About Us

Tamar Hoek

Senior Policy Advisor Sustainable Fashion, Solidaridad; Chair of the Board

Tamar Hoek is Senior Policy Advisor Sustainable Fashion for Solidaridad. Her European and global agenda on policy influencing and market uptake focuses on influencing the private sector to commit to and implement responsible environmental management, decent work and fair value distribution within their supply chain, and the public sector to enforce national norms and regulatory frameworks for sustainability and due diligence. Important platforms for her policy influencing work are multi-stakeholder initiatives around sustainable fashion, like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Policy Hub. 

Solidaridad’s cotton and textiles programs focus on working with brands/retailers, factories, farmers and other stakeholders in the supply chain to improve the environmental and social performance of the textiles wet processing sector and the Read Made Garments (RMG) sector, and to increase the uptake of sustainable cotton.

Krishna Manda

Vice President, Corporate Sustainability; Lenzing Group Director, Manufacturer Category

Krishna Manda is VP of Corporate Sustainability at the Lenzing Group, which is a world-leading producer of sustainable cellulosic fibers with brand names such as TENCEL™, ECOVERO™ and REFIBRA™.

Krishna has 17+ years of sustainability experience with various stakeholders, brands, manufacturers, associations, academia and NGOs. Krishna is passionate about embedding sustainability into core business functions (e.g. R&D, operations, procurement, marketing, strategy) to nurture culture change anchored in values and to create holistic sustainability impact from raw materials to the final product. 

At Lenzing, he is responsible for sustainability & ESG strategy, targets, governance, incentives and strategic engagements with stakeholders and policy makers for orchestrating systemic change in the industry. 

Krishna served as co-chair of Policy Hub from May 2020 – Oct 2022 and serves on the Board of Directors for the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

Krishna obtained an M.Sc in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University, Sweden and a Ph.D. in Sustainability Integration from Utrecht University, Netherlands. Krishna has worked and lived in 5 countries & currently lives in Austria with his wife and daughter who are a continuous inspiration.

Lena Staafgard

Chief Operating Officer, Better Cotton Initiative; Treasurer, Affiliate Category

In her role as Chief Operating Officer at BCI, Lena leads Better Cotton’s global operations and ensures the day-to-day work delivers positive change and impact for cotton farmers around the world. Lena joined BCI during its first year of operation and has helped guide the organisation towards becoming the largest cotton sustainability initiative in the world with programmes in multiple countries reaching millions of smallholder farmers. 

Dr. Delman Lee

Vice Chair, TAL Apparel; Board Chair, Manufacturer Category

Dr. Delman Lee is currently the Vice Chair of TAL Apparel Limited. He leads TAL Apparel on its long-term strategy and continuous innovations in various aspects of the business. Major focuses are digital transformation, disruptive technologies, business model innovations and sustainability. He is responsible for the innovative services of TAL such as Vendor Managed Inventory and leads the sustainability journey of TAL for the past 15+ years.

Dr. Lee possesses extensive experience in information technology and management in global operations.  He also has a strong background in research.

Harsh Saini

Global Supply Chain, Human and Labor Rights Specialist, Sustainability/ESG Professional; Chair of the GNC

An accomplished ESG leader in global consumer products corporations, I develop and implement integrated sustainability strategies, linked to purpose and impact, across diverse global businesses and supply chains. I deliver impact and enhance brand reputation through close partnership with internal business leaders, industry influencers, industry coalitions, and other critical stakeholders.

• Subject matter expert in human rights, supply chain transparency, safety, climate, biodiversity strategies.
• Proven ability to establish trusted relationships with businesses upstream and downstream and with key external ESG related and multi-stakeholder organizations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with expertise in major trade, government, communications, brand reputation and issues management strategies.
• Experienced in building, developing and inspiring global teams.
• Proficient at change management and transformation.
• Experienced in highly complex operational settings, with practical experience across multiple global cultures, including experience at global supply chain management pioneer Fung Group and global brand Nike.

Pascal Brun

Vice President of Sustainability and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I), Zalando

Pascal Brun serves as the Vice President of Sustainability, Diversity & Inclusion at Zalando, a prominent online fashion platform. In this influential role for our Industry, he is driving sustainability, diversity, and inclusion initiatives within the organization.

Now based in Berlin, he boasts over 20 years of invaluable experience in the apparel and textile industry, gathered through his diverse roles within multinational corporations like H&M and Camaieu. His professional journey has encompassed a wide spectrum of responsibilities, ranging from hands-on execution to high-level strategic management.

Vidhura Ralapanawe

Executive Vice President, Epic Group; Director, Manufacturer Category

Vidhura heads sustainability strategy & execution for Epic Group with focus on emissions, water, chemicals and sustainable product innovation. He comes with 15 years of experience in apparel sustainability and is also a renewable energy and climate activist.

His experience covers facility design, product LCA and standards design. He is an advocate for equal partnership in the apparel industry as it transitions towards sustainability.

As an SAC Board Member, he is a Director in the manufacturer category.

Sean Cady

Vice President, Global Sustainability, Responsibility and Trade, VF Corporation; Immediate Past Chair, Brand/Retailer Category

Sean Cady is Vice President, Global Sustainability, Responsibility and Trade at VF Corporation, a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. VF had 2015 revenues of $12.4 billion and is owner of iconic brands, including The North Face®, Vans®, Timberland®, Wrangler® and Lee®.

Under Cady’s leadership, VF’s Global Responsible Sourcing function – which is part of VF’s Global Supply Chain organization – leads product stewardship initiatives for all VF products, creates supply chain sustainability improvements across the entire supply chain, and accelerates factory social and environmental leadership. He manages teams that partner with each VF supplier to drive continuous improvement and leadership on life safety, social and environmental performance.

Cady is also responsible for VF’s environmental sustainability strategy and results for products, and the global supply chain. He leads the implementation of programs to continuously improve sustainability performance in four key areas of sustainability: water, energy, chemicals and cotton.

VF’s product stewardship team, which is managed by Cady, ensures best-in-class management of product and environmental impacts through design and manufacturing due diligence, regulatory compliance and government relations, reduction of product environmental impacts, and management of VF’s Restricted Substance List (RSL) and innovative CHEM-IQSM program. Additionally, Cady leads VF’s trade strategy and engagement, representing VF’s interests to eliminate barriers to free trade.

Cady holds an M.B.A. in International Business and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and he is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of California. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety.

Cindy Elliott

Director, Global Business Industry Sector and Corporate Responsibility Lead, Esri; Expert Advisor, Technology (SaaS)

Cindy Elliott heads Esri’s business industry marketing team. She helps to shape the role of geospatial analytics within the manufacturing industry related to new market analysis, supply chain operations, and advanced services. For more than fifteen years, Cindy has worked with global manufacturers and enterprise class technology companies to influence customer-focused business transformation. Her work has been pivotal in building awareness for location technology’s ability to meet the growing complexities in global networks. Cindy is an advisory member of the USC Marshall Center Global Supply Chain Management Program (MCGSCM) and of the TCU Neeley School of Business Center for Supply Chain Innovation (CSCI) and is an established thought leader on the digital supply network and manufacturers’ advanced services. She earned a master’s degree in international management from the Thunderbird Graduate School and completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development.

Sandra Capponi

Co-founder, Good On You; Expert Advisor, Transparency

Sandra is the co-founder of Good On You, an established and trusted source for sustainability ratings in fashion. Since 2015, Good On You has rated over 3,000 brands for their impact and empowered millions of consumers to buy better. With years of experience in corporate social responsibility and governance, Sandra has long been concerned with supply chain issues in big business. She started Good On You because she sees huge potential in using the power of consumers to drive industry change.

Greg Rossiter

Corporate Communications Consultant; Expert Advisor, Communications

Greg Rossiter is a global communications executive with more than 25 years of experience in advising business leaders and leading communications functions for several of the world’s top companies and brands. Currently, he is an Expert Board Advisor and Communications Consultant to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a group of 250 leading brands, suppliers and NGOs working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of products around the world.

Previously, he led corporate external communications and managed issues across organizations and geographies at Nike Inc., where he was Global Corporate Communications Director and the primary advisor to Nike co-founder and chairman emeritus Phil Knight. Prior to joining Nike, Rossiter led corporate communications and issues management functions and served as a spokesperson for five other Fortune 500 companies including Walmart, Gap Inc and FedEx.

Rick Ridgeway

Sustainability Mentor; Co-founder of the SAC

For 15 years, Rick was the VP of Environmental Affairs and then VP of Public Engagement at Patagonia. During his tenure, he worked with teams to develop environmental and sustainability initiatives including: Freedom to Roam, the Footprint Chronicles, the Responsible Economy Campaign and Worn Wear. He is the  founding chair of the SAC.

In addition, Rick is recognized as one of the world’s foremost mountaineers.  He has written seven books, and his memoir Life Lived Wild will be released in October 2021. National Geographic honored him with its “Lifetime Achievement in Adventure” award, and today he serves on six boards of conservation organizations.