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The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022: #RedefiningPower - Amy Ryan, Founder, ESG Strategies, United States
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"Women in leadership have an opportunity to break barriers like never before. We are witnessing, working, and for some of us, mothering, through crisis after crisis triggered by a lack of attention to latent root causes currently residing in the darkest corners of a business or economy. These crises, triggered by inequal access to economic, educational, or material opportunity reside deep within government policy and law across the globe. Only words and actions of strength and balance can break its barriers to offer innovative solutions and hope." - Amy Ryan, Founder, ESG Strategies
As Founder and Chief Circular Economist of ESG Strategies (ESGS), Amy Ryan is known for masterful blending of circular economy (CE) principles to environmental social governance (ESG) policy and develop compliance validation methods. Sought after for her rare blend of expertise and hands-on experience, Amy is a highly effective communicator and patient listener that easily cultivates trust to create solutions to highly difficult or sensitive bottlenecks that inhibit economic development, clean technology implementation, and access to education. Leaders and Executives recognize Amy’s dedication to the inclusion of local voices and consideration to impacts on future generations in the design of her last mile solutions.
As Vice-Chair of Strategic Foresight Board , and Adjunct Professor at the University of Albany Schools of Business and Continuing Education, and Business Sustainability instructor for the International Business School (IBS)/UAlbany Sustainability in Business program, Amy is dedicated to the facilitation of strategic partnerships across K-12, community colleges, universities, trade unions, and technical training programs. As a direct conduit to innovators, academics, educators and researchers ranging from emergency response to cybersecurity to quickly bridge divides often inhibiting the growth of mutually beneficial partnerships.
Amy guest lectures and presents to institutions across the globe including Harvard University, Hult International Business School, Circular City Week NYC, University at Albany, Trenton Computer Festival and holds a Masters in Business Management from Harvard University, BS in Earth & Atmospheric Science from the University at Albany, AS in Science from SUNY Adirondack. Amy serves as an Executive Director for several Boards including Circular Economy Alliance (Vice-Chair), Oil-Dri Corporation of America, Harvard Alumni Association Disaster Preparedness and Response Teams (DPRT), LifeWorks Community Action of Saratoga County, and Capital District YMCA’s Camp Chingachgook on Lake George, NY.
Q: What is the importance of women's leadership in today's society plagued by the triple crises of COVID, Climate, and Conflict, and their deadly consequences?
Women in leadership have an opportunity to break barriers like never before. We are witnessing, working, and for some of us, mothering, through crisis after crisis triggered by a lack of attention to latent root causes currently residing in the darkest corners of a business or economy. These crises, triggered by inequal access to economic, educational, or material opportunity reside deep within government policy and law across the globe. Only words and actions of strength and balance can break its barriers to offer innovative solutions and hope.
Q: What role do you believe women in leadership positions have to play in helping companies and brands transition towards sustainability and circularity, and why is this important?
A women leader can strongly influence the momentum of a transition strategy through offering her support and provision of opportunity for anyone in the organization to have a voice. Women can be excellent candidates and lead effective organizational change but must be well support to do so. Historically, a women’s keen sense of workplace culture and wellness was perceived as a threat by management and to move past those barriers, communication on what transition must be clearly supported throughout the business.
Q: What can be done to improve women’s participation in corporate and leadership positions? How do we achieve this?
The story of a women leader is more than holding a corporate or leadership position, it is about the journey she took and the lessons she learned that her strong during times of adversity and change. Being resilient to challenges is strongly needed and all too often, women are underprepared or untrained to effectively perform well in their role as a leader, let be alone deploy a new initiative. Too often I have seen some of best women leaders recognized when she is no longer with the organization and the vortex of her absence is noticeable. Historically (and still to this day) a women’s keen sense of workplace culture and wellness is perceived as a threat and not well-received by the current management. A question management needs to consider for themselves: Is her purpose more than amount in sales or marketing prestige?
Q: What does this award mean to you and what significance does it hold to you personally and/or professionally, and your company?
At the end of 2019, having juggled my career, raising a family, and graduate school for many years, I questioned where my drive was taking me. The entire time prior to that moment, I acted as though my career represented me and an embodiment of my employment worth, and shall I dare say, value. When having to negotiate time amongst homeschooling elementary-aged children, completing my final semester at Harvard, and meeting needs of a business or entity that disregarded the employee experience, it completely changed the way I looked at work. Was the emotional and time investment worth the sacrifice? I write these words now from place of safety and fully aware my strategic insight is considered a value, it has been extraordinarily difficult journey. While I have not sacrificed personal or business values nor lessened my knowledge, I am fully aware that I must push forward into the unknown. Being validated in ways such, winning an award however, is a beautiful gift and acknowledgement for the work I have done on this incredible career journey. And that it is helping make a difference, thank you so much!
The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022
The SustainabilityX® Magazine proudly announced the release of The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s inaugural Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ 2022 on Oct 4th, 2022, an inaugural annual list celebrating the powerful work of women in sustainability leadership around the world.
The non-profit digital magazine’s Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards™ high-level, invite-only program graciously sponsored by the award-winning Canadian construction and engineering firm Belnor Engineering Inc., recognizes achievements of the world’s powerful, groundbreaking female sustainability leaders who’re bridging the gender gap by breaking barriers, shattering traditional stereotypes, and taking the world of sustainability by storm. This campaign is in line with the magazine’s third pillar of sustainability upon which SustainabilityX® is based: social inclusion, which involves marginalized populations and vulnerable communities such as women, persons with disabilities, unemployed youth, LGBTQ+, the elderly, and BIPOC minorities.
“As both a female and one of Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 In Sustainability Leadership myself, I know how important this is,” says Supriya Verma, founder of The SustainabilityX® Magazine. “The number of women in positions of leadership – from business to politics – are relatively few. With society plagued by the triple crises of COVID, climate, conflict, and their deadly consequences, how can the world advance and achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals without having women in decision-making positions at major organizations, political parties, and academic institutions?”
In The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s quest to ‘redefine power’, this is the first international power-list bringing together women around the world involved in sustainability celebrating the power of their work – not their position. This list brings together a diverse group of accomplished women across business, entertainment, academia, law, politics, and beyond ranging from some of the world's leading companies, to independent unsung heroes with one thing in common: using their power with purpose –the power to create change and influence lives to make the world a better place. After all, that's what sustainability is all about. The meaning, or ‘the power’ of one’s work matters, not one’s position in a corporate hierarchy, particularly during this crucial era.
View the full list: The SustainabilityX® Magazine Global 50 Women In Sustainability Awards 2022
About The SustainabilityX® Magazine
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is an award-winning, digital, female-founded, and female-led non-profit initiative bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue. Founded on May 8, 2016 and inspired by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by Canada’s Top 30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership awardee, Supriya Verma, the digital media initiative focuses on approaching the world’s most pressing challenges with a holistic, integrated, systems-based perspective as opposed to the traditional and ineffective siloed approach with a single lens on interdisciplinary topics like climate and energy. This initiative ultimately seeks to explore how to effectively bring the environment and economy together through intellectual, insightful dialogue and thought-provoking discussion amongst individuals across sectors taking an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to untangling the intricate web of sustainability.
The SustainabilityX® Magazine is based upon the four pillars of sustainability: Environmental Stewardship which emphasizes improved environmental health, Economic Prosperity which emphasizes economic growth without the element of capitalism, Social Inclusion which emphasizes EDI for BIPOC and LGBTQ communities and marginalized, vulnerable populations, and Just Governance which emphasizes the equal rule of law via responsible political leadership to create fair systems for all. Identifying the diverse factors involved in sustainability, how they interact and how the disciplines are interconnected will help accelerate local, national, and international sustainability goals – in simpler words, aligning with The SustainabilityX® Magazine’s mission of bringing the environment and economy together for a sustainable future through dialogue for a sustainable future. Whether you have a background in science, engineering, business, law, politics, media and entertainment, or beyond, your voice matters.
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The SustainabilityX® Magazine is a proud member of the Sustainable Journalism Partnership, serves as a cause-based media partner for various events such as Circular City Week New York, and officially delivers remarks at international conferences such as UNESCO’s annual World Press Freedom Day Conference. SustainabilityX® is a brand of the non-profit social business SPSX Group.
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