsibility for delivering the Mayor's priorities on energy in July 2013 to become the Mayor's senior advisor on environment and energy.
John Sauven, executive director, Greenpeace UK
John has been executive director of Greenpeace UK since September 2007. Before that he was the director responsible for Greenpeace communications and working on solutions with business. With a background in forests he was instrumental in getting protection for the Great Bear temperate rainforest on the west coast of Canada. It was an epic battle, mostly fought in the market place between logging companies, timber traders and their retail customers in Europe and North America. It was from the lessons learnt in the Great Bear campaign that similar tactics were used elsewhere including in Indonesia, the Congo in central Africa and the Amazon.
John co-ordinated the international campaign to secure a moratoria on further destruction of the Amazon by soya producers. It involved eventually bringing together a huge alliance of US and European mulitinationals along with Brazilian counterparts involved in the soya producing, commodity trading and food retailing sectors.
Richard Spencer
Richard is head of sustainability at ICAEW. He joined ICAEW in 2005 in order to set up the sustainability practice within the Technical Strategy department, ICAEW's 'think tank'. During this time he has led on the ICAEW's thought leadership and engagement programme in sustainability. He is a co-convenor of the Finance Innovation Lab which was named by the Observer and NESTA as one of the Top 50 of Britain's New Radicals in 2012. Richard has also led on establishing the Natural Capital Coalition, part of the TEEB community, which is now emerging as an important voice in natural capital debates.
Before joining ICAEW Richard worked as a strategy consultant in the Natural Resources division of Accenture. Prior to that he held a number of roles at N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd in the bank's treasury and natural resources project finance teams. Richard began his career at the Bank of England.
Sue Riddlestone, chief executive, BioRegional
Sue co-founded BioRegional in 1994 to develop and show ways to enable truly sustainable or 'one planet' living, through products and services and in our communities. BioRegional initiated the iconic BedZED eco-village in south London, where Sue and co-founder and husband Pooran Desai live and where BioRegional are based. BioRegional evolved their BedZED strategies to create the one planet living framework for planning, delivering and communicating sustainability.
Sue and her team work as practical, hands on expert partners and advisors in the UK and around the world on sustainable communities and with companies on eco-products and services and mainstreaming sustainability, including B&Q, Kingsfisher plc and John Lewis.
Sue is a Skoll and Schwab award winning social entrepreneur and a London and SE region winner in the 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2013 Sue was awarded an OBE for her work on sustainable business and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Camilla Toulmin, director, International Institute for Environment and Development
Camilla is director of the International Institute for Environment and Development based in London. (IIED). An economist by training, she has worked mainly in Africa on agriculture, land, climate and livelihoods. This has combined field research, policy analysis and advocacy. Her work has aimed at understanding how environmental, economic and political change impact on people's lives, and how policy reform can bring real change on the ground.
As director of IIED since 2004, Camilla has focused on developing the institute's strategy and communications. IIED's current strategy 2009-14 focuses on adaptation to climate change, building cities that work for poor people, addressing the natural resource squeeze, and designing sustainable market mechanisms. Camilla is chair of ICARDA's Board, a trustee of the Franco-British Council and a number of other boards. Camilla is currently a member of the Royal Society's working group on resilience.
Solitaire Townsend, co-founder, Futerra
Solitaire co-founded Futerra, Europe's leading sustainable development communications agency, working with big brands, NGOs and government departments to make sustainable development so desirable it becomes normal. She advises global brands including Unilever, Greenpeace, ASDA, Danone and the United Nations on making green messages great.
Solitaire is passionate (and occasionally argumentative) about the need to make sustainability desirable rather than doom-laden. As she says "selling sustainability isn't like selling a new brand of soap, it's like persuading people to use soap in the first place."
Solitaire was named Ethical Entrepreneur of the Year 2008, is a member of the United Nations Sustainable Lifestyles Taskforce, chair of the UK Green Energy Scheme, and is a London Leader for Sustainability.
Sally Uren, chief executive, Forum for the Future
Sally is passionate about creating a sustainable future. She's also very clear that businesses and brands, big and small, are key to making progress. At Forum for the Future she oversees partnerships with leading global brands, such as Unilever, Pepsico and HP, where the ambition is to deliver truly sustainable business models. She is also responsible for Forum's networks and communication activities, Forum's sustainable business practice and Forum's work in the food system.
Sally has particular expertise in the retail and food sectors and regularly works across these sectors to create a shared understanding of sustainability challenges and to create solutions, most recently a vision for a sustainable UK dairy sector. She is also passionate about the potentially transformative role of brands in creating a more sustainable future and has helped many leading brands, from Green & Blacks to Tata Tea, weave sustainability into their brand identities.