Boardroom climate competence: Advancing the board-management conversation

Amanda North is CEO/founder of Plan C Advisors, a consultancy that equips boards and business leaders to accelerate climate action in their companies. Throughout her advisory work, board roles and volunteer activities on climate and ESG Amanda leverages her expertise in board strategy, value creation and stakeholder engagement to guide organizations towards a resilient and sustainable future.

Amanda currently serves on the Advisory Boards of Sustainable Capital and Stanford Women on Boards. She is a former board director of Sustainable Travel International and Mercado Global. She holds a NACD directorship credential. Amanda is a mentor at the Stanford TomKat Center for Clean Energy and Sustainability, and an active member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Amanda was Santa Clara University’s first Social Entrepreneur in Residence. She frequently speaks on the topics of climate and ESG at board leadership forums.

In addition to Amanda’s climate, energy and sustainability experience she has served as an executive with technology industry leaders and start-ups. Prior to Plan C Advisors she was founder/CEO of Artisan Connect, a certified B Corp, economically empowering women in 16 countries across the developing world. Previously, Amanda led the marketing teams at a range of fast growth technology companies, including: Aoptix, Splunk, Calico Commerce, and RasterOps. Earlier, Amanda led the global Desktop Publishing Group at Apple.

Climate and energy were the focus of Amanda’s graduate work at Stanford University (MBA); Trinity College, Cambridge University (Masters studies in economics); and Princeton University (BA in Politics and Economics, cum laude).

Jill Kolling joined James Hardie as Vice President, ESG & Chief Sustainability Officer in March 2022. Jill and her team are responsible for development and execution of James Hardie’s global sustainability strategy, ensuring integration with the company’s overall business strategy and ensuring the sustainability strategy is an enabler of future growth.

Jill began her career as a new product engineer with Hewlett-Packard, then transitioned into management consulting where she provided advisory services in the areas of technology, Sarbanes-Oxley, and ESG to companies in a variety of industries. Most recently, she held the role of Vice President, Global Sustainability at Cargill where she built the first-ever global sustainability function for the corporation. Jill has a proven track record of applying strategic insights and systems thinking to optimize for shareholder value, positive environmental outcome, and social good.

Jill holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree and a Master of Science in Computer Science degree, both from the University of Minnesota.