Karen Flanders (Sustainability Practice Leader)

Karen Flanders is the Sustainability Practice Leader for Wisdom Works, a strategy development firm that advances wellbeing and sustainability in companies and communities worldwide. To her role, Karen brings over 20 years of experience working on sustainability issues within corporations, non-profits and intergovernmental organizations, both domestically and internationally. She was recently named one of the "Top 10 Women of Sustainability" in the cleantech and sustainability sectors, a 2008 Who's Who in America recipient and one of the Top Women in Business by Pink Magazine.

From January 2001 to December 2008, Karen was the Director of Sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company. As such, she was responsible for embedding a global sustainability strategy into the beverage giant's brands and business, contributing equally to the company's sustainable growth and to sustainable communities.

Prior to joining Coke, Karen lived and worked in Europe for 12 years and led European and global advocacy campaigns for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the conservation organization. Following a post-graduate degree in Advanced European Studies, she began her career in Brussels tracking European environmental and social policy matters for multi-national corporations such as Mars, McDonald’s and L'Oreal. Karen also worked in Paris for UNESCO in the division of environmental education and is fluent French and Dutch.

In addition to being the Sustainability Practice Leader at Wisdom Works, Karen is on the Board of the Women's Network for a Sustainable Future and a Senior Associate (Fellow) with the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. In her capacity as Senior Associate, she also enjoys being a faculty member of the Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme, and she has previously worked to engage the support of the Fortune 500 to help combat climate change by addressing rainforest destruction under the auspices of the Prince's Rainforest Project.

Her great loves are children, nature and the arts.

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