Today I brought a list of the top 5 sustainable leaders because I strongly believe in knowing the best examples and practices related to sustainability and ESG. This compilation was made by Sustainability Magazine and includes the top 100 sustainable leaders. I decided to summarize it for you to focus on the most important, but if you want to know all of them, just access this link.
Top 5 Sustainable Leaders
If you want to know more about the whole story, I recommend the magazine, which provides a short bio of each of the 100 sustainable leaders mentioned there. Here, I’ll just highlight a few topics that I considered more relevant in each story:
1 – Kate Brandt – Chief Sustainability Officer at Google Revolutionized Google’s processes to be more sustainable In 2014, she was a federal executive for the environment in the Obama administration (in the USA) Received the Distinguished Public Service Award for her work Nominated by Fortune Magazine for its 40 Under 40 list in 2021
2 – Rebecca Marmot – Chief Sustainability Officer at Unilever Leading the next chapter in Unilever’s sustainable journey Participated in sustainability milestones such as the Paris Agreement and the creation of the UN SDGs Former Global Vice President at Unilever Former Global Director of External Affairs at L’Oreal
3 – Musidora Jorgensen – Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft Former VP of Sales at Salesforce Gender and Diversity Speaker at PwC Conference Member of the Gamechangers Women’s Network and mentor to University of Greenwich students In 2018, won the Best Sales Mentor award, and in 2020, was among the Top 100 Women Leaders of the Future
4 – Paulette Frank – Chief Sustainability Officer at Johnson & Johnson Responsible for the 2025-2030 climate objectives plan in the company Joined J&J in 1997 as Global VP of environment, health, safety, and sustainability Chairs the Governance Council and the Diversity and Inclusion Council Participates in the Centre for Business and Environment at Yale (CBEY)
5 – Virginie Helias – Chief Sustainability Officer at P&G Over 3 decades of experience at P&G with international experience in various countries Mission to implement sustainability in the brand-building innovation process Promoted to Global VP of Sustainability in 2016 Transformed one of P&G’s brands (Ariel) into a sustainability leader
Top 6-10 Sustainable Leaders
I also list the top 6-10 sustainable leaders without analysis, just for you to know other companies and leaders making a difference in the pursuit of more sustainability in business:
6 – Bea Perez – SVP and Chief Communications, Sustainability and Strategic Partnerships Officer at Coca Cola
7 – Jim Andrews – Chief Sustainability Officer at PepsiCo
8 – Velislava Ivanova – Chief Sustainability Officer at EY (Ernst & Young)
9 – Judith Wiese – Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Siemens
10 – Sophia Leonora Mendelsohn – Chief Sustainability Officer and Global Head of ESG at Cognizant
Observations
The most striking analysis for me was the (very positive) focus on women making a difference. In the top 10, we have only 1 man represented in the seventh position (Jim Andrews), and besides that, we have 9 women leading the sustainability initiatives of these giant companies.
Another point that caught my attention was the focus on professionals in the highest sustainability positions in large companies. Those who have more chances of making a difference today are those who handle a large amount of money and, consequently, tend to generate more impact.
In my view, this doesn’t mean that there is no room for sustainable leaders in small and medium-sized companies for sustainability. On the contrary, because they are not in the spotlight, there is an opportunity to stand out with good actions and directions towards the ESG agenda without the pressure that large companies face
