The Positive Luxury Awards honour innovation in every aspect of ESG, highlighting leading organisations and driving a global conversation about the future of our industry. The awards will be judged by an independent panel of diverse experts from a range of backgrounds, providing a broad perspective on luxury sustainability. Read below to find out more about each judge’s experience.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE AWARDS HERE
EDWARD HERTZMAN
Executive Vice President Fairchild Media; Founder & President Sourcing Journal
Edward Hertzman received a degree in economics from NYU and spent more than a decade working as a top executive for major sourcing companies all over the world, including Synergies Worldwide and Pearl Global. Hertzman sits on the Board for Delivering Good, a charitable organization that channels the resources of the fashion industry to those in need.
In 2009, in response to a need in the industry, he founded Sourcing Journal Online. With more than 75,000 subscribers, Sourcing Journal Online is the largest trade journal devoted to the sourcing apparel and textile industry supply chain in the world. In August 2020, he was promoted to executive vice president of Fairchild Media, tasked with growing the businesses of all Fairchild Media titles in his new position, while continuing to lead the day-to-day operations at Sourcing Journal. He will also oversee the growth of Fairchild Media’s strategic content studio, bolstering the creation of engaging, interactive content to help industry partners stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.
LIAM GOLDSWORTHY
Head of Consumer Goods and Retail, Sustainable Business & Lead, Acre Foundation at Acre
Liam heads up Acre’s consumer goods and retail practice in the UK having spent the last 6 years partnering on senior sustainability mandates and building teams for companies across consumer goods and retail, with a particular on the fashion and luxury goods industry.
In addition to his core role, Liam also leads Acre’s internal sustainability and charitable initiatives through the Acre Foundation; including B-corp, net-zero, employee engagement and charitable work with aligned social and environmental causes.Lastly, Liam is an Independent Advisor to
EDZARD VAN DER WYCK
Co-Founder- Sheep Inc
Edzard is an experienced founder in consumer and tech, and together with his co-Founder Michael Wessely launched Sheep Inc. at the end of 2019. Sheep Inc. is a tech-enabled, knitwear brand that has fashion’s first 100% transparent, carbon-negative supply chain.
SARAH GEORGE
Senior Reporter, edie
Sarah is an award-winning, NCTJ-certified multimedia journalist with a passion for telling stories that matter. She has been writing full-time, in-house, for more than four years at the UK’s longest-running B2B sustainability and energy media brand edie.net. In this capacity, she also hosts edie.net’s long-running podcast and is a regular feature at its online and in-person events. She has also written for The Revival Collective, Positive Luxury and UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development, and hosted external events for organisations including IEMA.
JUAN DOMINGO MERINO
Group Marketing Director Papers at Antalis
Juan Domingo Merino is Marketing Director for the Paper Sector in Antalis. Company that is part of the Kokusai Pulp & Paper group, a worldwide leader in Papers, Packaging and Visual Communication distribution headquartered in Japan and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In Europe and Latin America, Antalis is the leading B2B distributor of products and services in Papers and industrial Packaging, and number two in the distribution of Visual Communication media. Headquartered in the Paris area (France), Antalis operates in 30 countries serving over 100,000 customers with a team of 3,800 employees and breakthrough e-commerce solutions. Their 93 distribution centres, focused on eco-responsibility, provide world-class services.
Juan Domingo holds a Degree in Economics from Universidad del País Vasco and a Master in Business Administration from IESE in Madrid. He has more than 30 years of experience in BtB Distribution. Developing his career in international and multicultural environments in different geographical and functional areas, giving him a broad and global vision of businesses.
PHILIPP KAUFFMANN
Original Beans Founder
Conservationist/entrepreneur Philipp Kauffmann represents the 7th generation in a family of recognised nature explorers and conservationists who co-coined the term “sustainability”. After a career start in the Internet world of the 1990s, Philipp worked for the WWF and the UN on conservation issues around the globe. He went back into business to launch the chocolate brand Original Beans. The company is Europe’s leading craft chocolate and a benchmark for regenerative business practices as reported by the Financial Times, Business Week, FAZ, and others. Philipp’s latest venture is Sacred Forests, a start-up that protects indigenous forests and their guardian cultures.
SARA VAUGHAN
Innovator & Creator Brands with Purpose
Sara Vaughan is an Innovator, Creator Brands with Purpose, Positive Change Maker, Fashion Avenger, Sustainable Beauty Steering Committee Member and Host of The Start Somewhere Podcast. Companies and brands she has worked with include Forevermark, The Body Shop, Unilever, IKEA, One Young World and Marie Claire.
MEI CHEN
Director and Head of Fashion, Alibaba Group
Mei Chen is a technology and ecommerce executive, having spent the last 15+ years working in technology and digital at Fortune 500 companies, building businesses, teams and products.
Currently, Mei serves as director and head of fashion and luxury at Alibaba Group. Upon joining Alibaba in 2015 as an early employee of the globalisation team, Mei led Alibaba’s international expansion and defined the group strategy in Europe. More recently, Mei has been instrumental in the creation of Alibaba Group’s ecommerce luxury offering and ecosystem, partnering, investing and working with leading international luxury and fashion conglomerates and houses (Richemont, Kering Group, LVMH, etc.). Additionally, Mei leads international operations for Alibaba’s yearly flagship fashion and luxury events and conferences (Tmall Collection, Taobao maker festival’s West Lake show among others).
PHIL HAZELL
Programme Director, Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership
Phil Hazell is Programme Director in the Executive Education team at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where she works with luxury brands on sustainability strategy and implementation. She has a keen interest in circular business models, the challenge of implementing sustainability strategy and weaving sustainability through the fabric of a business, and the role of luxury in driving transformational change through developing a sustainable purpose. Her background is in education, and she recently led a team to develop the Sustainability Framework for English Language Teaching, outlining the skills learners need to become informed, compassionate, and innovative agents for positive environmental, social, and economic transformation.
MARK FISCHEL
Founder, Aklimate
Mark Fischel is the founder of climate tech start-up Aklimate. Aklimate provides software to companies to help reduce their carbon emissions, especially in their supply chain. They have been backed by global VCs like Y Combinator and Collaborative Fund, and count 3 of the Fortune 500 among their clients
ROBERT LOCKYER
Founder & CEO, Delta Global
As CEO of Delta Global we are bringing luxury, sustainability, and innovation together to excite the client customer experience in-store or online. Our vision to merge luxury, sustainability and innovation in the form of environmentally friendly packaging solutions is what drives us to do what we do. Whether we’re producing luxury boxes, ecommerce packaging, jewellery packaging, luxury carrier bags, ribbon or anything else, the synergy between each of these values is the core principle behind our work.
JESSICA SMITH
Nature Lead, UNEP Finance Initiative
Jessica Smith (BES, MA, MCom) leads the Nature programme at the UNEP Finance Initiative based in Geneva, promoting leadership in sustainable finance across banking, insurance and investment industries. She leads UNEP FI’s involvement in the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), Natural Capital Finance Alliance and its Exploring Natural Capital Opportunities, Risk and Exposure (ENCORE) tool, the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Initiative, the Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) Biodiversity Community, and other initiatives for nature-related financial opportunities, risk and disclosure. For the previous 7 years she directed a consultancy firm undertaking environmental finance project development and evaluation, and leading secretariats for the Equator Principles Association (environmental and social risk in project finance for 100+ financial institutions) and the Cross-Sector Biodiversity Initiative (applying IFC performance standard 6 on biodiversity in oil & gas, mining, and finance). Jessica aims to bridge research and practice on nature finance and was recently lead author of the first academic publication linking conservation finance, blended finance and community-led conservation. She currently leads an applied research project with the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation and other partners to promote investment in Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities- managed landscapes.
CÉCILE LOCHARD
Chief Sustainability Officer, Guerlain
Holding a double master in Sustainable Development from PARIS-DAUPHINE University and Profit-Non-Profit Project Management from the ESSEC business school, Cécile Lochard began her career in finance within HSBC’s SRI (Socially Responsible Investment) branch, where she evolved over a period of six years.
For eight years she then managed private partnerships for the WWF, the world’s first envi- ronmental non-profit organization, where she created a philanthropy department and
notably served as spokesperson for topics surrounding luxury and the environment.
In 2011, Cécile wrote “Luxury and Sustainability: A New Alliance” (Luxe et Dévelop- pement Durable: La Nouvelle Alliance), a leading reference on the subject of luxury and social responsibility published by Éditions Eyrolles. At the same time she founded a consultancy specifically aimed at guiding luxury Houses in the creation of CSR strategies and assisting Charity Organisations and Foundations in how to create environ- mentally responsible programmes. She also speaks at conferences internationally and serves as an MBA Luxury Management professor specializing in “Conscious Luxury”.
Cécile joined the LVMH Group in 2015 as the Director of Sustainable Development and Communications for Cha Ling, before joining the Guerlain House in 2019 as Biodiversity Programs and Sustainable Communications Manager. She became Guerlain’s Chief Sustainability Officer in September, 2020.
Consistently guided by a desire to unite the worlds of luxury and sustainability, Cécile Lochard use her new role to deepen Guerlain’s House commitment to sustainability: innovating sustainably, preserving biodiversity, acting for climate and creating po- sitive social impact.
VESSY TASHEVA
Founder & CEO, Vessy.com
Vessy is Founder & CEO of Vessy.com, a global DEIB and mental health consultancy, featured in Top 10 of Emerging Diversity & Inclusion Companies in Europe by Manage HR Magazine.
The consultancy works with clients across Europe, North America, and Latin America, typically fast growing tech companies, 2-4 years pre-IPO.
Vessy has been personally recognised for 4 years in a row: featured in Top 30 Diversity & Inclusion Leaders You Must Follow in 2022, Top 50 D&I Influencers globally by Onalytica 2021 and 2020, named as one of the UK’s most influential D&I leaders in 2020 and among the most influential D&I Leaders globally in 2019.
Currently, Vessy is researching the topic of Trust as part of a MSc dissertation in Trinity College Dublin.
In the last 11 years, prior to being a founder, Vessy has worked as Chief Strategy Officer of a talent tech startup, as well as in various roles across product, marketing, and culture in companies between 4 and 800 employees.
PASCAL O. RAVESSOUD
Director of External Affairs & Watchmaking Expert, Secretary-General of the Cultural Council
Avid collector and passionate about watches, Pascal Ravessoud is holder of an MBA from Business School Lausanne. He joined Harry Winston as PR & events manager, and later as Head of Communications for the Timepieces division. In 2007 Pascal joined the Fondation Haute Horlogerie as a Marketing/Development director, overseeing the development of the foundation’s activities in the markets. In charge of the External Affairs and Watchmaking Expert, he also leads the Cultural Council and is now co-directing Watches and Culture, the cultural division of FHH.
JOEY PRINGLE
Founder, Veshin Factory
Originally from just outside of north London England, Joey’s first break in fashion came in Melbourne Australia as an accessories designer for Crumpler. Upon graduating with a BA Honors in industrial design, Joey relocated to Vancouver Canada. He landed back in the industry working as a technical bags developer for MEC & most recently the accessories lead for tentree. It was during his time at tentree where his job took him to working with factories across Vietnam and China. On a business trip to China in 2018 Joey met with a factory in Guangzhou. It was on this trip where the conversation to start a green factory model developed. After another trip to China In late 2019, Joey decided to quit his job in Canada to start Veshin Factory. Veshin (pronounced V-shin) is an original equipment/ design manufacturer (OEM & ODM) specializing in luxury vegan leather alternatives & premium recycled synthetics, bags & accessories. Built off a philosophy centered on sustainability, transparency & raising consciousness. Currently Joey resides in Colombia where he is piloting Veshin Factory’s second factory in Latin America.
ELLE HILL
Founder, Hill & Co.
Elle is a renowned entrepreneur and lauded business growth expert in the diamond, gemstone and jewelry industry. Her 28 years of achievements include helping some of the largest businesses and organizations in the world, the Watch and Jewellery Initiative 2030 and Blue Nile, among them. From her early career helming the US Market’s largest jewelry manufacturers to launching her own award-winning international designer jewelry retailer, bringing it public with a $10 million IPO in less than four years, and ultimately launching Hill & Co. launch and growth experts, which celebrates a decade of supporting growth in our industry.
As Founder & CEO of Hill & Co., a business management consultancy working exclusively with the jewellery industry, Elle and her team of jewellery industry experts have amassed an unparalleled array of deep-area expertise, and a stable of A-list clients who they help create an effective business strategy which harness technology to drive revenue and profitability.
JARID GREEN
Co-Director, Center for Business and Social Justice
Jarrid Green is the Co-Director of the Center for Business and Social Justice. The Center will advance health and economic justice at the intersection of movements working toward greater societal equity and fairness. Among other activities, the Center will sustainably and intentionally connect leaders in movements with private sector allies, identify effective business practices, and provide cross-learning opportunities that inform private sector behavior change as well as systems change through improved public policy outcomes.
Prior to joining BSR, Jarrid worked at Freedman Consulting, where he developed and managed strategic philanthropic initiatives including donor coalitions and nonprofit organizations focused on social justice and climate/sustainability impacts. Jarrid has also served senior research and project management capacities at The Democracy Collaborative and The Center for Social Inclusion.
Jarrid received his MBA in Sustainability from Bard College and his BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Maryland. He is also an alum of the Council of Urban Professional Fellowship Institute.
