Steering Committee Members:
Karin Bogaers, Rajan Gandhi, Berthold Hansmann, Sadie Homer, Björn-Erik Lönn, Heather Mak, Alistair Monument, Li Nan, Anastasia O’Rourke, Michael Sligh, Roberto Smeraldi, Jan Kees Vis and Matthew Wenban-Smith
Karin Bogaers
Advisor Product Integrity, Royal Ahold (The Netherlands)
Karin Bogaers works for the Product Integrity department of Royal Ahold. As Advisor Product Integrity, her responsibilities include the development and enforcement of group policies in the fields of social compliance and sustainability. In addition, she is also actively involved in industry wide standard setting organizations in the fields of social compliance, working conditions and critical commodities.
Ms Bogaers holds a Master of Science degree in International Business Economics. Previously, she worked for the Business Social Compliance Initiative in Brussels as Coordinator Primary Production. One of her key activities at BSCI was the development of a monitoring system for working conditions in agricultural supply chains in cooperation with retailers, experts and stakeholders.
Rajan Gandhi
Founder-CEO, Society in Action Group (India)
Rajan Gandhi is Founder-CEO of Society in Action Group, a small non-profit NGO in Delhi which focuses on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Corporate Social Responsibility and Privacy. He has also been a consultant to the United Nations Environment Programme on Sustainable Consumption & Production and to GIZ India.
He joined the voluntary sector in 2002, after over 30 years experience in the private sector where he was a professional manager, a consultant and a company Director. His experience in the private sector was in the fields of marketing and purchase in a diverse range of industries – viz industrial paints, metal pre-treatment chemicals, pharmaceuticals, solar energy equipment and garment accessories.
Mr Gandhi is on the Board of the Asia-Pacific Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption & Production, the Advisory Board of Privacy International, a founder-Member of the South Asia Forum for Responsible Business and serves on several government committees including the Environment Ministry’s Advisory group on Sustainable Development and the Consumer Affairs Ministry’s inter-Ministerial Task Force on mandatory certification of consumer products. He has been closely associated with the Bureau of Indian Standards and has served as a convener and member of several of its committees.
Berthold Hansmann
Technical Advisor - Social and Environmental Standards Program, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (Germany)
Berthold Hansmann has 29 years of experience in development cooperation with emphasis on natural resource management, integrated water resource management (IWRM), promotion of UNCCD implementation and projects on adaptation to climate change.
He holds a Master’s of Science in Geology. Prior to joining GTZ, Mr Hansmann lectured and managed fieldwork at the ‘International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC)’, Enschede, The Netherlands. Following that, he joined the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (previously GTZ) in Eschborn as Technical Advisor in the Rural Development Division and as a project manager in the Middle East in the headquarters.
Sadie Homer
Senior Policy Advisor - Standards, Consumers International (UK)
Sadie Homer is responsible for coordinating and ensuring that the views of the member organizations of Consumers International (CI) are heard within ISO and IEC. She advises Consumers International on the role of standards in providing consumer protection, as well as delivering training on standards to CI members and other stakeholders through capacity building programs, developed with other international organisations, such as UNIDO and ISO.
Ms Homer represents CI at COPOLCO, ISO's consumer policy committee, where she is a member of the CAG and Co-Chair of the Training Group. She was an expert for CI at ISO’s Social Responsibility Working Group, which developed ISO 26000 and coordinated its' consumer stakeholder group. Sadie was a steering group member for the Ethical Trade Fact-finding Process (ETFP).
Björn-Erik Lönn
General Manager for Nordic Ecolabelling, Nordic Swan (Norway)
Björn-Erik Lönn has an MSc in Biology (zoophysiology) from the University of Helsinki. Since 1994, he has been working as General Manager for Nordic Ecolabelling, "the Nordic Swan", and is responsible for coordinating the five participating countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) in the work on behalf of the principal for the scheme, the Nordic Council of Ministers. Mr Lönn works out of the office in Oslo at Ecolabelling Norway. He has also represented Nordic Swan as a Board member of the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) since 2006.
Heather Mak
Manager, SustainAbility (UK)
Heather Mak is a Manager at SustainAbility, a think tank and strategic advisory firm working to catalyse business leadership on sustainability. Based in London, she focuses on brands and fast moving consumer goods, with clients such as ALDI, Coca-Cola, DSM, Nestlé, Sara Lee, and Volkswagen. Heather recently co-authored the publication Signed, Sealed…Delivered?, which focuses on sustainability standards, certifications and labels, their value and challenges to business, how business should make the best use out of them, and how they fit in the context of a larger sustainability toolkit.
Previously, Heather worked at Canadian Business for Social Responsibility in Toronto as a CSR Advisor and in various in-house sales and marketing roles in global fast moving consumer goods companies, including Storck, L’Oreal, and Procter & Gamble.
Alistair Monument
FSC Asia Pacific Regional Director, Forest Stewardship Council (China)
Alistair Monument established the FSC Asia Pacific Regional Office in January 2011 and is responsible for the strategic development and representation of FSC across the region. This work includes maintaining the credibility of FSC certification, oversight of the FSC Network in the region, government relations, key client relationships, and developing market incentives for responsible forest management.
Alistair has worked with FSC International since 2001, and was the founding Director of ASI-Accreditation Services International, FSC’s accreditation agency. Alistair has represented FSC and ASI on the Executive Committee of ISEAL. From 2006, Alistair worked as FSC Technical Director in China, and as an independent consultant focused on responsible business initiatives and engagement with corporates and the Chinese authorities on policy development and implementation. Alistair has worked as an accreditation auditor and consultant with Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS), Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Marine Aquarium Council (MAC), The Forest Trust (TFT) and GTZ/GIZ.
Alistair is a qualified auditor and forester, who has specialized in ethical standards, accreditation and certification systems, corporate social responsibility, supply chain management, forestry, oil and gas, environmental and social impact assessment. Alistair has 20 years of experience in over 30 countries in the private sector and with non-governmental organizations, as well as with national and inter-governmental agencies.
Li Nan
Director, WWF – Market Transformation Initiative (China)
Li Nan has a diverse background in careers of scientific research, journalism, consultancy, and teaching in university with 20 years’ experience of working with academia, business, media, government and NGOs in China and overseas.
In the late 1980’s, he worked at the National Lab of Molecular Virology & Genetic Engineering on antiviral effects of Trichosanthin, extracted molecule from carrot, for China’s 863 High Tech Project. In the 1990’s, he joined China Central Television (CCTV), designed and executed an award-winning bilingual weekly program, “China Business Guide” to attract foreign direct investments to China. In the 2000’s, he served as CCTV’s Bureau Chief in Sydney and then in the United Nations/New York. Mr. Li was a visiting scholar at the Fairbank Center at Harvard University after he received his Ph.D from University of New South Wales, Australia. He had his BA degree in Medical Sciences from Jilin University, China.
Mr. Li joined WWF China in 2011 as director of Market Transformation Initiative (MTI). He is responsible for leading the MTI China team in engaging with priority companies to ensure the production of priority commodities meet credible sustainability standards so that the use of renewable natural resources in priority places with high conservation values can be sustainable.
Anastasia O’Rourke
Co-founder, BigRoom/ www.Ecolabelindex.com (Canada/USA)
Dr. Anastasia O'Rourke is a co-founder of Big Room Inc, the creators of Ecolabel Index, and a proposal for a new environmentally focused top level domain (.ECO, www.doteco.org). Big Room also has an advisory service with clients such as the US GSA, UNEP and FedEx Corporation.
Anastasia is an expert in designing information platforms that facilitate the growth of green markets and in assessing sustainability of companies, from her recent work on green products and certification systems, to prior work on cleantech venture investments, socially responsible investment metrics, and corporate and governmental environmental reporting. She is co-chair of the Green Products Roundtable and is a frequent speaker and lecturer on the topic of green products. She has a MSc in cleaner production from Lund University, Sweden; and a Ph.D. in environmental management from Yale University.
Michael Sligh
Policy Director, Rural Advancement Foundation International (USA)
Michael Sligh is a Policy Director for Rural Advancement Foundation International - (RAFI-USA). He manages policy, research and education regarding agricultural best practices, agro-biodiversity, agro-biotechnology, organic, identity preserved and a range of food justice, fair trade and other value-added food labeling, and marketing issues. He has more than 30 years' experience in agricultural practices and policy analysis, including both domestic and international work. He is a part-time family farmer and a trained anthropologist.
He has been involved in agricultural labeling, standards, certification and accreditation work for over 20 years including: Founding Chair of the USDA/ National Organic Standards Board, Board of the International Organic Accreditation Service, IFOAM standards development, NGO delegate to UN Codex/FAO/WHO Food Labeling Commission, Founding partner of Agricultural Justice Project, which has developed domestic fair trade standards for North America, Founding member of Domestic Fair Trade Association.
He lives, farms and works from North Carolina, USA.
Roberto Smeraldi
Founder and Director, Amigos da Terra Amazonia Brasileira (Brasil)
Roberto Smeraldi, 52, is founder and director since 1989, the OSCIP of Amigos da Terra – Amazônia Brasileira. He is also a writer and has published essays and books about development, sustainability, public policy, Amazon, forests, travel and cuisine art. His most recent book is ‘The new handbook of sustainable business’ (Publifolha, 2009). He regularly writes editorials in Folha de São Paulo and other newspapers and magazines. He is a member of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change and member of Council for Sustainability of several companies.
Between 1989 and 1992, Mr Smeraldi was chair of the International NGO Steering Committee for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Eco-92). Between 1993 and 1999, representing Friends of the Earth International at the United Nations (ECOSOC). Between 1996 and 2003, was a member and Chair of the International Advisory Group to the first Program for Brazilian Rainforest (PP-G7). Between 2003 and 2010 was a member of the Forest Dialogue Board (Yale University) and co-chair of the Dialogue on Climate and Forest. Between 2006 and 2008, was a member of the National Commission on Social Determinants of Health, appointed by the President of Brazil.
Between 2007 and 2010, Mr Smeraldi was co-founder and board member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels and has formally advised several UN agencies and the World Bank. In 2000, he was awarded with the Henry Ford Prize for Environmental Conservation.
Jan Kees Vis
Global Director Sustainable Sourcing Development, Unilever (Germany)
Jan Kees Vis was trained as a chemist and received a PhD in Heterogeneous Catalysis in 1984. He joined Unilever in 1985, in Research & Development. For more than 10 years he worked on Environmental Life Cycle Analysis, Environmental Management Systems, environmental auditing, standard setting, training, reporting and preparation of policy proposals on environmental issues.
From 2001 to 2010, he was Global Supply Chain Director Sustainable Agriculture for Unilever. In 2010, his job title changed to Global Director Sustainable Sourcing Development, making him responsible for developing sustainability standards for all of Unilever’s raw and packaging materials purchases.
Mr Vis has been involved in, and holds or has held board positions in, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform, Sustainable Food Laboratory and the Roundtable for Responsible Soy.
Matthew Wenban-Smith
Director, OneWorldStandards (UK)
Matthew Wenban-Smith has worked in the area of social and environmental standards and conformity assessment since 1994, when he was taken on by the newly created Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to set up its accreditation programme. He then managed the Soil Association Woodmark programme before returning to FSC as its Head of Policy and Standards.
In 2006 he founded OneWorldStandards Ltd, a consultancy providing services to established and emerging standards initiatives. Clients have included FSC, the Rainforest Alliance, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA), The Carbon Trust, the Alliance for Water Stewardship, ISEAL and many others. Projects have covered standards development, conformity assessment, product traceability, claims & labelling, business development and organizational governance. Matthew has served on the Technical Panel of the High Conservation Value (HCV) Resource Network and the Technical Advisory Board of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
