Secretary-General Appoints New Global Compact Board Members, Strengthens Focus on Business Engagement
(3BL Media) New York, NY - April 19, 2012 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed 14 new members to the Global Compact Board, the UN’s highest-level advisory body involving business, civil society, labour and employers organizations.
The following individuals were newly appointed to serve a three-year term:
- Mr. Jorge Abrahao, President, Ethos Institute
- Mr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board, BASF SE (Chemical), Germany
- Ms. Marilyn Carlson-Nelson, Chairperson, Carlson (Travel & Leisure), United States of America
- Mr. Robert Collymore, Chief Executive Officer, Safaricom Limited (Mobile Telecom), Kenya
- Mr. Samuel di Piazza, Vice Chair, Institutional Clients Group, Citi (Finance), United States of America
- Mr. Andrei Galaev, Chief Executive Officer, Sakhalin Energy (Oil and Gas), Russia
- Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan (Kris), Chairman, Infosys (Information Technology), India
- Mr. Elias Masilela, Chief Executive Officer, Public Investment Corporation (Financial Services), South Africa
- Mr. Arif Masood Naqvi, Vice Chairman, Abraaj Capital Holdings Limited (Finance), United Arab Emirates
- Mr. Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever (Food and Beverage), United Kingdom
- Ms. Güler Sabanci, Chairperson, Sabanci Holding (General Industrials), Turkey
- Ms. Martha Tilaar, Chairperson, Martha Tilaar Group (Personal Goods), Indonesia
- Mr. Sudhir Vasudeva, Chairman and Managing Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd. (Oil and Gas), India
- Mr. Brent Wilton, Acting Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers
At the same time, the Secretary-General has extended the appointment of the following Board members.
- Mr. Fernando Chico Pardo, President of Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR), Mexico
- Mr. Manfred Warda, General Secretary, International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions
Former Board member Mads Ovlisen will continue to serve as a special advisor to the Global Compact on supply chain sustainability.
The new appointments bring the total number of Board members to 31, representing all regions of the world and a wide range of industry sectors. The increase in the number members reflects the Board’s expanded mandate to advise the Secretary-General on the rapidly evolving UN-business partnership agenda. As the UN’s central interface to the private sector, the Global Compact is currently leading a system-wide effort to build a portfolio of professional partnership services that willinclude matching, monitoring and evaluation, as well as acceleration of effective partnerships to reach further scale.
Recommendations for new appointments are made by the Board’s Nominations Committee, taking into account suggestions from the Global Compact’s local networks and other stakeholders. Board members serve in their personal capacity.
The first meeting of the reconstituted Global Compact Board will take place on 21 June in Rio de Janeiro, in connection with the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and following the Global Compact’s Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum, which will be held on 15-18 June at the Windsor Barra Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.
Launched in 2000, the United Nations Global Compact is a both a policy platform and a practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. As a multi-stakeholder leadership initiative, it seeks to align business operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to catalyze actions in support of broader UN goals. With more than 6,900 corporate signatories in 140 countries, it is the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative.
