50 ESG Influencers Who Are Driving Change: Purposeful 50

Written by
Kevin Perez

The numbers and the narrative around corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism have shifted. Irrevocably and for the good. Companies are now focusing greater attention, energy and resources on solving environmental and social issues. Corporations are becoming more transparent and more accountable to their stakeholders, not just their shareholders. And while there has been movement and progress recently, there is still much work to be done.

The journey toward social justice, environmental protection, pay equity and racial equality is nowhere near complete. In fact, we have barely just begun. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the change agents who are working inside and alongside corporations and organizations to deliver on the promise of real change.

This inaugural list of the Purposeful 50 ESG influencers is by no means exhaustive or complete. But like anything worthwhile, it is the beginning that matters most.

We hope you will take the time to get to know these individuals. Follow them on LinkedIn and Twitter. Get to know their work, their unique perspectives and amplify their thinking to celebrate their contributions. These sustainability and ESG influencers are truly making a difference.

Without further ado, and in alphabetical order, meet the Purposeful 50.

-The Actual Team

The Purposeful 50

Ann Anaya headshot

Ann Anaya

As chief diversity officer at 3M, Ann Anaya advocates for under-represented communities to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future inside and outside of 3M. With a focus on cultural transformation and transparency, 3M created the CEO Inclusion Council as a platform to advance critical conversations and company-wide DEI initiatives. The company released its inaugural DEI report in the first quarter of 2021, driving toward commitments including a $50 million investment to address racial opportunity gaps through workforce development and STEM education initiatives, 100% pay equity across the global employee population, and doubling the representation of African American and Hispanic employees in the U.S.

DrJaredABall

Jared A. Ball

Jared A. Ball is a professor of Communication Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and curator of the multimedia website iMixWHATiLiKE!. Dr. Ball authored “The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power,” exposing the claim of buying power as a myth and marketing strategy to blame Black communities for their own poverty. Ball brings to the forefront and furthers conversations around the impacts of redlining and denial of capital to African-American business owners.

Trey Boynton Headshot

Trey Boynton

Working at the intersection of diversity, inclusion, collaboration and technology, Trey Boynton delivers on her promise of creating spaces where employees and teams are valued, celebrated, and able to succeed. Under Trey’s leadership as director of inclusion and collaboration strategy, Cisco is a national leader in making fair pay a reality for all employees, joining forces with companies across multiple industries to form the Employers for Pay Equity Consortium. In its comprehensive strategy to create an Inclusive Future for all, Cisco further commits to increase diversity within the company and throughout its partner ecosystem, with actions such as driving adoption of The Multiplier Effect employee sponsorship program and investing in diverse partner companies.

Lesley Slaton Brown

Lesley Slaton Brown

As chief diversity officer at HP, Lesley Slaton Brown leads an organization of nearly 50,000 global employees toward a vision to become the most sustainable and just tech company in the world. Through goals including gender parity in HP leadership and meeting or exceeding labor market representation for racial/ethnic minorities, HP aims to establish the new standard for diversity and inclusion in tech. Through her work at HP and nonprofit organizations, Lesley leads key efforts to address the digital divide and to broaden and diversify the STEM pipeline.

Gabriela Burian

Gabriela Burian

Gabriela Burian is global partnerships and multi-stakeholder platform lead at Bayer, where she is responsible for overseeing the company’s global sustainable agriculture strategies. For over 20 years, she has worked to build meaningful cross-cultural relationships and deliver results in sustainability, food and agriculture business, environmental strategy, diversity, and collaboration. Guided by the vision “Health for all, hunger for none,” Bayer has established clear targets to be met by 2030 around food security, health care, and ecological footprint reduction, while also becoming one of the first industrial companies in the world to integrate sustainability targets into management compensation.

David L. Casey

David L. Casey

As senior VP of workforce strategies and chief diversity officer at CVS Health, David L. Casey leads diversity management strategies and embeds diversity, inclusion and engagement into the recruiting, talent development, performance management and succession planning efforts across a company of nearly 300,000 global employees. CVS Health pledged nearly $600 million to advance employee, community, and public policy initiatives that address injustice and inequity faced by the Black community and other disenfranchised communities.

Brenda Victoria Castillo

Brenda Victoria Castillo

Brenda Victoria Castillo serves as the first female president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a civil rights nonprofit organization founded to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism towards the Latino community. The Coalition also works to eliminate online hate and advocates for online platforms to be accountable for their content. As an L.A. Emmy award-winning producer and media production director with decades of C-suite experience, Brenda is a strategic leader and activist in the areas of diversity and inclusion, hate speech, media, civil rights and social justice.

Chris Coulter

Chris Coulter

Chris Coulter is CEO of GlobeScan, a leading advisory and strategy firm that helps companies, NGOs and governmental organizations engage stakeholders to create enduring value for themselves and for society. Chris firmly believes that organizations can only be successful if they have a social license to operate and if they are able to engage and mobilize all stakeholders, from employees and suppliers to communities, investors and beyond. He is a pioneering leader in helping organizations better understand and respond to shifting stakeholder expectations, build trust and help shape the future.

Grady Crosby

Grady Crosby

As VP of public affairs and chief diversity officer at Johnson Controls, Grady Crosby leads the company’s initiatives around sustainability, community involvement and engagement, and workforce and supplier diversity. Grady views Johnson Controls as a global citizen responsible for addressing challenges of social, economic and racial inequality. Under his leadership, the company has launched an enterprise internship program to help diverse talent develop and grow, strengthened the talent pipeline through relationships with HBCUs, and committed more than $2 million to programs that directly support those who live and work in its communities.

Trammel Crow

Trammell Crow

Trammell Crow is an entrepreneur and philanthropist focused on inspiring environmental leadership across sectors and party lines. He is founder of EarthX, the largest annual exposition and forum that connects citizens, businesses, nonprofits and global leaders to take action toward a more sustainable future. Together with Bill Shireman, Trammell is co-founder of In This Together, a campaign that brings together major donors of both political parties to break the gridlock, unite the parties, and drive radical collaboration to find solutions to issues like climate change.

Geri Cupi Profile Pic

Geri Cupi

A serial entrepreneur focused on creating more sustainable practices, Geri Cupi is founder and CEO of Twig, a banking solution powering the circular economy. Twig tackles ‘throw away’ culture by extending the life of everyday items to help consumers adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Geri is also co-founder of MonoChain, a blockchain platform that enables fashion brands and retailers to build their own re-commerce platform. Driven by the belief that sustainability and capitalism can coexist, Geri removes barriers to the circular economy and empowers brands and consumers to make environmentally conscious decisions.

Megan Rose Dickey

As senior reporter for Protocol, Megan Rose Dickey focuses on diversity and inclusion in the tech industry and explores the intersecting worlds of tech and social justice activism. Her work exposes bias in the workplace and holds companies accountable to their promises around diversity and inclusion initiatives. Megan also spotlights the change agents who are fighting to break down barriers to diversity in corporate boardrooms.

Kathleen Dunlop

Kathleen Dunlop

Kathleen Dunlop, global brand VP at Unilever, focuses on building global brands with purpose. With everyday products used by millions of people, Unilever recognizes both the opportunity and responsibility to address some of the world’s global challenges. Kathleen led the launch of the Vaseline® Healing Project, providing dermatological care to heal the skin of people affected by poverty or emergencies around the world. Through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, the company aims to make sustainable living commonplace, with a roadmap to double its business and increase positive social impact while halving its environmental footprint. Unilever’s initiatives include net zero emissions across its operations and supply chain, waste reduction, and raising living standards throughout its value chain.

Kiera Fernandez

Kiera Fernandez

As Target’s chief diversity and inclusion officer and senior VP of HR, Kiera Fernandez leads the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion strategies to create equitable experiences for all. She is a founding member of Target’s Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) committee, focused on advancing the DE&I work for Black team members, guests and communities. Kiera also leads the Human Capital Management Strategy for Target to ensure the company has the right talent, leadership development and culture to grow the business. The company recently announced Target Forward, a new sustainability strategy to positively impact people and the planet focused on three critical ambitions: to design and elevate sustainable brands, innovate to eliminate waste and accelerate opportunity and equity.

Balaji Ganapathy

Balaji Ganapathy

Balaji Ganapathy is global head of corporate social responsibility for Tata Consultancy Services, a $22 billion dollar global information technology services provider. Balaji’s mission is to harness the power of purpose, people and technology to advance access, equity and inclusion across society. He works on the front lines of delivering solutions that educate underrepresented groups for the digital future. Since 2015, TCS has invested over $350M on its community initiatives and empowered millions of underserved communities with skills and opportunities for the digital economy.

Anthony Goodman

Anthony Goodman

As senior client partner and head of the board effectiveness practice at Korn Ferry, Anthony Goodman specializes in the alignment of leaders and organizations for effective oversight of ESG risks and opportunities and improved relationships with stakeholders. Rather than adding ESG metrics to their reporting, Anthony advises clients to understand the material opportunities and risks to the business within an ESG framework, and then identify metrics that actually move the business. An advocate for diversity and inclusion in the boardroom, he emphasizes that organizations must take a step beyond diversity to ensure inclusion, where everyone’s voice is heard.

Jonathan Hackett

Jonathan Hackett

Jonathan Hackett is managing director and head of BMO’s Sustainable Finance Group, bringing together capabilities from across the bank to mobilize financing for a sustainable future. The company is driven by a deep sense of purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and in life. Led by service to its 12 million customers, BMO focuses on a sustainable future, a thriving economy and an inclusive society. The bank is mobilizing $400 billion for sustainable finance and launched an impact investment fund to scale solutions to sustainability challenges, while doubling support for small businesses and women entrepreneurs and implementing a Zero Barriers to Inclusion 2025 strategy focused on providing access to opportunities to build a more just society.

Mellody Hobson

Mellody Hobson

Mellody Hobson is president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, a Chicago investment firm that manages nearly $13 billion in assets. A recognized voice on financial literacy and investor education, Mellody’s goal is to make the stock market a regular topic of dinner-table conversation for every African-American family. The firm recently launched Project Black to close the racial wealth gap by generating jobs, economic growth and equality within underrepresented populations from the entry level to the boardroom. Beyond her work at Ariel, Mellody is chairwoman of Starbucks Corporation, she was the first African-American woman to head The Economic Club of Chicago, and she is on the board of many philanthropic organizations.

Dieter Holger

Dieter Holger

Dieter Holger covers ESG corporate news and investing for The Wall Street Journal. He helped launch the Journal’s Sustainable Business weekly newsletter, reporting on how companies are tracking progress toward their ESG goals, exploring the role of investors in holding companies accountable for establishing and meeting their sustainability commitments, and driving transparency in corporate disclosures.

Ellen Jackowski

Ellen Jackowski

Ellen Jackowski is chief sustainability and social impact officer at HP, leading a global team to integrate sustainability more deeply into the business with a focus on urgent issues of climate action, human rights and digital equity. Ellen helped achieve the world’s most sustainable PC portfolio, leading HP to upcycle over 35 million bottles of ocean-bound plastics into new sustainable HP products. She also built the HP Sustainable Forest Collaborative, working with partners to help protect the world’s forests. Under her leadership, HP was named America’s Most Responsible Company by Newsweek for the second consecutive year; was the first and only technology company to receive a quadruple A rating from CDP for Climate, Forest, Water and Supplier Engagement Leader; and leads technology companies on 3BL Media’s Best Corporate Citizens List.

Damon Jones

Damon Jones

As chief communications officer at Procter & Gamble, Damon Jones leads a team of more than 500 people to demonstrate purpose at the heart of the company’s mission. As one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and one of the largest advertisers, P&G uses its platform to examine complex social issues, spark dialogue and engage customers and communities in meaningful conversations. Extending purpose outside of the company, Damon evaluates business practices to ensure P&G partners with vendors that have shared values, including building diverse teams and supporting minority- and women-owned businesses.

Rose Stuckey Kirk

Rose Stuckey Kirk

Rose Stuckey Kirk is chief corporate social responsibility officer at Verizon, where she leads the company’s CSR investment strategy and programmatic buildout. Initiatives include Citizen Verizon, with a commitment to invest $3 billion through 2025 to address key societal issues faced by underserved communities in the areas of digital inclusion, climate change and workforce development. Partnering with HBCUs and community colleges across the country, the company is expanding upon the Verizon Innovative Learning education initiative, a transformative education program that helps foster digital equity and inclusion. Rose is a lecturer, panelist and guest speaker on topics including mobility in education, women in the workplace and the role of corporations in creating a sustainable future.

Alzbeta klein

Alzbeta Klein

As CEO and director general of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), Alzbeta Klein helps the fertilizer industry and the related agribusiness value chain companies feed the world sustainably. In its IFA2030 long-term vision, the organization further strengthens the industry’s commitments to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and focuses on human nutrition, climate change and sustainable production. IFA promotes best practices in fertilizer use to support higher crop yields and more nutritious food, works across the agriculture value chain to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and supports sustainable fertilizer production to increase the industry’s energy efficiency.

Laura-Kohler

Laura Kohler

As senior VP of human resources, stewardship and sustainability at Kohler, Laura Kohler leads the worldwide human resources organization and global social impact team focusing on providing clean water and safe sanitation across the world. Kohler embodies the spirit of Believing in Better® and is on a journey toward a better planet, better communities and better lives. The company focuses on making meaningful impact on its communities, protecting the environment, and creating inclusive workplaces where everyone can achieve their full potential. With a commitment to leaving the world a better place than we found it, Kohler is working toward net zero environmental impact by 2035.

Alice Korngold

Alice Korngold

As president and CEO of Korngold Consulting, Alice Korngold provides strategy and advisory services for boards and executive teams of multinational corporations and global, national and regional nonprofits. With over 30 years of experience consulting and writing about the role of corporations in society and the interplay between corporations and nonprofits, Alice specializes in board governance, ESG, DE&I, and measurement and ratings. She developed the methodology for the Drucker Institute which ranks Fortune 250 companies based on their alignment with Peter Drucker’s social responsibility principles. Alice is also founder and CEO of Better World Leadership, an initiative to assist companies in building successful nonprofit board programs to advance sustainability, DE&I and innovation.

William Labar

William LaBar

William LaBar is VP of CGI, one of the largest IT and business consulting firms, leading the company’s strategy to build centers of excellence in smaller markets across the U.S. to impact economic development, jobs and education. With a focus on continuous learning, CGI serves the mission of clients, the career growth and passions of its team members, and value for shareholders. By leveraging public-private partnerships with local universities and community organizations, William and his team focus on creating a talent pipeline through training programs to inspire underrepresented communities to pursue IT and STEM careers.

Bob Langert

Bob Langert

For over 30 years, Bob Langert oversaw McDonald’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts, from its infancy in the 1980s until his retirement in 2015. Bob authored “The Battle to Do Good: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey” that takes readers behind the scenes of his time on the front lines of many issues, such as pollution, obesity, worker rights and animal welfare. He tells the story of shifting from fighting the company’s critics to inviting them in and partnering to find solutions. Bob is now a business consultant on stakeholder engagement and sustainability strategy.

Caitlin Leibert

Caitlin Leibert

As VP of sustainability for Whole Foods Market, Caitlin Leibert is responsible for creating and implementing the company’s sustainability vision and strategy in more than 550 stores. She develops new social and environmental practices, with commitments to reducing single-use plastics, fighting food waste and nourishing communities in need, making stores more energy efficient, supporting farmers and ranchers dedicated to regenerative agriculture practices, and protecting pollinator populations. Caitlin joined Whole Foods following a decade of leading sustainability for Chipotle, where she executed the sustainability vision for over 2,500 restaurants worldwide.

Samantha-Macdonald

Samantha McDonald

At TD Asset Management (TDAM), Samantha McDonald is VP of ESG research and engagement, a newly formed team that works alongside and supports the various investment teams with ESG research, integration and active ownership efforts to ensure the organization has consistency in its ESG approach across all asset classes. As investors in a broad array of investment classes, TDAM believes it has a significant role to play in being a positive influence for continued improvement in ESG. TDAM works together with other organizations that strive to advance sustainability efforts in investment management and is a signatory to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and the Investor Stewardship Group (ISG), among other initiatives.

Atlanta McIlwraith

Atlanta McIlwraith

As director of global community engagement and activation at Timberland, Atlanta McIlwraith works to align strategic partnerships and philanthropic investments with brand purpose to engage stakeholders and increase the brand’s positive impact. Responsible for managing the company’s Path of Service™ employee volunteer program, strategic community investments, and the Global Stewards program, Atlanta develops new strategies to bring purpose to life for retail associates and consumers. Focused on better products, stronger communities and a greener world, Timberland is committed to supporting regenerative agriculture practices and designing products for circularity, building an inclusive workspace, strengthening communities of color and supporting Black entrepreneurs.

Kirk-Myers

Kirk Myers

Kirk Myers is sustainability director for Alaska Airlines, focused on operating and growing in an environmentally responsible manner that creates value for employees and guests while strengthening communities. Through its LIFT program, Alaska Airlines focuses on social and environmental impact, with the most comprehensive in-flight recycling program to reduce waste sent to landfills and pioneering the development of a navigation system that decreases emissions and saves 1.2 million gallons of fuel annually. With the recent announcement of its 2040 net-zero emissions strategy, the company signed onto The Climate Pledge, a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement, and included a carbon emissions target in the incentive pay program for all 22,000 employees.

Heather-malkin-nesle

Heather Malkin Nesle

Heather Malkin Nesle is president of New York Life Foundation and VP of corporate responsibility at New York Life Insurance Company. Meeting life’s challenges with life-changing support, New York Life Foundation has invested over $360 million to national and local nonprofit organizations to help children in the areas of educational enhancement and childhood bereavement support. With over 23,000 employees and agents, New York Life Insurance Company strives to be a force for good in society and for the environment through its corporate responsibility strategy focused on people, communities, environment and governance.

Alison Omens

Alison Omens

As chief strategy officer at JUST Capital, Alison Omens works at the intersection of business, markets and policy to create more balance in the economy and in corporate America. JUST Capital is an independent research organization that correlates American consumer public opinion about companies and ranks them with tools and indexes that help measure and improve corporate performance in the stakeholder economy. Using advanced polling, market research and performance measurements, JUST Capital empowers the public to make the world a more just place through informed purchase decisions, investment dollars and career choices.

Brandon Peele

Brandon Peele

Throughout his career, Brandon Peele has helped organizations activate inclusive cultures. He is founder of Unity Lab, a platform that helps organizations create cultures of purpose, empathy and trust. Through a unique social learning method that brings together diverse groups to learn new skills and develop high-trust relationships, Unity Lab empowers organizations to improve innovation, productivity, and social and emotional health. Brandon is a sought-after keynote speaker and best selling author on the topic of purpose.

Caroline Rees

Caroline Rees

Caroline Rees is president and CEO of Shift, a nonprofit center for business and human rights practice that works with companies, governments and their stakeholders to help put the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights into practice. Caroline is a leading voice on the need for a deeper understanding on how businesses should act upon human rights, and she was deeply involved in drafting the UN Guiding Principles. She is an advocate for integrating human rights protections into business models and focusing on the most vulnerable communities and populations when thinking about corporate action.

Pamela-Rucker

Pamela Rucker

Pamela Rucker is a noted speaker and trainer on innovation, digital transformation and corporate strategy. She works with Fortune 500 firms and executives on these issues and teaches a highly rated “Leading Through Digital Disruption” professional development program at Harvard University. Pamela warns of a crisis in corporate identity, noting that organizations do not know how to respond to social issues today because they do not know who they are, forcing them to face trade-offs between people, profits and purpose. She also advocates for cognitive diversity, referring to diversity of thought, experiences and backgrounds that contribute to an organization’s collective genius.

Ahva Sadeghi headshot

Ahva Sadeghi

Ahva Sadeghi is CEO and co-founder of Symba, an all-female founded tech startup that helps corporations and nonprofits manage and scale remote internship programs, opening up the workforce to students anywhere in the world. Noting that students with internships are 60% more likely to secure a job after college compared to students without one, Ahva is committed to leveling the playing field and increasing diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Prior to launching Symba, Ahva worked at the U.S. Department of State in the Human Rights Bureau and completed a civil rights fellowship with Congressman John Lewis. She was recently named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and a Global Entrepreneur Scholar by the U.S. Department of State.

Jarvis Sam

As VP of global diversity and inclusion, Jarvis Sam focuses on diverse representation, inclusive leader and social justice education, and creating a culture of belonging inside and outside of Nike. Together with Converse, Jordan Brand and Michael Jordan, Nike committed a combined $140 million to support organizations focused on economic empowerment, education and social justice to address racial inequality for Black Americans. Nike joined an inaugural cohort of companies committed to MLT Black Equity at Work Certification, which establishes a comprehensive standard for employers to take a results-oriented approach to support Black equity internally and in society. For the 19th consecutive year, the company earned the Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality designation.

Maitane Sardon

Maitane Sardon

Maitane Sardon is an ESG reporter focusing on socially responsible businesses and impact investing for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Her work focuses on how big businesses are managing their carbon footprint, climate change, and human rights issues in the workforce. Maitane shines a spotlight on the progress companies are making toward their sustainability goals, analyzes the changing roles and responsibilities of chief sustainability officers, uncovers how companies are addressing the gender pay gap, and discusses the pressure investors are putting on companies to address diversity on their boards.

Linda Seabrook

Linda Seabrook

Linda Seabrook is a champion of race and gender equity, justice and inclusion with experience leading transformational efforts across the nonprofit sector, federal agencies, business and the judicial system. With expertise in employment and civil rights law, Linda designs training and programs to improve workplace culture and employment opportunities and outcomes for vulnerable workers who are experiencing violence, harassment and discrimination. She is an advocate for criminal justice reform and authentic relationship and coalition building to foster excitement and accountability for change.

Bill Shireman

Bill Shireman

Bill Shireman is a social entrepreneur, environmental policy innovator, and president and CEO of Future 500, a nonprofit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocacy groups, investors and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Bill has been a lifelong climate advocate and was integral in passing the California “bottle bill,” which brought together a coalition to create the country’s most cost-effective recycling law by EPA and academic studies and has resulted to date in recycling of more than 10 million tons of aluminum, glass and plastic containers. Bill brings together people from all sides of the political spectrum to find common ground and develop collaborative solutions for a clean, just and prosperous world.

Bruce Simpson

Bruce Simpson

Bruce Simpson serves as a senior advisor to McKinsey & Company and to Blackstone on purpose and ESG. He is also CEO of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation where he delivers societal impact through philanthropic investments. Having worked for over three decades for McKinsey & Company, where he built and led the global purpose and ESG practice, Bruce’s experience and expertise cuts across many public and social sectors. He advocates for companies to identify their unique ESG risks and challenges and then embed purpose into the muscle of the business to increase societal impact and achieve long-term shareholder benefits through products, services, culture and corporate DNA.

Tom Szaky

Tom Szaky

Tom Szaky is founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a transformative company offering recycling solutions for businesses and municipalities that focus on hard to recycle waste streams. Devoted to the circular economy and Eliminating the Idea of Waste®, TerraCycle develops ways to make things that are typically non-recyclable nationally recyclable and works with some of the world’s biggest brands to integrate recycled materials into new products. Tom also created the Loop circular shopping platform to move consumers from disposable, single-use packaging to durable, reusable packaging without sacrificing the economics and convenience that make disposable products desirable.

Alison Taylor

Alison Taylor

Alison Taylor is executive director of Ethical Systems at NYU Stern School of Business, a research collaboration between leading academics working on behavioral science, systems thinking and organizational psychology. Alison works on challenges at the intersection of corporate integrity, risk and responsibility, with a long history of consulting for multi-national organizations on sustainability, political and social risk, culture, stakeholder engagement and other business and ethics issues. With approaches based on credible research, Ethical Systems aims to help companies build more ethical and effective cultures beyond functional ESG silos or disclosure requirements.

Gillian Tett

Gillian Tett

Gillian Tett is chair of the editorial board, U.S. editor-at-large of the Financial Times, and co-founder of FT Moral Money newsletter, where she covers socially responsible business, sustainable finance and impact investing, ESG trends, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Gillian authored “Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life” that explores how businesses can revolutionize their understanding of behavior by studying consumers, markets and organizations through an anthropological lens. Recognizing that the balance sheet does not measure everything that is important for a company, Gillian advocates for businesses to widen their lens to achieve better understanding of customers and clients, better appreciation of diversity issues and other challenges inside the company, and a realization about how companies sit within a wider social ecosystem.

Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson leads communications and social impact at Thomson Reuters, a specialized global information and software business serving knowledge professionals in the news, legal, tax and government sectors. Alex believes business should shape the world for the better and is an advocate for the role of trusted, bias-free news in strengthening the foundations of society. Thomson Reuters is a member of the UN Global Compact and accountable to the Sustainable Development Goals, with initiatives focused on volunteerism, philanthropy, sustainability, and social impact programs including access to justice and transparency.

Kevin Tubbs headshot

Kevin Tubbs

As VP and chief ethics, compliance and sustainability officer at Oshkosh Corporation, Kevin Tubbs oversees the company’s global environmental and sustainability programs. Across its team of nearly 15,000 worldwide employees, Oshkosh focuses on empowering people, developing innovative products, building communities and operating sustainably. The company has pledged to reduce energy consumption, invest in technology to reduce its environmental footprint, and divert waste from landfills, recently reaching the milestone of 10 million pounds of waste avoided through reusable packaging. Under Kevin’s leadership, Oshkosh is named one of Barron’s 100 Most Sustainable Companies and is included in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook, both for the fourth consecutive year.

Erik Wohlgemuth

Erik Wohlgemuth

Erik Wohlgemuth is COO of Future 500 and a stakeholder engagement expert with over 20 years of experience as a trusted adviser to executives across diverse sectors, industries and political persuasions to advance sustainability and ESG strategies. Erik works with corporate executive teams to help them anticipate and address emerging sustainability risks and turn them into ESG opportunities. He volunteers with E2, an independent non-partisan network of business leaders who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and the environment, and with the Pacific Forest Trust, seeking to protect regional forests through land conservation and sustainable forestry practices.

Lisa-Woll

Lisa Woll

Lisa Woll is CEO at US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, the leading voice advancing sustainable, responsible and impact investing across all asset classes. Representing more than 300 members holding more than $5 trillion in assets under management or advisement, the mission of US SIF is to shift investment practices towards sustainability, focusing on investment decisions resulting in a more sustainable and equitable society. Lisa has led the organization since 2006 with responsibility for strategic planning, developing a robust policy presence, expansion and diversification of funding, launching a national conference and creating the Center for Sustainable Investment Education.

Meg Parker Young

Meg Parker Young

Meg Parker Young sees opportunity to solve global problems at the intersection of markets, the public sector and civil society. As senior director of ESG Strategy at Fannie Mae, Meg is dedicated to creating positive environmental, social and economic outcomes for families and communities through responsible mortgage finance. The organization is recognized as the world’s largest issuer of green bonds, issuing nearly $88 billion in Multifamily Green Mortgage-Backed Securities to date, which leverage the power of capital markets to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and greener housing. Previously, Meg served as director of impact strategy and development at Thomson Reuters, where she was recognized as the UN Global Compact Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneer for business accountability and transparency for her commitment and contributions to SDG-16 around peace, justice and strong institutions.

As you get to know the Purposeful 50, listen in to the Purpose, Inc. podcast as the Actual Team continues the conversation with business leaders and experts about corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism.

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