2024 ESG Leadership Conference | Future-Proof Leadership konference

IKONA PROJEKT 1 1 1 | 2024 ESG Leadership Conference

Previously

Past ESG conferences

Who were the speakers at our previous conferences? What were we discussing? What carbon footprint did the conference produce? You can find out below.

Rectangle 4 | 2024 ESG Leadership Conference

Which conference year do you want to explore?

Speakers at the 2024 ESG Leadership Conference

Jan Jonker

Professor Emeritus of Sustainable and Circular Business at Radboud University in Nijmegen (NL)

Jan Jonker is Professor Emeritus of Sustainable and Circular Business at Radboud University in Nijmegen (NL). He was appointed to this teaching position for life in 2015. He is known as an activist professor who wants to stimulate social change through a practical approach. He does this from an organizational perspective translated into business models. For him, the core of transition is learning to organize differently around changing forms of collective value creation. He has 35 books and more than 250 publications to his credit. He is currently working on his 36th book on transition and value creation.
Deborah (Quesnell) Cleaver

Chief Financial Officer, CME

Deborah Cleaver is CFO of CME. She joined the company in 2007 and held positions in investor relations and financial planning prior to her current appointment. Deborah is a chartered accountant with over 20 years of experience in broadcast finance, including previous roles at CNBC Europe.
Eva Nedeľková

Member of the Board of Directors of Lindström Group and co-founder of KonwESG

Eva Nedeľková has been working at Lindström Group since 2022 and currently holds several consulting positions focused on sustainability and ESG. Eva has extensive experience in business model innovation in various industries, including leading digital transformation at Dutch bank ABN AMRO. As a co-founder of KnowESG, she is working to democratize access to ESG data. The KnowESG Marketplace supports companies in reducing emissions and improving ESG reporting.
Michaela Chaloupková

Chief Sustainability Officer, Director of the Administration Division and Member of the Board of Directors of ČEZ

She graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. She joined ČEZ, a. s. in 2003 as a sales officer in purchasing. She gradually rose to the position of Director of the Administration Division, which includes human resources, property and vehicle management for the ČEZ Group, and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2011. She also holds the position of Chief Sustainability Officer and is responsible for managing the ESG agenda at the ČEZ Group. Since November 2023, she has been a member of the Presidium of the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development. In 2012, she first appeared on the list of 25 women in Czech business, in which she has regularly occupied the top positions since then. She also regularly appears on the list of the 50 most influential women in the Czech Republic announced by Forbes magazine. She is actively involved in mentoring and coaching, and is one of the prominent promoters of diversity and equal pay in the Czech Republic.
Kateřina Barbier

General Manager, HP for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary

Kateřina Barbier is an experienced manager with rich international experience and a deep understanding of the diversity of markets and the development of human potential. In her role, she focuses on innovation and supports sustainable business, reflecting her belief that true sustainability begins with concrete actions and active education of those around her. She has been with HP since 2005 – with a one-year break when she led the French multinational Legrand in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Less than a year ago, she took over the management of HP for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
Jan Růžička

Chief External Affairs Officer, PPF Group

Jan Růžička is the Head of External Relations of PPF Group. He is responsible for GR, PR, regulation, thought leadership and ESG. He lived and worked for Home Credit Group in Hong Kong for more than 4 years, from where he managed teams in the USA, Asia and Europe, responsible for Corporate Affairs, Regulatory, PR, CSR and ESG. Before coming to Asia, he worked for the Czech government for ten years in the ministries of culture and health and was one of the prominent figures in the healthcare reform. He lectures pro bono at the university on fintech, innovation and behavioral economics.
Hana de Goeij

Head of Sustainable Production and Responsible Content at CME Media Group

Hana de Goeij is Head of Sustainable Production and Responsible Content at CME Media Group. Her goal is to minimize the carbon footprint of television productions and inspire viewers to think about their relationship with the planet and their surroundings. She participated in the formulation of the ESG strategy for CME Group and now leads its implementation. Hana previously worked as a journalist and, among other things, was a freelance correspondent for the New York Times. She also worked in the Office of the President of the Czech Republic and the European Parliament. She studied international relations, European studies and journalism.
Marta Mikliszanska

Group Director, Public Affairs and ESG at Allegro Group

Marta Mikliszanska is a public affairs expert and is responsible for public policy and sustainability at Allegro Group. Marta has many years of experience in business organizations and parliamentary administration. Before joining Allegro in 2018, she advised many Polish and international companies, including IT companies, on building government relations and creating communication strategies. She studied international relations and Latin American studies at the University of Warsaw and European studies at the National School of Public Administration; she was also a British Government Scholar at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Michał Wojtas

Head of Group Network Planning @ Allegro

Michał Wojtas is responsible for network planning and management at Allegro Group. Michał has over 10 years of experience in business development and M&A. Before joining Allegro in 2019, he worked at Enterprise Investors, a leading private equity fund focused on Central and Eastern Europe, and at EY in the Strategy and Transactions team. He holds a double master’s degree in Strategic Management and Finance and Investments from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Martin Šimonek

vedoucí oddělení vztahů s investory ve společnosti DRASLOVKA

Martin Šimonek joined Draslovka in 2022 as Head of Investor Relations, where he manages communications with institutions providing capital to Draslovka and its subsidiaries. In his role, Martin helps oversee ESG reporting and strategic leadership with a focus on financial market requirements. Prior to his time at Draslovka, Martin worked in family office asset management in Prague, where he was involved in biotech venture capital, healthcare operations, and private equity deals. Before moving to Prague, Martin spent four years in London as a senior analyst at Bloomberg LP, where he focused on renewable energy value chains and their economics.
Martina Popenková

Director of Public and Client Relations, Ipsos

Martina Popenková joined Ipsos in 2010 as an Account Director responsible for research in the areas of innovation, potential measurement and sales forecasting, as well as projects dealing with branding and broader market understanding. She now works as a Senior Client Director implementing research results into company processes across many sectors. Before joining Ipsos, Martina worked for several years for Kantar in the UK.
Robin Dufek

Co-founder of SUSTAINOVA

Robin Dufek is the co-founder of SUSTAINOVA, a committed environmentalist and entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in sustainability. He has spearheaded the Czech waste management revolution and circular economy initiatives. He actively connects experts from around the world who share his vision of positive change in our world. In 2017, he represented the Czech private sector as a speaker at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the main UN platform for sustainable development.
Klaudia Šálková

ESG Manageri, Ardon Safety

Klaudia is an enthusiastic ESG manager working at ARDON s.r.o., where she is responsible for preparing and implementing sustainability, EHS and compliance reports and strategies. She believes that financial prosperity and sustainable development should form a single whole. As an ESG, EHS and compliance manager, she uses all the knowledge and skills she has gained during her career in waste management, public administration, finance and, last but not least, while studying law, business management and personal development. Her heart beats for sustainability, which gives her the energy and will to try to cope with everything every day.
Sian Young

Co-founder and CEO ©Centre for Sustainable Action

Sian Young, international speaker, co-founder and CEO of ©Centre for Sustainable Action and ©SDG – Assessment App and SPF + Sustainable Development Performance Indicators (SDPIs) Scorecard for organizations, entrepreneur and author, winner of several UN and TEDx awards. Sian believes in a world where businesses are sustainable and profitable, where collaboration helps us excel in the competition. She calls this the “connection” between planet and profit. Her mission is to transform small businesses and entrepreneurs into profitable and sustainable enterprises, “humanizing” business through research, technology and collaboration.
Lowellyne James

CEO of the company ©SDG Assessment

Dr. Lowellyne James is a visionary and recognized expert with extensive experience in environmental management, sustainable development, quality management, safety management, and strategic planning. He is currently the CEO of ©SDG Assessment, a sustainability, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance reporting tool that helps small and medium-sized enterprises and high-growth companies benchmark their performance against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through her work at the ©Center for Sustainable Action, a small business cooperative dedicated to implementing sustainability, Dr. James is at the forefront of positive change and helping organizations align their operations with achieving the Global Goals.
Pavel Hnát

Associate Professor of the Department of International Economic Relations and Vice-Rector of the University of Economics in Prague for Pedagogy and Quality Management

From 2012 to 2022, Pavel Hnát was the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of International Relations for Educational Activities. He specializes in new regionalism, comparative regionalism and the position of the European Union in the global economy. At the University of Economics, he also works as a member of the Center for European Studies and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Contemporary Europe. In 2019 and 2020, he was a researcher in the TA ČR project entitled Targeting investment support in the Czech Republic with regard to the expected impacts of technological change. In 2020 to 2022, he was a member of three research teams of the TA ČR project focusing on the presidency of the Council of the EU
Jiří Valach

Deputy Director of the Center for Knowledge and Technology Transfer, Charles University

Jiří Valach has been connecting scientists and external partners – be it companies, non-profit organizations or ministries – since 2006. He helps to find a common language between scientists or faculty deans on the one hand, and company managers, deputies in the ministry or directors of non-profit organizations on the other. His task is to ensure that the combination of know-how and practice brings benefits to individuals and society as a whole.
Alena Králová

Manager of Intellectual Property Administration, ČZU

Since 2016, she has been working at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague in the Technology Transfer Department, where she is currently responsible for, among other things, the management and administration of the intellectual property agenda of the CULS and is dedicated to raising awareness of IP issues among the university’s scientists. In her previous job, she worked for several years in the quality department at GE Money Bank and was involved in optimizing processes within the company in accordance with the 6 sigma methodology. She graduated in systems engineering from the Czech Technical University.

Want to get a sneak peek at the 2024 conference?

Carbon Footprint of the 2024 Conference

CI3, s.r.o., a partner of the Business Leaders Forum, calculated the carbon footprint of the ESG Leadership 2024 conference held at the premises of the Czech National Bank on September 16, 2024. The calculation was carried out according to international standards and included the transportation of participants and speakers to and from the event, their accommodation, the materials procurement and transportation to the event, energy and water consumption during the event, the preparation of refreshments and waste management. Data for calculating the carbon footprint had to be collected before the event itself, but their final collection could only happen after the conference have taken place.

The total carbon footprint of the conference was 2.22 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. This value is slightly higher than last year’s (1.45 tonnes of CO₂e), but still relatively low compared to other similar events. This is because most participants and speakers chose sustainable means of transport (public transport) and the event itself was designed to have the lowest possible impact. Vegan food was served, the location was chosen so that people did not have to drive, and most of the available materials and equipment were reused. In terms of the structure of the carbon footprint, the largest part was made up of transport for participants and speakers to the event (62%), accommodation for speakers (23%) and catering (12%). The remaining factors were minimal.

Most interesting observation is the year-on-year comparison of the catering footprint – in the case of vegan catering, the footprint decreased by 47% compared to last year. The transportation of speakers from abroad remains a challenge. Even though two foreign speakers chose to travel by train, the transportation of international speakers remains the most significant item.

If we were to compare the volume of the carbon footprint to ordinary human activities, it would correspond to almost thirteen thousand km driven by a diesel car, a flight of three people from Prague to Seoul and back, the production of thirty-one iPhones, or the production of 1 ton of steel in Czech steel mills.