The board that will take forward
the next chapter of SHL Membership:
Susan Barton
Chair of the Board
Susan joined the Sedex Board in June 2020 and brings over 20 years of experience in strategy development, operational performance and business transformation built within the postal and professional services industries. She has held leadership positions with the UK Post Office, PA Consulting and Accenture, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Susan is an accredited mediator, and sits on the Board and Audit & Risk Committee of Jersey Post alongside her role at Sedex.
Andrew Dunnett
CEO
Andrew Dunnett joins as CEO, bringing global leadership in sustainability and philanthropy from Vodafone Group and Etisalat. He has led programmes across Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East, and served as a UK Government adviser on sustainability and responsible business.
Michelle French
Member Director
Michelle French is Director of Global Sustainability Programs at Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) focusing on sustainable supply chain initiatives, including implementation of the company’s human rights policy and sustainable agriculture programs. Michelle engages with stakeholders in the supply chain, growers, customers and other stakeholders such as NGOs and investors to communicate the company’s sustainability strategy. Prior to this role, she spent 10 years in environmental compliance. Michelle has a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and currently serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Field to Market.
Katie Knaggs
Member Director
Katie is a sustainability and ethical trade professional with over 20 years’ experience working in the food and agricultural sector. She is based in Australia and works as the Group Ethical Sourcing Manager for Costa Pty Ltd. In her role, she has developed and implemented the company strategy on Ethical Sourcing. Katie’s passion for Responsible Sourcing and Social Sustainability evolved through developing Ethical Sourcing standards for UK fresh produce farms in 2002, she then found an outlet to go beyond compliance in her previous role as Head of Sustainability at International Procurement Limited (IPL). In her role, she developed and implemented projects focussing on living wage for workers, livelihoods for smallholders, women’s empowerment and latterly modern slavery mitigation.
Sterling Wilson
Member Director
Sterling Wilson is a Philadelphia-based entrepreneur and real estate developer. He is the Founder and former CEO of Pop! Promos, an INC 500 manufacturer of branded merchandise including uniforms, gift-with-purchase, and tradeshow giveaways for 300 of the Fortune 500, the NFL, and NBA. He is also the Founder and President of Campus Stop, a branded merchandise distributor serving every major college and university in the United States (sold 2018). Sterling has a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from USC, a Masters in Sustainable Development from UPenn, and is completing a Masters in Philosophy at UPenn. He serves on the board of Pop! Promos, Playworks PA, the HOW Group, Solawave, and SHL. He lives in New Hope, Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter.
Chenguang Zhang (Austin Zhang)
Member Director
Austin Zhang is the Deputy Director of Sustainable Development at Inner Mongolia Yili Group, with 15 years of industry experience in sustainability. His main responsibilities at Yili Group include developing sustainability strategies, monitoring strategy implementation, managing ESG information disclosure and overseeing ESG rating. Since joining Yili Group in January 2023, he has completed the company’s Sustainability Strategy for the next five years and enhanced its MSCI ESG rating from “A” to “AA”. Before joining Yili, Austin worked in PwC’s sustainability and climate change team for eight years and in the ERM transaction services team for four years. During his time there, he worked closely with the supply chain management teams of multinational companies, helping them optimise the sustainable development of their supply chains, and conducted EHS/ESG due diligence for foreign mergers and acquisitions projects in China.
Steven Esom
Independent Non-Executive Director
Steven is an experienced board member of consumer-facing businesses and chairs a number of boards. His current directorships include Cranswick Plc, The Rank Group, Advantage Travel Partnership, British Retailing Consortium and GB Boxing responsible for developing the Olympic medal potential boxers. His retail career included Executive Director at Marks & Spencer responsible for food. Prior to that, he was Managing Director of Waitrose from 2003, rapidly expanding the business with two major acquisitions and leading the successful re-positioning of Waitrose as a national fresh food lead retailer, after initially joining the John Lewis Partnership as Waitrose’s Director of Buying in 1995. Before joining the Partnership, Steven spent most of his career at Sainsbury’s in commercial roles.
Steve Bolton
Independent Non-Executive Director
Stephen has been a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants since 1992 and is an experienced finance director. He has nearly 40 years of experience of operational and strategic finance, investor relations, M&A, audit risk and compliance, coupled with a strong understanding of international markets and supply chains gained whilst working for Unilever plc and Diageo. He is an Honorary Doctor of Business from Solent University and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors at the university. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Clarks, the iconic shoe company, and Naked Wines Plc, the leading online wine retailer.
Tim Brooks
Independent Non-executive Director
Tim Brooks is chair of Public Digital, a global digital transformation consultancy. Four decades’ work in the media industry have seen Tim chair or manage businesses in China, India, the USA and Australia, as well as the UK, and lead famous brands such as the Guardian and The BMJ. He has chaired the British Library Advisory Council and the News Media Association, as well as businesses in health information, rights management, and digital training, and was twice a Visiting Fellow in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. In his spare time he is a Samaritans listening volunteer.
Leilani Latimer
Independent Non-Executive Director
Leilani is a global C-suite executive and board director with a track record of growing B2B, SaaS, and enterprise technology companies. She is recognised for her strategic go-to-market leadership, passion for data-driven insights, and customer-centric mindset. Leilani’s unique perspective on corporate risk and reputation is shaped by her specialisation in ESG (environment, social and governance), cross-sector industry experience and global expertise (15 years in the EU). Leilani is an Independent Board Director at Black Diamond Group (TSE: BDI) and an Advisory Board Member at Fiutur, CIRT.TECH and FoodMesh.ca, and is NACD Directorship Certified. Previously she was an Independent Director at Rayont, Inc (RAYT), an Executive Board Member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and Chair / President of a national non-profit organisation.