BSR Board Elects New Chair: Former Natura CEO Alessandro Carlucci

Authors

• BSR Staff

  

BSR’s board of directors has elected Alessandro Carlucci as the organization’s fourth chair, effective in June. At the end of 2014, Carlucci stepped down after serving for 10 years as CEO of Natura, the Brazil-based company recognized globally for integrating sustainability into all aspects of its business. Carlucci will succeed Mats Lederhausen, who has served as the BSR board chair for the past nine years, guiding the organization through a period of substantial growth and globalization.

"I'm very honored and enthusiastic to join the BSR team,” said Carlucci. “It is an amazing organization with special people and a great purpose. After working for several years in a company deeply committed to sustainability, it will be a great experience to see the same challenges from a totally different perspective." 

BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer said BSR and BSR’s member companies will benefit from Carlucci’s leadership. “I am truly looking forward to working with such an accomplished business leader, with such a strong track record of leading a truly sustainable company,” he said. “As I have gotten to know Alessandro in recent months, I have been extremely impressed with his strategic acumen, his understanding of how to bring sustainability to life inside a business, and his experience with governance.”

Carlucci is relocating from São Paulo to New York in the middle of the year. During Carlucci’s leadership of Natura, the company grew fourfold and became carbon-free. Natura recently completed the B Corporation certification process, becoming the largest company in the world to achieve this status.

Current BSR Board Chair Mats Lederhausen said: “I have been proud to serve as BSR’s chair during a time of dynamic growth for the organization. I know that Alessandro will help the organization achieve even greater progress toward its mission in the years to come.”

Cramer added: “Mats has been a great partner to me and the whole team at BSR, and his insights, challenges, and support have been essential to the organization’s development. He will forever be part of the BSR family.”

Carlucci was selected following a six-month global search overseen by a board committee composed of Geralyn Ritter, senior vice president of global public policy, corporate secretary, and deputy general counsel, Merck; Anne-Marie Skov, director, the Tuborg Foundation; and Robb Webb, chief human resources officer, Hyatt Hotel Corporation. Egon Zehnder International conducted the search. Carlucci will become BSR’s fourth board chair, following Arnold Hiatt (who initially co-chaired with Helen Mills); Bob Dunn, BSR’s founding president and CEO; and Lederhausen.