KMU

Gesa’s business background

I have spent all my career so far in the corporate and entrepreneurial world, always in the field of branding, communication and marketing.
14 years in-house in a large pharmaceutical company and 9 years as an independent brand consultant for the life sciences and academic sector.
I am also a coach for branding and positioning at Innosuisse and as such embedded in the entrepreneurial world.

Me and sustainability

My holistic understanding of sustainability was shaped in my early childhood by agriculture and social projects of friends in Brazil and Kenya.
I grew up in a family where social awareness, consumption and healthy eating were practiced.
My desire to integrate this topic into my business life led me to the deeper learning journey on sustainability that I am now on:
In 2021, I took a course in Leading Sustainable Business Transformation at IMD, followed by an eCAS in Sustainable Business at the Business School Lausanne, and that was just the beginning. Because sustainability is a complex topic.
As part of an eMBA in Marketing Management at the University of Bern in 2023/24, I looked at the challenges organizations face in their sustainability transformation.
In my master’s thesis, I examine the power of marketing and how it can support the transformation of our world into a more sustainable one.

What drives me

Companies have immense power.
By reshaping their business models to be sustainable, they can truly make a difference in the world.
At IMD, I learned that communication and storytelling are important pillars for driving engagement in this process. Engagement is the trigger for action: I realized that I have the perfect expertise to support this.

• I want to use my creativity and expertise in this area to make a difference.
• I want to bring the topic down from the abstract level and make it concrete for everyone.
• I want to help business leaders develop a strong business model for sustainability.

Favorite sustainability topics

‘Reuse’ – I love giving things a second life, packaging, furniture, clothing
‘Eat any by local’ – I love seasonal food (from the local farmers market) and reduce the consumption of imported products.
‘Leadership’ – Leaders can make a decisive difference. I advocate for authentic and people-centered leadership.

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Gregory’s business background

I first developed resilience, methodology and customer exposure during 6 years at KPMG while reviewing and improving business processes in various industries. I then spent 11 years at Novartis in diverse local and global compliance roles while being regularly exposed to multiple stakeholders, from operations to top leaders. My two main areas of expertise are risk management including internal/external audit as well as internal control, and both strategic and operational wide scale project management. For the past 2 years, I have been an independent sustainability senior consultant and deliver climate trainings, carbon emission calculations and net-zero strategies to a wide range of small to large organizations.

Me and sustainability

I grew up close to nature, in a small French village. My parents exposed me to many different cultures and countries, with always a focus to marvel at the beauty of natural landscapes and how to respect them.
More recently, the COVID-19 global crisis brought a new perspective to me. While the world paused, I acknowledged how lucky I was to have a safe home, food on the table every day, and being healthy with my family. While it was not the case for billions of others. Since then, I made a complete shift and I want to spend my energy to safeguard and improve people’s live and planet.

From a personal standpoint, I am engaged in several NGOs around climate education. Typically, I launched a community early 2024 in Basel and we have offered in average 1 public workshop per month to citizens and schools. On the business side, I decided to resign my job at Novartis in 2023 even though I loved it. Sustainability needs forces now, not tomorrow. Since this moment, I took many education courses* and I spent more than 1500 hours reading articles on climate and sustainability, to improve my knowledge and be up to date to the latest business developments. I also developed in parallel a client portfolio.

What drives me

A quote from Henry Ford: « Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is a success. » Individuals can do great things alone, but when we team up everything is possible.
I also believe in the power of education which can be transformative for people and organizations, if you bring information that creates a spark.
I love facilitating engaging workshops and see how participants evolve in their emotions and thinking during my sessions.

Favorite sustainability topics

‘Trees’ – Trees are able to adapt to their neighbours while growing, taking from the ground only what they need. They are a true model of resilience and adaptation.
‘Train’ – Dare to replace plane by train! The trip itself can be a journey where you can discover landscapes you would have never seen otherwise.
‘Data and Actions’ – A beautiful speech can be eventually remembered. But if you use data and actions together, then only the real impact can happen.

* Leading Sustainable Business Transformation at IMD, Green House Gases Protocol, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive Master Class at EcoLearn, Accelerate Climate Transition methodology at French agency of ecological transition (ADEME)

What do you like best?

• Helping people, even though I hate to advertise it
• Learning new topics and sharing with others
• Facilitating workshops to energize people on a common objective

What are your life priorities?

• Being a catalyser and a change agent to help people ensure we have better life conditions

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