Announcing new members of B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council
B Lab’s Standards Advisory Council, the independent, multi-stakeholder group overseeing B Lab’s standards, has gained three new members with sustainability expertise across a range of industries and regional business contexts. The Standards Advisory Council is composed of experts with backgrounds in the business, government, academic, and nonprofit sectors, all selected for their diverse and leading knowledge on topics related to using and evaluating business as a force for good. Members are appointed by B Lab Global’s Board of Directors.
In their own words, the new Standards Advisory Council members reflect on this moment and their hopes for the future of the B Corp movement:
Gelkha Buitrago, Director of Programs and Corporate Partnerships & Deputy Director at Global Coffee Platform, based in Bonn, Germany: “I am really excited to join the B Lab Standards Advisory Council. The B Corp movement has demonstrated that it is possible to have a different economic system, away from exploitation of the people and the planet, where profit and purpose can go hand in hand. As the movement continues to grow, I am thrilled to bring my experience on sustainable value chains, certification, and verification to support the evolution of B Lab's standards so they can reach more companies and more people, and have more impact.”
Prof. Delphine Gibassier, Founder and President of Vert de Gris, based in Lannion, Brittany, France: “I am honored and proud to join B Lab's Standards Advisory Council. I believe that we need frontrunners in the race to turn the economy towards true sustainability, and that B Corps exemplify year after year how businesses can have business models that fit into planetary boundaries and social foundations. I bring to the council my academic critical hat, as well as my pragmatic experience both in practice and in working with international organizations to bring standards to life. I look forward to engaging with the Council, the organization, and B Corps in the coming months and years!”
Valentina Lira, Sustainability Director at Viña Concha y Toro, based in Las Condes, Santiago, Chile: “I believe that in generating a regenerative future, companies and corporations have an active and challenging role to play. We are now facing a point of no return in search of an equitable, fair, and low-carbon economy. Tomorrow is too late.”
Read more about the new Standards Advisory Council members below:
Gelkha Buitrago steers Global Coffee Platform’s work with the country platforms and programs, Collective Action Initiatives, and measurement work. She also acts as Deputy Director. Gelkha brings several years of experience in sustainability, international development and multi-stakeholder set-ups. Before joining GCP, Gelkha worked for almost 15 years in Fairtrade International, in different roles and areas of work including advocacy, policy and strategy development, new products and M&E. In the last two years she was appointed as Director of Standards and Pricing overseeing the development and implementation of a diverse set of standards and price mechanisms in more than 70 countries as well as the assurance program. Previous to joining Fairtrade, Gelkha worked for the National Planning Department in Colombia on poverty issues and monitoring and evaluation of social programs. Gelkha is an Economist and holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia) and postgraduate certificate on Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge. She speaks Spanish, English, and French and is based out of Bonn, Germany.
Prof. Delphine Gibassier is an international researcher and expert in accounting for sustainability, and founder of the executive education and consultancy firm Vert de Gris. She has 20 years’ experience in both practice and academia. She is the director of the Research Centre “Multi-capital Global Performance.” She has worked with the UN Global Compact, EFRAG, IIRC, WBCSD, R.3.0, Capitals Coalition and CDSB, as well as the French government on various topics such as non-financial reporting, carbon accounting, and integrated reporting. In practice, she has developed and implemented carbon accounting, SDG accounting, and integrated reporting for large companies. Before joining academia, she worked as a management controller for large multinationals in Paris, USA, and Asia. She is an associate editor of the academic journal Sustainability Accounting, Management, and Policy Journal.
Valentina Lira is a Chilean woman, Josefina's mother, and Aldo's wife. She graduated as a Civil Industrial Engineer from the University of Chile in 2000. Her restless mind has led her to obtain multiple diplomas, including Environmental Leadership from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. That same year, she was chosen as one of the “100 Young Leaders in Chile” for their contribution to mitigating climate change, presenting the first forest carbon capture project to the World Bank, and achieving its sale on the voluntary market. Between 2005 and 2010, she was part of the Fundación Chile team, an innovation and technology transfer organization, as Director of Development and Conservation. She was also responsible for the PEFC Chile Sustainable Forest Management certification system. From 2011 to date, she has led the Viña Concha y Toro Sustainability Department as Sustainability Director, in charge of developing the Corporate Sustainability Strategy and its implementation in the different global subsidiaries of the company. Among the main achievements of the winery has been the six consecutive year integration in Dow Jones (Viña Concha y Toro is the only wine company to integrate this ranking) as well the achievement of B Corp Certification. Viña Concha y Toro Holding is also the first Latin American company to set emissions reduction targets based on climate science (SBTi). Since 2020, Valentina has been an active member of the SBT Net-Zero Expert Advisory Group, contributing to the generation of a global standard for the zero carbon scenario. She is also a member of the international organization Women in Sustainability Network.