Erik Distler - VP, Head of Sustainability at AEG
Sustainable Nation
Erik Distler is responsible for overseeing AEG Sustainability, the organization’s corporate sustainability program. In this capacity, he focuses on global strategies and tactics that address operational impacts and capture and measure data across key environmental metrics, such as greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and waste reduction. He also supports AEG’s global business units in the implementation and execution of sustainability initiatives, manages external partnerships related to sustainability, facilitates the sharing of best practices, and ensures that sustainability is a...
info_outline
Ellen Jackowski - Chief Sustainability Officer and EVP at Mastercard
Sustainable Nation
Ellen is spearheading the integration of Mastercard's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy into the organization. As part of this work, she is driving climate leadership for Mastercard-wide programs and commitments, such as reaching net-zero emissions by 2040, and helping accelerate the company’s impact in climate action initiatives like Priceless Planet Coalition. Mastercard’s ESG efforts, established more than a decade ago, are rooted in a belief of doing well by doing good in order to have true impact and enable both people and the planet to thrive. Previously, Ellen...
info_outline
Jonah Smith - Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy and Programs at IBM
Sustainable Nation
Jonah Smith joined IBM in 2023 as Vice President, Environmental Social Governance Strategy and Programs. In addition to leading global ESG strategy, goals, stakeholder engagement, reporting and governance, Jonah’s responsibilities also entail the development and implementation of environmental social innovation programs such as the IBM Sustainability Accelerator. Prior to IBM, Jonah led ESG at Kraft Heinz as its Global Head of Environmental Social Governance & President of the Kraft Heinz Foundation. Prior to Kraft Heinz Jonah held similar roles at Grainger and...
info_outline
Allison Jordan - Executive Director at California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Vice President, Environmental Affairs at Wine Institute
Sustainable Nation
Allison Jordan joined Wine Institute and the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) in 2003, shortly after the publication of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing. Since 2007, she has served as the Executive Director of the Alliance and Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Wine Institute. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at SureHarvest and Vice President and Executive Director of Resource Renewal Institute. Jordan holds a master of Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley and a Psychology bachelor's degree from Allegheny College, a Certificate in...
info_outline
Marissa McInnis - Senior Director, Global Sustainability at Verizon
Sustainable Nation
Marissa is responsible for overseeing the continued evolution and implementation of Verizon’s Sustainability Strategy as well as its enterprise wide relationships across its sustainability portfolio. She focuses on operationalizing Verizon’s internal and external commitments while tracking its progress across the enterprise to ensure holistic management in the areas of sustainability and driving profitable growth. Prior to joining Verizon, Marissa was with the Department of Defense in Washington DC, leading Climate Policy and Interagency engagement. She served as the climate policy...
info_outline
Todd Brady - Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President of Community Relations and Sustainable Operations at Intel
Sustainable Nation
Todd Brady is the Chief Sustainability Officer for Intel Corporation, and Vice President of Community Relations & Sustainable Operations. As Chief Sustainability Officer, he leads Intel’s global sustainability initiatives including climate, energy, water, green buildings and circular economy. Currently, Todd’s organization is focused on achieving Intel’s ambitious 2030 sustainability goals and commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Intel’s global operations by 2040. Todd’s Community Relations teams oversee local stakeholder engagement, community relations,...
info_outline
Erin Hiatt - Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at RILA
Sustainable Nation
Erin is the lead for RILA’s ESG and corporate responsibility portfolio, encompassing its Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Sustainability, and Responsible Sourcing Committees, and ESG engagement activities. She organizes educational content and convenes and facilitates benchmarking discussions, resource development, and stakeholder engagement for corporate retail issue leads in each of these areas. Erin has been with RILA since 2012, serving in a variety of roles supporting and leading the association’s CSR communities. Erin serves on the International Sustainable Standards Board’s...
info_outline
Derek Young - Vice President ESG at CBL Properties
Sustainable Nation
Derek Young is an ESG, CSR, sustainability, and communications professional with over 25 years of experience. He is recognized as a thought leader capable of working across industries, analyzing and determining needs and opportunities for risk reduction, value creation, and building and delivering strategic ESG, CSR, Sustainability programs, messaging and branding campaigns, and community and stakeholder engagement efforts. Derek has led ESG consulting for Summit Strategy Group as well as served as the in-house CSR/Sustainability leader for a number of companies, including TGI Fridays, FedEx...
info_outline
Norman Vossschulte - Director of Fan Experience & Sustainability at the Philadelphia Eagles
Sustainable Nation
Norman Vossschulte is originally from Berlin, Germany. His culturally rich background included ten years living abroad in Africa, Iraq and Spain before moving back to Germany to finish High School and College. He studied Biology and Physical Science before deciding to move to New York City in 1996 to attend the Herbert Berghof Institute for Fine Theatre Arts and Drama. Norman’s work experience is as eclectic as his upbringing. He has worked in the hotel industry, the non-profit industry, as well as both sports and entertainment industries. 25 years of practicing customer and client...
info_outline
Thomas Stanchak - Director of Sustainability at Stoneweg US
Sustainable Nation
Thomas Stanchak is a seasoned Commercial Real Estate professional with over 20 years of diverse experience. He began his career with his current employer, Stoneweg US in 2017 as an Asset Manager, where he was responsible for overseeing operations, maximizing occupancy, and maintaining budgets for 17 assets in the Midwest region. In 2019, he was promoted to Senior Asset Manager assuming operational responsibility for more than 50% of total AUMs; where his operational leadership was hugely impactful in Stoneweg US’ ability to deliver healthy returns to its investors that year. In 2020, Tom...
info_outlineEmilio Tenuta is senior vice president of Corporate Sustainability and chief sustainability officer for Ecolab. For the past 11 years, he has led Ecolab’s strategic sustainability journey and is actively involved in advancing global sustainability practices, with a significant focus on water stewardship and climate action. In recent years, he’s become a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and reporting. Partnering with investor relations and Ecolab’s Chief Executive Officer, Tenuta has advanced Ecolab’s reputation as an ESG leading company. He is chair of the board of directors of the World Environment Center, a global non-profit, non-advocacy organization. Emilio is also on the leadership council of the Corporate Eco Forum.
Emilio Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:
- Prioritizing sustainability work between customers and internal operations
- Ecolab establishing themselves as a corporate leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, CDP, and in other rankings
- Water and climate; the Ecolab Water for Climate strategy and The Water Resilience Coalition
- Closing the ‘say-do’ sustainability gap
- Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals
Emilio’s Final Five Questions Responses:
What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?
If you really want to make a difference from a sustainability impact, work in the private sector. I believe there is this myth that the only place people can make a difference is by working for an environmental nonprofit. I think today in our discussion we've proven that Ecolab is living proof that more and more companies can deliver a positive impact in the world while driving profitable growth and helping communities thrive.
What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?
The rise of ESG over the last five years. I'm most excited about the tremendous investment in sustainability, climate and water by the capital markets and investors to help the world decarbonize. I think mobilizing finance is a huge catalyst to driving the change we need to see in the world.
What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?
I'm a big fan of Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat. His latest book is really good called Thank You For Being Late. It's an interesting perspective on the convergence of technology, climate, and geopolitical challenges facing the world; something that is obviously very relevant today.
What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?
I'm a big fan of The World Resources Institute, which is a think tank out of Washington DC. I'm also a big fan of CDP, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Water Resilience Coalition. After two and a half/three years now, there are a plethora of resources available if you go to the Water Resilience Coalition website that support not only the actions we need to take for a water constrained world, but also driving climate resilience.
Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at Ecolab?
Ecolab.com. It's a tremendous resource and I really commend our global communications team and our digital enablement team. They've done a great job of providing some tremendous resources there. I would encourage folks to follow me on LinkedIn. I'm very passionate about sharing the incredible things going on in the world not only with Ecolab, but with all of our partners, and then Twitter as well. Then I'll shout out to a publicly available tool called the Smartwater Navigator, which is available on smartwaternavigator.com, which is another great place to really learn more about the work that we're doing.