Breakout Speaker
Louise Nicholls
Head of Responsible Sourcing, Packaging and Plan A, Marks and Spencer
As Head of Responsible Sourcing, Packaging, and Plan A at Marks & Spencer, Louise Nicholls is with responsible for setting strategic direction for the company’s food sustainability plan. Her team works closely with buying teams on issues as diverse as ethical trade, water stewardship, global community programs, lean manufacturing, and sustainable raw material procurement. In the past 12 months, Nicholls has travelled to China, Europe, Kenya, South Africa, the United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe, meeting with more than 1,000 suppliers and local stakeholders to understand their issues and perspectives.
Sessions
Some of the greatest human rights challenges for companies lie in the adverse impacts of their business partners, including suppliers, contractors, joint-venture partners, customers, and governments. Often, companies have only a tenuous connection to the negative human impacts, and little to no control over them. Nonetheless, these companies suffer the reputational and operational damage from the association. We challenge companies to be bold and proactive in business relationships, both to limit risk and to extend your sustainability reach in the wider world. Join us to hear from four companies that are proactively managing their high-risk human rights issues in the web of their business relationships.
