The Global 100 Council of Experts was created by Corporate Knights to provide an external review and commentary on a set of 10 core key performance indicators used to determine the ranking. The Council of Experts were carefully selected to provide a range of global perspectives and constituencies, and include among them, many of the pioneers who have been at the forefront of mainstreaming sustainability in the financial markets. All Global 100 Council of Experts are acting in a personal capacity and not as organisational representatives.

Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head Responsible Investment, Mercer Investment Consulting

Jane is a principal and global head of SRI. She consults to clients in Europe, Australasia and North America. Jane also undertakes related research into investment managers. She speaks regularly on the topic, and sits on the board of the Canadian Social Investment Organization.

Mark Anielski, President and CEO, Anielski Management Inc.
Mark Anielski is President and CEO of Anielski Management Inc (AMI) located in Edmonton, Alberta.

As an economist he works with communities, businesses and governments to help them assess, measure and manage their genuine wealth -- the things that matter most to their well-being, quality of life and sustainability. He believes that what we measure reveals our true values.He is schooled in economics, accounting and forestry and hold a M.Sc. in forest economics, a B.A. in economics and B.Sc.F in forest science, all from the University of Alberta.In addition to his consulting practise, he teaches Sustainable Economics at the new Bainbridge Graduate Institute (Washington) -- the first sustainability MBA program in US in sustainable business enterprise whose goal is to "integrate the wisdom of sustainability, ethics, and social responsibility into business practice via management education and research, business sustainability, ethics and corporate social responsibility".

He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta, School of Business and teach a course in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship.

Aron Cramer, Chief Executive, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)

Aron is recognized globally as an authority on corporate responsibility by leaders in business and NGOs and by his peers in the field. He advises senior leaders at BSR's 250 member companies and other global businesses, and is regularly featured as a speaker at major events and in a range of media outlets. Under his leadership, BSR has doubled its staff and significantly expanded its global presence. Aron is co-author of the forthcoming book Sustainable Excellence, to be published in the fall of 2010, which will explore current and future evolutions in corporate responsibility, charting its development into a core element of business strategy and activities.

Aron joined BSR in 1995 as the founding director of its Business and Human Rights Program, and in 2002, he opened BSR's Paris office, where he worked until becoming President and CEO in 2004.

Previously, Aron practiced law in San Francisco and worked as a journalist at ABC News in New York.

Dror Etzion, Assistant Professor, Strategy and Organization, McGill University

Dror Etzion joined the Desautels Faculty of Management in 2008, after completing his Ph.D. studies at IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Previously, Dror worked for 5 years in the Israeli software industry, and also spent a year at The Natural Step, an international non-profit research and consultancy organization focused on sustainable development.

Dror’s research program focuses on environmental metrics: how we decide what we measure, how new metrics diffuse in the organizational landscape, and how accurately the measures used actually capture the reality of business impacts on the environment. His Ph.D. work was awarded the Booz Allen Hamilton/Strategic Management Society Fellowship and the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program Dissertation Proposal Award. Dror has also published research on corporations, democracy and the public good. His work has appeared in Journal of Management and the Journal of Management Inquiry.

Paul Clements-Hunt, Head, UNEP-FI

Paul has been the Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative (FI) since November 2000. UNEP FI, based in Geneva, is the largest partnership between the United Nations and the financial services sector counting more than 180 banks, insurers and asset managers as members. UNEP FI was instrumental in the 2004-2006 development and launch of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) now backed by 340 institutional investors representing $18,000bn in assets. Clements-Hunt has been on the Board of the UNPRI since inception. 

Andrew Crane, George R. Gardiner Professor of Business Ethics, Schulich School of Business, York University

Andrew Crane's research explores new ways of thinking about the social, ethical and environmental dimensions of business. He is particularly known for his work on the changing role of the corporation in the global economy, where he has been influential in developing a new view of corporate citizenship that addresses the political roles and responsibilities of business. He has also focused on how ideas of ethics and social responsibility are communicated and made meaningful by corporations, consumers and other stakeholders through talk and text. Finally, his work has also addressed specific application areas of corporate responsibility, such as competitive intelligence, marketing, nonprofit partnerships, and responsibilities to children.

Paul Dickinson, Chief Executive, Carbon Disclosure Project

Paul founded CDP in 2000 having previously founded and developed Rufus Leonard Corporate Communications and, more recently, EyeNetwork, the largest videoconference service in Europe. He is member of the Environmental Research Group of the UK Faculty and Institute of Actuaries and author of various publications including Beautiful Corporations.

Julie Desjardins, Regular Advisor, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accounting

Julie M. Desjardins is a chartered accountant and an independent consultant in the area of performance measurement and reporting.  She has been actively engaged in accounting, measurement, reporting and verification aspects of climate change and is an active member of the:

• Project Advisory Panel for the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board’s project on assurance engagements on carbon emissions information,

• Canadian Standards Association Technical Committee on Climate Change,

• Carbon Disclosure Project Canada Advisory Group,

• International Climate Disclosure Standards Board’s Technical Working Group, and

• Ontario government’s Expert Working Group on Offsets.

She has co-authored a number of climate change articles and publications including Climate Change: A Hot Topic for Chartered Accountants, Executive Briefing: Climate Change and Related Disclosures, MD&A Disclosure about the Financial Impact of Climate Change and Other Environmental Issues, Building a Better MD&A: Climate Change Disclosures, Climate Change Briefing: Questions For Directors To Ask.

Gordon Hagart, Head of ESG Risk Management, Future Fund

Prior to joining the Future Fund, Gordon was Senior Consultant at onValues Investment Strategies & Research in Zurich. Previously he was a Programme Manager with the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva. Gordon began his career as an investment banking analyst with Greenhill & Co. in London. He has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in geophysics from the University of Cambridge.

Dr. Tessa Hebb, Director Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Senior Research Associate, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, UK

Tessa is the Director of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University, Canada.  Her research focuses on the financial and extra-financial impact of pension fund investment in Canada and internationally with particular emphasis on Responsible Investment and Corporate Engagement and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Government of Canada.  The Carleton Centre for Community Innovation is a leading knowledge producer on social finance tools and instruments. Tessa is also a senior research associate with the Oxford University Centre for the Environment and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. In 2008 she completed a multi-year research project revitalization funded by Rockefeller and Ford Foundations on the role of U.S. public sector pension funds and urban revitalization, based at the Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School.

Dr. Axel Hesse, Senior Consultant, SD-M Sustainable Development Management

SD-M consults institutional investors, companies and politics regarding performance-enhancing management of global core challenges for Sustainable Development (SD).

Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative

Ernst is the Chief Executive of GRI. He has held this position since 2002, when GRI was established as an independent organization with an international Secretariat in Amsterdam. Ernst holds overall responsibility for GRI, including secretariat operations and the coordination of the worldwide GRI network of active stakeholders who participate in the GRI’s governance, working groups, reviews, and consultation processes.  Ernst is a member of GRI’s multi-stakeholder Board of Directors, which has charged the GRI with the mission of making sustainability reporting as relevant and mainstream as financial reporting.

Before joining GRI, Ernst had a 23-year career in various non-governmental and international organizations, including postings and missions in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Europe. His posts included: Executive Director of Oxfam International; Director of Programme Coordination of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and Consultant to the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization at the International Labour Organization.

Jim MacNeill, Director of Environment at OECD in Paris (1978-1984), Secretary General of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission)

Jim is a Canadian consultant, environmentalist, and international public servant.

He was Director of Environment at OECD in Paris (1978-1984), Secretary General of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) and lead author of its landmark report Our Common Future (1984-1987), and member and Chairman of the World Bank's Inspection Panel (1997-2002).

He is currently a member of the Caspian Development Advisory Panel, the jury of the Volvo Foundation’s Environment Prize, and a member of several boards including the Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Dirk Matten, Hewlett-Packard Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility and Professor of Strategy, Schulich School of Business, York University.

Robert A.G. Monks, Founder, Lens Governance Advisors

Bob is the founder of Lens Governance Advisors, a law firm that advises on corporate governance in the settlement of shareholder litigation. His principal occupation is the development of ideas harmonizing corporate energies with the long-term interests of global society.

He was the founder or co-founder of Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc, The Corporate Library, the LENS Fund, and Governance for Owners.

Donald F. Reed, CFA, CIC, Co-founder of the International Society of Financial Analysts, President and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Templeton Investments Corp

Don is president and chief executive officer of Franklin Templeton Investments Corp., as well as chief executive officer of Templeton Investment Counsel, LLC, is responsible for managing international global portfolios and currently manages institutional accounts in addition to a retail mutual fund for Templeton. Mr. Reed is also president, chief executive officer, and a director of Templeton Growth Fund, Ltd. In addition, he serves on the Executive Committee of Franklin Resources, Inc.

Prior to joining Templeton in 1989, Don was president and director of Reed Monahan Nicolishen Investment Counsel, a pension fund investment management company based in Toronto. He was President of the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts in 1983. In 1985, Don was elected a director of the Financial Analysts Federation and has served on the executive committee of that organization. He was also a co-founder of the International Society of Financial Analysts. In 2000, Don was the recipient of the Thomas L. Hansberger Award for Leadership in Global Investing. He is currently a director of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance and the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, and he also serves on the Board of Governors for Acadia University.

Karl-Henrik Robert, Founder, Natural Step

Karl-Henrik, MD, PhD is one of Sweden’s foremost cancer scientists and the founder of The Natural Step. He is a frequent speaker and author on sustainability and provides ongoing guidance and direction for the organisation. In recent years, Karl-Henrik has stepped back from the day to day operations of The Natural Step and returned in earnest to his passion of scientific research through the Real Change programme, an international initiative linking university research specialisations with real world application using The Natural Step Framework.

In 1999, Karl-Henrik won the Green Cross Award for International Leadership, and in 2000 he won the Blue Planet Prize, the ‘Nobel prize’ for ecological sustainability, sponsored by the Asahi Glass Foundation. In 2005, he was awarded The Social Responsibility Laureate Medal by the Global Center for Leadership Business Ethics, and in 2006, Karl-Henrik was included in the publication 100 Visionaries of the 20th Century.

Karl-Henrik holds a PhD in medicine from Karolinska Institute and has served on the faculties of many of Sweden’s most prestigious hospitals and universities, including Huddinge University Hospital, the Chalmers Institute of Technology, and Blekinge Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of World Business Academy, Advisory Board Member at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, and Doctor of Public Service – Honorus Causa at the University of Portland, USA.

Nick Robins, Head of Climate Change Centre, HSBC Bank PLC UK

Nick joined HSBC in late 2007 to launch and direct its newly-established Climate Change Centre of Excellence, whose aim is to analyse and communicate the long-term commercial consequences of climate change for the HSBC Group and its clients. The strapline they use for work in this area is "Financing Change, Changing Finance," which they believe neatly captures the dual role of financial market participants in the face of climatic disruption and wider sustainability threats: first, to direct finance towards assets that sustain and enhance financial as well as human, social and natural capital; and second, to engage in the reshaping of capital markets themselves so that they reward sustainable choices.

Nick Robins has worked on the policy, business and financial aspects of sustainability since the late 1980s, with time spent at the Economist Intelligence Unit, the European Commission's Environmental Directorate, the Business Council for Sustainable Development, the International Institute for Environment and Development, and Henderson Global Investors, where he was head of SRI funds prior to joining HSBC.

Raj Thamotheram, Director, Responsible Investment (RI), Enhanced AXA Investment Managers

Raj joined AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) in June 2006 as Director, Responsible Investment (RI) and led the development of the “RI Inside” strategy, building the new RI team, overseeing the development of new funds (including the AWF Human Capital Fund) and design of the RI-Search research tool.

Prior to joining AXA IM, Raj was the senior advisor for RI at the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the second largest UK pension fund for nearly six years (2000 – 2006). In this role, he played a lead role in the launch and early functioning of the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change, the Marathon Club, Pharma Futures, and the Enhanced Analytics Initiative. He was also involved in the design and launch of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment. He has been nominated twice by Global Proxy Watch as one of the 10 most influential figures in the corporate governance field (2004 & 2008), most recently for his role in the launch of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets.

David Thompson, Director of Municipal Projects, Sustainable Prosperity
David Thompson is Director of Municipal Projects for Sustainable Prosperity. He also operates an independent consultancy focusing on environmental policy and organizational development. His clients include government, universities, businesses, First Nations, labour organizations and non-profits. A former lawyer in government and the non-profit sector, he has held management and board positions in several organizations. David holds Masters degrees in Law (Kings College, University of London) and Environmental Economics (University College, University of London).

Olaf Weber, Chair, Environmental Finance at the University of Waterloo

From January 2010 Olaf Weber will hold the EDC Chair in Environmental Finance at the University of Waterloo. Olaf was previously a management partner at GOE, consultants for risk and decision making in Zurich, Switzerland. From 1993 until 2005 he was researcher and head of the sustainable banking group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. His main research activities are environmental and sustainability risk management in banking and the relation between sustainability and financial performance of firms.

Alan Willis, Regular Advisor, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accounting

Alan, a Chartered Accountant and former partner in an international accounting firm, is an independent consultant in governance, sustainability and business reporting. His work has focused in particular on performance measurement and reporting to investors and to other stakeholders for the purpose of promoting a long-term, sustainability-based approach to value creation and accountability.

He is a regular advisor to the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) on corporate governance, sustainability and business reporting matters. He represented the CICA at the Prince of Wales’ Forum on Accounting for Sustainability and Connected Reporting at St. James’s Palace, London in December 2008. He is a member of the Sustainability Experts Advisory Panel of the International Federation of Accountants. He was a member of the Advisory Panel for the 2003 report of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, “New Reporting Models for Business”.

He directed and co-authored the development of CICA’s 2004 guidance on the preparation and presentation of Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), and was a member of the International Accounting Standards Board project team in developing its 2005 Discussion Paper on Management Commentary. He co-authored the CICA’s 2005 Discussion Brief on climate change disclosures, and the CICA’s 2008 guidance on climate change disclosures in the MD&A.

Alan was the representative of the CICA on the Steering Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) from its inception in 1997 until 2002, and participated in its working groups for all stages of developing the GRI Guidelines up to the release of the G3 Guidelines in October, 2006.

Ricardo Young, Chairman, Ethos

Ricardo is the Chairman of the Ethos Institute and President of UniEthos, the educational initiative of Ethos. His expertise includes capacity building in the areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. He is an author of a number of books, including From Yázigi to Internexus: A Travel Along the 50 Years of a Brazilian Franchise. He has been widely published and was one of the first leaders to formulate the pillars of the fourth generation of the franchise system: the Learning Network Franchise. He is also Ethos’ representative at the Global Compact, a member of the Brazilian Presidential Council of Social and Economical Development and former National Coordinator of PNBE, a national think tank that focuses on business citizenship.

Simon Zadek, Senior Fellow, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Simon Zadek was until December 2009 a Managing Partner and Director of the non-profit organization AccountAbility. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Government and Business of Harvard University's Kennedy School, and a Professor Extraordinaire at the University of South Africa's Centre for Corporate Citizenship. Mr. Zadek sits on the International Advisory Board of Instituto Ethos, on the Advisory Board of Generation Investment Management, and is a Commissioner on the Clinton-Dahlerg Initiative on public sector effectiveness in leveraging private enterprise for development. He also co-Chairs the British Standard Institute's Technical Committee responsible for developing its Sustainability Standard. In 2003 he was named one the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders for Tomorrow.

Simon's previous roles include Visiting Professor at the Copenhagen Business School, Development Director of the New Economics Foundation, and founding Chair of the Ethical Trading Initiative. He has served on numerous Boards and Advisory Councils, including the State of the World's Commission for Globalisation, the ILO's World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalisation, the UN Commission for Social Development Expert Group on CSR, and the founding Steering Committee of the Global Reporting Initiative.