Jim Beach is a long time entrepreneur, award winning speaker, nationally syndicated radio host and McGraw-Hill author. In 2022, Jim met Wayne Elliott, the hero of Jim’s latest book “The Real Environmentalists.” Wayne’s story helped solidify something Jim had noticed: the environmental community argued lots and did little. Wayne risked his life every day, sweating and getting dirty to make the world a cleaner place. With the book, Jim hopes to push the environmental discussion in a new direction, centered on the heroes that are working every day to beat climate change.
Tilly Josephson has spent the last 15 years forging impact at the intersection of business, technology, and social good. Her career has taken her across continents and sectors—from leading corporate social impact programs at tech giants like Zoom, Salesforce, and Microsoft, to advising nonprofits and global coalitions on how to harness technology for systems change. Tilly currently leads Zoom Cares, the social impact arm of Zoom— a global company with the mission to provide an AI-first open work platform for human connection with over 8,000 employees. At Zoom, she oversees philanthropic investments, cross-sector partnerships, and employee engagement efforts. Zoom Cares has contributed $66M to communities since 2020 and is focused on supporting and connecting communities to create positive impact for people and planet. She is also leading Zoom’s latest philanthropic initiative: AI for Good, which supports educators, workers, and nonprofits in responsibly and creatively harnessing artificial intelligence create positive societal impact.
As CBRE’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Rob Bernard is at the forefront of working to create value for clients through sustainability. Rob comes to this role with a business and environmental background. He is leading teams across the company to help CBRE clients decarbonize the built environment, meet increasing regulatory requirements, and drive strong economic returns through the lens of sustainability. He also oversees CBRE’s own operational sustainability work, which includes a goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.
Najada Kumbuli is the Head of Investments and Partnerships at Visa Foundation, where she advances financial inclusion and ecosystem growth for small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide. Leveraging her unique upbringing in Albania and global expertise, Najada leads a holistic investment and grantmaking strategy with a focus on supporting the growth of small businesses by enabling access to capital and financial skills and education.
As Syngenta’s Head of Digital and Sustainable Solutions for North America, Paul Backman brings over 30 years of expertise to his role, a position he assumed on October 1, 2024. This appointment follows his successful tenure as Global Head of Value Chain, where he served from June 2023. Throughout his career at Syngenta, Paul has excelled in various commercial roles, including leading the North American Industry Relations Team and the West Heartland Commercial Unit’s Crop Protection business in the Midwest.
Mark Jensen is CEO and co-founder of ReElement Technologies Corporation, American Resources Corporation, and Chairman at Land Betterment Corporation, based in Fishers, Indiana. ReElement is a leading refiner of high-performance critical battery and rare earth elements required in energy, transportation, defense and other technologies. His experience integrates nearly two decades on Wall Street with hands-on knowledge of the minerals industry.
As chief sustainability and impact officer at Northwestern Mutual, Grady Crosby is responsible for developing strategies and driving the overall execution of the company’s community impact and sustainability initiatives. He and his team collaborate with the enterprise sustainability and impact (ESI) leadership council to address the organization’s approach to sustainability and impact matters across a broad spectrum. Grady is passionate about Social Impact and seeks to mix industry best practices with fit-for-purpose creative solutioning to continually shape Northwestern Mutual’s community revitalization initiatives and work closing the ‘wealth gap’ in the company’s hometown of Milwaukee.
Lindsay Philpott, currently the Senior Sustainability Communications Manager at KIND, is a driven leader fueled by a passion for climate action and equity. With nearly 10 years of expertise in social impact communications, Lindsay has led purpose campaigns that have driven growth and built a competitive advantage.
Bettina Stix is Amazon’s Director of Disaster Relief, Food Security & Education, and Amazon Community Impact. She joined Amazon in 1999. Her career at Amazon started as a books editor. She led international website teams for both Germany and France, and was responsible for global policy in Customer Service and the worldwide expansion and benefits for Amazon Prime. In 2017, she started Disaster Relief as part of Amazon’s newly formed Amazon in the Community team.
George Bandy, Andersen Corporation’s Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the sustainability space, working across a wide variety of industries, including sustainability leadership roles at Amazon and Mohawk Industries. Most recently, he served as chief sustainability officer at Darling Fibers, a polyester chip and fiber manufacturer, where he stewarded the company’s commitment to nature-positive, carbon neutral, recycled, bio-based, and next generation biodegradable products and the circular economy.
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