Singapore, 24 October 2018: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today announced the nomination of two new Executive Committee members:
- Andrea Álvares, Chief Marketing, Innovation and Sustainability Officer & Member of the Executive Committee, Natura
- Toni Townes-Whitley, President, US Regulated Industries, Microsoft Corporation
The Executive Committee is responsible for supervising the strategy and monitoring the effectiveness of operations, controls and governance of WBCSD. The appointment was enacted by a vote from members at the 2018 Annual General Meeting of WBCSD, held today in Singapore. Their term will begin on 1 January 2019 for a duration of two years.
Sunny Verghese, WBCSD Chair and Co-Founder and Group CEO of Olam International Ltd., said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome two new colleagues to the Executive Committee. They bring significant distinguished international business experience to the Council’s mission, vision and strategy. Their know-how across various industries will be valuable in helping WBCSD in its key objective of transforming economic systems in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Andrea Álvares said “It’s a great pleasure for me to join the WBCSD Executive Committee. This happens at a very special moment for Natura, just prior to the celebration of our 50th anniversary and in the year where we launch the Natura &Co Group, resulting from the combination of three companies that share a common vision and purpose: Natura, Aesop and The Body Shop. This global, multi-channel and multi-brand cosmetics group is committed to generating positive economic, social and environmental impact. We have always sought to use cosmetics as a way to promote the harmonious relationship of one with oneself, with others and with the world we live in. Natura &Co now enables us to pursue these ambitions on a global scale.”
Toni Townes-Whitley said: “We believe that, as a global technology leader, we have a great responsibility and even greater opportunity to create, drive and accelerate sustainable transformations that will benefit every person and organization on the planet. Working with partners with similar goals and reach like WBCSD is an important part of enabling this progress, and I am honored to join the WBCSD Executive Committee to continue our work together to solve these societal challenges.”
For his part, Peter Bakker, President and CEO, WBCSD, said: “I look forward to working closely with each of them as we take further steps to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. Through their appointment, we also wish to underscore the importance of improving gender representation across our leadership. We are very pleased that with today’s appointment of these two executives, female representation in the Council’s Executive Committee has increased to 25%, up from 6% in 2017.”
The two new appointees replace Gavin Patterson, CEO, BT; Daniel Pinto, Co-President & Co-COO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and Pravin Rao, COO, Infosys Ltd., who are stepping down at the end of their mandates.
“We would like to thank Gavin Patterson, Daniel Pinto and Pravin Rao for their time, input and leadership over the last two years as they are getting to the end of their mandates in WBCSD’s Executive Committee”, added Bakker.
More information
- Full composition of WBCSD Executive Committee 2019-2020 available here
- WBCSD governance documents available here
- Nicolas Jammes, Manager, WBCSD Communications – jammes@wbcsd.org, +41 79 434 57 65