Our Team Is Evolving

Change is afoot in the NBS team. It’s the people who make an organization great, so we want to tell you about it!

This article shares an important staff transition. It also re-introduces you to the entire team by sharing each team member’s favourite sustainability concept. 

Farewell to Knowledge Manager, Maya 

NBS’s long-time Knowledge Manager, Maya, is leaving, to dedicate more time to local activism. (We are quite sure she will also spend lots of time in community gardens, walking dogs, and fostering strong relationships with her neighbours.)

It’s the perfect time to reflect on the impact Maya has created in her 12 years at NBS. Maya’s primary role was to steward all of NBS’s content production. As a skilled writer and editor, Maya has co-produced hundreds of articles and videos. Some of those were year-long systematic literature reviews, where she enabled deep collaboration between two very different groups: researchers and business leaders.

Maya naturally brings people together. Her love of people has been the secret sauce in NBS’s community engagement. For example, Maya created several advisory committees at NBS, to ensure diverse perspectives guide our work. She also nurtured and grew a community of more than 200 sustainability centre leaders, who meet regularly to share best practices. Perhaps most importantly, Maya has been the glue that holds the NBS staff together. She always takes a ‘people first’ approach, making her colleagues feel valued and supported.

The NBS team will deeply miss Maya, but we are also excited to see the mark she will make on her local community.

As Maya transitions out, we are also excited to welcome back a familiar face – Chelsea Hicks-Webster. Chelsea started at NBS 12 years ago and has moved with agility through almost every role, including writing, event planning, community building, and operations management. Four years ago, Chelsea moved to a part-time writing role to make space for her young children and her life coaching practice. With her kids getting older (and having fewer sick days!) Chelsea has more time to dive back into sustainability work. We are thrilled to have her back. 

Meet Our Whole Team 

There are many amazing staff trying to create impact through NBS. We want you to meet them all! Below, you’ll find each team member and the sustainability concepts they find most meaningful. May their ideas inspire you! 

Jury Gualandris (Faculty Director) 

Favourite sustainability concept?

Beliefs are at the root of sustainability outcomes. 

Why is this concept meaningful to you? 

As an operations researcher, I started my career exploring the connection between supply chain structure (the pattern of contractual relationships connecting supply chain members) and supply chain outcomes. I’ve realized this model is incomplete without considering beliefs. Organizational beliefs determine how supply chains are set up and their outcomes. 

Here’s an example: In the city where I live, home builders believe that neighbourhood structure should maximize profits. This belief drives them to build neighbourhoods with many detached homes and few stores. As a result, my neighbours drive, instead of walk, to get their coffee, increasing carbon emissions. Coffee shops have responded by creating ‘drive-thrus’ so customers don’t have to get out of their car to receive service. This has reduced local relationship building and connection. All this, because of the belief that neighbourhoods should maximize profit through specific housing configuration. 

Abby Litchfield (Community Manager)

Favourite sustainability concept?

The arts play a critical role in advancing sustainability.

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

To motivate sustainability action, we need to connect to people logically and emotionally. Sharing facts and solutions can help people understand logically why sustainability matters. But they also need to feel connected to the cause and empowered to act. The arts can connect sustainability concepts to the “heart.”

As a musician, this is particularly interesting to me. I previously saw my art as a side hobby, but I now see it as a valuable way to contribute to sustainability. I’ve been playing sustainability-focused music at conferences and events. It amazes me how the music triggers people to feel more vulnerable, empathetic, and connected to the issues they are discussing. These are the feelings that fuel action!

Chelsea Hicks-Webster (Knowledge Manager)

Favourite sustainability concept?

People, plants, animals – even rocks and rivers – are kin, not resources.

(A concept shared with me by Robin Wall Kimmerer).

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

In business vocabulary, people and nature are objectified, referred to as ‘human and natural resources.’ In her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer helped me see how immensely this language matters. The word ‘resource’ conveys the idea that we can do what we’d like with people and nature, so long as we’ve paid the financial cost to do so.

Robin also offered alternative language – kin. It seems healthier and more natural to think of people, plants, animals, rocks, and rivers as family with whom we are connected and share mutual responsibility. Then, the question becomes not ‘how can we use these resources to maximize profit?’ but rather, ‘how can we live alongside our kin in a way that meets the needs of all?’

Matthew Lynch (Ivey Centre Director)

Favourite sustainability concept?

I love the model of donut economics which defines clear targets for environmental sustainability and social equity.

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

Fifteen years ago, I worked on a project; we were developing a tool to evaluate the sustainability performance of various forms of infrastructure. It was challenging to evaluate how infrastructure contributed to human well-being, while also acknowledging the ecological harm caused by its construction and operation. How do you balance the benefits of infrastructure (like providing clean drinking water, or electricity to power lighting so kids can study at night) against the often significant environmental harm associated with these services (like carbon emissions or natural habitat destruction)?

Kate Raworth’s donut economics model provides a clear visual framework to understand these types of questions. It uses nine planetary boundaries to give a clear definition of ‘unacceptable environmental degradation.’ It also uses the UN’s minimum social standards as a clear definition of ‘acceptable social equity.” I appreciate how this model defines optimal performance and makes clear where the world is in the red.

Light Naing (Digital Content Specialist)

Favourite sustainability concept?

Equity-deserving groups are disproportionately affected by climate change.

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

Growing up in Myanmar, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, I witnessed firsthand how climate change disproportionately affects vulnerable groups. Small farmers were forced to leave their lands due to erratic rainfall, droughts, and floods, losing their livelihoods and homes. Local fishermen, already marginalized, faced rising sea levels and polluted waters, making it nearly impossible to sustain their way of life. In rural areas, my relatives suffered from fatal illnesses caused by particulate matter pollution. Amidst a civil war, refugees with little access to resources struggled through a deadly cyclone.

Climate change continues to amplify the challenges faced by the most vulnerable; and yet, the phenomenon is still overlooked. Advocating for inclusive and equitable environmental solutions has become my mission since then, to achieve environmental justice for all!

Felix Cai (Data Management Specialist)

Favourite sustainability concept?

“Who knew that for the rice in your bowl, every grain came from laborious effort.”

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

When I was a child, I was taught an ancient Chinese poem in class. The title is “Sympathy to the Farmer” by Lǐ Shēn. It talks about how every grain of rice is watered by the blood, sweat, and tears of farmers. This is still true over a thousand years later, potentially even more so with the industrialisation of agriculture leading to complex supply chains and intensive resource use. Yet, globally, 1.3 billion tonnes of edible food is wasted or lost annually; that’s roughly 1/3 of all edible food produced!

Now, more than ever, we should heed the wisdom of history and remind ourselves of the enormous efforts and resources required to magically present perfect produce to consumers in grocery stores. Thus, when I sit down for dinner, I never forget that every grain of rice carries with it a story, and as such, every grain of rice is precious.

Maya Fischhoff (Editor and Advisor)

Favourite sustainability concept?

There’s a lot of inspirational work happening on sustainability.

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

Reading the news every day can be dispiriting. There are a lot of big challenges (like climate change) that can feel overwhelming. At times like that, I remember all the amazing people and projects I have encountered at NBS. I have seen so many people analyze a situation, find a gap where they can contribute, and jump in. They might be building a circular clothes economy in Nepal or teaching business students to be changemakers. I’m encouraged and inspired by every individual who turns their unique talents to positive impact. 

Tima Bansal (Founder and Senior Advisor)

Favorite Sustainability Concept:

Scope 3 emissions are impactful to tackle.

Why is this concept meaningful to you?

Scope 3 emissions are the indirect emissions from corporate operations that are not owned or controlled by the company; they largely include emissions up and down the supply chain. What’s exciting is that when a company reduces its Scope 3 emissions, it also affects another company’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. It’s magic. Companies that seek to manage their Scope 3 are creating a network effect, which reverberates down the supply chain. It forces collaboration and innovation in ways least expected.