Business & Industry

Kishore Rao

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 16:26:50 +0000

Kishore Rao Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/11/2022 - 09:26

United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry
Climate Change & Environment

Global Consulting Sustainability and Climate Leader
Deloitte

Day 3: Solutions

Panel:
Economics, Pricing, Policy: How do governments and various stakeholders pay and otherwise take action to develop climate policy solutions in a manner that is equitable?

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Kishore Rao is Deloitte’s global consulting sustainability and climate leader, focused on government and public sector clients. He works with leaders and professionals across the globe, helping governments and public services agencies develop and translate policy into practical action on such issues as climate action, sustainability, social inclusion and good governance. Rao also leads Deloitte’s business relationship with global international affairs and development organizations.

For over 25 years, Rao has been helping global governments to devise and implement strategies that enhance sustainability, drive climate action, promote digitalization, build competitiveness, promote trade and investment, and build infrastructure. He also supports global companies ranging from real estate and energy to technology to build business models to enter and expand in global markets. More recently, his work has focused on environmental, societal and governance issues.

Over his career, Rao has held leadership positions with major consulting companies engaged in global expansion, economic development and social impact. He has lived and worked in over 70 countries and serves on the boards of globally focused nonprofits that advocate for international engagement and social impact.

Kishore Rao is Deloitte’s global consulting sustainability and climate leader, focused on government and public sector clients.

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Walter Vergara

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 18:56:08 +0000

Walter Vergara Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/11/2022 - 12:56

Colombia

Expertise:
Climate Change & Environment
Business & Industry

Senior Fellow
World Resources Institute

Day 3: Solutions

Panel:
Economics, Pricing, Policy: How do governments and various stakeholders pay and otherwise take action to develop climate policy solutions in a manner that is equitable?

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Walter Vergara is a climate specialist with longstanding interests in a variety of climate adaptation and mitigation topics. At the World Resources Institute (WRI), Vergara directs the 20x20 initiative—an ambitious, country-led land restoration effort aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of land use and land use change activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Before joining WRI, Vergara retired from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where he was the division chief for climate change and sustainability. Before that, Vergara was at the World Bank for 25 years, where his last post was as leader of the global expert team on climate change.

Vergara has written or co-written 14 books and numerous technical articles. His last publication, “Agriculture and Climate: Systemic Impacts and Possible Responses,” was published as a discussion paper by the IDB. He also was a review editor in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

Vergara is a chemical engineer by training with degrees from Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Cornell University.

Walter Vergara is a climate specialist with longstanding interests in a variety of climate adaptation and mitigation topics.

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Elizabeth Robinson

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 17:02:19 +0000

Elizabeth Robinson Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/28/2022 - 11:02

United Kingdom

Expertise:
Climate Change & Environment
Business & Industry
Education

Director
Grantham Research Institute

Day 3: Solutions

Panel:
Adaptation, Mitigation, Disaster Response: How should governments, acting individually and through international cooperation, address the impact of climate change for the most vulnerable, whose voices are often unheard?

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Elizabeth Robinson joined the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment as its director in September 2021. She is an environmental economist with more than 30 years of research experience, particularly in lower-income countries, including six years living in Tanzania and Ghana. Her research addresses the design of policies and institutions to reduce climate change emissions, protect the environment and improve the livelihoods of resource-dependent communities. Her recent focus includes climate change and systemic risk, and tracking the co-benefits of climate change mitigation and health, particularly around food security and food systems.

From 2004 to 2009, she was coordinating lead author for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, sub-Saharan Africa and a member of the global and sub-Saharan Africa design teams. She was on the UK Defra Economic Advisory Panel for five years. In 2019–20, she served as a specialist advisor to the UK House of Lords Select Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and Environment. She leads Working Group 1 for The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, an organization that addresses climate change impacts, exposures and vulnerability.

Before joining the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2021, Robinson worked at the University of Reading for 10 years. She also has worked at the Boston Consulting Group, the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, Natural Resources Institute and the University of Oxford as a tutorial fellow in economics. She has a degree in engineering, economics and management from Oxford University, and a PhD in applied economics from Stanford University.

Elizabeth Robinson joined the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment as its director in September 2021.

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Martin Keller

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 17:01:45 +0000

Martin Keller Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/28/2022 - 11:01

Germany & United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry
Energy

Director
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Day 3: Solutions

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Since 2015, Martin Keller has served as director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and president of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, the company that operates NREL for the US Department of Energy. Keller is a visionary leader who is committed to people, teams and partnerships. Under his leadership, the number of full-time employees at NREL has increased by more than 32%.

He innovatively and pragmatically applies private sector best practices at NREL to achieve game-changing scientific outcomes. Working collaboratively with his leadership team, Keller developed a strategy for NREL focused on three key initiatives: integrated energy pathways, circular economy and electrons to molecules. This strategy drives advanced scientific research, programs, projects and partnerships at NREL. For example, NREL’s partnership portfolio—which includes Eaton Corp., Wells Fargo, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and more than 900 private and public sector organizations—has generated over $1 billion of research and development for the laboratory.

From 2006 to 2015, Keller led energy, biological and environmental research programs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). His efforts culminated in his being promoted to serve as the associate laboratory director for the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate during his last six years at ORNL.

Earlier In his career, Keller’s dedicated work in a variety of research management positions at Diversa Corp. enhanced and developed the microbiology expertise of this biotech company.

Keller is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement Science (AAAS), and he recently retired as chair of the AAAS Industrial Science and Technology Section. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Julich Forschungszentrum and serves on numerous other scientific advisory boards. Keller received his PhD in microbiology from the University of Regensburg, Germany.

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Ying Chen

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 17:01:10 +0000

Ying Chen Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/28/2022 - 11:01

United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry

Assistant Professor and Author
The New School

Day 3: Solutions

Panel:
Economics, Pricing, Policy: How do governments and various stakeholders pay and otherwise take action to develop climate policy solutions in a manner that is equitable?

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Ying Chen is assistant professor of economics and director of undergraduate studies and departmental faculty advisor of economics at The New School. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her work explores the contradictions within capitalism and how they exhibit themselves. Topics she has studied include economic development, labor and climate change, with a special focus on the Global South. She has published in journals including Environment and Development Economics; Economics and Labor Relations Review; Journal of Labor and Society; Review of Radical Political Economics; and International Review of Applied Economics, among others.

She was consulted for work on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report 2021 and has become a member of the executive council of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) since 2021.

Ying Chen is assistant professor of economics and director of undergraduate studies and departmental faculty advisor of economics at The New School.

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Caroline Rees

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 21:44:52 +0000

Caroline Rees Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 15:44

United Kingdom

Expertise:
Business & Industry
Human Rights

Co-Founder, President and CEO
Shift

Day 2: Obligations

Panel:
The Responsibility of Business and Industry to Respect Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change: Good Practices and What More Needs to be Done

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Caroline Rees is the president and co-founder of Shift, a nonprofit organization working with companies, financial institutions and standard-setters to make respect for human rights integral to how business gets done. Rees leads Shift’s organizational strategy and thought leadership work on key challenges and opportunities in advancing corporate respect for business and human rights. Rees speaks extensively at events around the world and frequently facilitates dialogue and debate among companies, governments, investors and civil society.

In recent years, Rees has focused on corporate reporting as a catalyst for better human rights risk management, and on improving the data and methods used in evaluating companies’ social performance as part of environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis. She has written and spoken extensively on the relevance of business respect for human rights—and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) specifically—to movements that seek to advance sustainability, equality, ESG investing, stakeholder capitalism, and human and social capital.

Rees spent 14 years with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. From 2003 to 2006 she led the UK's human rights negotiating team at the United Nations, and she ran the negotiations to establish the mandate of the special representative of the UN secretary general on business and human rights. The success of this initiative led to Professor John Ruggie’s appointment, and from 2007 to 2011 Rees was a lead advisor on his team and deeply involved in the drafting of the Guiding Principles.

From 2009 to 2011, Rees was the director of the Governance and Accountability Program at the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, where she remains a senior program fellow. Rees is a commissioner on the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality, a member of the advisory committee to the Investor Alliance on Human Rights, the advisory group to the Workforce Disclosure Initiative, the advisory council to Harvard Business School’s Impact Weighted Accounts Initiative and the advisory panel of the Capitals Coalition.

Rees’ British foreign service career covered Iran, Slovakia, the UN Security Council and the European Union. Rees has a Bachelor of Arts from Oxford University and a Master of Arts in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Caroline Rees is the president and co-founder of Shift, a non-profit organization working with companies, financial institutions and standard-setters to make respect for human rights integral to how business gets done.

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Monte Tarbox

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:09:27 +0000

Monte Tarbox Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 13:09

United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry

Executive Director, Investments
National Electrical Benefit Fund

Day 2: Obligations

Panel:
The Responsibility of Business and Industry to Respect Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change: Good Practices and What More Needs to be Done

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Monte Tarbox is the executive director, investments for the National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF), which provides pension benefits to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) members and the electrical industry nationwide. NEBF has over 500,000 participants, more than 9,000 contributing employers and assets of $18 billion. Tarbox joined NEBF in 2013 and is responsible for the investment program, including asset allocation, investment policy and oversight of external investment managers.

Before joining NEBF, Tarbox was CIO at the IAM National Pension Fund in Washington, D.C. Previous experience included five years with IFM Investors, a global investment firm that is wholly owned by over 30 Australian superannuation (pension) funds. He held senior positions with investment consulting firms in Chicago, Washington and Melbourne. Tarbox also spent two years as the executive director of the AFL-CIO Center for Working Capital, where he developed a trustee training and education program and created a trustee curriculum on fiduciary duty and investment responsibilities.

Tarbox has a BA from Carleton College and an MBA from the University of Chicago with a specialization in finance. He served for 18 years as a trustee on the Board of Investments for the Montgomery County Public Schools Retirement System in Rockville, Maryland. In 2018, he was appointed as a public advisor to the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System.

Monte Tarbox is the executive director, investments for the National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF) which provides pension benefits to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) members and the electrical industry nation-wide.

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Gillian Marcelle

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 18:40:57 +0000

Gillian Marcelle Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 12:40

Trinidad & United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry

CEO and Founder
Resilience Capital Ventures LLC

Day 2: Obligations

Panel:
The Responsibility of Business and Industry to Respect Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change: Good Practices and What More Needs to be Done

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Gillian Marcelle leads Resilience Capital Ventures LLC, a boutique capital advisory practice specializing in blended finance. She has a proven track record in attracting investment to underserved markets and designing architectures that facilitate partnerships. Marcelle developed the Triple B Framework to improve flows of capital and its allocation; this provides a platform for engaging in the finance and investment world, where her contributions and perspectives on diversity, inclusion, accountability and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals are becoming influential.

Her experience includes staff roles with the International Finance Corporation, equity capital markets at JP Morgan Chase, and mergers and acquisitions with British Telecom. Marcelle serves on the advisory board of New Majority Capital, Marketspace USA and was previously a nonexecutive director with South African fintech Tafari Capital.

Marcelle obtained her PhD from the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex. In her academic roles, she was a tenured associate professor at Wits Business School in Johannesburg and has held research and teaching positions in the US, UK and the Caribbean. She is a published research scholar and maintains academic networks in the U.S. with MIT and Penn State; in Europe with SPRU, University of Sussex; and across the African continent and the Caribbean. International public service includes appointments with the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.

Gillian Marcelle leads Resilience Capital Ventures LLC, a boutique capital advisory practice specializing in blended finance.

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Vivien Luk

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 16:42:45 +0000

Vivien Luk Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 10:42

United States

Expertise:
Business & Industry

Executive Director
WORK

Day 2: Obligations

Panel:
Climate Justice Activism: Litigation and other strategies to hold governments accountable in the context of climate change

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Vivien Luk is the executive director at WORK, an organization with a mission to accompany families in Haiti out of poverty through good, dignified work. During the past few years, WORK has expanded its mission beyond Haiti through its First Mile initiative, where they accompany informal waste collectors globally to collect raw material bound for landfills and waterways and supply them to brand partners that are incorporating responsibly sourced recycled material into their products, such as HP and CPI Card Group. This work includes setting human rights standards for collection at the “first mile” and implementing programming to support the improvement of standards. First Mile believes that the most important asset in cleaning up the environment is the people who have been doing it for decades. First Mile supports waste collectors in Haiti, Honduras and Taiwan to improve their livelihoods while providing their brand partners access to the material they collect. They also help brands create and implement human rights standards in their raw material supply chains to ensure that all material can be sourced while respecting human rights.

Prior to WORK, Luk was a program officer at The Forbes Funds in Pittsburgh, serving the region’s nonprofits by building their capacity to perform and advocating for resources to serve its constituents. She has a Master of Public Policy and Management from the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University and a philosophy and a public policy degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Vivien Luk is the executive director at WORK, an organization with a mission to accompany families in Haiti out of poverty through good, dignified work.

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