London

An advocate of the world’s largest sustainability platform, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Elaine has detailed knowledge & expertise in responsible & ethical supply chains, sustainable procurement, business & human rights, labour rights children’s rights & business principles, women’s empowerment, anti-corruption, reporting & monitoring and UNGC engagement & SDG contribution.

She is Business & Human Rights Lead for Marshalls plc (12 years +) - https://www.marshalls.co.uk/ - the UK’s leading hard landscape company serving both the commercial and domestic construction markets and with business operations in the UK and supply chain across the globe. In this capacity she develops human rights strategy including the organizations response to the UK’s Modern Slavery Act (MSA), implements and embeds MSA activity both in UK business operations and challenging overseas supply chains including India, Vietnam, Europe, China, Turkey and Brazil. While Elaine engages with governments, UN agencies and develops strategy, she equally spends much of her time hands-on in supply chains dealing with the complex range of issues and stakeholders who must be engaged to make meaningful and lasting change which results in improved conditions for vulnerable individuals & groups, workers, their families and the wider community.

Elaine sits on the UNGC Global Compact UK Advisory Group; UNGC Global Compact UK Modern Slavery Working Group; UNGC Global Compact UK Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Working Group. She represent Marshalls at the ILO International Platform for the Elimination of Child Labour: Child Labour Platform and is actively engaged in the development of a programme in India along with other global brands. She is engaged with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery and has recently been asked to contribute to the newly established All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sport, Modern Slavery and Human Rights.

Michelle has 15 years’ experience working in the environmental compliance sector building an extensive knowledge of the industry. After graduating from Cardiff University in 2002, she has developed her career by specialising in product stewardship, producer responsibility programs and their impacts on the producers.

Co-Founding Lorax Compliance Limited in 2014, Michelle supports a diverse range of businesses with specialist Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reporting services as well as tailored consultancy covering all aspects of this environmental legislation. The award-winning solutions offered by Lorax Compliance improve methods of data management, provide comprehensive knowledge and present complete transparency into the costs of EPR compliance.

EPR is a frequently changing and growing global field illustrated by increasing complexity and cost. Michelle’s focus within Lorax is to promote and simplify the vast range of reporting requirements their clients find themselves obligated by.

Simon Houghton-Dodd is the Compliance Officer at the London Bullion Market Association, running the Association’s Responsible Sourcing Programme, which covers Gold, Silver, Platinum and Palladium and 100 of the world’s largest precious metal refineries located in over 30 countries.  Prior to joining LBMA, Simon was Divisional Sustainability Manager for Johnson Matthey’s Precious Metal Products Division focusing on the key areas of legal compliance, community relations, sustainable sourcing including the development of ethical supply chains, environmental performance, and manufacturing excellence.

Mark Hunting is the Senior Counsel on the Regulatory Compliance team at BP, advising on bribery and corruption, money laundering and modern slavery matters. Mark’s practice includes managing internal investigations and developing policies and procedures to mitigate these risks across the BP business. Prior to joining BP, Mark was a solicitor in private practice with Ropes & Gray LLP, focusing on a mix of contentious and non-contentious bribery, corruption and money laundering matters.

For almost 30 years, Michael Littenberg has been active in advising leading public and private companies on supply chain compliance and corporate social responsibility matters. Michael advises a significant number of companies on compliance with U.S. and EU conflict minerals, human trafficking and product compliance, as well as other CSR-related regulations. He also advises clients on disclosure and compliance with legal requirements, the construction and implementation of compliance programs, mitigating client litigation and NGO and socially responsible investor risk.

David graduated as an Applied Scientist some years ago now, and has been involved with the metal mining industry for thirty-eight years, having spent twenty years with the Zambian Mining Industry providing technical and commercial services to one of the world’s largest refined copper and cobalt producers. For a significant portion of this time he was the Chief Executive of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (UK) Ltd before the industry was eventually privatised. David then worked with Mitsui & Co Ltd and provided consulting services in financial risk management and metals trading before working with Anglo American Corporation of South Africa specialising in the integration of base metal assets. He then moved into the Lloyd’s Insurance market and spent a number of years with Jardine Lloyd Thompson Ltd, the largest European based insurance broker, to specialise in managing all aspects of mining risks. David is now President of the Cobalt Institute, Director of the Cobalt REACH Consortium Ltd, REACH Metal Carboxylates Consortium and the Non-Ferrous Alliance. The Cobalt Institute represents a large part of the global cobalt industry and works to promote the sustainable and responsible production and use of this very special, technology enabling metal.

Steve Andrew is the Deputy Head of Waste & Recycling at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. His teams are responsible for UK government policy and European Commission Committee involvement associated with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, the Batteries and Accumulators Directive, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and the End of Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive. The teams also have sponsorship responsibility for the UK’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and lead his department’s interests in all strategic broader waste, producer responsibility and product policy issues.

Boris is a future-focused professional engineer with many years of investment, management and operational experience. He has experience in a range of industries at senior executive levels, including private equity, mining, venture capital and construction. He began his career at Grinaker Concrete Construction and became a director in 1999. Boris leverages strong business acumen, strategic ability and leadership skills to help innovative companies achieve optimal business outcomes.

After twenty years in the UK Civil Service, Mr Gerrard has been Policy and Campaigns Director at the world’s oldest co-operative business, the Co-op, since 2016 and leads their campaigning, ethics and sustainability work including on supporting survivors of slavery, which was recognised by the Stop Slavery award in 2017, and on tackling loneliness. Mr Gerrard is a Fellow of IEMA the global body of sustainability professionals.

Rita joined Allegion PLC in 2014 to implement their conflict minerals program, and quickly assumed responsibilities as Supply Chain Compliance Manager for all regulatory activities, including EU RoHS, EU REACH, Proposition 65, the UK Modern Slavery Act, and the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. She also completed the development and automation of Allegion’s supply chain Slavery and Human Trafficking Program. She is excited to move forward with designing improved due diligence and continued internal and external awareness training activities for social responsibility programs. Prior to her current role, Rita spent 21 years in the automotive industry, where she developed business processes and managed subcontract assembly and supplier development activities.

Travis Campbell leads the social responsibility and communication programs under Corporate Responsibility at AMD. In this role, he manages their supply chain risk assessment process, advises on diversity and inclusion efforts and leads their corporate sustainability reporting program. Prior to AMD, Travis worked for Dell in their enterprise sourcing department as a senior. advisor for strategic sourcing, and in a variety of corporate affairs functions at Altria/Philip Morris USA.

Joe Langton is the Senior Manager for Procurement Compliance with Xylem. He has worked in consulting roles for the past 15 years, implementing comprehensive compliance solutions for restricted substances, product lifecycle management and electronics recycling. He has also delivered environmental management systems and restricted substances auditing, implementation and training services in the electronics manufacturing field for numerous organizations. Joe earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and is a certified quality manager system lead auditor.

Travis is an international trade and compliance attorney specializing in ITAR/EAR/Sanctions; global anti bribery anti-corruption, human trafficking and slavery, code of conduct, environmental, and health and safety regulations; product stewardship (RoHS/REACH/Conflict Minerals); and corporate social responsibility (corporate ethics, CSR/CDP reporting, SEC filings). He manages Assent’s worldwide legal activities, such as advising the board of directors on legal matters and overseeing corporate compliance, governance initiatives and other commercial transactions. Travis provides legal support and insight to every team at the company, from sales to services, and partner organizations.

Sarah is a human rights advocate and Chair of Assent’s Corporate Social Responsibility Steering Committee. She specializes in promoting human rights in global business operations. Recently, she supported the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bangladesh as it played a central role promoting labor rights reform in the garment sector following the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science from McGill University.

Jared is an industry-leading subject matter expert on requirements associated with conflict minerals regulations. As a strategic influencer in the development of the Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT), he provides Assent with expertise on data formats and enhancing software. He helped pioneer Intel’s conflict minerals program through leadership on hundreds of on-the-ground smelter audits. He also has 10 years of CSR leadership experience on the topics of human rights, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and environmental sustainability.