Diversity in Sustainability Launches Advisory Panel

Last week, Diversity in Sustainability (DiS)announced its Advisory Panel; a distinguished and diverse group of sustainability practitioners and leaders, all united by their shared passion and commitment for advancing equity in the sector.

DiS is a non-profit network focused on increasing equity, diversity and inclusion in the field of sustainability. The assembly of its Advisory Panel marks an exciting time for the organisation as it endeavours to build an intersectional and intergenerational approach to its organisation. Representing the wisdom of many lived and professional experiences, each panel member offers a uniquely valuable skill set. Together, they will offer strategic advice to DiS, bringing experience in human rights, social justice, politics, responsible investment, diversity, equity and inclusion, education, Indigenous relations, environmental law, civil rights, communications, sustainability consulting, organisational development and coalition building.

Scroll down to meet the panel!

Christine Bader

Christine Bader is the author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil and co-founder of The Life I Want, a storytelling project reimagining work. She was Amazon’s Director of Social Responsibility from 2015-17, and has been a contributing writer for The Atlantic, advisor to the U.N. Special Representative for business and human rights, manager of policy development for BP, and a TED Talker.

She lives in McMinnville, Oregon, where she chairs the city’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee. She is a New Yorker, half-Filipina, mother of twins, wife of an Englishman, slow runner, and hearty eater.​

Dr. Priya Bala-Miller

Dr. Priya Bala-Miller is the Founder and CEO of Palmyra Partners. Palmyra Partners was created to catalyse innovative partnerships that dismantle barriers for justice, equity and inclusion in natural resource governance and sustainable development.

Priya has worked on sustainable development for two decades across three continents, in collaboration with NGOs, UN Agencies, the private sector, academia and trade unions. She holds a PhD in Political Science, and brings specialist expertise in gender equality, human rights, resource governance and sustainable finance.​

Kevin D'Souza

Kevin is currently the Vice President of Security, Sustainability & Environment for Centerra Gold. He has worked his entire career in the mining industry having begun as an operational mining engineer in West Africa after graduating from the Royal School of Mines in London, England (Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine).

He has over 25 years of experience gained from a variety of operational, managerial and leadership roles that range from remote exploration camps, mine construction sites, operational mines and closure sites, to Corporate and Ministerial offices. Throughout his mining career, he has been fortunate to have amassed direct experience in over fifty countries worldwide working with remote communities and indigenous groups.

To complement the private sector work he has also worked extensively on mining related human rights and sustainable development programmes for some major NGOs and with International Funding Institutions supporting emerging market Governments on macro-level mining policy reform and mining related community development programmes (including the World Bank, IFC, EBRD, ILO, USAID and the UK’s DFID).

He is also currently a committee member of the new Canadian Black North Initiative (BNI), Board member of Women in Mining (Canada) and a mentor on the International Women in Mining (IWiM) mentoring programme.​

Talynn English

Talynn English is a fourth year student at the University of British Columbia pursuing a double major in Political Science and Gender, Race, and Social Justice. In addition to including racialised communities in conversations on sustainability, she believes that disabled voices and members of disabled communities are often marginalised in equity and inclusion discussions.

Most recently, she was the Equity and Inclusion Officer for the Arts Undergraduate Society and also was the President for the Orchard Commons Residence Association, where she advocated for sustainability and disability accessibility in university residences. She is excited be part of the advisory panel to challenge intersecting oppressions within climate and sustainability efforts. In her free time, Talynn loves movie marathons, beach hopping and personality quizzes.​

Andrew Gonzales

Andrew Gonzales has been a lifelong Human Rights professional. Coming from 12 generations of Hispanic farmers in New Mexico, he was spurred to pursue diversity and social justice from a young age. He has worked in varied fields in various capacities, from LGBTQ rights with USAID, to International Development jobs in India & Nicaragua, to driving supply chain sustainability with Fair Trade USA.

Seeing a gap in diversity amongst workplaces, he now is applying his experience with Human Centered Design to bring better DEI programming to one of the world's largest software companies, VMware.​

Rekha Grennan

Rekha is an Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) strategist. She has unique multi-sector, multi-industry expertise and currently serves as a Senior ESG Advisor at Edelman. Rekha has worked in start-ups, presidential politics and non-profits.

Prior to Edelman, Rekha was a Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy at Cisco Systems Inc., and led an independent ESG consulting practice.  She has also held in-house ESG leadership and strategy roles at Pfizer, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

Rekha has a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a degree from Boston University in International Affairs and Environmental Policy and Analysis. Rekha serves on the Boards of Cultural Vistas, Inc., an international exchange non-profit, and the Refugee Council USA.​

Shefaly Gunjal

Shefaly is a passionate and detail-oriented diversity, equity and inclusion and social impact consultant and researcher. Her work focuses primarily on examining, understanding and addressing the barriers and challenges faced by Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour in the workplace.

With a strong academic background in sustainability business management and diversity, equity and inclusion, Shefaly has developed a keen eye for solving deeply rooted issues when it comes to promoting and implementing diversity, equity and inclusion within organisations. Shefaly holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Management and a Master of Science in Sustainability Management at the University of Toronto. ​

Charlotte King

Charlotte King connects the dots between marketing communications, sustainability, public policy, UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and equity with almost 30+ years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, multiple levels of government, educational institutions and NGOs. Applying a multidisciplinary lens, Charlotte focuses on scaling programmes to deliver game-changing impacts. She has championed urban forestry, reaching millions across the U.S.; convened collaborative forums for tropical/urban forestry and a notable legislative forum following Hurricane Katrina; provided diversity training for the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank and increased diverse forestry grantees by 30% in Georgia.

Charlotte also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University in International & Comparative Studies, and she was awarded the first Martin Luther King Award at her alma mater for her senior college thesis on the impact of busing while attending Boston University during violent busing protests. More recently she co-authored the peer-reviewed journal article, “The persistence of high energy burdens: A bibliometric analysis of vulnerability, poverty, and exclusion in the United States”, as part of her Master’s Degree at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Born during the civil rights era, she has broken many barriers as the first African-American female to serve as a U.S. congressional page, in the St. Louis Junior League, on the Georgia Tree Board, and many others. She is currently Global Liaison for the United Nations Regional Centre of Excellence in Atlanta.​

Katie Kross

Katie Kross is a sustainability educator, career expert, and thought leader who is passionate about inspiring more professionals — and more diverse professionals — to enter sustainability, climate, and clean energy careers. 

She directs educational and extracurricular programmes for students as the managing director of the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and is the author of Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability.  Katie has a BA from Davidson College and an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.  ​

Dr. Sandip Lalli

Dr. Sandip Lalli is known as an astute business strategist and innovative senior executive with multi-faceted experience within international corporations in agriculture, financial markets, and sustainability advocacy. She believes we live in a world that has to tackle big global goals related to food distribution, climate, and poverty, to name a few. All of this requires leadership with courage, conviction, and community. Her vision is to play a role in inspiring the types of change that will be needed to solve key global issues.

Dr. Lalli holds an Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D) designation, a Doctorate in Business Administration and a Master's degree, and is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA).​

Kiana Michaan

Kiana Michaan (she/her) is a climate justice organiser and renewable energy enthusiast from New York City. She currently works as a Solar Admin and Project Coordinator at Sologistics and also serves as the Director of Partnerships for Our Climate Voices.

She has facilitated youth workshops on a variety of topics including climate justice, environmental health, energy justice, and food justice. Kiana is passionate about advancing diversity in renewable energy, equity in climate action, and justice for frontline communities.  ​

Farron Rickerby-Nishi

Farron is a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford who lives and learns on unceded Coast Salish lands. Farron’s work and research centre on climate justice, environmental governance, political ecology, and sustainable food systems. As a Japanese-Canadian woman and activist, Farron is motivated to approach systemic issues through community empowerment, intersectional thinking, and equity-oriented solutions.

Farron is drawn to Diversity in Sustainability as she believes that capacity building and uplifting diverse voices are critical for addressing complex challenges. Farron loves art and nature and can often be found hiking, foraging, creating music, and painting.​

Rosie Towe

As a Senior Partner at Carnstone Partners Ltd in the U.K., Rosie advises and supports international organisations on responsibility topics including diversity, culture, environment and human rights. Prior to entering the world of consulting, she managed Community Investment at Deutsche Bank.

With a background in Social Anthropology, Rosie is fascinated by human behaviour and how to shift it for the better. She is passionate about the power of business for good, and is always learning from the best data and evidence available to come up with robust strategies. Besides this, she firmly believes that allies play a key role in inclusive organisations.​

Carissa Wong

Carissa Wong is an international environmental lawyer with expertise in alternative dispute resolution and the intersection of equity and the environment. She assists First Nations in facilitated discussions supporting land claim negotiations in the Northwest Territories, and is contributing author to the book “Children’s Rights and the Environment” published by Cambridge University Press.

As a Research Associate with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, she has published and spoken extensively on water resources and Indigenous customary law. As a Director of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers in Ontario, she is founding Chair of its Women’s Committee. In 2019 she was named an Emerging Leader at the Action Chinese Canadians Together Summit.​

Interested in learning more?​

Acre is a proud partner of DiS and its efforts to build a sustainable and prosperous world through equity and representation. To learn more about the organisation and the work it's doing to help transform the profession, click here.