Fellows

Dr Nancy Bocken is a passionate academic with a reputation for designing and delivering research that has a real impact on the way businesses operate. She is Lead Researcher at the EPSRC Centre for Industrial Sustainability at the Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, at the University of Cambridge. She is leading collaborative research projects with Imperial College London and Cranfield University and is supervising at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Her main areas of interest are sustainable business models, innovation for sustainability and closing the “idea–action” gap.

Interwoven with her academic work, Nancy regularly advises a range of organisations across sectors and continents, such as Unilever, Prudential, Marks and Spencer and Toyota. Nancy has held positions in the logistics, banking and consulting sectors. Originally from the Netherlands, she has lived and worked in France and the United Kingdom. Nancy holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge.

Richard Burrett spent over 25 years working in international banking. After an initial period with NatWest, he joined AMRO Bank in 1988, where he gained wide experience of working on structured and project financing in the energy and infrastructure sectors, becoming Managing Director and Global Head of Project Finance in 2001. In this role he was instrumental in the development of the Equator Principles, creating a market recognised standard for the management of environmental and social risk within project financing. He started to work directly on ABN AMRO's award-winning sustainability agenda in 2004, becoming Global Head of Sustainability before leaving the Bank in May 2008. He is a Partner at Earth Capital Partners LLP, a sustainability-focused investment group, and a Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. He is a Board Member of Forest Renewables, developing the renewable energy potential of Scotland's national forest estate, and also a Board Member of Forest Trends, a Washington-based organisation promoting market-based approaches to forest conservation. He is Co-Chair of the UNEP Finance Initiative and leads their Biodiversity and Ecosystems workstream. He holds a BA in German and a MBA from Durham University and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Until March 2011, Will was Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), which was the independent advisory body for the UK Government. His current roles include Fellow of CPSL, Chairman of Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), and Sustainability Advisor to PricewaterhouseCoopers UK. He is a member of the Corporate Responsibility Advisory Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW). Will spent twenty years or so working with a range of relief and development NGOs (Save the Children, OXFAM, and Opportunity Trust) initially involved in large scale humanitarian responses in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia. He was involved in the establishment of Comic Relief, and was responsible for setting up its grants programme for Africa as Grants Director. He spent time as a producer and presenter for the BBC World Service for Africa. He was CEO of CARE International UK between 1996 and 2004 and Special Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) until 2010. Will was also a Trustee and Chairman of the BBC Children in Need Appeal, and an independent assessor for the public appointments process of the DCMS, and in 2010/11 was the UK Commissioner on the Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development. Until October 2012 he was Chairman of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

Nicky views innovators and entrepreneurs as a creative force that introduces variety to the economy. With sustainability demanding change in the way we live it is crucial that we support the development and diffusion of new sustainable solutions. From funding mechanisms for new ventures, opportunity screening for eco-innovation, structuring low carbon innovation prizes, and direct input to new ventures, Nicky has focused on the support of new ventures in developed and lesser developed countries. This has included work with Climate KIC, governmental departments, Carbon Trust, Enecsys, European Commission, the University of Cambridge and Colleges, NESTA and others. Not content to just talk about sustainability, Nicky spearheaded the first regular workshops for cleantech entrepreneurs in the East of England, the first business creation competition for sustainable ventures at the University of Cambridge, and founded an award winning sustainable travel business. Nicky has a PhD on environmental technology management from the University of Cambridge and teaches on this and related topics.

Nicky’s recent research has examined sustainability from an industrial emergence perspective, with an emphasis on the role of finance. She is currently involved with a pioneering business plan competition in Nigeria that attracted 65,000 entries this year. She is pleased to become a CPSL Fellow and engage with future sustainability leaders.

As a CPSL Fellow, Carlos will explore what it means or might mean to engage in responsible investment. The results of this research will feed into the agenda of CPSL’s Investment Leaders Group, which we are newly establishing with Natixis Asset Management.

Carlos is an investor with over 20 years’ experience integrating environmental and social criteria in portfolio management. He is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Natixis Asset Management and designed the Natixis Impact Fund—Climate Change. He is also a co-founder and was Chair of the UNEP Finance Initiative and its Asset Management Working Group for over 10 years. He Co-Chaired the Expert Group that drafted the UN Principles of Responsible Investment and also served on the Commission d´Investissement Socialement Responsable of Paris Europlace-Euronext, and advised the Fonds de Reserve de France on SRI manager selection.

Carlos is Visiting Professor of Finance and Sustainable Development at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, Toulouse. He has lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Kellogg Business School, Haute Ecole de Commerce, Université de Paris-Dauphine, and the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. He has an A.M. in Philosophy from Harvard University.

As a CPSL Fellow, Paul will examine how sustainability issues are, or could be, considered within the regulatory framework for financial services, with particular reference to capital adequacy and investment activities.

Paul was Head of Corporate Responsibility at RSA, a leading general insurer providing products and services in around 140 countries until 2012. His role involved the implementation of corporate responsibility strategy covering environmental and community issues as well as legal compliance. He managed the work that saw RSA become the UK’s first carbon neutral insurer in 2006 and undertook the world’s first carbon footprint of an insurance policy. He also championed the development of new services with sustainability attributes and worked with WWF to further sustainability issues into employee pension funds.

In 2010 Paul was elected to the role of Vice Chairman of IEMA, an organisation for environmental professionals with over 15,000 members. Paul’s PhD focused on modelling heavy metal contamination in the Tyne Estuary, following which he worked in a number of environmental consultancies prior to joining RSA.

David Rice is an independent adviser on social and environmental impacts of business. He is a Fellow of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and a Senior Associate of the consultancy Critical Resource.

David Rice spent 27 years in a variety of roles with the oil and gas company BP, leaving BP in 2006 to pursue his interests in working with companies and NGOs and academics on social and environmental issues at policy and individual project level. In his career at BP, David was Head of Geoscience Training, Exploration Manager for BP in China, Senior Commercial Analyst and Strategic Planner in Exploration and Production, Director of BP's Policy Unit, Chief of Staff for BP’s global Government and Public Affairs function and the BP Group Adviser on Development Issues. He instigated for BP a number of relationships with NGOs. David was the private sector initiator of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights for the oil, gas and mining industry, launched by the governments of the USA and the UK in 2000.

David is a Physics graduate of the University of London and spent three years as a research astrophysicist at London University, working in a joint team with the Cavendish Laboratory. He subsequently spent a year at the UK National Physical Laboratory measuring and modelling stratospheric ozone before joining BP in 1979.

James's 20 year career has been in mergers & acquisitions, finance, corporate strategy and management consulting, with a focus towards environment / sustainability commercial risk and opportunity. James is currently a Partner at the sustainable infrastructure and private equity asset manager, Earth Capital Partners LLP (ECP), which focuses on investment in renewable energy, clean technology and forestry.

Prior to ECP, James was Global Head of Sustainable Business at Standard Chartered plc (FTSE15 international bank), responsible for the sustainable business strategy, including the launch of new products and revenue lines; environment / sustainability risk management (credit & reputation / brand); and Government relations. Previously, James was Head of KPMG's UK Sustainability Consulting Practice and earlier, KPMG's Environment Transaction Services (M&A), where he led a business advising a range of corporate, public sector, private equity and IPO clients. James began his career as an environmental engineer in 1992, working at RPS plc and Parkman Ltd.

James is an adviser to the CEO-led soft commodity collaboration between the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI) and Consumer Goods Forum (CGF); Non-Executive Board member of Gold Standard (carbon credit issuance and standards body); member of the BBC's independent Sustainability Advisory Board and the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance (UKSIF) Leadership Committee.