Nine outstanding leaders from CEF member companies have been chosen from a highly competitive field of applicants from around the world to embark on a life-changing leadership development journey to Chile, led by renowned adventurer and VP of Environmental Initiatives for Patagonia, Rick Ridgeway, and corporate sustainability expert Jib Ellison. The winners were deemed to be at an inflection point in their lives or careers with regard to sustainability—ready and eager to take their sustainability leadership to the next level within their communities and/or organizations—as well as being strong team players accomplished in setting ambitious goals and getting results.
Congratulations to the winners!
Rachael Baker, Manager, Northern California Environmental Stewardship at Kaiser Permanente
For the past three years Rachael has developed and led the KP northern California Environmental Stewardship program, which covers 21 hospitals and well over 400 medical office and administrative buildings. In this role she serves as a center of expertise by identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, implementing and spreading environmental stewardship practices throughout the Region. Prior, Rachael spent five years creating and growing Kaiser Permanente’s Environmental Purchasing and Supply Chain program impacting over $5 billion in spend. In that role Rachael authored and implemented KP’s sustainability scorecard for medical devices resulting in tens of millions of dollars being directed toward safer products. Rachael has worked in healthcare, focusing on sustainability, for eleven years.
Susannah Calvin, Operations Environmental Initiatives Program Manager at Apple
Susannah Calvin is an experienced procurement and supply chain specialist working to bridge the gaps between environmental initiatives and large-scale manufacturing. Susannah joined Apple’s newly formed Ops Environmental Initiatives team after working as a Global Supply Manager in Apple’s Softgoods Manufacturing Design division. She brought with her an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing manufacturers and design teams, along with insights into the processes and practices with the greatest environmental impact. Prior to joining Apple, Susannah worked in Procurement and Corporate Responsibility at Black Diamond, Inc.
Aaron Frank, Director, Corporate Citizenship, Insights & Integration at The Walt Disney Company
Aaron Frank is Director, Corporate Citizenship for The Walt Disney Company. In this role, Aaron is responsible for driving overall strategic direction of corporate citizenship for the company, including the creation of citizenship goals and commitments, conducting research to better understand consumer, stakeholder and employee expectations and perceptions, and leading the company’s reporting, stakeholder engagement, and issues management efforts. Before joining Disney, Aaron was engagement director at Siegel+Gale where he led the development of international strategic branding programs. Aaron has also served in environmental policy positions for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, National Wildlife Federation, and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
Luis Fernando Ramirez, Manager, Sustainability at FEMSA
Originally a chemical engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Luis Fernando Ramirez is the environmental sustainability manager of FEMSA, responsible for the coordination of environmental initiatives and efforts globally. He is also directing the design, development, and assessment of the company’s corporate sustainability strategy. Prior to FEMSA, he worked as the commercial director for environmental consultancy CO2 Solutions, developing emission reduction projects within the Clean Development Mechanism, EU Emissions Trading System, and voluntary frameworks.
Brian Schoening, greeNG Senior Project Manager at Northrop Grumman Corporation
As senior project manager for Northrop Grumman’s greeNG sustainability program, Brian is focused on leveraging the nexus between his aerospace engineering experience and environmental sustainability expertise to further integrate sustainability within core business processes. He joined Northrop Grumman in 2004 as an aerospace design engineer and has spent half of his career leading various aspects of the company’s sustainability program. Brian is currently responsible for executing enterprise greenhouse gas and water strategies and managing program performance towards Northrop Grumman’s 2020 sustainability goals.
Nalini Singh, Principal, Structuring and Commercial Analytics at NRG Energy
Nalini Singh serves as a Principal of Structure and Pricing at NRG Energy. She has extensive experience in energy and natural gas analytics including quantifying and managing energy portfolio risk across the wholesale/retail power and gas industries. With more than 10 years of experience, Singh specializes in the negotiation, pricing, structuring and execution of energy contracts as well as portfolio valuation and energy project finance that involve matrix development teams. Most recently she has been responsible for renewable energy project evaluations – including solar, wind, and energy storage – across the different NRG business units. Prior to NRG, Singh began her career at Exelon.
Justin Van Der Horn, Coordinator, Global Sustainability at Tiffany & Co.
Justin Van Der Horn currently serves as a Coordinator for Global Sustainability at Tiffany & Co. Since joining Tiffany & Co. in 2012, Justin has assisted in furthering the Company’s social and environmental agenda and aligning sustainability initiatives with core business objectives. His particular focus has been on supporting metrics, reporting, goal setting and environmental and climate initiatives. Justin also has experience supporting positive social and environmental change with domestic and international non-profit organizations and with state and federal branches of the government.
Juan Villágran, Director, Sustainability & EHS Global Systems at Duke Energy
Juan C. Villagrán serves as director of sustainability and EHS global systems for Duke Energy International (DEI). He leads the groups responsible for developing and advancing corporate policies, programs and strategies on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, environmental, health and safety management systems. Previously, Villagran served as regional manager of environmental, health and safety for Duke Energy Central America with responsibilities over six thermoelectric plants located in Guatemala and El Salvador. Villagran has more than 17 years of experience as an environmental, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability professional. He joined Duke Energy International in 2001 and has work in the power generation industry since 1998.
Svetlana Zenkin, Manager, Sustainability at HP
Svetlana Zenkin is an Environmental Progress Program Manager at HP, part of HP’s Living Progress team. Svetlana leads HP’s company-wide environmental metrics and goals program. This includes evaluating the carbon and water footprints and developing industry-leading environmental goals, such as the product use phase GHG emissions goal announced in September 2014. Svetlana’s prior sustainability experience is a hybrid of business and public policy. She has been a Climate Corps Fellow with the Environmental Defense Fund, and worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency. Svetlana moved from Russia to the United States as a child, and now lives in San Francisco, California.