GEMI Announces 2014 Board of Directors: Lori Williams of FedEx To Chair GEMI

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) has announced its new Board of Directors for 2014.

Neville Dias, GEMI's outgoing Chair and the new Chair Emeritus of the GEMI Board of Directors, who is the Director, HESS Management System, Carnival Corporation & plc stated, "It is my pleasure to announce that GEMI has elected as its Chair for 2014 to be Ms. Lori Williams, Business Strategy Advisor at FedEx.  Lori's leadership and counsel will be a fantastic asset to GEMI in 2014."

"I am honored and excited to serve as GEMI's 2014 Chair with an outstanding Board of Directors, many of whom I have worked with in the past.  GEMI's greatest asset is our membership, which brings vast and varied expertise and viewpoints to our organization and is committed to continuing GEMI's mission of business helping business achieve environmental sustainability excellence, and I look forward to learning more from them in 2014," stated Williams.  She continued, "This year will be an exciting one.  During the second half of 2013, GEMI revisited our strategic goals to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our members and stay on the leading edge of issue identification and solution development.  Our Board has developed specific objectives to achieve these goals and we are eager to get started." 

Mr. Dias added, "In addition to Lori's leadership role as the 2014 Chair of GEMI, we are very pleased to announce two new members joining the Board in 2014: Roland Mostovy of Ashland Inc. who will be the Solution Tools Chair; Dan Daggett of Sealed Air Corporation who will be the Benchmarking Chair; and, Bill Gill of Smithfield Foods who will be the Membership Chair."

The GEMI Board of Directors for 2014 includes:

Chair: Lori Williams, Business Strategy Advisor, FedEx Corporation 
Vice Chair: Steve Shedroff, Section Head, Beauty Care, Global Innovation, Health, Safety & Environment, Procter & Gamble
Finance: Kelly Harvey, Manager of Planning and Sustainability, BNSF Railway
Solution Tools Work Group Chair: Roland Mostovy, Sustainability Program Manager, Ashland Inc.
Membership: Bill Gill, Assistant Vice President Environmental Affairs, Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Communications: Bob Toy, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Union Pacific
Benchmark: Dan Daggett, Director, Product Stewardship and Sustainability, Sealed Air Corporation
Senior Advisory Council (SAC): Sabrina Watkins, Head of Sustainable Development, Conoco Phillips

Chair Emeritus Neville Dias, Director, HESS Management System, Corporate Maritime Policy, Carnival Corporation & plc

"The GEMI Board of Directors is an impressive group of environmental sustainability professionals who are dedicated to collaboration that will lead to value driven results for the environment and the economic viability of their companies," said Steve Hellem, GEMI's Executive Director. "The new Board has already completed a strategic planning effort that has identified creative and effective ways to create both traditional tools designed to enhance their companies environmental sustainability including ongoing efforts directed at water, supply chain and climate change and they will also be leading in the development of a series of GEMI Quick Guides designed to address real-time issues that have been and are being identified by the GEMI Membership." Hellem added.

GEMI members include: 3M; Ashland Inc.; Biogen Idec; BNSF Railway Company; Carnival Corporation & plc; ConAgra Foods; ConocoPhillips; Eni spa; FedEx; Halliburton; Koch Industries; Kraft Foods Inc.; Merck & Company, Inc.; Occidental Petroleum Corporation; Perdue Farms Inc.; Phillips 66; The Procter & Gamble Company; Sealed Air Corporation; Smithfield Foods, Inc.; Southern Company; Tennant Company; Union Pacific Railroad; and WW Grainger.

For more information about GEMI please visit GEMI's website at www.gemi.org

For More Information Contact:
Amy Goldman, GEMI, 202-296-7449

SOURCE GEMI