Opening Panel (Tuesday)

Simon Zadek is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); a Senior Fellow at the newly established Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI); a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Centre for and Business and Government of Harvard University’s Kennedy School; an advisor on sustainability to the World Economic Forum focused on climate finance and sustainable consumption; an Honorary Professor at the University of South Africa; and an Associate Senior Fellow at the International Institute of Sustainable Development. He founded, and was until recently Chief Executive of AccountAbility, where he established the organisation’s global leadership in sustainability standards, collaborative governance and responsible competitiveness. Prior to this, he was the founding Chair of the Ethical Training Initiative and a Director at the prestigious New Economics Foundation.

Simon is a member of the China Council International Co-operation on Environment and Development’s Task Force on Trade and Environment. He sits on the International Advisory Board of the Brazilian business network, Instituto Ethos; the Advisory Board of the sustainability fund manager, Generation Investment Management; and the Boards of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and the Employers’ Forum on Disability. In 2003 he was named a World Economic Forum ‘Global Leader for Tomorrow’.

Simon’s advisory portfolio includes governments, international agencies, businesses and non-profit institutions.

Jan Spencer is Senior Vice President of Continuous Improvement, Sourcing and Sustainability for Kimberly-Clark Corporation.

Mr. Spencer leads the strategic direction of Kimberly-Clark's Continuous Improvement, Lean, Global Sourcing and Global Sustainability initiatives to accelerate adoption and maximize value for the corporation.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Spencer was responsible for designing and starting-up Kimberly-Clark's Coleshill mill in the UK. In developing the plan for the mill, Mr. Spencer used the principles of "World Class Manufacturing," now known as Lean. The mill was built as a make-to-order facility and was run with a high performance team with Mr. Spencer at the helm as mill manager.

Over his career, Mr. Spencer has run the company's European tissue and washroom business, where he was instrumental in developing and launching European hand towels using the UCTAD technology in 1995 and the North Atlantic WypAll X wiper range in 1999, which now represents a profitable $200 million business.

Mr. Spencer joined Kimberly-Clark in Manchester, UK, in 1979 as a commercial sales representative, and later held product manager, business analyst, and business manager positions from 1980 to 1988. From 1988 to 1996, he held a number of business positions in Europe including director of Washroom Business, VSE to UCTAD project manager and the Scott merger integration manager. In 1996, he transferred to the U.S. as vice president of Research, Development & Engineering in the Away-From-Home Sector, and then in 1998 he was appointed vice president of the Wiper Business. In 2000, he returned to Europe as the vice president of Operations, Engineering and Supply Chain in the Kimberly-Clark Professional Sector and in 2002 was promoted to president of Kimberly-Clark Professional Europe. In 2003, he was appointed to president of Kimberly-Clark Professional North America and in 2004 he was promoted to president of Kimberly-Clark Professional - North Atlantic. In 2006, he was promoted to president of Global Kimberly Clark Professional.

In 2009, Mr. Spencer took on the responsibility for Global Sustainability for the corporation.

Daniel Diermeier is the IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practice, a Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences at the Kellogg School of Management, and a Professor of Political Science at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, all at Northwestern University. He is director of the Ford Motor Company Center for Global Citizenship and co-creator of the CEO Perspective Program (Kellogg’s most senior executive education program), a joint venture between the Kellogg School of Management, and the Corporate Leadership Center.

Professor Daniel Diermeier’s work focuses on reputation management, political and regulatory risk, crisis management, and integrated strategy. His work has been published in numerous academic journals in management, economics, and political science. He is the author of the forthcoming book Reputation Rules: Strategies for Building your Company’s Most Valuable Asset (McGraw-Hill, April 2011). Professor Diermeier’s work has been featured globally in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Business Week, the Financial Times, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, De Telegraaf and many others. He has been an advisor to some of the world’s leading companies including Abbott, Accenture, AHIP, Allianz, APCO Worldwide, Baker & McKenzie, Baxter International, BP, Cargill, the City of Chicago (Office of the Mayor), CIBC, ConAgra, The Dallas Morning News, Edelman, Exelon, FMC the FBI, W. W. Grainger, GroupOn, Guidant, HSBC, IFCO Systems, Intercontinental Exchange, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, McDonald’s, Metro AG, Metro Cash & Carry International, Nicor, People’s Energy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, REWE Group, Roche Diagnostics, Shell, State Farm, Takeda, and United Health.

In 2001 he was named Kellogg Professor of the Year and in 2007 was the recipient of the prestigious Faculty Pioneer Award from the Aspen Institute, named the “Oscar of Business Schools” by the Financial Times. In December 2004 he was appointed to the Management Board of the FBI. He has also served as a senior strategic advisor to PricewaterhouseCoopers, and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Financial Campaigning (Wednesday)

Senior Vice President, Sustainability Research and Policy, Calvert Investments.  Mr. Freeman leads Calvert’s Sustainability Research Department and oversees its company research and analysis as well as its policy and advocacy work. From 2003 until early 2006, he led Burson-Marsteller's Global Corporate Responsibility practice advising multinationals on policy development, stakeholder engagement and communications strategies related to human rights, labor rights and sustainable development. During the Clinton Administration he served in three positions as a presidential appointee in the State Department, most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999 to early 2001. In that capacity, he led the development of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the first human rights standard forged by governments, companies and NGOs for the extractive sectors.

Earlier in his career he was Manager-Corporate Affairs for General Electric and a presidential campaign aide to former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mr. Freeman serves on the Boards of Oxfam America, the Institute for Business and Human Rights, the Revenue Watch Institute, the Global Network Initiative (GNI), the Genocide Intervention Network and EG Justice. From 2006-09 he served on the Board of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) representing Oxfam. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations as well as a frequent speaker and media commentator on sustainable investment, corporate responsibility, human rights and U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Freeman received an MA in Modern History from the University of Oxford, where he studied as an English Speaking Union Churchill Scholar at Balliol College, and an AB in History from the University of California at Berkeley.