New Speakers Announced for BSR Conference 2014: Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Years of Living Dangerously Executive Producer David Gelber
San Francisco, July 29 2014 /3BL Media/ - The BSR Conference 2014, “Transparency and Transformation”—taking place November 4 through 6 at the Grand Hyatt New York—features inspiring speakers working at the forefront of today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.
Newest speakers include:
Darren Walker, President, Ford Foundation: For more than two decades, Walker has been a leader in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Between 1994 and 2001, he led local community and economic development initiatives in Harlem, and then led programs in human rights, urban development, and free expression, at the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. He spent a decade in the private sector at UBS as well as the international law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton.
Dame Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: MacArthur made yachting history in 2005, when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. She also has won the Ostar and the Route du Rhum, and she finished second in the Vendée Globe at the age of 24. Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources our linear economy relies upon, she stepped away from professional sailing in 2010 to launch the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works with education and business to accelerate the transition to a regenerative circular economy. She also sits on the European Commission’s Resource Efficiency Platform, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and received the French Legion of Honor from President Nicolas Sarkozy.
David Gelber, Executive Producer, Years of Living Dangerously: Gelber served as Ed Bradley’s producer at 60 Minutes for 25 years, during which time he won every major journalism award, including a Peabody, two DuPont awards, and eight Emmy awards. During the 1990s, Gelber was Executive Producer of Peter Jennings Reporting at ABC News. He spent two winters in Sarajevo producing documentaries on the Bosnian conflict and he returned to CBS News in 1996 to head the Ed Bradley Unit. Gelber and Scott Pelley won the Emmy for Best Investigative Story of 2010 for a story on medical charlatans who peddle bogus stem cell therapy to patients dying of ALS. Gelber is co-creator and Executive Producer of Years of Living Dangerously, which has just received two prime-time Emmy nominations.
Ethan Zuckerman, Director, Center for Civic Media, MIT: Zuckerman is a principal research scientist at MIT's Media Lab, where he is developing a system for quantitative analysis of agenda-setting in digital media, and where he has developed a platform that allows citizens to monitor powerful institutions using mobile and web technologies. He is the author of Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection (W.W. Norton 2013), and he cofounded Global Voices to highlight news and opinions from citizen media in more than 150 nations and 30 languages. Zuckerman’s research focuses on internet freedom, civic engagement through digital tools, and international connections through media.
Other plenary speakers include: Nils S. Andersen, Group CEO, A.P. Moller – Maersk; Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo; and Karl-Johan Persson, Managing Director and CEO, H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB. For a complete list of confirmed speakers, visit http://bsr14.org/speakers.
For more than 20 years, the BSR Conference has provided the preeminent global platform for sharing best practices, collaborative approaches, and opportunities to advance sustainable business. The event, which gathers more than 1,000 global leaders in business and sustainability, features provocative speakers and a mix of debates, workshops, and breakout sessions.
To receive updates on speakers, sessions, and more, visit http://bsr14.org, register here, or follow us on Twitter: @BSRnews and #BSR14.
Members of the media interested in a complimentary press pass to attend the BSR Conference 2014 should contact Eva Dienel, Associate Director of Communications, at edienel@bsr.org.
About BSRBSR is a global nonprofit organization that works with its network of more than 250 member companies to build a just and sustainable world. From its offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, BSR develops sustainable business strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector collaboration. Visit www.bsr.org for more information about BSR’s more than 20 years of leadership in sustainability.
