Past Speaker
CEO, Sustainable Brands
KoAnn is Founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media, producers and conveners of the internationally respected Sustainable Brands community. Through Sustainable Brands, she and her team lead the global conversation about how 21st century brands can—and are—delivering new business value through innovation for environmental and social purpose. In addition to overseeing direction and strategy at SB, she writes and speaks around the world about the shift in consumer demand and the opportunity for brands to respond by changing the way they think of and deliver against their role in society. She currently serves as faculty for Harvard’s Leadership for Sustainability Executive Education program and is on the external sustainability advisory council for P&G. She was recently awarded the Hutchens Medal from American Society for Quality, which recognizes exceptional leaders in social responsibility and sustainability.
Prior to launching Sustainable Life Media in 2004, KoAnn founded and lead a boutique management consultancy focusing on helping enable breakthrough financial performance through purpose-driven leadership and improved organizational alignment.
Prior to that, she worked for 18 years in business-to-business media where she served in positions of increasing responsibility, launching and leading media properties including magazines, conferences, trade shows, and more for a wide range of markets, starting with natural resources (timber, paper, and mining) and ending with a variety of emerging technology sectors including digital video, computer game development and the web. During her tenure she garnered extensive experience launching and growing countless product brands, as well as driving a corporate brand effort and integrating it with a global product brand portfolio spanning many market sectors. She completed her media tenure as Senior Vice President of a multinational division of United Business Media, overseeing a $50 million division and a 150-person team.
