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Corporate Social Responsibility
News
12.12.2007 - 12:29pm ET
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World Environment Center Announces New Board Leadership and Strategic Initiatives
(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, D.C.-December 12, 2007-The World Environment Center (WEC) today
announced the election of new Officers and Members to its Board of
Directors and approved the update of a strategic plan that establishes
ambitious new initiatives for expanding the organization’s global
activities.
Elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors is Wayne S. Balta,
Vice President, Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety at IBM.
Mr. Balta will succeed Elizabeth A. Lowery, Vice President, Environment,
Energy and Safety Policy at General Motors on January 1, 2008. Ms. Lowery
will remain as a WEC Board member.
"I am very honored to succeed Beth Lowery who has re-directed and
re-established WEC as a global leadership organization in sustainable
development," stated Mr. Balta. "WEC's focus on strategic business issues
enables it to generate value for business and society in ways that are
unique across the spectrum of institutions that are advancing
sustainability issues."
Other appointments announced by WEC included:
Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors-Jeff Seabright, Vice
President of Environment & Water Resources, Coca-Cola.
Secretary-Treasurer-Paul Hagen, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond.
Re-appointment to the Board of Directors for a second term—Armando
J. Garcia Segovia, Executive Vice President, Cemex; and Dieter Hübl, Head
of Health, Safety and Environmental Management, Bayer Health Sciences.
New Members of the Board of Directors—Martin Hostalek, Senior Vice
President of Environment, Health, Safety, Security and Quality, Merck
KGaA; and Ienobu Kakegawa, Senior Specialist, Corporate Environment
Division, Ricoh Company.
The Board also gratefully acknowledged the many contributions and years of
service of Prof. Nicholas A. Robinson, Professor in Environmental Law, Pace
University School of Law.
WEC also announced the approval of a new strategic plan that includes the
following core areas and initiatives:
Advancing sustainable solutions through capacity building,
The Board endorsed expanding WEC’s current activities in China that will
include new capacity building projects and establishing a permanent office
in Shanghai in 2008; and strengthening the organization’s capabilities
in the Latin American region. These actions directly assist businesses
and their suppliers to implement sustainable development across their
value chains.
Building sustainable development competencies. The Board
endorsed a 2008 program of strategic level roundtables that will address
such issues as improving energy efficiency in the Chinese private sector,
advancing sustainability standards across the supply chain, designing
collaborative strategies for solving global problems and building regional
climate change strategies. The time and location of these roundtables will
be separately published.
Honouring business excellence. The Board noted that the
winner of WEC's 24th annual Gold Medal Award for International Achievement
in Sustainable Development was Marks & Spencer. The company will be
honoured at a gala black tie dinner in Washington, D.C. on May 9, 2008
preceded that day by a Colloquium on the topic of Global
Non-Governmental Organizations: A Discussion of Strategies with Their
Chief Executive Officers.
The Board of Directors also directed that planning begin to establish WEC
membership and projects in India.
About WEC: WEC is an independent, non-profit, non-advocacy
organization whose mission is to advance sustainable development through
the business practices of its member companies in partnership with
government, non-government organizations and other stakeholders. WEC's
activities are global in scope, and it is unique in providing direct,
on-the-ground support to companies to improve their performance and that
of their business partners across the value chain.
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