Speakers at the Annual Conference
Karen Amber, Sustainability and Social Value manager, NHS Commercial Solutions, UK
Karen has over 25 years experience working in sustainability, starting her career as a conservation and environmental Bio scientist, working on projects all over the world. As her family needs evolved Karen came back to the UK and changed careers, retraining to gain a professional registration in Operating Department Practice. Working in the NHS, Karen's career progressed into theatres management and then into systems leadership, leading the workforce, development and education of Allied Health Professions across the Integrated Care system where she embedded Sustainability and Social Value into all workstreams. Karen is currently the Sustainability and Social Value manager at NHS Commercial Solutions, one of four NHS Procurement Hubs in England.
Emil Birk, CSR Consultant, City of Copenhagen, Denmark
Since 2022 Emil has worked as a CSR Consultant in the City of Copenhagen, implementing the City Council's decision to promote the City's suppliers' compliance with human rights and fundamental rights at work in the global value chain. This work includes dialogue and counselling of suppliers regarding procedures for Human Rights Due Diligence processes combined with onsite follow-ups and engagement with local stakeholders and/or online investigations.
Before joining the City of Copenhagen, Emil worked as an international program consultant in the Danish Trade Union Development Agency, where he managed the organization's support to local trade unions in Latin America and Asia. In this capacity he developed and supervised capacity building projects and strategies to strengthen local unions, enhance social dialogue and expand their membership base. He holds a master's degree in development studies and international politics.
Alyson Brett, Managing Director, NHS Commercial Solutions, UK
After graduating from Kings College and the London School of Economics, Alyson began her career in the retail procurement sector, and then as an NHS Graduate trainee and has continued as an NHS procurement professional ever since at trust and local level, and as an advocate of collaborative procurement at all levels.
Alyson set up the NHS collaborative procurement hub, NHS Commercial Solutions, in July 2007. It is now in its 17th year of operation and has saved over £300m for the NHS providing end to end services across the full procurement cycle. Alyson has a strong commitment to building and developing strategic partnerships designed to improve patient care.
Alyson has a particular interest in place-based initiatives and how procurement can support the delivery of social value using resource with sustainability and social value expertise. In her role as Chair of both a NHS Hub Sustainability and Social Value Group and a European Sustainability and Social Value Group she is involved in the development of exciting and innovative initiatives promoting the SSV agenda.
Anna Cavazzini, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, Germany
Anna Cavazzini is member of the European Parliament, chair of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and works in the International Trade Committee (INTA). She is fighting for a sustainable EU single market and fair globalization.
Previously she was engaged in the implementation of the SDGs as a cabinet member of the president of the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations Conference and she worked as human rights advisor for the German NGO "Brot für die Welt".
Mike Kilner, ICT Senior Category Manager, London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC), UK
Mike was born during the late 60s in South Australia and, in a decision that he has never quite forgiven his parents for, moved to the UK in the early 70s and settled near Carlisle in Cumbria.
After graduating in Geography from Coventry University, he worked as an assistant IT buyer for Hertfordshire County Supplies where he completed his CIPS qualification before taking up the role of senior IT buyer for a leading PC and Notebook system-builder in 1996. The experience there stood him in good stead as he progressed to a position as a procurement manager in international break-fix company Fujitsu ICL in the late 90s before coming back full circle into the public sector when joining LUPC in 2001. Mike served on the Board of Trustees at Electronics Watch between 2015-2022 and he continues to act as agreement lead on ICT and AV, amongst others.
Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary, IndustriALL Europe
Judith is General Secretary of IndustriAll Europe, representing 7 million manufacturing, mining and energy workers from 39 European countries. She was formerly a Labour Member of the European Parliament for the North East of England (2014-20). Before entering Parliament, she was active for 15 years within the Labour and trade union movement, notably she held the position of Confederal Secretary at the European Trade Union Confederation from 2011 to 2014. Before that, she worked at Unite the Union, the European Metalworkers Federation and UNI Europa.
Kjersti Koffeld, Sustainability Advisor, City of Oslo, Norway
Kjersti Koffeld works in the City of Oslo's Agency for Improvement and Development as a sustainability advisor.
She is responsible for following up on human rights due diligence requirements in the citywide framework agreements. Kjersti has more than 19 years of experience of working with international development in various sectors and countries, and has previously worked both in civil society organizations, international NGOs and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. She has a strong background in human rights, with a particular focus on children's rights.
Mags Shapiro, Responsible Procurement Lead, London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC), UK
Mags is responsible for helping LUPC to develop and implement policy and strategy, conduct research and training in responsible procurement. She ensures responsible procurement is embedded within framework agreements used by our members and measures and supports suppliers to meet human rights and environmental criteria set against global and local benchmarks.
Mags joined LUPC as Responsible Procurement Lead in May 2023 after moving from South Africa, where she ran a sustainability consulting practice for over 15 years. She has worked with global brands and retailers, consulted and trained for the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and participated in research programmes with Durham and Manchester Universities.
Mags has a wide range of experience across the private sector in retail, clothing, textiles & footwear, mining, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), services and manufacturing, civil society and the public sector.
Linda Szabó, founding member, Periféria Policy and Research Center, Hungary
Linda studied sociology and social anthropology at the Central European University and political economy at the Corvinus University of Budapest. She has conducted exploratory research on the socio-spatial impacts of Chinese capital investment at different scales, from the historical and global perspective of China's integration into capitalist production and Hungary's unequal and dependent economic development. The scope of her research includes the study of the European green transition and Chinese investments related to batteries and renewable energy in Hungary. Since Periféria became a monitoring partner of Electronics Watch, she is also the fieldwork coordinator of the research on the Hungarian electronics and battery manufacturing industry.
Michaël Van Mol, Legal Officer, Flemish Agency for Facility Operations, Belgium
Michaël Van Mol works for the Agency for Facility Operations. Among other tasks the Agency acts as the sole central purchasing body of the Flemish administration for common goods and services.
Michaël has an academic background in law and has several years of experience in public procurement. As a legal officer he understands which challenges occur when implementing due diligence processes in an environment with multiple stakeholder-contracting authorities.