our team
the board
Fiona Ellis
co-founder and director
Fiona is a co-founder and director of Business Declares, which she launched in September 2019 together with John Elkington, Ben Tolhurst and Kate Sandle.
Fiona has 30 years background in business and leadership consulting and coaching with a range of corporates working globally.
Fiona is passionate about businesses taking action on the climate and ecological emergency.
Business Declares is a not-for-profit organisation, which acts as a critical friend to organisations who are seeking to change their business models and take positive steps to address this current environmental crisis.
Ben Tolhurst
director
Ben leads the property and asset management business for JLL in the UK. His background spans 27 years in the outsource sector and he has worked across a number of industries including government, energy and utilities, telco and property.
Ben is passionate about addressing the climate emergency and has made some far-reaching changes in his personal and professional life. He is a Director of ‘Business Declares’, a not-for-profit organisation which acts as a critical friend to organisations who are seeking to change their business models and take positive steps to address this current environmental crisis.
Samantha Cooper
director
Samantha was an oil trader for 20 years at BP, leading the Global Petrochemical Feedstock Trading book, and a member of the executive team running the Global Light Ends business.
Samantha left BP in 2015 to find a more fulfilling path. She has been using her corporate experiences to help organisations in two areas: social impact and the hugely challenging low carbon transition.
Recently, Samantha has:
chaired the Development Board at the Young Women’s Trust
been an associate at Koreo, a consultancy mobilising talent for social change
worked with the Impact Hub Network on strategic partnerships
Samantha is a Fellow at the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), has a Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, and is currently studying Tibetan Buddhism.
non-executive director
Kate Sandle
Kate Sandle is the Director of Programmes and Engagement at B Lab UK. Since the UK launch of the B Corporation (B Corp) movement in 2015, Kate has been building a community of companies who are reinventing business. By voluntarily meeting rigorous social and environmental standards, Certified B Corps are distinguishing themselves by measuring their impact and offering a better way to do business.
Kate is a founding Director of Business Declares and on the Advisory Board of Freestar, an alcohol free beer, and judges several awards in tech, film and art.
Kate has an MSc in Social Business and Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics and Politics and has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds.
advisory panel
Safia Minney MBE
Safia Minney, MBE, is an award-winning social entrepreneur & internationally recognised for the company she founded, People Tree, a pioneer of sustainable fashion. She led the business as Global CEO for 20+ years in Japan & Europe.
Safia is recognised by the World Economic Forum as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur and is a leading influencer and international speaker on sustainable business and supply chains, climate action and Fair Trade.
Safia is an advisor, executive coach and author of 9 books including; “Slave to Fashion”, campaigning to eradicate modern day slavery in the fashion industry and “Slow Fashion — Aesthetics meets Ethics”.
Safia recently launched Real Sustainability to promote sustainable living and leadership and joined other business leaders inspired by XR to establish Business Declares.
Sam Baker
Leader, Walk2COP27
Putting c. 30 years consulting experience to use helping the system and, specifically business, transition to a low carbon, more sustainable future. Key areas of competence include coalition building, initiative/ campiagn origination and development, system thinking, corporate purpose and strategy, business model design, innovation, ESG and impact reporting
Charles Perry
Sustainable business leader and green entrepreneur
UN COP 26 Climate Champion. Co-founder of SecondNature (acquired by Anthesis Group). Director, Anthesis. Founder of Sustainable Future for All.
Founder Director of BP Green Energy, MD of Good Energy. Co-founder of GRIDSERVE.
Advisory Board of CE Bill. Co-founder of Climate Reality UK.
Sonal Jain
sustainability advisor
Sonal is a sustainability leader with over 16 years of experience. She is passionate about climate action and supporting the transition of our economy to net zero carbon.
Sonal is a Sustainability Director at JLL, the global professional services company specialising in real estate. Sonal is responsible for delivering on JLL’s sustainability leadership programme, Building a Better Tomorrow, focusing on driving sustainability best practice within JLL’s operations and client services. Sonal also leads on the implementation of JLL’s net zero carbon commitment. This covers decarbonisation of JLL’s estate, educating staff on net zero, influencing the industry to scale-up action and supporting clients on their net zero transition.
Sonal is also supporting the work of COP26 High Level Climate Champions in delivering breakthrough systems transformation and acceleration of net zero transition within the real estate and infrastructure sectors.
John Elkington
John Elkington, Founder & Chief Pollinator at Volans, is one of the founders of the global sustainability movement, an experienced advisor to business, and a highly regarded keynote speaker and contributor, from conferences to boards.
In 2008, The Evening Standard named John among the ‘1000 Most Influential People’ in London, describing him as “a true green business guru”, and as “an evangelist for corporate social and environmental responsibility long before it was fashionable”. In 2009, a CSR International survey of the Top 100 CSR leaders placed John fourth: after Al Gore, Barack Obama and the late Anita Roddick of the Body Shop, and alongside Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank.
John has addressed over 1,000 conferences around the world. He was a faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008. He has served on over 70 boards and advisory boards. John has won numerous awards and is the author or co-author of 20 books. The 20th book was published in April 2020: Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism (Fast Company Press).
Website: volans.com Twitter: @volansjohn and @volanshq
Ellie Austin
Louisa Harris
David Hunter
Charmian Love
Andrew Medhurst
James Perry
Dr Simon Pickering
Charlotte Sewell
Robert Wavell
team
Callum Rees
Callum has experience as a consultant and project manager, working with large companies to better manage their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data.
More recently Callum is studying permaculture and other practical sustainability areas.
At Business Declares Callum is involved in all things marketing.
Richard Buckworth
Richard is a Producer and Director with over 20 years experience in TV broadcast working on major outside broadcasts, live studio and post-produced programming and who specialises in online streaming for various clients .
He is also a Systemic/Family Constellations workshop leader and fully-trained Journey Practitioner with over 17 years experience in the self-development field.
Currently he is developing an online digital environment to platform content creators and projects which tackle the major environmental issues which are affecting our planet.
Nicolas Williams
Nick has taken up position as our Operations Lead, deploying over a decade of experience in system and process implementation in order to help us to deliver on our mission with greater efficiency. Outside of Business Declares, he is an Impact Consultant, helping to embed positive, stakeholder-drive impact into their DNA.
Tom Beresford-West
Tom is an infrastructure consultant with experience in strategy and asset management, supporting clients to build and maintain more resilient, sustainable and data-driven infrastructure networks. He currently works in Sweden for AFRY, a European leader in engineering, design and advisory services. With sustainability woven into their DNA, Tom is trying to utilise their infrastructure and sustainability capabilities to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainability society.
Tom is also a firm believer that businesses have a pivotal role in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and social injustice. Since joining Business Declares, Tom has been supporting member outreach and knowledge sharing events.
Jack Taylor
Jack has spent fifteen years in fundraising and project management for the third sector. Having worked as a Senior Partnerships Manager for the RSPB and led their carbon partnerships development he now wants to leverage his experience to support businesses in their climate transition. Working with Business Declares to help current and prospective members to ambitiously tackle their emissions.
Vaishnavi Ananthan
Vaishnavi’s first encounter with climate issues began when she researched nitrous oxide and particulate matter air pollution, as part of her BSc Chemistry degree at University College London. Presently, she channels her inspiration for accelerating environmental restoration and sustainable development through volunteering with Business Declares.
Millie Baker
Millie has experience in digital media and design. After graduating from the University of Sussex, she entered into the field of sustainability work. With an appreciation for the importance of visual and verbal storytelling, promoting environmental action is vital to what she believes.
At Business Declares, Millie is involved in handling communications, digital media and design.
Daniel Gay
Daniel is a managing director with over 20 years of experience working within the design-led furniture industry. As a creative team player, Daniel focuses on helping people succeed and is passionate about design and its importance for our well-being and survival.
At Business Declares, Daniel works on marketing and design, supports events, and is a mentor to other team members.
Millie Bacchus
Graduated from the University of Brighton in Psychology and Criminology. During her studies she was interested in contemporary social inequalities, particularly the impact of climate change on migration and access to safe movement through borders.
Kelly Moir
Kelly is currently a venture scout, searching for innovation and talent that can drive systemic change across climate and nature, health and wealth distribution. Kelly is equipped with 15 years’ corporate leadership experience in strategy, commercial and sustainability, leading teams and transformation at BT and British Gas.
At Business Declares, Kelly provides strategic support in growing the network and engagement.
Suzanne Wise
Suzanne is a Trustee and Board Director, Strategy Consultant and Mentor. She is a sustainability expert and a passionate climate change advocate, with a strong focus on driving climate action in business for a better world.
She is a trustee and board director of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) and has many years of board level experience across very different industries including food, rail and tobacco.
In 2022 Suzanne retired from her Executive career to pursue her passion for climate action. She left her role as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Sustainability at Japan Tobacco International where her responsibilities included Corporate Sustainability, Communications and Public Affairs.
Previously she was Group General Counsel & Company Secretary at Network Rail and prior to that Premier Foods, leading several corporate functions including Legal & Company Secretarial, Transparency & Business Ethics, Business Change, Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility.
