Council (1996-2006)

The SustainAbility Council was formed in January 1996 and played a critical role in the evolution of SustainAbility's thinking and governance over the subsequent decade. Among crucial decisions the Council helped us with were whether to begin work with Shell in 1997 and, shortly thereafter, whether to resign our relationship with Monsanto. A decade after the Council's formation, and several rotations of membership, this body was still providing extraordinary value. But, following the maturing of our governance, particularly in terms of our Board, we decided that the time had come for change.

As a way of signalling serious intent with our new strategy, launched late in 2006, we decided to fold the Council back into our Faculty, of which Council members had also always been members. Our purpose is to allow new formats of networking and counsel to emerge from this extraordinary group of friends and colleagues. This process has already begun with our developing Skoll and emerging economies programs, with further expansions of our Faculty and advisory mechanisms also now planned in relation to our new sectoral strategy.

We thank all Council members for their invaluable contributions over the years - and, in particular, extend our heartfelt gratitude to the most recent membership configurations.

We very much look forward to continuing the conversations and, when inevitable challenges arise, testing our thinking with the collective wisdom of our Faculty and wider network.

John Elkington, November 2006

SustainAbility Council Members (1996-2006)

Sir Geoffrey Chandler: Founder Amnesty International, UK Business Group

Linda Descano: Women & Co

André Fourie: Chief Executive, National Business Initiative, South Africa

Professor Tom Gladwin: University of Michigan

Peter Goldmark: Environmental Defense

Julia Hailes: co-founder SustainAbility

Dr Vernon Jennings: Sustainable Development Consultants Ltd

Dorothy MacKenzie: Dragon International Consulting Limited

Jane Nelson: International Business Leaders Forum/Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Professor Jim Salzman: Washington College of Law

Professor Ulrich Steger: IMD

Professor David Wheeler: Schulich School of Business