Author Archives: NH

ESG x Governance: The Materiality of Board Leadership
Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 – 3 PM CEST | 9 AM ET | 9 PM SGT Duration: 60 min.

Boards of Directors are the ultimate responsible of a company’s actions. The latest surge of legislation – notably in the EU but not only – makes this tangible. And yet: What exactly are the roles of boards in this context? What skills do they need? How can they successfully steer a company through this increasingly complex topic while doing what they are expected to do: Preserve the company’s value long-term?

In this webinar we will address these aspects and fathom the role boards of directors must play, and how they can do so successfully.

Speakers:

Ludo van der Heyden – INSEAD Chaired Professor Emeritus in Corporate Governance.

Ludo has been Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD since 1988, the INSEAD Chaired Professor in Corporate Governance since October 2010, and the INSEAD Chaired Professor Emeritus in Corporate Governance since September 2018. He was the founding Academic Director of INSEAD’s Corporate Governance Center, where he co-founded a number of programs: International Directors Program, the Modern Governance in Banking, Value Creation for Owners and Directors, and Advanced Strategy for Directors. He was the first holder of the Wendel Chair for the Large Family Enterprise, which transformed into the Wendel International Centre for the Family Enterprise. He co-authored the book Value Creation for Owners and Directors, with Massimo Massa and Kai Taraporevala (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023).
He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine and is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Seisquare, a software company for estimating natural resource reserves. He was a member of the Board of Bencis Capital Partners and is a co-founder of the Association des Plantes Aromatiques et Médicinales, which is an NGO supporting the restart of essential oils production in Milly-la-Forêt (near Fontainebleau).

Jessica Cheam – Founder and Managing Director of Eco-Business.

Jessica is the Founder and Managing Director of Eco-Business, Asia Pacific’s leading independent media and business intelligence organisation dedicated to sustainable development. She is recognised as a sustainability pioneer with two decades of experience in media, sustainable development and ESG issues globally.
She serves as an independent, non-executive director for Singapore-listed Wilmar International, Asia’s leading agribusiness group, and ComfortDelGro, one of the world’s largest land transport companies. She chairs ComfortDelGro’s Board Sustainability Committee, and is a member of its Audit & Risk; and Digitalisation Committees.

Kiku Loomis – INSEAD MBA’93D, Sustainability Strategy Consultant.

Kiku has over 20 years’ experience in the field of business and sustainability both nonprofit and for profit settings. As a sustainability strategy consultant at Futerra, a UK based sustainability communications and branding firm, Kiku has helped numerous global Fortune 500 companies to strengthen their sustainability programs, mitigate risk, and drive positive impact. Prior to joining Futerra, she served at the Rainforest Alliance as the Director overseeing traceability, claims and the well-known Frog Seal found on thousands of products containing Rainforest Alliance certified coffee, cocoa, tea, and other sustainably grown agricultural products. She also served as a Director of Integration following the merger of Rainforest Alliance and Utz Certified, overseeing its transformation into one of the world’s largest certification organizations. Prior to that, Kiku led the human rights supply chain sustainability program at PVH – the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger – overseeing more than 1000 factories globally. In 2000 she co-founded World Monitors, a consulting firm specializing in the emerging field of business and human rights. There she worked with apparel and footwear firms to strengthen stakeholder relationships and raise awareness of the importance of human rights in business worldwide. At World Monitors she also helped to launch and lead the Fair Factories Clearinghouse, a tech based platform to help brands and retailers collaborate to improve factory conditions which sold to Worldly in 2023.

Frederik Otto – Founder and Executive Director of The Sustainability Board (TSB).

Frederik Otto is the founder and executive director of The Sustainability Board (TSB), an independent think tank that aims to advance sustainable practices in leadership and governance.
Frederik has been a leader in consulting multinational companies on organisation and human capital strategy for over 15 years, with a recent focus on sustainability and ESG. Since 2019, in partnership with a contributor network of board directors, chairs, advisors, and academics, Frederik and team have undertaken extensive research on businesses’ and boards’ actions on sustainability strategy and governance.
Besides running TSB, Frederik is also the Advisory Lead and Head of Client ESG for a Global Fortune 500 company that is the world’s leading provider of human capital solutions.
Frederik hosts the ‘Leadership Conversations by TSB’ podcast, where he interviews movers and shakers in sustainable leadership. He is also a member of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism and a fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.
He has written articles for several leadership and governance resources such as Board Agenda, Ethical Boardroom, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and more.

Moderated by: Dr. Pamela Ravasio – Founder and managing director @Shirahime Advisory.

Dr. Pamela Ravasio is the founder and managing director of Shirahime Advisory, a Corporate Responsibility Governance boutique consultancy. She serves as fractional Chief Sustainability Officer for companies and advises boards on ESG and governance. With a background in roles like Global Stakeholder Manager, she played a key role in making the European outdoor industry a leader in future-proofing.
She currently sits on the boards of Polygiene AB and INSEAD’s International Directors Network.

Organized by the INSEAD International Directors Network (IDN) and the INSEAD INDEVOR Global Club.

Co-sponsored by: INSEAD Women in Business Global Club, INSEAD NAA Switzerland and INSEAD NAA USA

The registrations are screened. Please submit your registration by Apr 9th to receive the access link.

Investment and Action to Address Global Food Crisis

An Expert Panel Discussion post-Global INSEAD Day on the Food Crisis and Engineered & Nature-Based Solutions

Tuesday, September 26th, 2023 3 PM CET | 9 PM ET Duration: 1 hr

Once you register for the event, double-check if the time is set right on your calendar.

In this webinar, we’ll hear from INSEAD alumni across three decades who are working to address our climate-driven global food crisis from an investment perspective, straddling stockholding, carbon credits, and newer biodiversity credits.

The event is co-sponsored by INSEAD Global INDEVOR Club, INSEAD Global Energy Club, INSEAD Alumni Association Australia & New Zealand, INSEAD Alumni Association Canada, INSEAD Alumni Association United Arab Emirates, INSEAD Alumni Association USA and the Hoffmann Global Institute for Business & Society.

SPEAKERS:

Robin Millington (MBA ’87). Robin brings extensive experience of working on global issues requiring transformative change across the climate, land use and food sectors before helping found Planet Tracker in 2018. She has wide senior management experience in philanthropy and industry, having worked for many years with the European Climate Foundation and headed organisations including the Centre for European Policy Studies and Wetlands International. Robin currently sits on the Capitals Coalition Board as well as numerous advisory groups within the Natural Capital and ESG space.

James Stewart (MBA ’11). James is CEO of Always Carbon, which delivers projects for biomass processors to turn their waste biomass costs into highly useful biochar, and deliver new additional revenue from permanent carbon removal credit sales. We help partners by delivering profitable projects that safely lock CO2 out of the air permanently at large scale, by turning waste plants into a solid form of charcoal. Projects deliver new revenue for agriprocessors by issuing high-value carbon credits. The biochar we make is a highly useful resource for regenerative agriculture and is used to boost farm productivity/profits.

James is a UK Chartered Mechanical Engineer (C.Eng., MIMechE), holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MEng (Manufacturing Engineering) and MA (Cantab) Engineering from the University of Cambridge. He is an angel investor, an investor in two VC funds, an active advisor to tech/startup companies, and part-time venture partner for the INSEAD-aligned global fund Loyal VC. James held senior roles in scaleup tech companies and corporate innovation, was a strategy consultant at BCG (Boston Consulting Group). Originally from the UK, James is now an Australian, lives in Sydney and is an active surf lifesaver patrolling Bondi Beach.

Philippe Dongier (MBA ’93). Philippe is Executive Director of CECI since 2021. CECI is an international NGO working for women’s climate resilience and economic empowerment in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

After graduating from INSEAD in 1994, Philippe worked 5 years at McKinsey & Co and later played leadership roles in sustainable development at The World Bank (1998-2016) and at General Electric (GE) (2016 to 2021).

At GE, Philippe was global managing director for Government Affairs and Policy (2016-2021). He was based in Nairobi and led sustainable development investments and programs across the world in renewable energy and sustainable healthcare.

At the World Bank, Philippe was regional director for infrastructure and regional integration in the South Asia region (2015-2016), Country Director for Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi (2012-2015), and global sector manager for telecom policy and digital development (2006-2012). He earlier led a reorganization initiative for World Bank operations (2004-2005) and led World Bank support to Afghanistan reconstruction (2001-2004).

Maria Fedorova. Maria Fedorova has over 15 years of professional experience in culture and higher education, with over a decade spent in international roles across diverse environments.

In her recent position at INSEAD Hoffmann Institute, Maria has been working on fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to address UN Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at uniting stakeholders to contribute to solving social and environmental challenges. She has orchestrated partnerships focused on advancing SDGs in business education while effectively identifying suitable channels for content promotion. Her work includes organising a high-profile panels at COP26, SDG Tent within the WEF-affiliated program at Davos, institutional partnership with United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME) and United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), institutional partnership with social impact summit ChangeNOW, and Les Echos. For the past three years she has been the project manager of the school’s GHG Emissions Reduction Project.

Outside her professional responsibilities, Maria actively contributes to volunteer work across diverse domains, including supporting orphanage houses in Russia, participating in academic and social impact conferences, UNESCO, NGOs in Ukraine.

She lives in Fontainebleau with her family, loves sports climbing, bouldering, yoga, contemporary art and spending time in the forest.

MODERATOR:

Katie Smith Milway (MBA ’93), principal of MilwayPLUS social impact advisors and the president of the Global INDEVOR Club will moderate the panel and audience questions.

Dear INDEVORites – For those who made our inaugural sustainability summit last week, thank you for your engagement, terrific questions and commitment to climate action.  For those unable to make it, please find recordings and passwords at links below -and feel free to share broadly.  

The first recording captures Ravenous author Henry Dimbly’s session on “Rethinking Food” on the path to Net Zero (get the book – it’s outstanding), as well as a video and short talk by leaders of INSEAD alumni Community Impact Challenge, who have created a platform  as part of their Start Now challenge, which each of us can join to track our progress decarbonising and share ideas with others. 

The second session, in partnership with The Global Energy Club, is on Rethinking Energy, featuring Julian Critchlow, who was UK’s net zero czar and Tom Delay, CEO of The Carbon Trust.  In all cases we heard that the majority of change needed rests in the hands of individuals and the way we choose to eat, heat, move about, invest our savings and more.  Let’s START NOW to make those changes.   – INSEAD Alumni’s INDEVOR Global Impact Network

Fueling Our Future: Rethinking Food

Fueling our Future: Rethinking Energy

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