By JAMES A. LOYOLA
JG Summit Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lance Y. Gokongwei has been named as one of the four new members to the board of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) effective January 1, 2020.
JG Summit Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lance Y. Gokongwei
GRI is the provider of the world’s leading sustainability reporting standards. It is the independent international organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their sustainability impacts.
The GRI Standards are the most widely used sustainability reporting standards globally.
Gokongwei will represent the business enterprise sector in the GRI board. The new members will join 11 continuing members of the GRI Board of Directors.
Other new members are Eelco van der Enden, a Partner at PwC from The Netherlands, and Jessica Fries, Executive Chair of A4S – Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability from the UK, both representing the mediating institution; and Jyrki Raina, a global industrial relations expert from Finland representing labor organizations.
The new GRI board of directors, who will serve a term of three years, will oversee the organizations’ work to increase and strengthen sustainability disclosures by companies around the world, helping them communicate how they contribute towards sustainable development.
“GRI provides international leadership through our mission to develop global standards for disclosure of economic, environmental and social performance,” said GRI Board Chairman Eric Hespenheide.
He added that, “I am excited to welcome four new directors to the Board. Collectively and individually they will add a lot of knowledge and experience to GRI and their appointments continue to demonstrate our independent and multi-stakeholder approach.”
GRI chief executive Tim Mohin said “The appointments of Lance, Eelco, Jessica and Jyrki bring fresh perspectives and expertise and I look forward to working with them to advance sustainability reporting.”
With the addition of the four new directors, GRI’s 15-member Board will include 13 nationalities from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Asia and Australia.
GRI’s governance also has representation from five constituency groups – business enterprise, labor organizations, mediating institutions, investment, and civil society.
Gokongwei leads JG Summit, a conglomerate in the real estate, food, transport, financial services and petrochemicals sectors, with operations in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia and Australasia.
He is Chairman of Robinsons Retail Holdings and Vice Chairman of Manila Electric Company. As trustee and secretary of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation he drives the sustainability direction and efforts of the Gokongwei Group.