IISD board welcomes new members from Canada, China and Brazil

"The past year has been a time of tremendous change for the institute under the leadership of our new president and CEO Franz Tattenbach," said board chair Dan Gagnier. "We have operationalized our strategic plan to help us achieve the kind of transformative changes we seek for sustainable development.

"The international experience and the diversity of strength represented by our board of directors provide solid support and advice to IISD's talented management, staff and associates."

The board has elected four new directors to replace Tensie Whelan and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart who retire after six and nine years respectively. The board also appointed director Milton Wong a distinguished fellow of IISD in recognition and appreciation of his lifetime achievement of significant contributions in leadership toward better living for all in business, education and philanthropy.

New board members

Maurice A. Biron has extensive finance and investment experience on programs and funds designed for sustainable finance for small and medium sized businesses. He is a member of the Garden River First Nation and president of Nativest Inc., a Toronto business consulting company focussed on development of a 300 megawatt wind farm for the Henvey Inlet First Nation. Maurice is a director (and founding member 1990) of an Aboriginal capital corporation serving Six Nations and Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation and trustee and audit chair of Canada's $300-million First Nations Market Housing Fund.

Pedro H. Moura-Costa, PhD in forest biotechnology, is an expert and entrepreneur in market mechanisms for dealing with environmental services, particularly in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. He is a founding partner and chair of E2, an environmental finance concern, and of Guardiam, an investment company of the Amazon. He is also former president and co-founder of EcoSecurities and a noted and prolific author.

Jiahua Pan, PhD in economics, director of the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); professor of economics at CASS; vice president Chinese Society for Ecological Economics; member National Expert Panel on Climate Change and National Foreign Policy Advisory Committee, China.

Emmanuelle Sauriol, director, corporate responsibility and sustainable development at Laval-based Dessau Inc. Sauriol has a background in business, engineering and communications.

"We are honoured to welcome these outstanding new members to the board," said Gagnier.

With the addition of these new directors, there are now 23 members of the board, representing nine countries. IISD's board of directors meets twice a year. -end-

For more information, please contact Nona Pelletier, IISD media and communications officer, phone: +1 (204) 958-7740 or cell: +1 (204) 962-1303.