Aileen Ionescu-Somers
Director, The Center for Corporate Sustainability

Leads the research and designs the events
Irish

Dr Aileen Ionescu-Somers directs the Center for Corporate Sustainability at IMD, which is an applied research and learning center focused on helping companies to integrate social and environmental issues into their corporate strategy through process and product innovations. Dr Ionescu-Somers is an expert on corporate sustainability management and represents IMD both internally and externally on related topics. She has coordinated several large scale research projects on, for example, the business case for sustainability, stakeholder views of corporate sustainability performance and sustainability partnerships, and has published many resulting articles and books (most recent is her book on the business logic for corporate sustainability in the food and beverage industry published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2008). She has facilitated multiple stakeholder dialogues and strategic planning exercises involving corporations and/or their stakeholders.

Before IMD, Dr Ionescu-Somers headed an international projects unit at WWF, the conservation organization, overseeing financing and operations of field and policy projects globally. She also managed the Africa/Madagascar and Latin America/Caribbean regional programs while at WWF. She holds a BA, MA, H.Dip.Ed. and PhD (business administration) from University College Cork, Ireland, and a MSc (Environmental Management) from Imperial College, UK.

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Heidi Strebel
Research Associate

Dr Heidi Strebel conducts research, develops teaching materials and writes case studies on a range of topics. She also works with the Center's member companies on the integration of environmental and social issues into corporate strategies.

Heidi has a strong academic background in sustainable development and experience working with private, public and non-governmental international organisations on solutions to the interrelated challenges of poverty, environmental degradation and climate change. Researcher and writer for a variety of projects, recently she was lead author for a practical guide to the low carbon economy aimed at small- and medium-sized companies.

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Kay Richiger
Coordinator

Primary contact person within the Center's team and program administrator
British

Kay Richiger is the Center's Coordinator and responsible for the office, business processes and customer services related to member companies. Kay is the primary contact person for information on the Center's projects and organizes the logistics of all events. She is responsible for the budget, the  web pages, the shared learning platform, and the environmental/sustainability case study database.

Kay joined IMD in 1999 coming from her family business where she held the position of administrator. Prior to this she worked for the International Organization for Migration in Geneva as Operations Assistant for the Return and Reintegration of Qualified African Nationals program.

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