2023 ENGAGING BUSINESS FORUM

15th AnnualEngaging Business Forum

11th OCTOBER 2023
Time
Agenda

7:30-8:30AM

1

Breakfast

1 Hr

8:35-8:40AM

2

Intro to the conference

5 mins

8:40-8:45AM

3

Welcome by Corporate SVP & Global CPO Lisa Chang - The Coca-Cola Company

5 mins

8:45-8:57AM

4

Discussion between Lisa Chang and Jill Savitt - President & CEO, National Center for Civil and Human Rights

12 mins

8:57-9:00AM

5

Introduction to Keynote Address

3 mins

Speakers
Roberto Suárez Santos

Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers

9:00-9:05AM

6

Keynote Address

5 mins

Speakers
Gilbert Houngbo

Director General, ILO

9:05-9:15AM

7

Opening Introduction

10 mins

Speakers
Paul Lalli

Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company

9:15-10:30AM

8

Panel 1: The Virtues and Vices of Law

1 Hr 15 Min

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

10:30-10:45AM

9

Networking Break

15 Min

10:45-12:00PM

10

Panel 2: Corporate Political Responsibility and BHR

1 Hr 15 Min

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

12:00-1:15PM

11

Lunch

1 Hr 15 Min

1:15-2:30PM

12

Panel 3: Stakeholder Right to information

1 Hr 15 Min

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

2:30-3:45PM

13

Panel 4: AI and Human Rights

1 Hr 15 Min

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

3:45-5:00PM

14

Panel 5: Practical Challenges of Just Transition

1 Hr 15 Min

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

5:00-7:30PM

15

Cocktail Reception

2.5 Hrs

12th OCTOBER 2023
Time
Agenda

7:30-8:30AM

1

Breakfast

1 Hr

8:40-8:42AM

2

Welcome Day 2

2 mins

Paul Lalli

Global Vice President, Human Rights, Labor and Employee Relations, The Coca-Cola Company

8:42-8:45AM

3

Keynote Introduction

3 mins

Speakers
Whitney Baird

President CEO, USCIB

8:45-9:00AM

4

Keynote Address

15 mins

Speakers
Volker Turk

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

9:00-10:15AM

5

Panel 1: Strategies for Successful Stakeholder Engagement

1 Hr 15 Min

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

10:15-10:30AM

6

Networking Break

15 mins

10:30-11:45AM

7

Panel 2: Bringing Living Wage to Life

1 Hr 15 Min

“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

11:45-1:00PM

8

Panel 3: Remedy Beyond Tier 1

1 Hr 15 Min

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

1:00-1:15PM

9

Discussions with the Sponsors – USCIB, IOE, US Chamber of Commerce

15 Min

1:15-2:30PM

10

Lunch

1 Hr 15 Min