John Elkington

Founding Partner & Executive Chairman of Volans, also Co-founder of SustainAbility (1987) John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. In 2004, BusinessWeek described him as “a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades.” In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the ‘1000 Most Influential People’ in London, describing him as “a true green business guru,” and as “an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable.” In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed John fourth: after Al Gore, Barack Obama and the late Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and alongside Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank.

Volans, launched in April 2008, aims to find, explore, advise on and build innovative scalable solutions to the great global divides that overshadow the future.

In terms of other hats, John is a Visiting Professor at the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management. He chairs The Foundation for Democracy & Sustainable Development and the Aflatoun Impact and Policy Analysis Steering Group and is an Honorary Fellow of The Hub and also the Institute of Green Professionals. John is also a member of strategic advisory boards for, among others: 2degrees; Carbon Auditors (UCL), the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes; EcoVadis; Gaia Energy; the Global Reporting Initiative, Greenopolis.com; Instituto Ethos; Physic Ventures; Polecat UK and a Cleantech Fund developed by Zouk Ventures. John is also a Senior Advisor to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, a member of the WWF Council of Ambassadors, a member of the Evian Group Brain Trust and Council of Global Thought Leaders, the Global Leaders Academy; the Tomorrow’s Global Company Inquiry Team; the Cambridge Research Advisory Group for the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; and the United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme (UNGCCP) International Advisory Council. John has recently joined the newly formed Cleantech Group LLC’s Cleantech Innovation Council. John was a Faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008.

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Personal website: www.johnelkington.com

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