Professor Gail Whiteman to hold new ECORYS Sustainability and Climate Change Chair
Renowned Sustainability and Climate management scholar <link people gail-whiteman _blank>Gail Whiteman has been appointed as the holder of the newly established Sustainability and Climate Change endowed chair at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. The new chair is sponsored by ECORYS Nederland and will be in the department of Business-Society Management, where social and environmental issues in business are a core part of research and education.
“Climate change is arguably the biggest management challenge currently facing the world, and companies are both part of the problem and part of the solution. The main purpose of this chair is to explore the management challenges and opportunities of sus-tainability and climate change,” says Professor Whiteman. “We’ll look at these issues not just within companies, but within municipalities and other governmental structures who will have to cooperate with various stakeholders in order to achieve effective results,” she says. She adds that climate change is a strategically relevant issue for companies for four main reasons: 1) companies are key contributors to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions; 2) companies will be increasingly affected by society’s reac-tions to such changes, including governmental voluntary initiatives and/or regulations; 3) companies face potential operational risks from climatic changes, and; 4) climate change presents strategic opportunities in terms of innovation and new business opportunities.
She continues: “My overall ambition is to develop top research in this field and further extend our already internationally recognised research centre Sustainability and Climate Research (SCR). Moreover, I want to maintain a prominent place for sustainability and climate change in the curriculum of RSM, and continue to deliver high visibility and out-reach for RSM on this topic. I am looking forward to collaboration with the experts from ECORYS who are specialised in guiding governments, companies and other organisa-tions in incorporating sustainability into their policies and day-to-day practices.”
Marten van de Bossche, General Director of ECORYS Nederland, comments: “The partnership with Professor Gail Whiteman is a great opportunity for ECORYS to increase its research-based knowledge and activities in the field of sustainable development worldwide. ECORYS has dedicated experts working globally on issues related to sustainable development, energy and climate change, covering areas like real estate, transport, local and regional development. We deliver strategic advice to policy-makers by combining in-depth energy and environmental expertise with a clear understanding of the societal and economic context in which new policies have to be implemented. Joining forces with Gail Whiteman will further expand our knowledge base.”
About Gail Whiteman
<link people gail-whiteman _blank>Gail Whiteman is Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. She has a PhD from Queen’s School of Business in Canada. Whiteman is co-founder and the Director of the <link erim research centres _blank>Sustainability and Climate Research Centre (SCR) at RSM. The broad objectives of the SCR are to reach a clearer under-standing of the management challenges posed by climate change and to identify effec-tive management practices in multinational companies to contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation. Her research on sustainability has been published in leading management and ecology journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Nature, Ecology & Society, Organization Studies, Business Strategy & The Environment, Journal of Business Ethics, Organization & The Environment, Journal of Management Inquiry, Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment, Human Relations, International Journal of Business Ethics, Qualitative Research in Management and Organization, as well as nu-merous book chapters. Media coverage includes The Wall Street Journal (European Edition), Business Week, Yahoo Finance, European Management Journal, Greenbiz, Climatebiz, Reuters.co.uk, BBC Radio Scotland, Ode Magazine, AD Rotterdam, TV Rijnmond, and the BBC Radio World Service. Before entering academia, Whiteman was an Account Director and brand manager in a variety of corporate communications and marketing companies. She has dual citizenship: British and Canadian.
About ECORYS
ECORYS is a leading European research and consultancy company with approximately 600 staff and 16 permanent offices in 11 countries, providing sound analysis and inspiring ideas. Its mission is to improve public policy worldwide. ECORYS works on local, re-gional, national and international levels with clients in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. ECORYS applies its expertise to improve the economic and social conditions of the countries in which it has offices; in the European Union and its neighbouring states; and in developing countries, with a particular focus on poverty alleviation.
More Information
<link people gail-whiteman _blank>Personal Homepage Gail Whiteman
Homepage ECORYS
<link erim research centres _blank>Homepage Sustainability and Climate Research Centre
