Guest Speakers – CSR Reflect

Chris Cowton’s bio: Chris Cowton is Professor of Financial Ethics, a role he assumed on stepping down as Dean at the end of September 2016. Since September 2019 he is also Associate Director (Research), having previously been a Trustee at the IBE.

Chris Daniels’s bio: Chris has worked in Lloyds Banking Group’s Responsible Business team for the past two years, focusing on financial inclusion and education. Chris leads Group programmes on credit unions, identification and verification and thought leadership. The purpose of this role is to increase access to financial services and to build the Group’s reputation as leaders in financial inclusion to help Britain prosper. Prior to this role, Chris worked in Group Corporate Affair’s Consultancy & Operations team, delivering Group-wide communication projects.

Dan Johnson’s bio: Dan Johnson is the Research Hub Manager at the Institute of Business Ethics. He researches and writes on a number of business ethics topics for the IBE, manages its programme of public and corporate surveys and engages in training and public speaking to raise awareness of the subject. He was the author of the 2015 IBE Ethics at Work Survey, a series of seven reports which give an overview of the business ethics landscape in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. He holds a Master’s Degree in Corporate Social Responsibility from the ICCSR at Nottingham University.

Tim Valentine’s bio: Tim Valentine was a Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London for over 18 years and has published over 100 articles on human memory, especially eyewitness identification and face recognition. He became a Greenpeace supporter in 1985, when he heard the Rainbow Warrior had been sunk while on her way to campaign against French nuclear weapons tests. He is an active member of the Canterbury group. He enjoys sailing in the Thames estuary and watching the wildlife -especially the seals that lie on the sand banks at low tide. Greenpeace combines two passions of his – protecting the natural environmental and messing about in boats.

James Wilde’s bio: James Wilde is Group Head of Sustainability for Lloyds Banking Group. James recently joined the Group to help develop a sustainability strategy focused on supporting and financing the transition to sustainable, low carbon economy. Prior to joining Lloyds Banking Group, James was Managing Director at the Carbon Trust, where he worked for 15 years with business and governments around the world on climate change related issues. His work there informed the introduction of a number of new policies and finance mechanisms and spanned a wide range of topics in the UK and abroad – from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, energy efficiency financing, low carbon buildings design through to renewable energy finance and low carbon technology innovation programmes & policy. Prior to joining the Carbon Trust, he worked for McKinsey & Company. He has a PhD in Nanotechnology from the University of Cambridge and a degree in Materials Science from the University of Oxford.

Jeremy Glover’s bio: Jeremy has headed up employee incentives and corporate departments in US and UK law firms and was head of entrepreneurial services at Ernst & Young in London previously. He advises companies, their employees and their investors on structuring their business to align their interests most effectively.

Beverly Hall’s bio: Beverley Hall is a Senior Industrial Relations Advisor for the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Her career started in corporate marketing and public relations with some time in an industrial environment. She spent 16 years with the United Kingdoms’ professional and engineering union Prospect leading the union’s international, European and climate change work. Her position covers human and trade union rights in sweat shops in Honduras, fruit & flowers in Colombia, market sellers in Ghana, defence of civil servants in Swaziland, Egypt and Zimbabwe and economic and labour empowerment of women & girls’ casual domestic workers in Nairobi’s informal sector.

Gavin Milligan’s bio: Dr Gavin Milligan holds a PhD from the University of London and worked for 9 years in the chemical industry before moving to the food sector. He has worked for a number of businesses ranging from SMEs to blue chip corporates in supply chain, operations and commercial roles and is currently ESG Director for the William Jackson Food Group where he oversees the company’s social and environmental programmes. He is a Member Director of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange, chairs the Management Committee of FoodWasteNet, is a member of the Food Sector Knowledge Transfer Network, which he represents on the European Food Technology Platform, is a committee member of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s agriculture sector group and chairs the Agri-food member interest group at Campden BRI. He sits on the Industrial Advisory Boards at Sheffield Hallam University’s centre for excellence in food engineering and Lincoln University’s MSc programme in Agri-food Technology, the Commercial Advisory Board of the Industrial Biotechnology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow and the Advisory Board for New Food Magazine. He also runs his own business, Green Knight Sustainability Consulting Ltd, providing support on social and environmental strategies for agri-food businesses.

Guen Donde’s bio: Guen joined the IBE in August 2014 having completed a MSc in Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Trento (Italy). Since graduating, she collaborated in developing the Code of Ethics for the Italian Association of Management Consultants and she worked for a European NGO based in Brussels, focused on CSR-related topics.

Rozlyn Spinks’ bio: Roz recently joined the IBE as Head of Advisory. With a background in psychology, education and criminological research, Roz brings a range of knowledge gained across a variety of sectors, including both public/private and corporate. Combined with the experience of living and working in numerous countries and communities, she brings key areas of interest including the social and psychological determinants of behaviour and decision-making. Most recently, Roz spent five years at Deloitte and led the creation and delivery of the Ethics Code refresh and associated programmes of research and resource management.

Paul Taylor’s bio: Paul is Senior Manager Environmental Sustainability and works for the LEGO Group within its Corporate Responsibility team. During his career so far, Paul has worked with various multinationals and governments to develop CO2 reduction programmes. He currently leads programmes with key suppliers that will improve their environmental performance.

Simon Webley’s bio: Simon took up his present post in 1998 having been a consultant to the Institute since its founding in 1986. He has so far written eighteen studies for the Institute, his latest is: Codes of Business Ethics: a guide to developing and implementing an effective code (2016). In addition, he has contributed to numerous journals and books and regularly speaks at conferences in different parts of the world on applied business ethics. Simon also assists large international companies with advice, training and workshops. In the 1950s, Simon obtained an honours degree in economics and political science at Trinity College, Dublin. After military service as an education officer in the Royal Air Force, he joined the economic research department of Reed International (now Reed Elsevier), a major paper and publishing organisation. In 1962 he was appointed Group Information Officer (economics) in the public affairs department of the same company. From 1969-98, he was the founding director of the British-North American Research Association and UK Director of the British-North America Committee. Simon is a member of the ICC’s Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anticorruption and the BSI’s Anti Bribery Standard Panel.

Andrea du Rietz’s bio: Andrea is part of the Environmental Responsibility team at the LEGO Group. She is responsible for evaluating and reporting the LEGO Group’s climate impact, ambitions and actions – to ensure compliance and drive opportunities. Andrea also leads the work on exploring global shifts with companies’ climate strategies and target setting. In her previous role, Andrea worked as a Carbon Markets and Climate Policy analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Roisin Robertson’s bio: Roisin Robertson has been a Greenpeace volunteer and activist for over 25 years, currently the Network Coordinator for Bromley. As SE London contact, she helped set up the SW and Southwark groups while chairing Greenwich. Arrested in Belgium for an action outside the EU about fishing quotas, active as an Orang-Utan in various campaigns against forest destruction, is a regular member of the Greenpeace festival team and is a GreenSpeaker presenting issues to schools, Colleges and Universities.

Gary Knight’s bio: Gary Knight is Professor of Global Management and the Helen Jackson Chair in International Management at Willamette University in Salem and Portland, Oregon, USA. Prior to joining academia, he was an executive in international business, with a focus in Europe, Japan, and Mexico. Gary has co-authored six books, including two textbooks on international business and a book on international marketing research, as well as more than 100 refereed articles in academic journals and conference proceedings, such as International Business Review and Journal of World Business. Along with Professor S. Tamer Cavusgil, he won the 2014 Decade Award at the Journal of International Business Studies for their article on born global firms. Gary earned his MBA at the University of Washington and PhD at Michigan State University, in international business. He also attended the University of Paris in France and Sophia University in Japan.

Debbie Coulter’s bio: Debbie Coulter joined the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) as Head of Programmes in 2011. Bringing together company, trade union and NGO members, ETI’s programmes seek to drive long-term, sustainable change for workers in global supply chains. Debbie has vast experience of working with the clothing industry and considerable knowledge of workers’ rights within the sector, locally and globally. Her association with the garment sector began in the early eighties when, based in Barnsley, she worked for S R Gent Manufacturers, then major suppliers to Marks & Spencer. In 1987 she began working for the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers in Leeds and with the local industry for more than 15 years.

Guendalina Donde ‘s bio: Guendalina completed a MSc in Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Trento (Italy). Since graduating, she collaborated in developing the Code of Ethics for the Italian Association of Management Consultants and worked for a European NGO based in Brussels with a focus on CSR-related topics.

She is the co-author of the IBE Survey Ethics at Work: 2015 Survey of Employees – Italy and the IBE Core Series Codes of Business Ethics: examples of good practice.

Robert Tate’s bio: Prior to joining the IBE, Robert was the Principal Consultant, Engagement, at Business in the Community (BITC). He spent 20 years at Barclays in a wide variety of retail and commercial banking roles, culminating in four years as part of a group strategy and planning team, before deciding to switch sectors and put his corporate experience to good use in a not-for-profit context.

Ever since leaving Barclays in 2004 Robert has sought out roles that enable him to engage companies in a dialogue about acting with greater integrity towards their employees, the environment, their customers and wider society.

Previous roles include Head of Business Partnerships at In Kind Direct from 2004 – 2007 and a variety of senior management positions in Business in the Community’s (BITC’s) membership function where most recently, as Principal Consultant, Engagement, he led a strategic review of BITC’s training, advisory and benchmarking offer. He has extensive experience of recruiting, retaining and deepening engagement with corporate supporters.

Simon Webley’s bio: Simon took up his present post in 1998 having been a consultant to the Institute since its founding in 1986. He has so far written eighteen studies for the Institute, his latest is: Codes of Business Ethics: a guide to developing and implementing an effective code (2016). In addition, he has contributed to numerous journals and books and regularly speaks at conferences in different parts of the world on applied business ethics. Simon also assists large international companies with advice, training and workshops.

In the 1950s, Simon obtained an honours degree in economics and political science at Trinity College, Dublin. After military service as an education officer in the Royal Air Force, he joined the economic research department of Reed Intern ational (now Reed Elsevier), a major paper and publishing organisation. In 196 2 he was appointed Group Information Officer (economics) in the public affairs department of the same company. From 1969-98, he was the founding director of the British-North American Research Association and UK Director of the British-North America Committee. Simon is a member of the ICC’s Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-corruption and the BSI’s Anti Bribery Standard Panel.

Paul Taylor’s bio: Paul is Senior Manager Environmental Sustainability and works for the LEGO Group within its Corporate Responsibility team. During his career so far, Paul has worked with various multinationals and governments to develop CO2 reduction programmes. He currently leads programmes with key suppliers that will improve their environmental performance.

Roisin Robertson’s bio: Roisin has been a Greenpeace volunteer and activist for over 25 years, currently the Network Coordinator for Bromley. As SE London contact, she helped set up the SW and Southwark groups while chairing Greenwich. Arrested in Belgium for an action outside the EU about fishing quotas, active as an Orang-Utan in various campaigns against forest destruction, is a regular member of the Greenpeace festival team and is a GreenSpeaker presenting issues to schools, Colleges and Universities.

Lyla Patel Reynolds’ bio: Lyla is Head of Education at TRAID.  Lyla began working at TRAID as a volunteer over 10 years ago and now runs the Education program to enable the UK public to make more sustainable choices for their wardrobe. TRAID have raised over £30,000,000 to improve the environment, educate the UK public and fight global poverty.

Karin Iseman’s bio: Karin currently works as an Ethical Trading consultant, advising clients on their ethical trading policies and tracing and reviewing their supply chains. Her background comes from working in ethical trading within the UK high street fashion industry, where she last worked as the Ethical Trading manager for a UK retailer, responsible for their ethical trading and CSR programme. There she was responsible for creating and executing the company’s response to Section 54 in The Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Ian Stevens’s bio: After 30 years in the rail industry as a frontline operator, in September 2012 Ian, became Network Rail’s and the rail industry’s lead for its suicide prevention programme. At a strategic level he is responsible for managing the industry’s award-winning partnership with Samaritans and its relationship with the British Transport Police’s Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Unit. At a working level, he brings the rail industry together to deliver its prevention programme.

David Webb’s bio: Dave received his PhD degree from the University of Wales in 1995. In 1997 he moved to the University of Western Australia (UWA) to take up a position within the marketing discipline. In terms of responsible management, Dave initiated and coordinated UWA Business School’s signatory membership of the UN PRME (United Nations Principles for Responsible Management) as well as UWA’s partnership of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Dave was responsible in 2017 for initiating a modern slavery research network within UWA and overseas. This network was formalised in early 2019 as the UWA Modern Slavery Research Cluster (MSRC). In 2010 was awarded ‘Distinguished Research Fellow’ of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) for his contributions to QOL research.