Influencer, business leader, campaigner, Co-Author of “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, recently published October 2021.

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. A leading proponent that business should be a force for good, Paul has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past decade”.

As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he demonstrated that a long-term, multi-stakeholder model goes hand-in-hand with excellent financial performance. Paul was a member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel which developed the Sustainable Development Goals and which he continues to champion, working with global organizations and across industry to advance the 2030 development agenda.

Paul’s new book, “Net Positive”, is a call to arms to courageous business leaders, setting out how to build net positive companies which profit by fixing the world’s problems rather than creating them. He Chairs IMAGINE, a social venture dedicated to systems change, and Saïd Business School, and he is Vice-Chair of the UN Global Compact as well as a B Team Leader. Paul is Honorary Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, which he led for two years.

Sanda Ojiambo of Kenya was appointed CEO & Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in June 2020.

As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Ojiambo launched an ambitious new UN Global Compact strategy to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change.

During her tenure she has also promoted stronger business engagement with UN partners to deliver and finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ms. Ojiambo brings to the UN Global Compact more than 20 years’ experience in the public, multilateral and private sectors including as Head of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, Safaricom Plc in Kenya; and capacity development work in CARE International and United Nations Development Programme Somalia.  Throughout her career, she has cultivated and managed relationships with key business entities and civil society organizations and led the implementation of several public-private partnership initiatives.

Ms. Ojiambo holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota, USA, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada.

Launched in July 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General created as a call to action to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Its ambition is to accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that enable change. With more than 13,000 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 70 Local Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for a better world.

Aniruddha (Ani) Dasgupta is President and CEO of WRI, where he works to advance the institute’s global vision to improve the lives of all people and ensure that nature can thrive.

Dasgupta is a widely-recognized leader in the areas of sustainable cities, urban design and poverty alleviation. He developed his expertise in positions ranging from nonprofits in India to the World Bank, where he developed the Bank’s first Knowledge strategy.

He took the helm at WRI after seven years as Global Director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, which is dedicated to shaping a future where cities work better for all people. Under his leadership, the Cities program grew to 400 staff members working in 150 cities, with a reach to more than 400 cities in total. He has established large, multi-stakeholder partnerships with city, national and corporate leaders around the world. Ani has helped create and lead innovative initiatives, including the New Urban Mobility alliance (NUMO) and the Coalition for Urban Transitions, as well as a new line of work around urban air quality. He also brought an increased focus on people and equity to the program.

Prior to joining WRI in 2014, Dasgupta served as Director of Knowledge and Learning at the World Bank, where he provided leadership in the Bank’s knowledge services for development. He also worked extensively in the World Bank’s Jakarta office as head of infrastructure, where he was deeply engaged in post-2004 tsunami reconstruction in Aceh, as an advisor to the government on housing and infrastructure reconstruction and as the head of the Bank’s housing and infrastructure team. His work at the Bank took him throughout Asia and Eastern Europe as a technical expert centered on community-based development, urban environment, disaster management, solid waste management, water supply and sanitation.

Originally from Delhi, India, Dasgupta developed an interest early in life in buildings and design. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture, with an emphasis on low-income housing, at the School of Planning and Architecture in India. Later, he was accepted at a special program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) focused on affordable housing. Dasgupta holds master’s degrees from MIT in city planning and architecture.

He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and has two sons.

Tom Steyer is a successful investor, business leader, philanthropist and activist who is fully committed to fighting the climate crisis.

Tom founded and led Farallon Capital Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that pioneered the multi-strategy approach to investing, before leaving to give his time, money, and energy to fighting for progressive causes.

Tom has mobilized grassroots efforts to win clean air laws and to force big tobacco to pay its share of healthcare costs. Tom helped make California the largest jurisdiction in the world with a 100% clean energy law and prevented Big Oil’s effort to roll back California’s climate protections. He worked to prevent the construction of a new, gas-fired power plant in a community largely made up of immigrants, people of color, and low-income families.

Tom is also the founder of NextGen America, the largest youth voter engagement organization in American history, and co-founder of Beneficial State Bank, a triple bottom line community development bank focused holistically on justice and sustainability.

Most recently, Tom was a Democratic presidential candidate and in 2020 served as co-chair for Governor Newsom’s Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. He co-chaired Vice President Biden’s Climate Engagement Advisory Council to help mobilize climate voters.

Today, Tom is the Co-Executive Chair of Galvanize Climate Solutions, a mission-driven investment platform solely focused on mobilizing and deploying the capital and expertise needed to accelerate important and equitable climate solutions.

Catherine joined ShareAction in July 2008, having previously been the founder and lead organiser of West London Citizens. Earlier in her career she was Senior Researcher at the New Policy Institute. Catherine is a board member of Green Alliance and of the Scott Trust, owner of The Guardian, serving on the Scott Trust’s investment committee. She was a Member Nominated Trustee of The Pensions Trust (the multi-employer pension scheme for the UK’s not-for-profit sector) for five years until Spring 2013. She served for four years on The Pensions Trust’s Investment Committee.

Catherine holds a First Class BA in Modern History from Oxford University and an MSc in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics. In June 2011 Catherine was named a ‘Rising Star of Corporate Governance’ by Yale University’s, Millstein Center. In 2013, Pensions Insight featured her as one of the 50 most influential people in pensions and in May 2011 Investment and Pensions Europe called her one of the ‘top ten women in pensions’. Catherine was recognised by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2014.

Mindy Lubber is the CEO and President of the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres. She leads an all-women executive leadership team and 125 employees working to mobilize the most influential investors and companies to tackle the world’s biggest sustainability challenges: climate change, water scarcity and pollution, and inequitable workplaces.  She has been at the helm since 2003, and under her leadership, the organization and its powerful networks have grown significantly in size and influence.

As a well-known global thought leader, Lubber has inspired coalitions of institutional investors, corporate boards, C-suite executives and other capital market leaders to factor environmental, social and governance issues into decision-making. She is frequently quoted in top business and financial news outlets and pens a regular column for Forbes.com on a variety of sustainability topics that have strengthened the business case for action and elevated concepts, such as climate and water risk. She also regularly speaks to high-level world and national political leaders on clean energy and water policies, and has helped to change the political conversation around tackling climate change to one focused on jobs and the economy. And in 2015, Lubber helped catalyze the necessary business support to get the historic Paris Agreement across the finish line, leading Vogue Magazine to name her a “Climate Warrior.”

Lubber has received numerous awards for her leadership. In 2020, Lubber received the United Nations ’Champions of the Earth’ Entrepreneurial Vision award. In the same year, Lubber made Barron’s Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential women in U.S. finance, and then again in 2021. She has also received the Climate Visionary Award from the Earth Day Network, William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership from American University, and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship from the Skoll Foundation. She has been recognized by the United Nations and the Foundation for Social Change as one of the World’s Top Leaders of Change. In 2019 and 2020, Ceres was named a top 100 women-led businesses in Massachusetts by the Globe Magazine and Commonwealth Institute.

Prior to Ceres, Lubber served as a Regional Administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under former President Bill Clinton. She also founded Green Century Capital Management and served as the director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG).

She resides in Brookline, Mass., with her husband Norman Stein. She has two children, Abe and Jessie.