Liz’s career has mostly been in finance, as a partner at EY and as a CFO, with a spell as CEO. She now has a non-executive portfolio which covers a range of governance roles and ownership and governance models. Throughout her career, she has focussed on how sustainability and ESG issues impact businesses with a focus on long term business resilience in the face of global challenges and also how businesses consider their societal and environmental impact. She has chaired the A4S CFO network, the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission, and the ICAEW Sustainability Committee, prior to joining the ICAEW board. As CFO at Yorkshire Water, Liz and her team developed a decision-making framework to evaluate and maximise impact from investment which was a Finance for the Future winner.

Jan Bebbington is the Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University (UK) with a longstanding track record of research and publication on topics such as: the Sustainable Development Goals, motivations and rationales for non-financial reporting; carbon accounting; and sustainability assessment. Jan’s most recent work focuses on the intersection between corporate and capital market activities and nature/biodiversity concerns. As part of that she is involved in a long-term collaboration between ecologists and sustainability scientists (at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and The Centre of Ocean Solutions at Stanford University) that provides knowledge to a practice-based cohort of seafood companies who are seeking to actively contribute to ocean stewardship (focusing on SDG 14 – Life Below the Water).

David Carlin is a leading global expert on climate risk and finance. He is the founder of D.A. Carlin and Company, advising governments, corporates, and financial institutions on climate, finance, and sustainability. Previously, he founded the Risk Centre at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), working with over 100 banks, investors, and insurers to develop best practices in the face of change. A Forbes contributor and senior associate at Cambridge, he teaches sustainability strategy at University College Dublin. David has spoken at numerous COPs and other international summits, and his work has appeared in the Financial Times and Time Magazine. He is the author of Accelerating Transition and The Customer is the Planet.

Anthony Cheung is Managing Director and Head of ESG at Polymer Capital Management, one of Asia’s largest multi-manager investment platforms, where he oversees ESG integration and sustainable investment strategies. With over 20 years of experience in asset management across Europe and Asia, he served at renowned institutions including Gartmore, Pictet, and BNP Paribas. As the first Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA) in Asia, Anthony has served on the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) Supervisory Board, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Stakeholder Council, and the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee. He contributes to climate governance as a board member of Friends of the Earth (HK) and the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. Recognized by the 2019 Regional ESG Leader Award by Insights and Mandate, Anthony actively advocates for advancing science-based, implementable climate accounting and sustainability reporting frameworks in Asia. Anthony is a Fellow of CPA Australia and based in Hong Kong.

Dr Danso is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Africa investor (Ai) Group – a pan African Infrastructure Investment Holding Company for institutional investors. He also serves as the Chairman of the CFA New York Society Global Asset Owners’ Advisory Council, the Chairman of the African Sovereign Wealth & Pension Fund Leaders Forum and as Chair of The African Union Development Agency’s (AUDA) Continental Business Network (CBN) and the Chair of the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank Advisory Board (AfGIIB).

Paul Druckman is a global leader in capital market reform having led the International Integrated Reporting Council as CEO for five years, followed by being a Board member of the FRC and chairing the Corporate Reporting Council. He recently completed 2 terms as Chair of the World Benchmarking Alliance. Current roles include being a Board member of the Shift Project and Accounting for Sustainability, whilst being a fellow of Chapter Zero.

Jessica Fries is Executive Chair of Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), established by HM King Charles III in 2004, when he was The Prince of Wales. She has led A4S since 2008, working with Chairs, CEOs, CFOs and other leaders from across the finance community to make sustainable business, business as usual. While at A4S, Jessica has been responsible for catalysing change in corporate reporting through the establishment of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), as well as transforming decision making through A4S's CFO, education and capital markets programmes. Previously, Jessica held a number of roles at PwC advising a wide range of companies, governments, investors and not-for-profit organisations. Jessica has written extensively on ways to integrate sustainability into business and finance and has been a member of a number of International, European and UK Government Committees, including the UK Treasury's Sustainability Reporting Steering Committee, the European Commission's Expert Group on Non-Financial Disclosure and the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Advisory Group. She is currently Chair of the GRI’s Supervisory Board, a member of the IFRS Foundation’s Integrated Reporting and Connectivity Council, and a member of the Smith School Global Sustainable Finance Advisory Council. Jessica is a chartered accountant, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Evan is a Managing Director on Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance team, specializing in Sustainability, Materiality, and Nature. He has more than 20 years of experience in the capital markets, most recently as the Global Head of Sustainability for Nasdaq. Evan has led or directly supported global sustainability standards-setting and reporting efforts, including the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GRI); Economic Impact Working Group (GRI); UN Global Compact (Network USA); UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative; World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) Sustainability Working Group; Corporate Roundtable (SASB/ISSB); Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship; Bloomberg DEI Index Working Group; Impact 2030 Metrics Council. Evan has been published in Forbes and Capital Finance International, and his writing and research helped to establish a sustainability baseline for stock exchanges. He is also a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences, events, and academic institutions (Yale, Columbia, Stanford).

Mr. Hawkins served as President and CFO Emeritus for Salesforce from February 2021 to November 2021. Prior to that, Hawkins served as President and Chief Financial Officer of Salesforce from August 2017 to January 2021, and as the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President from August 2014 to August 2017. From 2009 to 2014, Hawkins served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Autodesk. He served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance and Information Technology at Logitech International S.A., from 2006 to 2009 and served as a Vice President of Finance at Dell from 2000 - 2006. Prior to Dell, Hawkins worked at Hewlett-Packard from 1981 to 2000 where he held a variety of executive roles, including a two-year posting in Europe. Hawkins also served on HP's board of directors in Japan and China. Hawkins currently serves on the public Board of Directors of Workday, Cloudflare, and Toast. He also serves as an Operating Partner for BDT & MSD Partners, a Venture partner for NEA, a Senior Advisor and Board member to private companies. Hawkins is a founding member of the USA Chapter of His Majesty King Charles’ sponsored A4S.org CFO Leadership Network and Chairs the A4S Global Advisory Council. Hawkins also served on the NYSE Listed Company Advisory Board from 2019 to 2022. Hawkins holds a B.A. in Operations Management from Michigan State University and an M.B.A from the University of Colorado. He also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Ed Humpherson was appointed as Director General for Regulation in January 2014. He is head of the Office for Statistics Regulation which provides independent regulation of all official statistics in the UK. Prior to joining the Authority, Ed was a Board Member and Executive Leader for Economic Affairs at the National Audit Office, a post he held since July 2009. This role included responsibility for the overall strategic direction of NAO’s work on economic affairs. Ed is a Chartered Accountant.

Andrew Karolyi currently serves as the inaugural Charles Field Knight Dean of the College and is a Professor of Finance and holder of the Harold Bierman Jr. Distinguished Professorship in Management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. His research specializes in the study of investment management with a focus on international financial markets. Professor Karolyi received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from McGill University and worked for years in research at the Bank of Canada. He subsequently studied for his MBA and PhD degrees in Finance at the Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago.

Brian is a Vice Chair and a Director of Brookfield Corporation, a global investment firm. Brian joined Bnrookfield in 1988 and has held senior positions in Brookfield’s investment and finance operations, including serving as CFO of Brookfield from 2002 to 2020. In 2013 he was selected as Canada’s CFO of the Year, and he previously served as co-chair of the Canadian CFO Chapter of the Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability organization. Brian and his wife, Joannah, operate a family foundation which began with a specific focus on improving the impact of food systems on the health of humans and the planet; the mandate has since expanded to focus on climate chage more broadly (www.lawsonfoundation.ca). Brian is currently Chancellor of Trinity College in the UofT as well as a co-chair of UofT’s Defy Gravity capital campaign. He is a past chair of the governing council at UofT as well as the board of directors of CFCC. Brian and Joannah live in Toronto, Canada and their three children are currently in various stages of post-secondary education in North America and Europe.

Alex Lombos is a lawyer in ClientEarth’s Purposeful Markets group. Based in London, Alex leads the organisation’s commercial banking and transition finance workstreams which aim to reduce the climate impact of the banking sector and direct finance flows to a sustainable future. Alex was recently recognised by Reuters as a Future Climate Leader 2024. Prior to joining ClientEarth, Alex worked in the financial litigation practice of Simmons & Simmons LLP in London and Hong Kong.

Mardi McBrien is Chief of Strategic Affairs at the IFRS Foundation where amongst her portfolio of responsibilities leads the International Sustainability Standards Boards Capacity Building Program. Prior to the IFRS Foundation, Mardi spent over a decade leading the global ESG standard setter, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) and the multi-award-winning team to develop high quality disclosure standards and thought leadership on environmental and social issues to drive greater consistency and comparability of information reported to capital markets. Mardi has enjoyed a vibrant career which involved her leading high profile flagship environmental campaigns for WWF, to working on the United Kingdom's carbon market policy for their Department for Energy and Climate Change and public private partnership management. Originally qualifying as a forester and environmental scientist in Australia (Melbourne University) and agricultural economist (UK, SOAS), Mardi is a Board Member of XBRL International, trustee of one of the oldest environmental NGOs in the world, the International Tree Foundation, a founding Board member of WOCAN – Women Organising for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management / W+ Standard, a school governor and a member of the ICAEW Sustainability Advisory Committee. Mardi was awarded UK environmental campaigner of the year by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation in 2013 and in 2021 and was selected as one of the ESG Foundation's ones to watch.

Dr. Jeanne Ng is currently Adjunct Professor in Sustainability at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to this she was the Chief Sustainability Officer of BlueOnion, a global ESG modelling and analytics platform. She holds a BSc in Toxicology from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Environmental Management from the University of Hong Kong. With almost a decade of consulting experience in Hong Kong’s environmental industry, she was regarded in the 90s as one of Hong Kong’s foremost experts in air and greenhouse gas emissions inventories. She joined CLP in 2003 and was involved in starting up its Group Environmental Affairs, Group Sustainability and the CLP Research Institute functions. She established the data management system and governance processes necessary for the delivery of CLP’s award-winning Sustainability Report and was a key contributor to setting up CLP Group’s first renewable energy targets and Climate Vision 2050 carbon reduction targets. She also encouraged CLP to become the first company in Hong Kong to produce an Integrated Annual Report under the International Integrated Reporting Council’s <IR> Framework in 2011. She has been involved with many international engagements, including the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), the Advisory Council of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Veronica Poole is a Vice Chair of Deloitte UK and Deloitte Global IFRS and Corporate Reporting Leader. Veronica drives change in the accounting profession, including reporting of sustainability and climate. She played a prominent role in the run-up to the establishment of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) by facilitating the work of the ‘Group of 5’ leading sustainability standards-setters and representing the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) on the IFRS Foundation’s Technical Readiness Working Group. She continues to drive harmonisation of standards and a move towards a global comprehensive corporate reporting system. She is a member of the IFRS Foundation’s Integrated Reporting and Connectivity Council. Veronica leads Deloitte’s contributions to the WEF International Business Council’s ‘Stakeholder Metrics’ project. She is a member of the Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) Advisory Council and leads Deloitte’s partnership with A4S on the Finance for the Future Awards. She helped launch the UK directors’ climate forum, Chapter Zero, and leads Deloitte’s relationship with Chapter Zero Global. Veronica is a former member of the Financial Reporting Advisory Board to HM Treasury in the UK and former member of the UK Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Corporate Reporting Council.

Helen Slinger is Executive Director at Accounting for Sustainability (A4S), leading the organization’s work to provide finance professionals with the knowledge, skills and practical guidance to embed sustainability into their business-as-usual. During her time as Head of Sustainable Business at Yorkshire Water, Helen championed a transition to a sustainable business model. As part of her role, she was instrumental in driving forward their social impact agenda, working closely with the Board’s Public Value Committee; accelerating progress on modern slavery and ensuring a fair reflection of social impact in their sustainable finance framework and multi-capitals impact reporting. Helen is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), a Practitioner Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and an Accredited Social Return on Investment Practitioner. She has an Executive MBA from the University of Leeds and is an advisor to the University of Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.

Kristen B. Sullivan is an Audit & Assurance partner with Deloitte & Touche LLP and serves as the Sustainability Services Marketplace leader. She also serves as the Global Audit and Assurance Sustainability Services Marketplace Leader and the Integrated Reporting Community of Practice Leader. Kristen brings extensive experience in delivering sustainability risk assessment, governance, strategy alignment, measurement, reporting, and assurance services. Kristen also serves as a member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Community, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Assurance Task Force, the Sustainable Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative Corporate Working Group and serves as Chair of the AICPA Sustainability Task Force.

Iain is Managing Director for Reputation and Influence at ICAEW, responsible for ensuring that ICAEW leverages its world-class technical and policy expertise. He trained as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte and Touche, before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool in 2004. Iain went on to serve as a Minister in both the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. Later, he became Chair of Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, where he led high profile inquiries into the sale of BHS and working practices at Sports Direct. Iain decided to stand down from Parliament in 2017 and joined ICAEW in 2018. He achieved an MBA with Distinction from Durham University Business School in 2019. Iain is also Interim Business co-Chair of the PBSC, and a Governor of Middlesbrough College, chairing its Audit & Risk Committee and chairs the policy forum of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Ray G. Young is retired Vice Chairman and former Chief Financial Officer of Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), a global food and nutrition company headquartered in Chicago IL. He served as its CFO from December 2010 through March 2022 and retired at the end of 2022. He also had a 24-year career at General Motors (GM), living and working on four continents and was its CFO during the global financial crisis. Ray has served on a number of Fortune 500 U.S. boards. Currently, Ray is engaged in a variety of non-for-profit activities. Ray currently resides in Chicago IL with his wife and young son.