20 Nominees and Jury announced for the annual CSO Awards North America during New York Climate Week 2025
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / September 3, 2025 / The names of the 20 nominated Chief Sustainability Officers of North America have been revealed today, together with the names of the Grand Jury that will select the three winners of the Futur/io CSO Awards North America.
The winners will be announced during the CSO Awards gala ceremony in New York City on September 22, during the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week.
The 20 CSO Awards Nominees are, in alphabetical order:
Aditi Mohapatra | Expedia |
Ann Tracy | Colgate-Palmolive |
Annika Dubrall | Tiffany & Co |
Anu Piduru | Carter's |
Ara Erickson | Weyerhaeuser |
Caitlin Leibert | Whole Foods Market |
Carrie Sabin | Stantec |
Deanna Bratter | Crocs |
Emma Stewart | Netflix |
Erik Hansen | Workday |
Helene V Gagnon | CAE |
Jackie Jung | Western Digital |
Jennifer Motles | Philip Morris International |
Kate Heiny | Booking Holdings |
Kellie Ballew | Shaw Industries |
Malisa Maynard | Mohawk Industries |
Nicola Acutt | Netapp |
Patrick Barron | Telus |
Susan Uthayakumar | Prologis |
Wendy Rentschler | BMC Software |
The Grand Jury, who will choose the three winners among the 20 nominees, includes nine stellar individuals such as John Elkington, known as "the Godfather of Sustainability", Sandrine Dixson-Declève, honorary President of the Club of Rome, Vandinika Shukla, deputy director of Global Programs at the Obama Foundation, Nina Eisenman, VP of Corporate Sustainability Strategy & Reporting, NASDAQ and Michael Kobori, former CSO of Starbucks, and winner of the CSO Gold Award in 2024.
The CSO Awards North America is an initiative of the Futur/io Institute, a pioneering organization dedicated to nurturing and inspiring leadership in sustainable innovation and building the most impactful network of CSOs globally. The European version of the CSO Awards takes place every year during the World Economic Forum week in Davos.
"The CSO Awards celebrates the human leaders who are championing change within the largest corporate enterprises in North America," says Harald Neidhardt, CEO & Curator of the Futur/io Institute. "I'm honored to announce the names of the 20 nominees to the CSO Awards, and also of the members of the Grand Jury, who will choose the final winners."
"The members of the grand jury are some of the most inspirational voices in sustainability, and the combination of such incredible and diverse experiences, backgrounds and points of view will certainly bring powerful insights, shining a light on the next wave of sustainability leaders within the corporate world."
"The purpose of having a jury in our CSO Awards is to integrate the human factor into the evaluation criteria for our CSO Awards. Besides, it can also help to identify and promote Chief Sustainability Officers who are not only effective sustainability leaders, but also ambitious, innovative, and capable of fostering positive change within their organizations and beyond." added Harald Neidhardt.
In August, Futur/io published a list of the Top 100 CSOs of North America, which included sustainability leaders from a diverse range of industries, including technology, consumer brands, services and retail, excluding fossil fuel industries like oils and gas.
From an extensive database including all the Fortune 2000 companies of the USA and Canada, the most relevant names were selected using data-driven criteria, developed by Futur/io and with an ambitious NetZero goal by 2040.
Futur/io Institute is collaborating for the data analysis with scientific partner the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society at Imperial College Business School, and supported by knowledge partners Denominator, specialized in human-centric data, ClimateGPT for public sentiment analysis and Rainforest Partnership, focused on biodiversity.
The four quadrant model takes into consideration the maturity of corporate behaviours, regulatory performance on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) criteria, environmental and human impact and also a self assessment survey.
Finally, the members of the Grand Jury will add the human factor to the selection process, using their expertise to choose the three final winners, to be announced at a gala ceremony in New York City on September 22, during the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week. The CSO Awards North America are organised in collaboration with Made in Sustainability and supported by premium partner IntegrityNext and Gold partners Vitra and CEEZER.
CSO Awards North America Grand Jury 2025
John Elkington
Founder of Volans and chief pollinator. A true pioneer and foundational figure in the global sustainability movement, John brings over 50 years of experience as a strategic advisor to businesses across the world.
Known as the creator of the "Triple Bottom Line" concept-People, Planet, and Profit-John's visionary approach has become a fundamental part of business strategy worldwide. He has been at the forefront of movements such as the Global Reporting Initiative, Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, and B Lab UK, and continues to guide sustainability conversations globally.
John has addressed over 1,000 conferences around the world and was a faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008. He is the author or co-author of 21 books including the best-selling Green Consumer Guide and the recently published "Tickling Sharks".
Vandinika Shukla
Deputy Director of Global Programs at the Obama Foundation.
With experience at the crossroads of human rights, tech policy, and democracy, her journey includes shaping AI tools at MIT Media Lab, incubating the Practicing Democracy Project at Harvard Kennedy School, and crafting gender policies at the United Nations.
Vandinika's commitment to social change is reflected in her work, her teaching, and her writing, which has been featured in major publications like The Boston Globe and Slate Magazine.
Sandrine Dixson-Declève
Honorary President of the Club of Rome and Executive Chair, Earth4All. Sandrine recently was elected to Commissioner of the WHO, Pan European Commission on Climate & Health.
She chairs the European Commission's Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR), and is involved in climate missions and multiple advisory boards for organizations like BMW, UCB, Climate KIC, and Imperial College London.
A TED global speaker and author, Sandrine's recent publications like Earth4Alll aim to guide humanity towards a sustainable future. She was recognised most recently by Reuters as one of 25 global female trailblazers and by GreenBiz as one of the 30 most influential women across the globe driving change in the low carbon economy and promoting green business.
Michael Kobori
Former Chief Sustainability Officer, Starbucks & Gold Award Winner, CSO Awards North America 2024
Michael is the former Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks. He is a seasoned executive and adviser with over 25 years of experience driving corporate sustainability at global brands including Levi Strauss & Co., Starbucks, and as a Board Director at Bunge Global SA.
He now advises boards, executives, and private equity firms on leveraging sustainability as a competitive advantage, while also speaking at leading forums such as the UN and The Aspen Institute. With deep expertise in sustainable business strategy and systems change, he helps organizations unlock growth, resilience, and impact in a rapidly shifting global landscape.
Nina Eisenman
VP, Head of Corporate Sustainability Strategy & Reporting, NASDAQ
Ninahas spent more than 20 years at the forefront of corporate sustainability. A pioneering executive passionate about technology-driven transformation, Nina currently serves as Vice President and Head of Corporate Sustainability Strategy & Reporting at Nasdaq where she leads the company's sustainability strategy, ensures regulatory readiness, and leverages emerging technologies-including AI-to turn data-driven insights into action and impact.
Her leadership has shaped the forward-looking sustainability program and transparent disclosures that helped Nasdaq earn top recognition, including "Best ESG Reporting - Large Cap" at the 2025 IR Impact Awards and the 2024 Corporate Governance Awards, and a ranking as #1 in the U.S. and #8 globally on TIME's 2025 "World's Most Sustainable Companies" list. Her work has also contributed to Nasdaq's inclusion on the CDP Climate A List and Supplier Engagement A List, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (World), the JUST 100, and Newsweek's Greenest Companies list.
Daniel Erasmus
Chief Executive Officer, Erasmus.AI and Creator of ClimateGPT; Full Member, Club of Rome
Daniel is the founder of Erasmus.AI and creator of ClimateGPT, the first AI model family focused on climate change. As co-founder of The Digital Thinking Network, he has led global scenario planning for over 25 years, anticipating major disruptions such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2012 oil price collapse. His initiatives have delivered both business impact and social change, including providing over 60 million meals in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has authored three books and serves on several academic and technology advisory boards.
Niyanta Spelman
Founder and CEO of Rainforest Partnership, an international NGO that works to protect rainforests by empowering Indigenous and local communities on the front lines of deforestation.
Under her leadership, the organization has safeguarded over 1 million acres of rainforest, making a significant impact on biodiversity and climate. With a background in environmental policy, Niyanta is a thought leader in global conservation efforts.
Niyanta has received numerous honors and awards, including The Women Of Change® Award at the Family Office Impact Summit, hosted by 5th Element Group PBC in the Delegates Dining Room at the United Nations in 2019, and the Profiles in Power award from the Austin Business Journal in 2020. She also spearheads the Rainforest Collective, convening leaders to drive action for forest protection.
Livio Scalvini
Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society at Imperial College London and leads the Sustainable Development Strategy of Imperial College Business School.
With over 30 years of international experience in entrepreneurship, innovation, social impact, and venture capital, Livio's expertise spans across diverse sectors including finance, sustainability, and education. His extensive background includes serving in C-level roles at financial institutions, advising start-ups, and co-founding the GOLDEN for Impact Foundation.
He has published books and articles on entrepreneurship, sustainability, business strategy, strategic planning, and risk management. He served as an advisor and investor in a wide range of start-ups and NGOs across Europe and Africa. Livio holds a Degree in Economics & Business Administration, MSc in Macroeconomics, and Executive Education in Exponential Technologies at Singularity University.
Harald Neidhardt, Chair of the Grand Jury
CEO and Curator of the Futur/io Institute, where he has grown an influential faculty and think tank of innovators, futurists and thought leaders - home to the co-creators of desirable, regenerative futures. He is the initiator of the Futur/io CSO Awards for sustainable leadership, and the host of the CSO Impact Podcast.
Harald is an advisor to the UNFCCC Resilient Frontiers initiative and an expert member of the World Economic Forum workgroup on digital platforms & ecosystems projects. He is a Singularity University alumni and is a keynote speaker on sustainable innovation at many international conferences, including COP26, TEDx (Hongkong, Hamburg, Marrakesh), SXSW, SingularityU Summit (NL/USA/DE), Wired, Next, MWC/4YFN and is a speaker at corporate executive events.
He's published five books, most recently "Leadership for Sustainable Futures", "Moonshots for Europe", and "Before this Decade is Out".
Selection Criteria: the Four Quadrant Model
1 - Science & Behaviour Based Maturity Index - Imperial College (External Research Based):
The Leonardo Centre at Imperial College has created a comprehensive global dataset that analyses corporate sustainability behaviours, enabling a thorough assessment of the maturity levels of the top 100 companies. Utilising this dataset, the Impact Maturity Index ranks companies within various sectors and geographies, providing valuable insights into their sustainability performance.
2 - ESG Qualitative Rating and NetZero Goal by 2040 (External Research Based):
Using publicly available ESG Ratings, Futur/io Institute assessed which companies are exceeding regulatory requirements in their advancements on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. A crucial ranking is compiled data about an ambitious NetZero goal before 2040.
3 - Planet (Internal & External Research Based) & People (External Research Based):
Futur/io trained an AI tool to analyse 100 sustainability reports from the companies of the Top 100 shortlisted CSOs for the CSO Awards, extracting pertinent information on Greenhouse Gas emissions, Biodiversity measures, and Water usage. The Futur/io team then created a maturity scoring based on the compiled data points.
In addition, research partner Denominator created a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) matrix score and research partner ClimateGPT created a sentiment analysis from external sources and published data outside of the company's own reporting. In addition, research partner Rainforest Partnership carried out an in-depth analysis on biodiversity aspects of each company.
4 - Survey & Self-Assessment (Internal Research Based):
The Top 100 CSOs were invited to contribute to a survey & self-assessment, including adding more recent initiatives that are not yet mentioned in the last published report and to verify correct leadership alignment.
About Futur/io Institute
We believe in co-creating desirable futures where ideas and innovation drive a regenerative economy that benefits people and the planet within the planetary boundaries.
The Futur/io Institute is a pioneering organization to serve the most impactful network of Chief Sustainability Officers dedicated to transforming businesses to drive positive impact for people, planet and prosperity. We do this through publications, podcasts and convening at inspiring locations like Davos, Basel, Lisbon, Venice and New York.
With a mission to inspire ambition, action and cross-pollination to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the institute provides a platform for thought leaders, innovators, and change-makers to shape the futures of business and society.
Futur/io works with organizations like the UNFCCC or corporations in leadership training and curates Executive Programmes to inspire future leaders in sustainable innovation. Each year in Davos, the institute organizes executive receptions and recently debuted the annual CSO Awards to shine a light on the leadership role of Chief Sustainability Officers.
Futur/io is based in Hamburg and works as a think-tank with a selected international and diverse faculty of 100+ leaders in sustainability. The most recent book "Leadership for Sustainable Futures" was published in May 2024 with Murmann Publishers. CEO & curator Harald Neidhardt hosts the CSO Impact Podcast, which launched in June 2024.
futur.io
Additional Info
https://www.csoawards.org/north-america
Top 100 List: https://www.csoawards.org/north-america/top-100-csos
Selection Criteria: https://www.csoawards.org/north-america/criteria
Media Contact
Luciana Prestes
Chief of Staff & Head of Marketing
luciana@futur.io
View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Futur/io Institute on 3blmedia.com.
Contact Info:
Spokesperson: Futur/io Institute
Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/futurio-institute
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SOURCE: Futur/io Institute
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/cso-awards-top-chief-sustainability-officers-of-usa-and-canada-n-1068202
