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Andrew Mayock (Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at The White House)

Andrew Mayock

Federal Chief Sustainability Officer at The White House

On February 9, 2021, President Biden appointed Andrew Mayock to serve as the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer. As the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, Andrew Mayock leads President Biden's efforts to improve the sustainability of the Federal government, including by helping Federal agencies prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change on their operations and services.

Andrew brings over 25 years of public and private sector experience to the Biden Administration, including service in the Obama and Clinton Administrations. In the Obama Administration, Andrew served as Deputy Director for Management and Associate Director for General Government Programs at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). At OMB, he led OMB's management offices and the President's Management Council with a focus on digital services, cybersecurity, acquisitions, financial management, personnel and performance management. As Associate Director for General Government Programs, he oversaw policy and budget for six cabinet agencies comprising $225 billion of the President's budget and covering over one million federal employees.

Prior to his OMB roles, Andrew served as the Deputy Vice President for Compact Operations for East and Southern Africa at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. He served as Executive Secretary at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2009-2010.

In the Clinton Administration from 1995-2000, Andrew worked at the White House and the U.S. Treasury Department. Andrew was a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton from 2003-2009 and McKinsey & Company from 2017-2020, where he focused on public sector programs.

During 2019–2020, Andrew served on the steering committee of the Climate 21 Project, which delivered advice for a coordinated, rapid-start, whole-of-government climate response.

Andrew received a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, law degree from The George Washington University Law School, and a master in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He and his wife have two children and reside in Washington, D.C.

James Gowen (Sr VP Supply Chain and Chief Sustainability Officer at Verizon)

James Gowen

Sr VP Supply Chain and Chief Sustainability Officer at Verizon

James Gowen is Vice President, Global Supply Chain Operations and Chief Sustainability Officer for Verizon. Since taking on these complementary roles in 2009, his team has enlisted more than 45,000 Verizon employees in 50 countries around the globe in helping to reduce the company’s environmental footprint while increasing the efficiency of a growing enterprise.

Gowen has been deeply involved in the advancement of innovative and sustainable technologies and spearheaded the launch of Verizon’s first ever green bond in the first quarter of 2019. This $1B bond highlights Verizon’s commitments to renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation and reforestation. Gowen also launched Verizon’s flagship $137M green energy initiative which enabled Verizon to eliminate 20,000 metric tons of CO2. Gowen also oversees other green initiatives being implemented across Verizon including the introduction of a carbon intensity metric, paper suppression, waste reduction and recycling, and management of end-of-life-cycle material recovery.

In his supply chain role, Gowen leads all inventory planning and logistics operations globally. Gowen is responsible for the planning of over $30B of inventory across all Verizon’s lines of business. Additionally, Gowen has responsibility for Verizon’s Global Manufacturing Operations, producing customer premises equipment deployed to Fios & VZConnect customers.

Most recently Gowen spearheaded the start-up of Verizon Services Ireland Limited in Dublin, Ireland. He was responsible for transitioning 15 billion dollars in annual spend for strategic sourcing of Verizon’s Network and IT operations. Over 85 industry professionals were hired and a state-of the art center of excellence was built under Gowen’s leadership in less than 7 months.

Having held several positions of increasing levels of responsibility at Verizon, Gowen was the lead architect of the company's supply chain strategy and led the strategic shift from a fixed to a variable inventory business model. While in corporate sourcing, he led the implementation of Verizon's eProcurement effort, and the standardization of Verizon's supply chain systems.

Gowen earned his master's degree in business administration from Long Island University and his bachelor's degree from Manhattanville College. He is a member of Penn State University’s Smeal Sustainability Advisory Board. He is also the current Chairman of GeSI (Global e Sustainability based out of Brussels) Gowen is located at Verizon Center in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Luis Neves (CEO of GeSI)

Luis Neves

CEO of GeSI

Luis Neves is CEO of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) since 2017. Prior to that, from 2008-2017, Luis held the position of GeSI Chairman. Under Luis' leadership, GeSI has become a globally recognized “thought industry leader” organisation in the field of ICT- sustainability with strong focus on the enabling role and positive contribution of digital technologies to climate protection.
Before GeSI, Luis worked at Deutsche Telekom for over 15 years holding positions such as Head of Sustainable Development and Environment, VP of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Sustainability and Climate Protection Officer. Luis has also held positions and played relevant roles at European and international levels in organisations, such as the UN Global Compact Lead Group, Econsense -the German Sustainability Association, World Resources Forum Association and UNFCCC Momentum for Change Initiative.
Luis was born in Portugal and obtained a degree in History from the University of Lisbon.

Alessandro Gropelli (Deputy to the Director General of ETNO)

Alessandro Gropelli

Deputy to the Director General of ETNO

Alessandro Gropelli is ETNO’s Deputy Director General and Director of Strategy and Communications. He joined ETNO in 2013 and he is an expert of tech and telecoms policy. Alessandro is also a Member of the Board and the Treasurer of GeSI, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative.

Prior to joining ETNO, Alessandro was European affairs advisor at Vodafone Group and vice-chairman at m-commerce working group of GSMA Europe. In 2010, he worked in the Brussels team of Telecom Italia. In 2009, as public relations officer at the European Parliament, he implemented the information campaign for the 2009 European Elections in Northern Italy.

He holds an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School (2021). He graduated in public management from Bocconi University in Milan (2009) and did an exchange at the Hitotsubashi University of Tokyo (2008). He also completed Executive Education courses at the MIT (Leadership, 2018) and Berkeley Haas (Negotiations, 2016).

Alessandro speaks English, French and his native language is Italian.

Ilias Iakovidis (Adviser, Green Digital Transformation at European Commission, DG CONNECT)

Ilias Iakovidis

Adviser, Green Digital Transformation at European Commission, DG CONNECT

Ilias Iakovidis PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT

Ilias works on EU wide measures and initiatives that aim to improve the energy and material efficiency of ICT. He is also focused on digitalisation for circular economy, in particular, on the digital product passport that aims to accelerate the transition to circular economy. In cooperation with several Commission services and external stakeholders, Ilias works on maximising the benefits of green digital transformation. He has supported the establishment of the European Green Digital Coalition and manages the European Parliament Pilot project supporting this Coalition that is working on science-based methods to estimate the net environmental impact of digital solutions.

In cooperation with stakeholders the Pilot project will also develop guidelines for green digital transformation in sectors such as energy, transport, construction, agriculture and others.
Before 2017 Ilias was leading the eHealth and ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing units and contributed to the EU Agenda in eHealth for over 20 years. Areas he pioneered include digitally supported Integrated Care; 'Virtual Physiological Human' (digital patient); Personal Health Systems and Electronic Health Records.

Steve Rochlin (CEO of ImpactROI)

Steve Rochlin

CEO of ImpactROI

Steve has over 20 years of experience in sustainability and corporate responsibility. He has advised leading companies across a wide variety of industry sectors, assocations, NGOs, multi-lateral organizations, grant-making institutions, and government agencies on how to improve sustainability performance in a way that drives competitive success.

Steve is the lead author of the Project ROI research series, acclaimed as the leading business case research by Forbes, and Inc. among others. The series of report he served as lead author include: Defining the Competitive and Financial Advantages of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability; The Business ROI of Social Investments; and Driving Corporate Involvement in Community Health and Well-being. He has been a senior executive at three leading ESG organizations. Steve was co-founder and CEO of IO Sustainability. For Accountability he served as the Director of Global Advisory Services and a member of the Board of Directors. For the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship Steve served as the Director of Research and Development. Steve is co-author of two books on ESG: Beyond Good Company: Next Generation Corporate Citizenship and Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets. Steve is a highly-regarded speaker and has presented on environmental, social, and governance topics around the world.

Steve obtained his MPP from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and his A.B. from Brown University.

Chris Tuppen (Managing Director of Advancing Sustainability)

Chris Tuppen

Managing Director of Advancing Sustainability
Kaoru Inoue (Director of GeSI)

Kaoru Inoue

Director of GeSI

Kaoru is responsible for the overall management and operation of GeSI, as well as protection of the organisation’s assets while ensuring compliance with Board directives.

With a formal background as a policy researcher, Kaoru specialises in the intersection between technology and transnational crime. Kaoru has engaged in research across sectors pertaining to frontier technologies for human rights.

With experiences in communications and project management, Kaoru has worked at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Oak Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland. Kaoru also interned at New Profit and Oxfam America in Boston, USA.

Kaoru obtained a BA in International Affairs from Northeastern University and a Master in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Veronika Thieme (Head of Delivery - Europe at The Carbon Trust)

Veronika Thieme

Head of Delivery - Europe at The Carbon Trust
Jacco Verstraeten-Jochemsen (Lead Business Solutions at Circle Economy at Circle Economy)

Jacco Verstraeten-Jochemsen

Lead Business Solutions at Circle Economy at Circle Economy