WASHINGTON, D.C. - Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), has been named one of the world's Top 100 Most Influential People in Finance, in the annual ranking of Treasury & Risk Management magazine.

Lash is the only leader of a non-profit environmental organization to make the list, and judges for the list said he and WRI's work with companies - most recently General Electric - "to reform business approaches to the environment and development" make Lash a "Washington warrior" and someone from whom "you can expect big things in the next year."
Pat Wechsler, editorial director of Treasury & Risk Management magazine, said, "Look at the issue of climate change, which is our cover story in the June issue, and you can't help but recognize that the key to good business management in the decades to come will be increasingly tied to the sustainability of a company's strategies, its products and its risk management - based on growing environmental risks but also based on shareholder and consumer concerns about corporate accountability and responsibility.

"We were pleased to include WRI's Jonathan Lash in our list of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance because he and his Institute represent that vision of the future," added Wechsler, whose 47,000 closed-circulation monthly magazine serves Fortune 1000 CFOs, treasurers and controllers.

Lash and WRI have worked closely with many of the world's most important companies in formulating their internal sustainable practices and policies, including the likes of Citigroup, Shell, Alcoa and GE, whose CEO Jeffrey Immelt was also named to the list for likely becoming "the poster executive for companies becoming more proactive about climate change."

For more than a decade, WRI's Sustainable Enterprise Program has harnessed the power of business to create profitable solutions to environment and development challenges. WRI is the only organization that brings together corporations, entrepreneurs, investors, and business schools to accelerate change in business practice. The program improves people's lives and the environment by helping business leaders and new markets thrive.

To view the full Top 100 list, please visit www.treasuryandrisk.com/issues/2005_06/careers/416-1.html.

Contact:
Paul Mackie, WRI media officer, +1(202) 729-7684, pmackie@wri.org

The World Resources Institute (www.wri.org) is an independent nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators working to protect the Earth and improve people's lives.

World Resources Institute

World Resources Institute

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Because people are inspired by ideas, empowered by knowledge, and moved to change by greater understanding, WRI provides—and helps other institutions provide—objective information and practical proposals for policy and institutional change that will foster environmentally sound, socially equitable development. WRI organizes its work around four key goals:

People & Ecosystems: Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services.

Access: Guarantee public access to information and decisions regarding natural resources and the environment.

Climate Protection: Protect the global climate system from further harm due to emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change.

Markets & Enterprise: Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment.

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