Diane Holdorf

Ms. Diane B. Holdorf is Executive Vice President (EVP) and a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Diane joined WBCSD in December 2018 as Managing Director of Food and Nature where she led business efforts to accelerate the system transformation in the areas of food, nature and water. In October 2021, Diane took the role of EVP for Pathways.

In her role as EVP, Diane focuses on the Pathways as part of WBCSD’s strategy, leading business efforts to accelerate collaborative solutions in the value chains of Agriculture and Food, Forests, Circular Products and Materials, Energy, Built Environment, and Transport and Mobility – working in partnership to deliver business solutions that limit the climate crisis, restore nature and tackle inequality.

Before joining WBCSD, Diane was Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Kellogg. Prior to joining Kellogg, Diane served as Vice President for Delta Consultants (now Antea), a global environment, health and safety and sustainability consulting firm. During her 17 years with Delta Consultants, she served in numerous management and consulting roles, based in the US and in the UK, where she worked with many consumer-packaged goods, forest products and manufacturing companies in development and implementation of global programs for sustainability, environmental management and risk management.

In 2022 Diane was selected as one of the 25 Badass Women shaping climate action by GreenBiz. In 2015, Diane was recognized as a Maize and Wheat Super Woman by CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) as part of the United Nation’s International Women’s Day. She was also recognized as an Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassador.

Diane completed the Executive MBA Program at the University of St Thomas and received a BA in Public Communications and a BA in German from Syracuse University, Diane is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Diane holds the following Advisory and Board positions:

• Supervisory Board member: World Benchmarking Alliance
• Co-chair: Business and Industry Major Group at UN environment Programme
• Advisory Group Member: Blume Equity
• Advisory Board Member: ALO Advisors
• Co-Chair Steering Committee: Natural Climate Solutions Alliance
• Member of the Steering Committee and Ambassador: Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU)
• Member of the Business Leadership Council: Menus of Change from the Culinary Institute of America and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Former roles include:

• Chair: Global Commons Alliance
• Member of the Steering Committee: Water, Land & Ecosystems Program of the CGIAR
• Chair of the Strategic Advisory Group: Business for Nature