Peter White is Ambassador for Biodiversity and CBD COP-15 at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Previously he was Chief Operating Officer, responsible for all work programs, Global Policy Affairs and the Global Network. Peter has been with WBCSD since 2013, joining after 22 years developing the sustainability program at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods company. From 2006 – 2013 Peter was P&G’s Director for Global Sustainability, creator and Chair of the Sustainability Leadership Council and a key architect of the company’s long term sustainability vision and 2020 goals.

Peter is also a Visiting Professor at the Newcastle University Institute for Sustainability. He has held teaching and research positions at the Universities of Oxford, California (Berkeley) and Arizona, and taught in Nigeria with the UK development charity Voluntary Service Overseas.

Peter holds a doctorate in Chemical Ecology from Oxford University, and Masters degrees in Zoology (Oxford) and Applied Hydrobiology (London).

Eric Soubeiran is Managing Director Climate & Nature Fund and Vice-President Sustainable Sourcing at Unilever. He previously served as the Global Nature, Human Rights & Water Cycle Director at Danone and was a member of its Cycles & Procurement Board. In this role, he was responsible for coordinating the company’s approach and actions on climate change, water resource protection, regenerative agriculture, circular economy and human rights. Eric also serves as administrator of the Livelihoods Carbon Fund. Previously, he served as Danone’s Global Nature & Senior Climate Director. 

Eric began his career in strategy consulting and mergers and acquisitions, then joined Rexam Plc to lead strategic planning of its beauty and medical devices division. In 2006, he relocated to India to take on the role of Managing Director of the newly acquired business of Rexam. 

In 2010, he joined Danone to head the group’s operations in the sub-continent. During this period, he launched a range of nutritional products designed for the ‘bottom of pyramid’ customers, with an innovative route to market approach. In 2013, Eric joined Danone’s marketing team, in charge of Activia and Vitalinea brands for the French market. In 2014, Eric was appointed director of milk sourcing for Danone in Europe, managing a network of 4,000 dedicated farmers across six European countries during a period of deep transformation in the milk market 

Ms. Bhandari is Senior Advisor, Global Climate Program and the Finance Center at the World Resources Institute. She previously served as Diector for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Division of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) at ADB and as Chief of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management thematic group, where she was responsible for providing policy and strategic direction to ADB’s initiatives on climate change and disaster risk management, including mobilizing concessional financing from multilateral funds such as the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). She also has an oversight on climate financing from ADB’s own resources including through investments in private sector.

Prior to joining ADB, she was heading the Finance, Technology and Capacity Building Program of the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. She led the support to the international negotiations on climate finance, which culminated in the launch of GCF and the Standing Committee on Finance. Ms Bhandari coordinated the establishment of the Technology Mechanism under the Convention, which includes the Climate Technology Centre and Network. She has also worked as the Director of the Policy Analysis Division at TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) in India.

She has over 30 years of experience in environment, climate change and sustainable development, having worked on projects across Asia, and in multicultural and diverse organizations. She is on the editorial board of Climate Policy and has in the past served as a member of the core group on climate change, established by the Government of India to assess India’s strategy for the UN climate change negotiations. She has also helped adjudicate for the Climate CoLab at MIT, which mobilizes and harnesses innovative ideas to address the challenge of climate change. She is currently advising initiatives led by the 2050 Pathways Platform. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee to the project on Mobilizing Development Finance being coordinated by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Sue Ellen Johnson's mission-driven career has been at the nexus of livestock, crops and soils with the goal of understanding and optimizing food and fiber production with minimal disturbance of natural systems.

Her work in temperate and tropical agriculture, farming systems and natural resources focuses on managing carbon and includes perennial and annual cropping and livestock systems.  

An agro-ecologist, Dr. Johnson earned degrees in Animal Science (Livestock Production), Agronomy, and Crop and Soil Sciences. [A post-doc focused on GIS applications to land use in the Great Lakes Basin.]  

She brings on-farm research as well as farm operations and advisory and certification experience to the TAC. 

Sue Ellen is based in North Carolina-- where crops can grow year-round.

David is a founding Director and Deputy Chairman of ClimateWorks Australia, an independent, research-based, non-profit organisation committed to catalysing reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, Pacific and South East Asia.  He is also a Director at Australian Desert Expeditions, a not-for-profit organisation undertaking scientific research in Australian deserts, and Managing Director of Laradoc Pty Ltd, a privately owned agribusiness company with interests in the pastoral, livestock and viticulture sectors.  

David sits on the Advisory Board of the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). CEED is an Australian Research Council (ARC) partnership between universities and other research institutions, and is the world's leading research centre for solving environmental management problems and evaluating the outcomes of environmental actions.  

David has a Graduate Diploma (Hons) in Agriculture from Adelaide University (Australia), and has been directly involved in the management and strategic direction of a number of privately owned agribusiness companies.