Jem Bendell

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Biographical Information

"With a PhD in international policy, over 100 publications (including four books and four United Nations reports), Dr Bendell is an award-winning international authority on business-society relations, lecturing in fifteen countries, and quoted in media such as The Financial Times, International Herald Tribune, El Pais, Tatler and on CNBC.

"Since graduating from the University of Cambridge, Bendell has sought collaboration with people who seek to contribute to, and benefit from, the transformation of markets to promote global well-being. He is an Adjunct Professor at Griffith Business School (Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise) and Distinguished Visiting Professor at IE Business School.

"Director of Lifeworth Consulting, coordinating a team of four strategists and educators on social and organisational change. He has worked with UN agencies, NGOs, universities, firms and family foundations in over a dozen countries, having lived and worked in eight. He has helped create innovative initiatives, including: the Marine Stewardship Council, to endorse sustainable fisheries, The Financial Innovation Lab, to promote sustainable finance, founded and runs CSR Geneva, a network of over 700 professionals in Geneva, and the Authentic Luxury Network, for professionals promoting responsible luxury goods and services. His “Deeper Luxury” report on the responsibility of luxury brands, appeared in over 50 newspapers and magazines worldwide in the month of its release and continues to appear in fashion and business press today."

He notes that the late Jill Bowling "was the reason I joined WWF" in 2006.

Affiliations

• 2012 Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum [1]
• Strategic Advisor and Board of Directors at Community Forge
• Past: Member at Association of Sustainability Practitioners, External Examiner at University of Cambridge, Lecturer at University of Geneva, Coordinator at CSR Geneva, Fellow at United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Director at Lifeworth, Senior Strategic Advisor at WWF-UK, Visiting Fellow at University of Nottingham [2]

New Age

In December 2009 writing from Auroville, in India he noted:

"At Griffith Business School (GBS) in Australia we’ve successfully launched the new Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, and a new Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Enterprise, which I developed and recently taught. I was pleased we came 5th outside the US in the Aspen rankings of responsible business MBAs; it will soon be 3 years since I began working with the Pro Vice Chancellor on his agenda of making GBS a leader in sustainability education, so it is good to see the impact. We recently hosted an Asia Pacific conference on corporate responsibility, and I interviewed a number of the delegates. I’m looking forward to achieving more with GBS in the coming year...

"One of the tools of any movement is its mobilising structures, and networks are key to that. So In my last project for the UN I focused how organisations use networks for advocacy, and they could be better at it. The paper was critically constructive, but some of the criticisms didnt go down too well with the participants. That reminded me of the dangers of becoming attached to the idea that we are doers of good, so that our self esteem is threatened by any question whether we actually do good. The danger is we fail to see, to learn and adapt. I also relearned the importance of taking the time to work on the interpersonal. I continue to be reminded how our states of mind, our consciousness, are most important in us being effective in any efforts to improve something. The implications of that insight for professional practice are difficult, as it’s not something easily discussed or sold within an organisational setting. It’s something I hope to explore further through my board role in the Global Vision Institute, advisory board role in the Source of Synergy Foundation, and maybe discussions with people here in Auroville!"

World's First Sustainable Luxury Awards - Buenos Aires, November 4th, 2011

"Organised by the Center for Study of Sustainable Luxury (CSSL) and the Authentic Luxury Network.

"Innovation in creating luxury goods and services that promote positive social and environmental outcomes is growing. To recognise and support the pioneers in sustainable luxury, new international awards are being launched in 2011...

"Awards will be made for the best sustainable luxury: clothing or accessory company, jewellery or watch company, tourism company (including hotels), transportation company (including cars), beauty company, breakthrough/innovative company, and best researcher. The members of the jury are: Dana Thomas (author of the New York Times bestseller Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster), María Eugenia Girón (author of Inside Luxury and former CEO of Carrera y Carrera), Renata Mutis Black (founder of Seven Bar Foundation which partners with luxury for social change), Ana Laura Torres (coordinator of the Sustainable Textile Center), Professor Jem Bendell (co-author of Deeper Luxury and consultant in sustainable luxury), Eduardo Escobedo (United Nations officer working on cosmetics and clothing for biodiversity conservation) and Summer Rayne Oakes (environmental model, author and entrepreneur). "

UN Reports

• Barricades and Boardrooms: A Contemporary History of the Corporate Accountability Movement
• Noble Networks? Advocacy for Global Justice and the "Network Effect"
• Partners in Time? Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development
• Waking Up to Risk: Corporate Responses to HIV/AIDS in the Workplace

Books

• Evolving Partnerships: A Guide to Working with Business for Greater Social Change (2011).
• The Corporate Responsibility Movement: Five Years of Global Corporate Responsibility Analysis from Lifeworth, 2001-2005 (2008).
• Terms for Endearment: Business, NGO's and Sustainable Development (2000).