Lance Y. Gokongwei, President and Chief Executive Officer of JG Summit Holdings, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified Philippine conglomerates, has been named as one of the four new members to the board of Global Reporting Initiative, provider of the world’s leading sustainability reporting standards, effective January 1, 2020.
Representing the business enterprise sector on the GRI board, Gokongwei is joined by Eelco van der Enden, a partner at PwC from the Netherlands, and Jessica Fries, executive chair of The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) project from the UK, both representing mediating institutions; 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 organization’s work to increase and strengthen sustainability disclosures by companies around the world, helping them communicate how they contribute towards sustainable development.
Eric Hespenheide, chairman of the GRI Board, said: “GRI provides international leadership through our mission to develop global standards for disclosure of economic, environmental and social performance. 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 added: “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, Africa, 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 Meralco. As trustee and secretary of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, he drives the sustainability direction and efforts of the Gokongwei Group.
Established in 1997, GRI is headquartered in Amsterdam with regional offices around the world. It is an independent international organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their sustainability impacts. www.globalreporting.org