Press release

Heerlen, NL, 12 Oct 2018 09:00 CEST

Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in Nutrition, Health and Sustainable Living, today announces that Ertharin Cousin has joined its Sustainability Advisory Board.

Ertharin Cousin (born 1957) served as the twelfth Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme from 2012 to 2017. Following the completion of her term, Cousin accepted an appointment as a Distinguished Fellow with The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and as Trustee on the UK-based Power of Nutrition Board of Directors.

Cousin served from 2009-2012 under President Barack Obama as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, serving in Rome, Italy, and chief of the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome. Before that, she worked in a variety of public and private sector positions, first as a Democratic Party official, later specializing in the food industry and related charities from the late 1990s on. In 2014, Cousin was ranked number 45th on the Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women and she was named to the TIME 100 most influential people in the world list. She is currently a Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment and at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

Feike Sijbesma, CEO and Chairman of the DSM Managing Board, said, “I am delighted to welcome Ertharin Cousin to our Sustainability Advisory Board. We will benefit from her wealth of experience in nutrition & health, and her deep convictions about the role of business in bringing about positive change, something we experienced during her time leading the United Nations World Food Programme.”

DSM’s Sustainability Advisory Board is a sparring partner for the DSM executive committee and other senior executives. Established in 2011, it supports DSM in sharpening its focus on strategic issues, deepening its understanding of external stakeholder needs, conducting advocacy efforts and handling dilemmas. The board comprises a diverse international group of thought leaders on key sustainability topics, such as malnutrition, climate change, renewable energy and inequality. Other members of the Sustainability Advisory Board are: Robin Chase, Paul Gilding, Sir David King, Ndidi Nwuneli and Ye Qi.