Top 10: People Leaders in Sustainability

Developing a sustainability strategy that is embedded in a company’s core business objectives often involves key involvement from HR – as long term change requires shifts in culture and employee behaviour. 

People leaders can help ensure sustainability is central to a company’s strategic goals by including it in onboarding and training to make sure all employees are aligned with green initiatives. 

Here, we’re looking at the HR and people leaders who are building impactful HR and sustainable strategies to ensure their companies can meet key targets and better develop sustainable business models. 

10. Greta Bodino

Company: Juventus

Revenue: US$466m

Location: Turin, Italy

Greta Bodino first joined Juventus in August 2021 as the company’s Chief People and Culture Officer, before her role was expanded to include ESG responsibilities in 2023. 

As part of its ‘Black, White and More’ ESG strategy, Juventus has embedded sustainable principles across its culture and activities, in order to empower its workforce with development opportunities and create ‘a workplace that inspires excellence.’ 

To build this culture, all employees have an ‘ESG KPI’ linked to their professional profile, which ensures staff are aligned with its sustainability objectives. 

9. Daniel Gallo

Company: McLaren

Revenue: US$717m

Location: Surrey, UK

As Chief People and Sustainability Officer for McLaren Racing, Daniel Gallo works closely with the wider executive team to build a performance-led culture that delivers strategic ambitions while meeting sustainable objectives. 

This includes a key focus on the company’s ‘People, Planet and Performance’ framework, which integrates sustainability and people strategy into the company’s high-performance goals, with a net zero target by 2045. 

The company is striving to create a diverse and inclusive working environment that can deliver a competitive advantage for the business, while aiming to set the standard for sustainable practice within the sports industry. 

8. Claudia Toussaint

Company: Xylem

Revenue: US$9bn

Location: Washington, US

At water technology provider Xylem, Chief People and Sustainability Officer Claudia Toussaint has advanced people-centred strategies in the company while establishing its “sector-leading” approach to sustainability, says the company – leading to an AAA ESG rating from MSCI. 

Her approach to people strategy involves investing in early career talent and providing continuous professional development to ensure staff have what they need to do their best work. 

In her role, she also leads the company’s corporate social responsibility programmes for employees – which include encouraging community volunteering to help solve water challenges.

7. Lisa Tremble

Company: British Airways

Revenue: US$19.28bn

Location: Harmondsworth, UK

Lisa Tremble joined British Airways in 2021, where she holds the role of Chief People, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer. 

In this role, she oversees the company’s corporate communications, global PR, sustainability and people strategies – as the company looks to put sustainability ‘at the heart of the organisation.’

The company’s people and planet initiatives include striving to create a diverse and inclusive workplace and a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

Employees are encouraged to contribute to the company’s environmental goals, as it looks to make sustainability central to the employee experience. 

6. Carmen Diaz

Company: Holcim

Revenue: US$19.95 

Location: Zug, Switzerland

As Holcim’s Chief People and Sustainability Officer, Carmen Diaz is responsible for aligning the company’s people and sustainability agenda with its NextGen Growth 2030 strategy. 

This strategy – which aims to position the company as the leading partner for sustainable construction – has involved developing a lean performance culture that can adapt swiftly to market opportunities. 

The company says Carmen has helped develop its progress for both people and the planet since joining the company in October 2024, while helping it become a great place for people to work.

5. Anne Pearce

Company: Vestas

Revenue: US$21bn

Location: Aarhus, Denmark

With a reputation as the world’s leading supplier of wind energy solutions, Vestas has had to ensure that sustainability is embedded in its corporate culture. 

It brought Anne Pearce in as Chief People and Culture Officer in early 2024 to help achieve this by leading the continued development of the organisation to attract and retain top talent – which the company said was instrumental for it to become the global leader in sustainable energy solutions. 

During her time at Vestas, she has helped lead green upskilling programmes – including a graduate programme that aims to develop future leaders in the renewable energy industry. 

4. Nigel Sullivan

Company: Bupa

Revenue: US$24.37bn

Location: London, UK

Nigel Sullivan first joined Bupa in 2017 as Chief People Officer, before expanding his role to include sustainability in 2021. 

The company combined these two areas as part of efforts to better embed its sustainability goals in its culture – using sustainability initiatives to improve employee engagement. 

This includes the eco-disruptive programme, which was first developed in 2021. The programme is designed to enable employees to collaborate with sustainability startups to develop green healthcare solutions and help employees develop new skills. 

3. Charise Le

Company: Schneider Electric

Revenue: US$47bn

Location: Rueil-Malmaison, France

As Chief HR Officer of Schneider Electric, Charise Le has helped the company develop a future-ready workforce that is aligned with its sustainable strategy. 

This has included the development of continuous upskilling and growth strategies – which progress in stages to allow employees to receive hands-on learning experiences – and providing employees with discounts on solar panels. 

In 2025, the company trained one million young people in energy management across 60 countries – helping manage the green skills gap in future workforces and drive the energy transition.

2. Maya Colombani

Company: L'Oréal Canada

Revenue: US$50.99bn (whole group)

Location: Montreal, Quebec

Maya Colombani first joined L'Oréal in 2001 as a Marketing Product Manager, and over the course of 24 years has worked across departments and geographies before becoming the Chief Sustainability, Human Rights and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in 2025. 

In this role, she is working to include the company’s positive footprint both internally and externally by empowering the entire company ecosystem.

She is working to help the company achieve carbon neutrality on all Canadian sites and accelerate its targets on water management.

During her time at L'Oréal, she has led widespread initiatives to improve the company’s approach to sustainability and its employee experience – such as establishing a living wage at L'Oréal Brazil. 

1. Judith Wiese

Company: Siemens

Revenue: US$91.36bn

Location: Munich, Germany

Since becoming Chief People and Sustainability Officer of Siemens in 2020, Judith Wiese has been responsible for ensuring the company can attract and retain top talent, while also developing the company’s sustainability initiatives to ensure they play a key role in its wider business strategy. 

This involves the development of the company’s DEGREE framework – which stands for Decarbonisation, Ethics, Governance, Resource efficiency, Equity and Employability. 

First announced in 2023, this framework is designed to transform the company’s culture and be more inclusive of its global workforce – which spans 171 nationalities. 

It includes pursuing pay equity by reducing the global adjusted pay gap, maintaining a work wellbeing score of 80 or above and increasing its average total annual learning hours to 40 per person.