World Environment Center Announces Election of 2015 Board Members
January 20, 2015 /3BL Media/ - The World Environment Center (WEC), a global non-profit organization, announced today the election of two new members to its 2015 Board of Directors as well as the reappointment of two existing members. WEC welcomes the addition of Dr. Isabel Studer of Tec de Monterrey in Mexico City and Mr. Rupert Thomas of Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague.
Isabel Studer is Founding Director of the Global Institute for Sustainability at the EGADE Business School-Tec de Monterrey, and Director of the Greening of Value Chains Program. A Fulbright and Ford Foundation scholar, Dr. Studer has held public policy positions in the Mexican government and other organizations, and since 2012 has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential leaders in the energy sector. Dr. Studer holds a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University-School of Advanced International Studies.
Rupert Thomas leads the environment function at Shell in his capacity as Vice President of Environment. He has broad experience of Shell’s businesses from a diverse range of assignments over the past 25 years. These have included operations, commercial, strategy and portfolio, and most recently safety, environment and social performance roles. Mr. Thomas is a graduate of Cambridge University and holds an executive MBA from Rice University in Houston.
In addition, Mr. Wayne Balta, IBM’s Vice President for Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety, and Francisco Suárez Hernández, Sustainability Director for FEMSA, were re-appointed for a second term, with Mr. Suárez also serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.
“We’re delighted that Isabel and Rupert are joining the WEC Board and that Francisco and Wayne have been re-appointed to it,” said Mike Barry, Board Chair and Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer. “WEC’s great strength is its ability to draw together leaders representing a diverse range of industrial sectors and experiences. These appointments will help us deliver our strategic plan with its focus on creating a new cadre of sustainable business leaders, expanding thought leadership and recognising business excellence in sustainability.”
These appointees join other distinguished sustainability leaders on WEC’s Board of Directors, comprised of: C. Scott Fulton, Beveridge & Diamond; Claus Conzelmann, Nestlé; Linda J. Fisher, DuPont; Neil C. Hawkins, The Dow Chemical Company; Aileen Ionescu-Somers, IMD International; Liz Maw, Net Impact; Jeff Seabright, Unilever; Leena Srivastava, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI); Beth Stevens, The Walt Disney Company; and Terry F. Yosie of WEC.
During 2015 the Board of Directors will provide oversight and direction for WEC’s strategic priorities. These include: implementing sustainable economic development and supply chain management programs in Africa, Latin America and other regions; growing to scale a program for Preparing Business Leaders for a Sustainable Future; and organizing thought leadership roundtables to assist global companies and their stakeholders integrate sustainability into their core business strategies.
About the World Environment Center
The World Environment Center, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices and operations in emerging and developed markets, is unique in its direct application of sustainable development strategies and practices to the business operations of global companies. WEC creates sustainable business solutions through individual projects in emerging markets; convenes leadership roundtables to shape strategic thinking across a range of sustainability topics with a specific focus on the preparation of business leaders to implement sustainability; and honors industry excellence through its annual Gold Medal Award. An independent non-profit organization, WEC conducts no advocacy activities.
