UN Global Compact Academy Changemakers

Building the next generation of leaders often begins with special encounters with inspiring changemakers and role models. The UN Global Compact Academy Changemaker sessions provide you with the opportunity to learn from some of the most innovative and influential people working to overcome barriers for gender equality.

Dinali Peiris is the Group Director for Human Resources at MAS Holding overseeing more than 100,000 employees. She is a keen advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion and draws from her own progressive career journey to provide leadership to key empowerment challenges.

In this Changemaker session, Rathika de Silva, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Sri Lanka, speaks candidly with Dinali about what holistic action plans for gender equality look like in practice and what business leaders can learn from her personal experience of tackling gender-based stereotypes in the world of work.

Join the Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact Sanda Ojiambo for a one-on-one conversation with Solange Ribeiro, Former CEO, Vice President of Neoenergia and Vice-Chair of the UN Global Compact Board.

A pioneering woman and global business leader, Solange had more than 30 years of experience in the electricity sector, and has demonstrated her long-standing commitment to the SDGs through her pivotal role in transforming Neoenergia’s business model toward sustainability.

In this Changemaker session, hear from Hiba Khan about the importance of including the younger generation’s voices in decision making and how to accelerate business innovation towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In conversation with Global Compact Local Network UK Executive Director Steve Kenzie, Hiba speaks openly about the role of the younger generation in the transition to a more sustainable world for all, taking on the world as a female engineer and what generations — younger and older — can learn from her experience so far working in the private sector.

In this Changemakers episode, Sharan Burrow shows how we can simultaneously address the climate crisis and the social crisis, which is marked by record levels of inequality and distrust. A commitment to both environmental sustainability and shared prosperity means abandoning economic patterns that fail people and the planet, but it also translates to more sustainable business, a reinvigorated license to operate, and other strategic advantages.

In ten years, Ørsted, a multinational energy company, transformed their business model from one based on fossil fuels to one based on renewable energy. In this Changemaker session, Sara Krüger, Executive Director at the Global Compact Local Network Denmark, speaks candidly with Filip Engel, Vice President for Sustainability, Public Affairs, and Branding at Ørsted about their green transformation and his role in making it happen - what they did, lessons learned and what’s next.

During this podcast Filip discusses: What motivated Ørsted’s radical transition and why this needs to be a priority for all business leaders, some key lessons learned in Ørsted’s transition to a more sustainable business model, how to turn past actions into a positive force for change and work towards net-zero by 2050, as well as sharing his take on what future-proof leadership skills and characteristics look like.

In this second Changemaker session, UN Global Compact CEO & Executive Director Sanda Ojiambo speaks candidly with Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of the Global Compact Foundation and former Director of Saudi Aramco and Advisory Board Member of Envision Energy about leadership in turbulent times.

During this session you will learn about:

In this inaugural Changemaker session, UN Global Compact CEO & Executive Director Sanda Ojiambo speaks candidly with United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed about her personal insights, experiences, and thoughts on how to facilitate radical and sustaining innovation to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.