Georg Kell is the founder and former executive director of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative with over 8,000 corporate signatories in more than 160 countries.
As its founding executive director, Kell helped to establish the UNGC as the foremost platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible and sustainable corporate policies and practices.
In a career of more than 25 years at the United Nations, Kell also oversaw the conception and launch of the Global Compact’s sister initiatives on investment, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and on education, the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), together with the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative. Mr. Kell is currently chairman of Arabesque, an asset management firm that integrates environmental, social, and governance data with quantitative investment strategies.
He started his career as a research fellow in engineering at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Innovation in Berlin. He then worked as a financial analyst in various countries in Africa and Asia before joining the United Nations in 1987. A native of Germany, Kell holds advanced degrees in economics and engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.
Mr. Kell has received numerous recognitions and has been named among the "100 Most Influential in Business Ethics" every year since 2011.
“I am proud to support Eco-Business, which I have long considered a leading voice on the issues that shape our future. As markets need to accelerate transformations away from industrial era practices towards a cleaner, healthier and smarter future, the role of Eco-Business is of growing importance.”
Jessica Robinson is the Founder of Moxie Future - the world’s first platform empowering women as responsible investors. As well as running Moxie Future, Jessica works as a strategic advisor to institutional investors, think tanks and governments on green finance, sustainability and responsible investment.
She was formerly chief executive and board director of the Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA); led the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change; played an active leadership role in the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) and the Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (GIC), and was a member of Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council’s Green Finance Working Group.
Jessica has an extensive background in professional services and business consulting, focusing on financial services, environmental finance and sustainability industries. Through varied roles, she has had experience of working and living in Asia, Europe, North America and now the Middle East - across a range of different sectors, markets and regulatory environments.
“I am truly excited to be joining the advisory board of Eco-Business. Sustainability is a critical issue and the work of Eco-Business is important to ensure that professionals, businesses and consumers not just understand the complexity of the issues, but also what we can all do to address the massive challenges we are facing. It provides a unique platform and I am very proud to be part of the next chapter in its journey.”
Assaad W. Razzouk is a Lebanese-British clean energy entrepreneur, investor, podcaster and commentator based in Singapore.
He is Chairman and CEO of Sindicatum Renewable Energy, a clean energy company headquartered in Singapore financing, building and operating renewable energy projects in India, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines; CEO of the Reneum Institute, a Singapore start-up intending to digitize and democratize renewable energy; hosts the Podcast The Angry Clean Energy Guy; an Advisory Board member of Eco-Business; a Board member of EB Impact, the Singaporean non-profit organisation focused on delivering training and programmes to Asia Pacific’s underserved communities to generate positive sustainable development; a member of the International Council of the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine; and an occasional contributor to the Huffington Post, Eco-Business, Forbes, the Independent, the Ecologist and others.
With his hands-on experience in clean energy combined with his other roles, Assaad is a high-profile thought leader on climate change, clean energy and the UN climate talks with more than 130,000 followers on Twitter, 100,000 on Facebook, 135,000 on LinkedIn and widely-read newspaper columns.
Assaad is a graduate of Syracuse University (summa cum laude) and holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Honoris Causa in Climate Change, Sustainable Development and International Cooperation from Teri University in India.
“It has never been more important to put facts first, especially when it comes to climate change and clean energy, sectors and issues which will impact what happens to humankind. Eco-Business is a beacon of light in relation to these issues in the Asia-Pacific region. I am delighted to make a contribution to that end.”