UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC 2023

Hugh is the Head of BSR’s Financial Services practice and partners with companies across sectors. He advises institutional investors, corporations, and other capital market participants on corporate sustainability strategy, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and risk management, and stakeholder engagement. 

Prior to joining BSR, Hugh was a senior director at Ceres, where he led investor engagement with global institutional investors representing over US$20 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Hugh connected key climate change topics, including land use change and water risks, to investment portfolios and company supply chains to help investors and companies achieve climate change goals.  

Hugh has over 15 years of investment management expertise in various roles. At the US$250 billion AUM Florida State Board of Administration, he worked on corporate governance, ESG risks across asset classes, and risk management. He also worked at Morgan Stanley, where he provided investment management and consulting services.  

Hugh is a veteran of the US Air Force. He holds a BA in History and International Affairs from Florida State University and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.  

Aron is recognized globally as a preeminent authority on just and sustainable business. In addition to leading BSR, which has grown substantially throughout his tenure as President and CEO, Aron advises senior executives at BSR’s 300+ member companies and other global businesses and partners on the full spectrum of environmental, social, and governance issues.

Aron joined BSR in 1995 as the founding director of its Business and Human Rights program. He later opened BSR's Paris office in 2002, where he worked until becoming President and CEO in 2004. Aron has served on advisory boards to CEOs at AXA, Barrick Gold, Marks & Spencer, Nike, Recruit Holdings, SAP, Shell, and he serves as a director of the We Mean Business Coalition and RISE.

Aron speaks frequently at leading business and public fora and is widely quoted in top-tier media, such as the Financial Times, Le Figaro (France), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Axios, and Politico. He is co-author of the book Sustainable Excellence: The Future of Business in a Fast-Changing World, which spotlights innovative sustainability strategies that enable business success.

Prior to joining BSR, Aron practiced law in San Francisco and worked as a journalist at ABC News in New York. He holds a BA from Tufts University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Laura leads BSR’s Nature team. Her focus is working with member companies to develop holistic and credible strategic approaches to address nature related impacts and dependencies. These engagements are conducted across industries, with an additional focus on understanding the linkages between nature and other areas of focus (e.g., human rights, climate, etc.).

Prior to joining BSR, Laura spent seven years on the markets transformation team at the Rainforest Alliance. Her role focused on engaging companies throughout agriculture supply chains in addressing risks and opportunities through incorporating nature-based solutions and interventions. This included working with companies from farm to market on their sustainability strategy utilizing the Rainforest Alliance program. Laura also has experience in the beauty industry, where she worked in brand management and marketing.

Laura holds a Master of Communication Management from the University of Southern California and a BS in Business Administration from Boston University.

Deb leads BSR’s climate work in the US. She works closely with BSR’s external partnership teams to accelerate decarbonization while engendering climate justice. She works with Transform to Net Zero (TONZ) collaborative initiative members to amplify leadership behaviors that promote a just and resilient future. Deb leads efforts to create a series of TONZ Transformation Guides on issues such as climate transition action plans (CTAPs), climate policy engagement, and climate justice.

Prior to joining BSR, Deb was a professor at Duke University, where she led the Business and Environment program. Her research focused on business leadership behaviors required to advance sustainability, including stakeholder relationship management, ESG data acquisition and use, public policy engagement, and design of strategic partnerships. Over the course of 20 years at Duke, she mentored over 200 sustainability leaders. Prior to Duke, she held environmental leadership positions in manufacturing and government.

Deb holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University

Chhavi oversees BSR’s relationships with governments and foundations in North America, where he seeks to create cross-sector partnerships between the private sector and donors to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to joining BSR, Chhavi worked for a socially responsible investment firm, where he combined financial and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis to make sustainable investment recommendations. He also spent several years as an operations manager for Oracle’s Asia-Pacific and Americas regions, opening a new operation in India. He also developed a CSR strategy for a spirits company in Mexico, developed sustainability reports for companies in India and Saudi Arabia, and worked as a freelance CSR consultant for the Institute of Public Health. He speaks English, Spanish, and Hindi.

Chhavi holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business and an M.A. in International Studies from the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. in English and Computer Science from Rutgers University.

Laura is a global expert on corporate sustainability, with two decades of experience in strategy consulting and has advised senior executives at global companies across a range of industry sectors and sustainability issues.

As Chief Impact Officer (CIO), the first in the organization’s 30-year history, Laura focuses on maximizing the impact of BSR’s work with its network of over 300 members, both through direct engagement on project work and as a mentor for teams throughout the organization. She also oversees BSR’s collaborative initiatives and the Center for Business and Social Justice, and a recognized thought leader and innovator in strategic business.

She has been an instrumental leader in BSR’s organizational growth and impact. She launched BSR’s financial services practice and New York office, and she served as Chief Operating Officer for five years, leveraging her strengths in strategy, organizational change, and people management. Laura works with leading global companies to develop and enhance their sustainability strategies to maximize value for business and society, and she is sought after to facilitate senior-level strategy workshops and multi-stakeholder collaborations.

She previously worked for Deloitte Consulting, where she acquired extensive strategy experience advising multinational financial services companies. She also worked on several community and economic development projects in Latin America.

Laura holds a MBA from Stanford University and a BS in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is an adjunct professor in the Bard MBA in Sustainability program, a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a member of the UN Global Compact Expert Network.

MaryAnne is responsible for establishing equity, inclusion, and justice (EIJ) services at BSR as a leading business resource for value-based leadership. She provides insights, strategies, and resources to reimagine and institutionalize global EIJ using an issue-focused approach. She will lead BSR’s EIJ team to provide support to companies across industries through strategic consulting services, thought leadership, and research on issues including, but not exclusive to: economic, health, and racial equity and inclusion; women’s empowerment; PGLE; persons with disabilities, supply chains; board governance; and Indigenous and regional issues. 

MaryAnne is the founder of Ibis Communications and the Global Diversity Leadership Exchange, and she also co-founded J.E.D.I. Collaborative. She has extensive experience in working with leaders in corporate, governmental, and non-governmental organizations who are on the front lines of driving justice, equity, dignity, and inclusion (JEDI) at the intersection of sustainability in global markets.

MaryAnne holds a BS in Communications from Boston University.

Paloma leads BSR’s work on Human Rights Standards, including knowledge management and advising companies across industries on human rights and responding to emerging standards and regulation. She is also Senior Advisor to BSR’s Finance & Human Rights Practice.

Prior to joining BSR, Paloma was Advisor to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and Senior Consultant of the UN B-Tech Project, where she developed an ambitious vision for promoting the uptake of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights among investors and developed guidance on responsible investment in digital technologies. Prior to the UN, Paloma launched and served as Director of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, where she developed thought leadership on the investor responsibility to respect human rights and supported stewardship engagements across industries. She also worked as Senior Advisor at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, where she advised companies, governments, and civil society around the world on business and human rights.

Paloma is on the Editorial Board of Developments in the Field of the Business and Human Rights Journal of Cambridge University. She was also Design Team Member of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative and served as Advisory Board Member for First Peoples Worldwide.

She holds a Master of International Affairs (M.I.A.) in Human Rights from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. in Political Science, also from Columbia University. 

Paloma is Chilean-American and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

David leads BSR’s marketing and communications initiatives, working with a global team to amplify the organization’s mission and showcase its activities, impacts, and thought leadership to members, partners, and the wider business and policy community.

David previously worked for The B Team, a group of global business and civil society leaders working to catalyze a better way of doing business for the well-being of people and the planet. Throughout his 20-year career, he has worked with businesses and nonprofits in economic development, public health, and sustainability to define and communicate their purpose and impacts. .

He has built high-impact communications campaigns for a collaboration to improve maternal health in Zambia and Uganda, driven top-tier media coverage for a major economic development project in upstate New York, and helped strengthen parliamentary capacity and voter education efforts in South Africa and Zambia. He began his career as a newspaper reporter.

David earned his M.A. from The Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University and his B.A. in Journalism and Political Science from Michigan State University.

David works with companies to develop and implement credible environmental goals, manage climate and nature risks, integrate justice into environmental action, and incubate collaborations to build a net-zero economy. 

He strives to maximize the impact of our applied research, collaborative initiatives, and work with individual companies. This often means innovating how companies credibly align with the Paris Agreement, adapt to inbound climate disclosure regulation, and take advantage of growing interest in science-based nature goals. David also directs BSR’s Transform to Net Zero collaborative initiative. 

Before joining BSR, David was a climate diplomat for the Marshall Islands with the advisory group Independent Diplomat and led on emissions reductions and transparency in the UN climate negotiations for the Alliance of Small Island States. As an international lawyer with the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development, David built up the environmental treaty expertise of governments across the globe. He began his career as a securities litigator with Fried Frank in New York and a commercial litigator with Cassels Brock in Toronto, before focusing on climate change. 

David holds a LLM in International Law from New York University, a JD and MA in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.  

Diana leads BSR’s Supply Chain practice, working with companies to integrate forward-thinking sustainability strategies into the value chain. She focuses on helping companies manage their supplier engagement program to meet aggressive environmental and social targets.

Diana brings to BSR over a decade of sustainability experience, covering a wide array of issue areas such as single-use plastics reduction strategies, carbon neutrality scope 3 roadmaps, green procurement guidelines, labor and human rights policies, all the way through to reporting and disclosure. She has a background in economics and management consulting and has worked across the consumer, technology, financial services, energy, pharmaceutical, and nonprofit sectors.

A dual US-Swiss citizen, Diana holds a MBA in Environmental Management and Policy from The George Washington University School of Business and a BA in Economics from Bates College. Diana speaks Spanish and French.