Our alumni keep doing amazing work with their companies. So it is always a pleasure to highlight their achievements, and see where the careers take them armed with their Competent Boards education.
Kudos first of all to Emilie Juel-Helwig, GCB.D, for starting a new position as Division Director for Sustainability and Regulation at Femern A/S, which is designing and planning Denmark’s largest infrastructure project, a fixed link between Denmark and Germany under the Fehmarn Belt.
Before joining Femern A/S, Emilie was Head of Corporate Sustainability in Pension Denmark for five years. She also worked for the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations, where she was chief negotiator for the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as Denmark’s representative in the boards of UNICEF and UN Global Compact.
“The Fehmarnbelt Link will be built to last for 120 years. That is sustainability at its core”, said Emilie. “Our overall goal —and my objective — is that the construction and operation of the tunnel is carried out in a sustainable manner for humanity and nature.
“The construction sector is not the front-runner when it comes to sustainability and therefore I will, together with my teams and colleagues in Femern A/S, constantly challenge ‘This is how we have always done’ to find new ways and more sustainable solutions.”
Emilie is a board member of the Global Compact Local Network Denmark, advisory group member for the Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals (P4G) local network and advisory board member for CABI, a nationwide non-profit organization in Denmark that works for a socially responsible labour market.
Let the mortar boards soar. “Fight for what you love. There is still so much we can save,” Dr. Dianne Saxe, GCB.D, told during her convocation at University of Waterloo, ON, while receiving her honorary doctorate last month.
Dianne is one of Canada’s most respected environmental lawyers, with more than 40 years’ experience in writing, interpreting and litigating Ontario’s energy and environmental laws.
From 2015 to 2019, Dianne was the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. She reported to the Legislature on Ontario’s environmental, energy and climate performance, and was the guardian of the Environmental Bill of Rights. During her term, she improved the effectiveness of the Bill, increased public understanding of the urgency of climate change and delivered 17 reports on environment, energy and climate. Dianne is currently Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party.
And finally, congratulations to Janet Drysdale, GCB.D, for starting a new position as Vice President Financial Planning & Sustainability at CN, a North American transportation and logistics company focused on supply chain innovation and collaboration.
Janet is also an independent director of Rumo S.A., Brazil’s largest freight railway and logistics company, is Co-Chair of the CN Employees & Pensioners Community Fund, and is the executive sponsor of the Women’s Employee Resource Group at CN. She has long been an advocate for Canada’s critical supply chains, women in transportation and the transition to a lower carbon economy. In 2020, WXN recognized Janet as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the executive leadership category.
Congratulations to all three of our amazing alumni. Let’s see who we are going to celebrate next!
Lena Onupko is Competent Boards’ Alumni Relations Lead. Connect with her on LinkedIn
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