The Sustainability Consortium

Mark Spears

As Director, Sustainable Business Practices for Disney Consumer Products, Mark Spears leads the development and execution of DCP’s corporate responsibility strategy, including establishment of product and operational sustainability guidelines as well as working within the segment to develop and promote new business opportunities that incorporate Disney’s environmental and social commitments.

Spears joined Disney in 1988. Prior to assuming his current role, he served in a number of corporate responsibility, development, strategic planning, and finance roles at Disney's Corporate and Parks & Resorts divisions. Prior to joining Disney, Spears worked at Arthur Young & Co., providing audit, business and litigation consulting services to clients in a wide variety of businesses.

Spears holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He is a C.P.A., and has served as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

Dr. Jon Johnson

Jonathan Johnson is the Walton College Professor of Sustainability in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, where he has been on the faculty since 1996.
He graduated with a BS in zoology and an MBA from the University of Arkansas before earning a Ph.D. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His research—which has appeared in numerous journals—focuses on corporate governance, social networks within
and between firms, and corporate sustainability. Jon teaches strategy, organization theory, sustainability and ethics. Jon has led the University of Arkansas’s recent sustainability initiatives, including establishing the Applied Sustainability Center in July, 2007, and co-founding the Sustainability Consortium in July 2009.

Tim Carey

Tim Carey is the Director for Sustainability and Technology at PepsiCo Beverages in the Americas. He is responsible for developing and implementing the sustainability vision and strategy for the beverages businesses and reducing the company’s environmental impacts.
Tim recently launched PepsiCo’s Dream Machine recycling program with partners Waste Management and Greenopolis and is leading implementation of Tropicana’s low-carbon fertilizer initiative. He is a registered engineer and has developed and implemented similar programs in the electronics and building materials industries before PepsiCo.

Dr. Aalt Dijkhuizen

Aalt Dijkhuizen graduated in agricultural economics at Wageningen University and took his PhD in animal health economics at the Veterinary School in Utrecht. He was appointed professor of animal health economics in Wageningen in 1992.

In 1998 he left for private industry and became managing director with Nutreco, a feed and food company listed at the Amsterdam stock exchange. Moreover, he became corporate director food safety and a member of the Nutreco Management Committee.

He returned to Wageningen UR in 2002 to become President and Chairman of the Executive Board. Wageningen UR employs 6500 people and includes three entities: (1) Wageningen University, (2) the Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, and (3) a special foundation with nine applied research institutes.

Aalt Dijkhuizen has a broad international experience and serves in several advisory and supervisory boards of food and agribusiness companies. Moreover, he is a personal advisor to the Governor of Fujian Province in China and member of the international science advisory committee of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Dr. Kevin Dooley

Dr. Kevin Dooley is a Professor of Supply Chain Management, and a Dean's Council of 100 Distinguished Scholars in the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Dr. Dooley is a world-known expert in the application of complexity science to help organizations improve. He has published over 100 research articles and co-authored an award winning book, “Organizational Change and Innovation Processes”. He is on several journal editorial boards, including Decision Sciences and Journal of Operations Management. He has been awarded
two patents concerning Centering Resonance Analysis, a novel form of network text analysis, and is co-founder and CEO of Crawdad Technologies, LLC, a provider of text analysis software for academics.

Marcela Hahn

Marcela Hahn serves as the Executive Director of CARE’s Strategic Partnerships and Alliances unit, a team that builds multifaceted, long-term partnerships with corporations, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions.

In her role as Executive Director, Marcela develops and leads CARE’s approach to private sector engagement. Prior to CARE, she served for six years as the Vice President for Development at Americans for UNFPA, the U.S. support organization for the United Nations Population Fund. Marcela worked closely with UNFPA to further its mandate on the rights of women and girls.

She has served in a leadership role on the Board of Directors of the North Star Fund, a community foundation in New York City, during a pivotal time of organizational transformation. Further, in her role with Americans for UNFPA, Marcela was instrumental in guiding Board development, including recruitment, governance structures, and succession planning.

Marcela received a Master of Public Administration from New York University and a B.A. from Cornell University.

Helen van Hoeven

Helen van Hoeven directs WWF’s Market Transformation Initiative for WWF International. Our Markets work addresses the challenge of how we will produce food, fuel and fiber for a population of more than 10 billion, while maintaining the planet for future generations. Our Markets program seeks to ‘tip’ markets toward sustainability for strategically selected commodities that impact the most biologically significant places globally. In her role, Helen leads WWF’s global efforts to transform15 commodities ranging from forest products, to food products to wild-caught fish and aquaculture. She and her team are transforming supply chains through multi stakeholder engagements, partnerships with leading global companies and by engaging financial institutions. Before working for WWF, Helen was the procurement manager and sustainability manager of a holding company with 10 retail chains ranging from food to fashion to do-it-yourself. She is a recognized expert in markets and sustainability.

Michael Murphy

Michael is Director of Worldwide Environmental Affairs for Dell Inc. In this role, he is
responsible for leading operations for a 100 member global team of regulations/standards SME’s and engineers, strategic planning of global regulations and standards influence, overseeing Dell’s Design for Environment and Product Lifecycle Assessment programs, providing global governance for environmental and regulatory compliance of all Dell products, and increasing Dell’s sustainable product and packaging leadership across its entire portfolio. He is also one of the primary authors of Dell’s annual Corporate Responsibility report and regularly engages customers on the sustainability value proposition of Information Communications Technology.

Michael has been with Dell, Inc. for eleven years and held diverse leadership positions
in global operations, program management, engineering, regulatory compliance, and environmental affairs.

Prior to joining Dell, he served in the United States Army as an officer in the Corps of Engineers and Army Acquisition Corps, where he led a variety of combat engineering and contracting organizations. After active duty, he served as the Director of Contracting for the Texas Army National Guard. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, is a DAWIA Certified Contracting Officer, holds a TS-SCI Clearance, and is certified in Sustainable Business from Bainbridge Graduate Institute. He is a current board member of Keep Austin Beautiful and manages board relationships with EPEAT, TGG, HDPUG, ITIC-ELC and iNEMI. Primary Sector: Electronics

Len Sauers, PhD

Len Sauers is Vice President for Global Sustainability at P&G. He leads the company’s
overall sustainability program, where he is responsible for developing and then ensuring that
the company delivers its long-term sustainability vision and short-term goals. Len has been employed at P&G for 24 years. He has a PhD in toxicology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Prior to his current assignment, Len held senior management positions in the areas of human & environmental toxicology, biotechnology, regulatory affairs, and technical external relations.

Andrea B. Thomas

Andrea B. Thomas is Senior Vice President, Sustainability for Walmart Stores, Inc. She is responsible for working across the global organization as well as with external stakeholder to embed sustainability into all aspects of the company. Prior to assuming this role in September 2010, she led the Global Merchandising Center for the Home, Hardlines and Entertainment businesses where she had global brand, product development and sourcing responsibilities
for Walmart’s proprietary brands, which include Mainstays, Canopy, Better Homes & Gardens, Home Trends and GE. Before assuming this role in February 2010, she was Senior Vice President of Private Brands for the Grocery and Consumable businesses. She led the brand management, product development and co-manufacturing activities for the multi-billion dollar portfolio of private brands in the Grocery, Dry Goods, Health & Beauty, Pharmacy and Pet categories. She was instrumental in the brand re-launch of Great Value, Equate, Ol’ Roy and Parent’s Choice and the launch of the Marketside brand.

Prior to joining Walmart in October 2007, Thomas was Vice President, Global Innovation of
The Hershey Company. In this role, she was responsible for platform innovation for Hershey’s portfolio of global brands including Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kisses and IceBreakers. She led the work that identifies new platform opportunities for growth based on consumer and marketplace trends and insights, translating them into sustainable product and partnership ideas that deliver profitable growth for the company.

Previously, Thomas spent 13 years at Pepsico where she worked in Brand Management, Innovation and Retail Marketing. As Vice President, Innovation at Frito-Lay, Inc., she was responsible for managing Frito-Lay’s salty snack innovation pipeline, creating over $1 billion
in new product platforms. Prior to this role, Thomas served as Vice President, Retail Marketing and Promotions at Frito-Lay, and led the marketing efforts for the Fritos and Tostitos brands including the launch of Tostitos Scoops and the sponsorships of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Daytona 500. Prior to joining Frito-Lay, she was Director, New Product Marketing, at Pizza Hut, Inc.

Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in business administration from Brigham Young University where she was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Societies.

Originally from Salt Lake City, Thomas lives in Bentonville, AR., with her husband and three children. She serves on the National Advisory Council for the Marriott School of Management
at Brigham Young University and was named one of the Top 25 Global Champions of Innovation by BusinessWeek Magazine in 2006.

Sharon Gaber

Sharon L. Gaber became provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Arkansas on May 1, 2009. She came to the University of Arkansas, where she is also professor of Sociology, from Auburn University, where she served most recently as interim provost. Prior to this she served Auburn as senior associate provost and associate provost for academic administration. She began her time at Auburn as Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction.

Prior to Auburn University, she was a faculty member at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She served as Department Chair, graduate officer and held the A. Leicester Hyde endowed professorship.

She holds a Ph.D. in City & Regional Planning from Cornell University, a Master's in Planning from the University of Southern California, and BA degrees in Economics and Urban Studies from Occidental College. Her research interests are in community needs assessment of marginalized populations and planning methods.

She has served on the National Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Governing Board, was awarded the 2006 State of Alabama Outstanding Professional Planner of the Year, and the 2009 Auburn University Women of Distinction Faculty Award.

Dr. Rick Shangraw, Jr.

Dr. Shangraw is the Director of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University. In this role, he chairs the directorate overseeing the Institute and the integrated School of Sustainability. The pan-university Institute engages over 300 faculty members in sustainability research and solutions. The School of Sustainability, the first of its kind in the U.S., offers transdisciplinary degree programs focused on developing leaders able to find practical solutions to environmental, economic, and social challenges. Shangraw also is Senior Vice President for Knowledge Enterprise Development and is a Professor of Practice in both the School of Sustainability and the School of Public Affairs.

Shangraw has been active in energy and environmental issues over the course of his academic and industry careers. His research has focused on measuring the cost, schedule, and technical risks associated with large-scale environmental and energy projects. At the Rand Corporation, he developed tools for assessing the economic and technical viability of first-of-a-kind synthetic fuel plants. He founded an environmental and energy research consulting firm in 1991, which grew to over 200 consultants by the time he exited the firm in 2004. He has served as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, and the Food and Drug Administration. One of Shangraw’s most important accomplishments was advising the U.S. Department of Energy as it built the Office of Environmental Management during the 1990s.

At ASU, Shangraw was the founding Executive Director of the Decision Theater, where he integrated visualization, simulation, and collaboration tools and techniques to address sustainability issues at the local and regional level. He led projects in water management, land use planning, and urban sustainability in partnership with local governments and the private sector. He teaches graduate level classes in the School of Public Affairs and sits on several not-for-profit boards.

Shangraw has a B.A., magna cum laude, in Political Science and a Certificate in Environmental Studies from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; a Master of Public Administration degree from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University; and he earned his Ph.D. from the Maxwell School with a specialization in Technology and Information Policy and Organization Design.