Judges

Our judges love the way we run our awards programme so much, that 75% of them return each year. Therefore, we now have a waiting list with some of our long-standing judges offering to step aside for a year to give someone else a chance! If you are interested in judging for us in the future, please email Karen. You must have been involved in a judging process before, and have the necessary experience within at least 5 of our categories.

We are currently confirming our 2021 line-up, however, most of the 2020 judges below have already confirmed their place.

Dates for the diary

You can check the 2021 timeline here.

@MyKindaFuture

Will Akerman | Founder and MD, MyKindaFuture

Will Akerman created and developed MyKindaFuture a mission-led business to raise aspirations amongst 11-25 year olds and help them develop critical employability skills and connect them with employment opportunities. Will has marshalled an eclectic range of stakeholder supporters throughout the lifespan of MyKindaFuture to help empower and provide opportunities to young people across the UK.

He works closely with many multi-national businesses, SMEs, Government, teachers and lecturers with the vision of ensuring every young person, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed in life and at work.

In 2016, Will was recognised for his work in supporting and nurturing the next generation of young talent through inclusion on the Maserati 100 List. Will is also a member of the City & Guilds Council.

Will has been on the Judging Panel since 2016.

“I was thrilled to be asked; it gave me a chance to get to grips with the great work that so many organisations are doing and see first hand the progress that is being made.”

@kbaddele

Kathryn Baddeley | Head of CSR at Cisco UK & Ireland

Kathryn is the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility for Cisco UK & Ireland, leading and enabling innovative CSR initiatives across the organisation: engaging employees, benefiting the business and supporting Cisco’s not for profit partners.

Kathryn joined Cisco in 1997 and prior to her current role led marketing communications teams in Australia and the UK as well as leading the global web marketing team managing a team spread from China to the west coast of the US publishing Cisco’s 86 global websites in 40 languages.

Kathryn started working in CSR in 1999, creating a partnership for Cisco Australia with The Smith Family, a leading Australian NGO.  The partnership won the award for large business in Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships in 2001.  On her return to the UK Kathryn volunteered as part of the Cisco UK & Ireland Civic Council and participated in and led several successful CSR programmes.    Since late 2009 Kathryn has led a programme to mentor offenders in several prisons who are studying for Cisco networking qualifications in the Prison ICT Academy.  As a small programme it has been highly successful and the programme is now entering the next phase – seeking to scale through a network of Cisco channel partners.

Kathryn holds a BSc in mathematics from Hull University and lives in Berkshire with her two daughters.

Kathryn has been on the Judging Panel since 2016.

@JoeBaguley

Joe Baguley | Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, VMware

Joe Baguley joined VMware in July 2011. He helps develop and communicate VMware’s strategy and vision with customers and partners, using his wealth of experience to help organisations reduce costs and better support users and business needs. As part of VMware’s Office of the CTO and its representative in EMEA, Joe assists VMware’s customers in understanding how to use today’s advances in technology to deliver real business impact as well as working with them to inform VMware’s R&D processes.

Joe is a recognised leader within the European technical community and considered one of the top 50 most influential leaders in UK IT. He won an award for data leadership in ‘Infrastructure & Protection’ in the 2016 Data 50 Awards and appeared in the Computer Weekly UKtech50, the Information Age Top 50 Data Leaders and the Cloud World Series’ Cloud 100 community board. He has played a key role in CloudCamp and other events, communicating how cloud technology fits into the broader IT landscape. Joe previously spent ten years at Quest Software where he was CTO of EMEA, shaping its direction and strategy.

In addition, Joe is also on several advisory boards at the European Commission and ETSI and is a founding committee member of the Data Centre Specialist Group at the British Computer Society which helped shape the European Code Of Conduct for Data Centres.

Joe is based in the UK but his remit is across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Joe has been on the Judging Panel since 2019, after vwware’s Overall Excellence win in 2017.

@valuesdoc

Dr Shima Barakat | Director of Entrepreneurship for Sustainability, Cambridge University

Dr. Shima Barakat, MBA is an entrepreneur, director and academic obsessed with making the world a better place. Her experience is in how the environment (planet) as a strategic issue is understood and integrated into organisation strategy through how people understand and interact with it.

Shima has spent the last 25 years helping companies (from startups to MNEs) as well as governments and international funding agencies to improve their performance on sustainability.  Shima is one of the founders and the Managing Director of Value in Enterprise, the responsible business consultancy company.  She has also been among the founders of several organisations that aim at engaging communities in their own development in Egypt (Nahdet El Mahrousa and Egyptian Junior Business Association) and the US (Global Communities Initiative) and one of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the UK.

She most recently co-founded the Impact Women’s Network to raise the visibility of enterprising women and enabling the creation of greater impact through the power of the collective. Academically, Shima has held an appointment at the University of Cambridge for 12 years. She is the Director of the Entrepreneurship for Sustainability Programme at the Centre for Industrial Sustainability. Before that, she was the Head of Entrepreneurial Learning Programmes at the Entrepreneurship Centre of the Judge Business School until 2017. She is also the Chair of the Women’s Staff Network, sits on the Gender Equality Steering Group and the University of Cambridge board representative on the EIT Food NW CLC Company.

Shima has a particular interest in exploring how and why people do or don’t do things, recently her work focuses on global challenges, and the networks and education/training needs of entrepreneurs and their ventures in providing solutions to such big challenges. Her work explores and supports the diversity of leadership, impact and success that women bring to entrepreneurial endeavour.

Shima has been on the Judging Panel since 2020.

@rick_benfield

Rick Benfield | Founder of thirdbridge

Rick Benfield is the CEO of thirdbridge – an award winning social enterprise that provides software to make it easy for companies to start, track and report on doing good. The online platform is designed to help companies engage their employees and measure the impact of their responsible business initiatives.  They also provide a free online network to help companies connect with charities in their local area. Clients include BNP Paribas, Provident Financial Group and The Crown Estate.

Prior to setting up thirdbridge, Rick worked as a business consultant in both the private sector and third sector for over 12 years, developing a unique perspective and understanding of the needs and demands of the two sectors. He is the co-founder and trustee of Uganda Creates – a small charity operating in Uganda with 15 employees – and helped set-up and launch a social enterprise in Malawi building the capacity of the SME sector.

He is also an RSA fellow and a firm believer that the world’s social and environmental issues can only be solved if the private sector are involved.

Rick has been on the Judging Panel since 2017.

“I attended the National CSR Awards in 2016, which had a conference before the awards event.  It was by far and away the best CSR conference I had been to in years – covering the full range of topics that a company should be considering from tax policy, to pension investment, to supply chain to environmental impact and beyond. I thought then that I need to get involved with this organisation, they actually ‘get’ that CSR is about more than a philanthropic donation to charity!”

@HilBergHBC

Hilary Berg | Head of Sustainability & CSR, Iceland Foods

Hil leads on sustainability and CSR strategy at Iceland Foods, advising the Board and working on partnerships and communications. She was previously Head of PR for the business in the 90s and early 2000s, directing communications for the ‘Food You Can Trust’ campaign which encompassed a ban on GM Food, the removal of artificial additives and other industry- leading initiatives.

Before re-joining Iceland colleagues in 2016 she spent two years as Interim Director of Communications at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and Charity.  She has over 25 years of PR experience, mostly as an independent brand and communications consultant, specialising in social change. This has included work on diverse projects including a study of restorative justice in New York and developing retail CSR strategy in South Africa.

In 2013 and 2016 Hil was named ‘UK outstanding freelance practitioner’ by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. She has a passion for social enterprise and social innovation, which initially involved her helping to set up a community business in Kathmandu, Nepal, and she has since worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. She has created and run two award-winning UK consultancy businesses.

She is also a Trustee of the Lankelly Chase Foundation and national social care charity PSS. She is completing a Master’s Degree in PR, with a research focus on storytelling for social change Hil is a keen photographer, veteran backpacker and a volunteer survival instructor for her husband’s adventure business, which connects communities with the great outdoors.

Hil has been on the Judging Panel since 2019.

@TheCrownEstate

Michael Blake | Community Partnerships Lead, The Crown Estate

Michael Blake is a corporate responsibility and social investment professional with experience of stakeholder management and delivering community investment partnerships. His responsibilities at The Crown Estate include managing and development of relationships with key charity partners and stakeholders such as The Connection at St Martins, The Passage, The Felix Project, Age UK, The Wildlife Trusts and SEUK.

Prior to The Crown Estate, he worked at Unltd and The East End Community Foundation working with corporate partners and individual social investors and helped to account manage partnerships with the likes of UBS, City and Guilds, Scope and Skagen Conscience Capital as well as introducing social enterprises into corporate supply chains, ensuring that their commercial revenue had a social impact.

He also sits on the Spirit of 2012 Youth Advisory Panel where he responsible for allocating £250,000 of grant funding through the Spirit of 2012 Challenge Fund to projects that will empower young people and alleviate issues such as mental illness, isolation and homelessness.

Michael is a newcomer to the panel for 2021.

@ClaudineBlamey

Claudine Blamey | Head of Sustainability & Digital Strategy, Argent LLP

Currently Claudine is Head of Sustainability and Digital Strategy at Argent LLP. Claudine delivered the net zero carbon flights strategy at easyJet. Prior to this she set up the Group sustainability function at Sainsbury’s covering sustainable sourcing, operational waste and community activity as well as group charitable partnerships and overall development of group wide sustainability strategy and implementation.

Claudine was responsible for the sustainability strategy for The Crown Estate’s business. Claudine joined from SEGRO where she was Head of Sustainability. Prior to this she was Director of Corporate Responsibility at British Land where she was responsible for Group corporate responsibility policy, implementation and communication.

Before this Claudine was the Environment Manager at Honda (UK), implementing the company’s environmental policy throughout car, motorcycle and power equipment divisions and dealerships. Claudine was responsible for communicating with NGO’s, Government and local communities as well as raising public awareness of Honda’s Environmental profile. Claudine is on the City corporation Property Investment Board and was previously on the Board of Business in the Community (BITC) and the Mace Group Responsible Business Board and was Chair of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS) from 2015-2017. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and was President of the tve Global Sustainability Film Awards 2018.

Claudine is a frequent and well regarded conference speaker on corporate responsibility and sustainability. Claudine champions The Crown Estate’s Total Contribution approach, a methodology to measure the economic value of the impact the business has on its ‘capitals’.

Claudine returns to the Judging Panel in 2021 after a break, having judged in 2016-2018.

@y_ychauhan

Yogesh Chauhan | Director of Corporate Sustainability, TATA Consultancy Services

Yogesh Chauhan was appointed Director of Corporate Sustainability in May 2012 and is a member of the senior leadership team at Tata Consultancy Services. His brief is to develop and oversee the company’s sustainability and corporate affairs operations across UK and Ireland. He is presently delivering a range of external engagements, diversity, environmental, innovation and thought leadership initiatives designed to embed sustainability across the company and build trust in the brand. Yogesh also convenes the Tata Europe Network Forum’s Corporate Responsibility Working Group which brings together Tata companies operating across Europe to share and develop best practice as well as build the Group’s sustainability profile.

Prior to this, Yogesh was the BBC’s Chief Adviser on Corporate Responsibility and Environment. He worked for the corporation from 2001 starting his career in programme making then moving to public affairs and gradually taking on a leadership role in the BBC’s ethical, sustainability and corporate citizenship activities.

Other professional appointments include serving as a non-executive member of Walgreens Boots Alliance Advisory Panel for Sustainability. Previously Yogesh was chairman of the Corporate Responsibility Group (CRG), the UK’s practitioner network and emerging professional body for those working in the field of corporate responsibility and sustainability. Aligned to this he was also a board trustee director at Business in the Community, the UK’s leading charity promoting responsible business practice. Yogesh also served as a Trustee of BBC Children in Need and BBC Wildlife Fund.

Yogesh was educated at the London School of Economics and enjoys cycling, current affairs and long country walks.

Yogesh has been on the Judging Panel since 2019, after TATA were finalists (once winning) 3 years in a row.

@PhilClarke01

Phil Clarke | Director, Consciam

Phil is the founder of Consciam Limited, established to drive down the environmental impacts of business and to challenge the status quo. Consciam works with organisations of all sizes, from international and FTSE-listed companies, SMEs, charities and local government, helping them better understand and reduce their impacts, engage their stakeholders, and to explore innovative strategies, such as Net Positive and Natural Capital Accounting. Phil recently supported Earthwatch Europe as interim Director of Corporate Partnerships, having previously authored a report for Earthwatch on the business response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

After graduating with a degree in Environmental Studies, Phil worked in the water industry and IT project management, before returning to his environmental roots. Prior to founding Consciam, Phil led Capgemini UK’s Environmental Sustainability team, significantly reducing impacts, engaging employees and establishing a “Net Positive” ambition.

Phil has a life-long passion for the natural world. At his happiest outdoors, fascinated by nature in all its forms, Phil believes reconnecting people with nature is a key part of solving the challenges we face, from environmental issues to health and wellbeing. Phil uses this as an excuse to spend as little time at his desk as possible, often with his chocolate lab in tow.

Phil has been on the Judging Panel since 2017.

@Hammersonplc

Louise Ellison | Group Head of Sustainability, Hammerson Plc

Louise Ellison is the Group Head of Sustainability at Hammerson plc. She leads a team of 6 people, responsible for establishing and delivering Hammerson’s sustainability programme, Positive Places across their property portfolios in the UK, France and Ireland. Hammerson is an industry leader in sustainability, consistently delivering new initiatives alongside year on year operational efficiencies. In 2017 the company launched a target of becoming Net Positive in carbon emissions, resource use, water demand and socio-economic impacts by 2030.

Louise’s external roles include Chairmanship of the Better Buildings Partnership, an organisation of 30 commercial property landlords committed to improving the environmental performance of their portfolios. Her other external roles include Chaimanship of the EPRA Sustainability Committee, membership of the Green Construction Board, a joint industry-Government initiative to support better environmental performance across the sector and the Responsible Business Board of Mace. She was previously Head of Sustainability at Quintain Estates and Development plc and Research Director at Investment Property Forum.

Louise has been on the Judging Panel since 2020.

@DenmaurPapers

Danny Doogan | Group Sustainability Manager, Denmaur Independent Papers

With a background in Economics, Danny Doogan has been in paper industry since 1991 and with Denmaur Independent Papers since 2002.

He became involved with the company’s ever growing environmental requirements in 2005, and this soon developed into a full-time role in sustainability.

Responsible for the direction of the Denmaur’s sustainability policy, the implementation and maintenance of the company’s certifications and sustainability programmes – including, recently, the launch of the Revive paper brand and the company’s Carbon Balance Paper offsetting scheme.

Danny also supports new business development, as well as daily interaction with existing clients and suppliers and the broader stakeholder interest.

An advocate of environmental awareness and fair trade practice, he is always keen to promote paper as one of the best examples of a circular product for a low carbon, sustainable economy.

Danny has been on the Judging Panel since 2017 as a representative from our sponsors, Denmaur.

“Becoming a judge was a good opportunity to learn from other sectors, and their goods and services, and also an opportunity to impart some of the knowledge from the success that we’ve gained in the paper industry.”

@CareerVolnteer

Louise Erskine | Managing Director, Career Volunteer

Louise is Managing Director of Career Volunteer and has been involved since its inception, working with companies to bring together social purpose with talent development and employee engagement through pro bono and partnerships.

She leads a number of corporate programmes, including skills based volunteering initiatives, non profit board training and placements and shared value partnerships.  With wider expertise in corporate responsibility practices, she engages with multiple business facets to ensure that pro bono can both compliment and facilitate interactions with the broader responsible business agenda.

Louise has extensive experience of the non profit sector and is a Board Director of OxfordHR, an international development specialist search agency.  She has a PhD in international development which focused on harnessing and mobilising resources of the private sector to reduce poverty, and is a former university lecturer.  Louise is also a Trustee of Rainforest Foundation UK, an international organisation working to ensure long-term protection of rainforests by securing the rights of indigenous and forest peoples to lands and livelihoods.

Louise has been on the Judging Panel since 2019, but Career Volunteer have been Partners since 2015.

@ThePlanetMark

Sarah Gillett | Operations Director, The Planet Mark

Sarah has worked for Planet First since its inception, and is responsible for the delivery of all certifications. She is always looking for new efficiencies and improvements to the certification process to make the customer and team experience even more enjoyable. Her current aim is to build on and create a friendly, family feel to the team and the network of holders of The Planet Mark.

Sarah’s work in sustainability started after her Masters in Forestry at Oxford, and includes experience in multiple sectors and countries over the last 15 years.

Sarah’s love of nature and passion for protecting the environment stems from childhood walks in local parks and studying David Attenborough’s nature series in A-level biology. She continues to nurture a strong affinity for nature in her family life, and loves hearing how other people’s ties to the natural world have manifested. When she’s not working or being a mum, Sarah occasionally finds the time to make patchwork quilts for family and friends.

Sarah has been on the Judging Panel since 2020.

@carboncoach

David Hampton MA (Cantab)  | ‘The Carbon Coach’

Dave is a prolific campaigner for social and ecological justice, an activist, and an ethical brand ambassador. He stood for MP for Beaconsfield, for the Green Party, in GE2015. He gives counsel over coffee (carbon coaching) to individuals and families, CEO’s and celebs. He has his own weekly radio show – “the Watt Next show” – on Marlow FM 97.5.  Dave studied Engineering at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University.  At the age of 23 he was selected for TeamGB in rowing.

The first 25 years of his professional career he spent influencing thought-leaders and captains of industry towards deeper sustainability. In 2005 he set up on his own as ‘The Carbon Coach’ – the world’s first. He is an Ambassador for Embercombe, and in 2014 won the edie Sustainability Leader of the Year Award.

In 2018 Dave founded a diverse network of Olympians and sporting legends speaking out boldly on the climate emergency: ChampionsForEarth

Dave has been on the Judging Panel since 2016.

“When I first encountered the Global Good Awards they seemed fun, fresh, un-stuffy and disruptive; how you’d expect an awards to be, believing in responsibility and ethics! Potentially a breath of fresh air, and a force for GOOD (globally) I thought. I was impressed by the diverse array of judges Karen had already assembled, so it was a no brainer to seek to join.”

@LakePig

Sarah Handley | Carbon Neutral Manager at Siemens

Sarah Handley is the Carbon Neutral Manager at Siemens plc, leading the programme to meet Siemens ambitious goal to be carbon neutral by 2030, by decarbonisation of UK operations.  Previously Sarah worked for 8 years as lead on Environmental Protection and Compliance at Siemens in the UK, managing programmes to improve performance including achievement of ‘zero waste to landfill’ targets for Siemens UK sites.

Prior to her role in Siemens corporate team, Sarah worked at a division of Siemens in Nottingham as Quality & Environment Manager. Sarah set up a CSR strategy, volunteering policy and community programmes supporting local nature conservation sites.

Sarah is a Chartered Environmentalist and a full member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA)

Sarah has been on the Judging Panel since 2020, but Siemens has been represented since 2016.

@UK_sport

Naomi Hicks | Director of Communications & Partnerships, UK Sport

Naomi Hicks joined UK Sport as the Director of Communications and Partnerships in September 2019. Naomi joined from international charity WWF, where she was Director of Partnerships, having previously led their strategy, communications and campaign teams.  Naomi has also held a number of senior consultancy and leadership roles working for charities and government departments alike, to affect social and environmental change at scale.   At UK Sport Naomi oversees their communications, public affairs, stakeholder engagement and research teams, alongside commercial strategy and partnerships. She has a particular interest in harnessing the power of sport to catalyse social impact.

Naomi has been on the Judging Panel since 2019.

Linked In

Emma Hill | Head of Food, Health, Safety & Environment, CH&CO

Emma Hill is the Group Head of Food, Health, Safety & Environment for CH&CO, the independent catering business that creates uplifting food and hospitality experiences across many locations, including workplaces, destinations, venues, events, education, livery and healthcare.

Emma successfully drives CH&CO’s long-term commitment to operating in a socially responsible, sustainable way. Under her direction, CH&CO became the largest and most diverse contract caterer to be awarded the highest sustainability rating of three stars by the Sustainable Restaurant Association. Notable achievements include removing 5-rated fish from the supply chain and significantly reducing 4-rated, embedding compostable disposables across the entire business, increasing plant-based food across the menus, introducing a Garbage Guzzler to clients, establishing a network of CH&CO Planet Ambassadors and winning the Feed People Well award at the Food Made Good Awards 2019.

It’s also Emma’s responsibility to effectively enable and empower all functions of the health and safety team, from policy writing and reviews through to handling individual customer cases, across the diverse business.

Emma works tirelessly to improve the environmental, food and health and safety culture both within CH&CO and across the hospitality industry. She was part of the working group that revised the Catering Industry Guide on behalf of the BHA (now UKHospitality), is an active member of the Food Experts Group, a Committee Member of the ACMSF (advisory Committee for the Microbiological Safety of Food), a member of the CIEH and a Grad IOSH member.

Emma has been on the Judging Panel since 2020, with CH&CO as headline sponsors.

@KatieElizabethG

Katie Grace | Corporate Partnerships Leader at WaterAid

Katie has worked in shared value partnerships between the not for profit and private sector for 11 years. She has worked at WaterAid, a leading international NGO, for nine years in partnerships working with leading brands to deliver reputation, brand and sustainability impact. Prior to WaterAid she worked for Comic Relief and CLIC Sargent.

In 2020, under Katie’s leadership the WaterAid Corporate Partnerships team have been awarded the Third Sector and the Charity Times team of the year awards reflecting the team’s focus on delivering impact for the communities WaterAid serves. Katie believes in the power of private sector partnerships to bring transformational change to the biggest issues facing the world today.

Katie is a newcomer to the Judging Panel in 2021 having taken over from colleague Kate Holme, who represented WaterAid since 2016.

Linked In

Peter Hughes | Diversity & Inclusion Business Partnerships, Pearson

Peter leads on Diversity and Inclusion Business Partnerships for Pearson. In this role, Peter is responsible for: diversity relationship management across the company; data, analysis and reporting; leading our efforts for marketplace eminence, including ratings, rankings, awards and accolades; and, interface with and support for our businesses, products and services.

Until recently, Peter was Director of Sustainability at Pearson. In addition to involvement in Gender Pay Gap reporting for Pearson, in that role he also led on environmental management globally; supply chain responsibility and sustainability related rankings, awards and benchmarks.

Previously, Peter was a Director at Corporate Citizenship where he provided strategic counsel on broad corporate responsibility strategy to global Fortune 500 companies / FTSE100 companies as well as time running their New York office.

Peter has been on the Judging Panel since 2019.

@DelphisEco

Mark Jankovich | Founder and CEO, Delphis Eco Limited

It started back in 2007.  Mark decided that after 15 years working in banking that he needed to find something more fulfilling to do with his life, so he quit.  It was then that he started his journey of searching for a business idea that would change the world and would have a net-positive impact because if he wasn’t going to do it, then who would?  The result, he is proud to say that not only are Delphis Eco products non-toxic, non-carcinogenic, non-flammable and non-harmful to aquatic and marine life but Delphis bottles are made of 100% post consumer plastic, a UK 1st!

Mark is returning to the Judging Panel in 2021 after a break, previous judging in 2018-2019.

@HarrietKelsall

Harriet Kelsall | Founder and Chair of Harriet Kelsall bespoke jewellery

Harriet Kelsall is one of the most respected bespoke designers and business trailblazers working in the UK jewellery industry today. She was the 2016 HSBC Forward Ladies “Retail Business Woman of the year”, was Everywoman’s “Retail Woman of the Year” in 2011, one of The Institute of Directors magazine’s six “women who have most changed the business world” in 2014 and is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and of the City of London.

She was the Chair of the National Association of Jewellers (now deputy chair) and is a non executive director for the British Hallmarking Council.  She has also been a non executive director for the Responsible Jewellery Council.  She is a regular keynote speaker on ethics and CSR, advised the government on jewellery skills as part of the Creative and Cultural Skills Academy and speaks nationally and internationally about responsible business.

Harriet is passionate about helping creative business flourish and her book on the subject called “The Creative’s Guide to Starting a Business: How to turn your talent into a career” which won at the 2019 Business Book of the Year Awards.

Harriet is returning to the Judging Panel in 2021 after a break, previous judging in 2016-2018.

@NailyMak

Naily Makangu | Founder & Business Transformation Consultant, Athena Leaders

Starting as a Software Engineer at Siemens Industry Software, Naily carved her own path into management consultancy and now stands as an award-winning Trainer with several years of experience working in the STEMM sector.

Naily’s quest has always been to support the development of strong leaders and bring more laughter and play to organisations. Where people are heard and supported, positive results are more likely to unfold. It is therefore her mission, as a Business Transformation Consultant, to seek solutions for companies in disarray. And, where there is dysfunction, she often finds the enjoyment for work has been lost, which calls for the Mary Poppins of Business.

Having worked in STEMM, Naily understands first-hand the leadership challenges faced within the industry. This experience means she is capable of positively influencing engineers, translating their needs and the needs of senior executives.

To add, she has a proven track record of turning around struggling organisations and complex software projects/programmes. She once took an organisation from the brink of closure to winning five awards in less than a year. Some of the awards included “Most Outstanding Leader” and “Best Trainer” in the UK, and “Best Local Growth & Development Program” in Europe.

When she is not working, Naily loves volunteering, dancing salsa and playing sport, mostly tennis and boxing. Her dearest volunteering achievement is creating an award winning Deaf Awareness Programme in 2017 and 2018.

Naily is a newcomer to the Judging Panel for 2021.

@DrPaulaOwen

Paula Owen | Founder of ecoactiongames & Trustee at 10:10

Paula has worked in the field of sustainability for two decades.  She began her career in academia with a PhD in climate chemistry from Oxford University. However, quickly realised she couldn’t spent her entire life in a darkened laboratory and so changed tack to concentrate on communicating environmental and scientific concepts to non-technical audiences.

Since then she has worked for environmental charities, within the public sector, in UK Government environmental departments: Defra and DECC, and for the Energy Saving Trust. In 2010 she set up her own research, training and advice agency focusing on environmental sustainability generally, and energy issues and carbon management in particular. She works with a range of clients, from blue chip corporates right through to arts organisations.

She is a published author, writing on the subject of energy and energy efficiency, and was the project manager for the award-winning Defra/Decc Act on CO₂ carbon calculator. Her most recent book is titled ’how gamification can help your business engage in sustainability’.

She has become increasingly convinced that engaging the majority is vital if we are to make progress environmentally.  In 2012, she was awarded a London Leaders for Sustainability position – a scheme run by the Mayor’s Office, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the London Sustainable Development Commission – to further her work in researching the power of fun and games to encourage sustainability. She is the founder and chief ‘fun & gamer’ in her new social enterprise company – eco action games – an initiative which re-imagines well-known games and gives them an environmental twist to help education, engage and engender behaviour change in wider society.

Paula has been on the Judging Panel since the awards launched in 2015, and plays an integral part of the programme.

“I think it’s a great idea to bring together environmental, social and economic into one awards programme as they are all part of the solution. I love judging these awards; being part of the journey and seeing how it’s evolve enormously.”

Linked In

Petra Parizkova | Responsible Business Manager, ENGIE UK & Ireland

Petra is a Responsible Business Manager at ENGIE where she has worked for four years. She leads on the development of ENGIE’s responsible business reporting including the company’s materiality stakeholder engagement process and works closely with Procurement to ensure sustainability is embedded in the Procurement strategy, processes and practices.  Petra also developed ENGIE’s annual step counting challenge portal which engages over 2,000 employees in health and wellbeing.

Prior to ENGIE Petra was a business consultant at BITC with experience of supporting companies in a broad range of sectors including transport, construction, energy, retail, banking and food services. She has managed and contributed to a range of advisory projects supporting clients to engage their stakeholders, progress their reporting practices and create tools to support decision-making and accountability for responsible business agenda.

Petra is a newcomer to the Judging Panel for 2020.

@LinkedIn

Adam Pensotti | Sustainability Manager, Canon EMEA

With over x25 years of experience in the Creative sector, starting as photographer, then cinematographer, then producer and director, I now work for Canon EMEA at our HQ in London. Since 2013 I have run the Creative Services team managing the creative work across the region including design, production, Canon Brand approvals and our visual identity. From March 2020 I am working in the Sustainability team, managing the development of Canon EMEA’s ‘Imaging for Good’ programme – YPP. YPP is an EMEA-wide social investment strategy supporting young people, enabling them to have their voices heard and their stories told through creative education and partnering with the UN to fulfil and deliver SDG 4 – ‘Quality Education’

Adam has been on the Judging Panel since 2020, as part of Canon’s Young Champion of the Year sponsorship.

@alex_chase

Alex Robinson | Managing Director, Hubbub Enterprise

Alex is Managing Director of Hubbub Enterprise, the commercial arm of environmental charity Hubbub.

Hubbub Enterprise takes creative inspiration from its parent charity and scales its successful experiments. That means running Plastic Fishing trips in Canary Wharf, making and selling the innovative voting ashtray the Ballot Bin all around the world, and providing inspirational and engaging consultancy services to major businesses, among much else.

Before Hubbub, Alex was an Associate at On Purpose, which helps mid-career professionals transition into the social enterprise sector. There he designed and implemented a social impact measurement framework for Natwest’s social finance charity, and applied his brand, marketing and operational skills to public sector consultancy Collaborate CIC.

Alex spent the first part of his career as an entrepreneur in the music industry, focused on representing US record labels in Europe. It seems a world away now, but how many other execs in the environmental sector can say they worked with Snoop Dogg?

Alex has been on the Judging Panel since 2019.

@SeemaSharmaUK

Seema Sharma | Entrepreneur & Founder of Child Action

Seema’s background is typical of self-made entrepreneurs.  She started her career as a dentist, founding several dental practices and building up a property portfolio before moving into healthcare management and consulting.  In 2010 she founded her charity Child Action, after visiting Mumbai to star in Channel 4’s only overseas episode of Secret Millionaire.

Child Action supports children living within Mumbai’s most disadvantaged street and slum communities; such as those which have been established on rubbish dumping grounds.  She works with three grass roots charities to support the development of young people living in extreme poverty by providing them with access to both informal and mainstream education, as well their right to a childhood through play.

Through Child Action Seema has seen the entrepreneurial flair and ‘can-do’ attitude of children living in unimaginable hardship, and believes there are valuable lessons to be shared globally.  Seema facilitated and project managed an innovative collaboration between Child Action and the British Asian Trust one of the Prince’s charities resulting in the roll out of Enterprise 4 Change, an innovative web-based resource which teachers in the UK use to explore the resilience of children living in challenging environments, with the aim of sharing core life skills such as determination and entrepreneurship.  It also introduces the idea of philanthropy to the younger generations and encourages a sense of social responsibility.

Seema has been on the Judging Panel since 2016.

“As a GGA Judge I have the opportunity to review some really amazing work around sustainability, and it’s great fun to chat to like-minded people on the judging day!”

@GeorginaStevens

Georgina Stevens | Sustainability Advisor, Writer, Campaigner

Georgina Stevens has worked in sustainability for 16 years, working on all sides of the fence; she has worked as an environmental consultant in Asia, at NGOs including WWF-UK where she helped and challenged many companies on their environmental policies and has then helped shape some of the most respected sustainability programmes and initiatives during her tenure at both M&S and Virgin.

She now runs her own sustainability consultancy, supporting a wide range of organisations from start-ups to multinationals who all share the bravery and intention to look at things differently and make big changes.  Some of her recent work has included helping a $2bn valuation food company realise the bottom line benefits of sustainability as they went through their IPO, and working with Bafta and Warner Bros. She is also a trustee for climate change campaigning organisation, 1010, and an author, campaigner and speaker on sustainability. Just don’t get her started on cycling…..

Georgina has been on the Judging Panel since 2018.

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Laura Vickery | Independent Responsible Business Consultant

After almost twenty years of leading Responsible Business and CSR Programmes (most recently for Jaguar Land Rover), Laura is currently working self-employed as an independent responsible business adviser. Formerly she was the Global CSR Manager for Jaguar Land Rover, providing strategic leadership and managing JLR’s CSR Committee and international CSR programme.

She has held previous roles at PricewaterHouse Coopers and The Co-operative Group. Laura was recognised as a CSR ‘agent of change’ in 2015 by a national awards scheme (ACRE365).  She achieved a Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Value Chains in June 2017 – a course run by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership. She is also an adviser and the Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees for the charity Caplor Horizons, which specialises in strengthening the effectiveness of sustainability organisations, by focusing on leadership, strategy and advocacy.

Laura has been on the Judging Panel since 2019 and was a Global Good winner with JLR in 2016.

@pebblemagazine

Georgina Wilson-Powell | Editor at Pebble Magazine

Georgina Wilson-Powell has been a journalist and editor for 15 years working with Time Out, Lonely Planet, BBC Travel and BBC Good Food. She founded pebble magazine last year to fill a gap for people who want to live a stylish, sustainable life and to share positive stories of people finding amazing solutions to the the planet’s problems. Since last November, pebble has grown rapidly and now has a Facebook community, the pebble pod as well as an engaged and active readership online.

Georgina is now also giving talks on sustainable issues and has set up a consultancy service for brands who want to talk authentically about their eco stories.

Georgina has been on the Judging Panel since 2018.

“I’m passionate about helping small businesses succeed as well as shifting the way we consume everything from food to fashion. The GGAs reflect the growth I’ve seen even in the last couple of years to support eco businesses and products.”

@martinfutures

Martin Wright | Journalist, environmentalist and Co-founder of Positive News

An award-winning writer, editor, adviser and speaker on environmental solutions and sustainable futures, Martin has written for the likes of The Guardian, The Times, New Scientist & Newsweek and interviewed business and political leaders from Paul Polman to David Cameron. He has broadcast on radio and TV, including the BBC and Sky. His TED talk on ‘The New Environmentalism’ topped the bill at the 2014 TEDx event in London.

As both a journalist and Visiting Judge for the Ashden Awards, Martin has travelled extensively in Asia and Africa, researching and reporting on frontline environment and development issues, and the potential of sustainable solutions to lift people out of poverty in some of the most challenging circumstances.

Martin has worked with leaders at the likes of Greenpeace, WWF, The Guardian, Unilever, Sainsbury’s, Tata, BT, Marks & Spencer and the Governments of the UK, India and China; and is a currently a Director of Positive News.

Awards include Science and Environment Journalist of the Year and the Global Green Future Leadership Award. He is an expert at communicating sustainability crisply, clearly and with a complete lack of bullshit, and at bringing complex issues down to earth.

Martin has been on the Judging Panel since 2019.