15th Annual Engaging Business Forum
Wednesday
11th OCTOBER 2023
7:30 - 8:30
1 Hr
Breakfast
8:35 - 8:40
5 mins
Intro to the conference
8:40 - 8:45
5 mins
Welcome by Corporate SVP & Global CPO Lisa Chang - The Coca-Cola Company
8:45 - 8:57
12 mins
Discussion between Lisa Chang and Jill Savitt - President & CEO, National Center for Civil and Human Rights
8:57 - 9:00
3 mins
Introduction to Keynote Address
Speakers
Roberto Suárez Santos
Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers
9:00 - 9:05
5 mins
Keynote Address
Speakers
Gilbert Houngbo
Director General, ILO
9:05 - 9:15
10 mins
Opening Introduction
Speakers
Paul Lalli
Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
9:15 - 10:30
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 1: The Virtues and Vices of Law
The proliferation of corporate human rights legislation across the world is focusing business attention on human rights due diligence. From a practitioner’s perspective, however, the increased commitment carries its own risks. The different regulatory regimes—due diligence, disclosure, and trade sanctions—can create perverse incentives for global business. And a legal compliance approach can sometimes impede best practice. This panel will seek to analyze whether legal proliferation is in fact driving a better practice, or merely a rigid compliance-based approach to business respect for human rights.
Moderator
Ulysses Smith
Senior Adviser for ESG, Debovoise
Speakers
Irit Tamir
Senior Director, Oxfam America's Private Sector Department, Oxfam
Jason Pegat-Toquet
Advisor, International Organisation of Employers
Sebastian Donoso
Founding Partner, Donoso & Associatos
Susy Bullock
Partner, Gibson & Dunn
10:30 - 10:45
15 Min
Networking Break
10:45 - 12:00
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 2: Corporate Political Responsibility and BHR
Corporate responsibility to respect human rights and manage ESG risk is increasingly conflated by supporters and detractors alike with an obligation to take a stand on polarizing political issues – independently of whether the business is involved in any risk to stakeholders. But these are largely distinct and independent issues. BHR & ESG are largely focused on effective risk management. Corporate Political Responsibility (CPR) is frequently seen as more focused on advocacy. This panel will discuss the distinction between CPR and BSR/ESG and what that means for an effective sustainability strategy in a context of increasing political polarization.
Moderator
Elizabeth Doty
Director of Erb Institute Corp Political Responsibility Task Force, University of Michigan
Speakers
Toney Anaya
Global Head of Government Relations, DoorDash
Stephanie Ferguson
Director, Global Employment Policy & Special Initiatives, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Kayla Winarsky McKenzie
Associate Director, Human Rights, BSR
Anbinh X. Phan
Practice Head Consumer and Retail, Eurasia Group
12:00 - 1:15
1 Hr 15 Min
Lunch
1:15 - 2:30
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 3: Stakeholder Right to information
Transparency is a core expectation of effective human rights due diligence and remedy. But what is reasonable for stakeholders to expect in terms of general and tailored disclosure? Where and how can businesses draw reasonable limits in response to stakeholder requests, especially in light of emerging business and human rights legislation granting greater rights to demand information?
Moderator
Yousuf Aftab
Director, A2
Speakers
Damola Ogundipe
Co-Founder and CEO, Plural
Siv Solem
Chief Negotiator & Head of Employee Relations, Equinor
Meg Roggensack
Executive Officer, Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association
Sarah Altschuller
Business & Human Rights Counsel, Verizon
2:30 - 3:45
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 4: AI and Human Rights
Artificial intelligence has made great leaps forward in recent years, with implications for businesses across sectors. But the deployment of AI technologies implicates an array of rights from the right to privacy, to the right to work, to protection from discrimination. This panel will discuss how to assess those potential rights impacts and how to deploy AI responsibly.
Moderator
Faris Natour
Co-Founder & Principal, Article One
Speakers
Isedua Oribhabor
Business and Human Rights Lead, Access Now
Miranda Sissons
Director of Human Rights Policy, Meta
Teresa Hutson
Corporate Vice President, Technology for Fundamental Rights, Microsoft
Alexandria Walden
Global Head of Human Rights, Google
3:45 - 5:00
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 5: Practical Challenges of Just Transition
The transition to a green economy is a global imperative. It is a need that carries tremendous opportunities and risks for workers, communities, and consumers. Companies have a central role to play in driving this evolution directly and through engagement on public policy. This panel will consider how business and government should consider, weigh, and address human rights risks in pursuit of their broader environmental ambitions.
Moderator
John Morrison
CEO, Institute for Human Rights and Business
Speakers
Roberto Suárez Santos
Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers
Madhu Rajesh
Senior Director - Water & Agriculture, Coca-Cola
Trina Malik
Vice President of Global Programs, the Institute for Sustainable Communities
Yann Wyss
Global Head for Social Impact & Human Rights, Nestle
5:00 - 7:30
2.5 Hrs
Cocktail Reception
Thursday
12th OCTOBER 2023
7:30 - 8:30
1 Hr
Breakfast
8:40 - 8:42
2 mins
Welcome Day 2
Paul Lalli
Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
8:42 - 8:45
3 mins
Keynote Introduction
Speakers
Whitney Baird
President CEO, USCIB
8:45 - 9:00
15 mins
Keynote Address
Speakers
Volker Turk
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
9:00 - 10:15
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 1: Strategies for Successful Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement is a core element of effective human rights programs and due diligence, but it is too often just a form crisis management, shallowly formalistic, or narrow in scope. This session will explore how companies can practically enhance their stakeholder engagement processes to deliver long-term benefits.
Moderator
Laura Chapman Rubbo
Vice President, Policy Strategy, Global Public Policy, The Walt Disney Company
Speakers
Minky Worden
Director of Global Initiatives, Human Rights Watch
Chris Jochnick
President and CEO, Landesa
Benjamin Miller
Senior Advisor, Trustworks Global
Virginie Mahin
Senior Director Global Social Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement, Mondelez
10:15 - 10:30
15 mins
Networking Break
10:30 - 11:45
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 2: Bringing Living Wage to Life
“Living wage” is a core component of emerging law and stakeholder expectations, but the concept is challenging—from identifying context-tailored metrics to mapping the supply chain to ensuring practical ongoing evaluation and accountability. This panel will explore the practical challenges to understanding and implementing meaningful living wage commitments across global value chains.
Moderator
Genevieve Taft-Vazquez
Global Directory Human Rights Governance, The Coca-Cola Company
Speakers
Rachel Cowburn-Walden
Global Head of Sustainability (Human Rights), Unilever
Michelle Murray
Founder, Living Wage for US
Patrick Belser
Senior Economist, Wage Specialist, International Labour Organisation
Ewa Staworzynska
Director, Corporate Responsibility and Labor Affairs, United States Council for International Business
11:45 - 1:00
1 Hr 15 Min
Panel 3: Remedy Beyond Tier 1
Stakeholders and regulators increasingly expect corporate grievance mechanisms to be accessible to workers and communities affected by the sub-tier value chain, both upstream and downstream. The design of such mechanisms raises serious legal and practical concerns, from expanding liability to identifying the contours of the relevant supply chain.
Moderator
Anita Ramasastry
Henry M. Jackson Prof. of Law and Director, Sustainable Intl Development Grad Program at University of Washington
Speakers
Stacey May
Labor and Human Rights, Global Supply Chain, Apple
Kathryn Dovey
OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct
Rodrigo Castro
Country Manager, Solidaridad
Amy Lehr
Assistant General Counsel for Human Rights and Sustainability, Mars
1:00 - 1:15
15 Min
Discussions with the Sponsors – USCIB, IOE, US Chamber of Commerce
1:15 - 2:30
1 Hr 15 Min
Lunch