Bonnie Nixon
Chair
As a relentless optimist and courageous catalyst for change for more than 30 years, Bonnie has held many high profile positions at the global forefront of a new low carbon, resource protected and just economy. She is currently a Senior Partner with Environmental Resources Management which provides technical advisory services in the Business of Sustainability. Bonnie consults with many of the fortune 500 companies on global sustainability, multi-stakeholder engagement and complex supply chain ethical sourcing strategies.
Ms. Nixon has served as Executive Director of the Sustainability Consortium, Director of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing for Hewlett-Packard for more than a decade, Driver for the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, owner of BonnEco, Inc. and Circlepoint, Inc., and led Corporate Social Responsibility at Mattel. Bonnie earned a BA at Pennsylvania State University and a Masters at Pepperdine University in Learning Technologies to Accelerate On-Line Access to Sustainability for the New Millennium.
Bennett Freeman
Vice Chair
Freeman consults through Bennett Freeman Associates LLC, is a Senior Advisor for Business for Social Responsibility, and is a Strategic Partner of Resolve. He is Chair of the Advisory Board of Global Witness; Board Secretary of the Global Network Initiative; and a member of the Governing Board of the Natural Resources Governance Institute. He served on the boards of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Oxfam America, and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
From 2006-15, he was Senior Vice President-Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments and led the mutual fund group’s environmental, social and governance analysis, shareholder advocacy, and public policy initiatives. He served as a Clinton presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of State as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999-2001 and Senior Advisor to Under Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs Stuart Eizenstat from 1997-1999.
Chris Zerlaut
Treasurer
Chris Zerlaut is responsible for sustainability and purpose-driven product strategy at SAP, the world's largest enterprise software provider. As part of the Sustainability Center of Excellence within SAP's Product & Innovation group, he works to operationalize integrated thinking and purpose-driven thinking across the product working groups, and works extensively with SAP's partner ecosystem and extensive customer base. In his 10 years at SAP, he has designed, built and sold various software solutions focused on supply chain transparency, corporate-level strategy management, and hyper-transparency across the value chain. He leads SAP's relationship with the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and others focused on transparency and changing business models.
Previously he worked on the boards of various non-profits. He holds a MBA from Arizona State University WP Carey College of Business and a MIM from Thunderbird. He received a BA in both Japanese Language and Literature and in Asian History from Arizona State University.
Desta Raines
Secretary
Desta Raines is a recognized global corporate responsibility leader with a proven track record of developing and operationalizing innovative approaches to supply chain challenges that focus on measurable impact, advocacy and multi-stakeholder engagement. She currently serves as the Senior Director of Factory Support Services for the Apparel and Home Goods program at Fair Trade USA.
Shawn MacDonald
Shawn MacDonald is CEO of Verité, a civil society organization that promotes workers’ rights in global supply chains through research, consulting, training, assessments, and policy advocacy. Shawn has broad experience in labor rights, corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, workplace health, and multi-sector partnerships. Before joining Verité, he was Director of Accreditation at the Fair Labor Association, Vice President of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, Senior Advisor at Meridian Group International, and co-founder of the Development and Employment Policy Project. Additionally, he worked for a variety of civil society organizations in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. He holds a PhD from George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and an AB in History from Harvard University.