Thought Leadership Events

Transform. Perform.

The 2025 Sustain theme encouraged businesses to transform their operations through sustainable procurement in order to perform in the market, an evolution from earlier, sustainability-focused messages like "Committed" and Destination Impact"

Background
As Global Brand Marketing Director at EcoVadis, I was responsible for shaping the narrative for our flagship thought leadership events: the regional World Tour series and our annual Sustain Conference. These events brought together sustainability leaders, procurement executives, and policymakers to exchange insights and position EcoVadis as the global authority in sustainable procurement. In 2023–2025, shifting political climates created uncertainty around corporate commitment to sustainability, especially in the lead-up and aftermath of the 2024 U.S. election.

Activities
I evolved event positioning to address these concerns, safeguard EcoVadis’ thought leadership, and drive higher engagement by reframing sustainability from a moral imperative to a business growth strategy.

World Tour – U.S. Leg (2024): Taking place in mid-November, I designed the agenda and promotional strategy to directly address post-election uncertainty and secured keynote speaker Tensie Whelan, Founding Director of NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business and creator of the ROSI (Return On Sustainable Investment) framework, whose research underscored the financial returns of sustainable investment. Curated panels featuring client success stories that showcased tangible business growth and strategies for securing buy-in from skeptical executives.
Sustain Conference:
- Shifted main narrative from “sustainable procurement for planet and society” to “sustainable procurement for business health” in line with the brand transformation I led. Evolved event taglines from #DestinationImpact (2022) and #Committed (2023) to ROI-driven themes #Ability (2024) and #TransformPerform (2025).
- Developed and produced co-CEO outlook presentation, recruited high-profile business and government keynote speakers, implemented an aggressive content-sharing strategy during and after the event. Included journalists as panel moderators to drive coverage and build relationships. Repurposed attendee interviews into case studies for ongoing sales enablement and demand generation campaigns.

Results

World Tour – U.S. Leg: Achieved the first-ever U.S. sellout event, attracting record attendance and elevating Ecovadis’ profile amid political uncertainty.
Sustain Conference: Increased attendance by 40% in 2024 and an additional 20% in 2025 with combined in-person and virtual attendance exceeding 4,000, with thousands more viewing on-demand recordings. Social media engagement grew 35%+ through proactive content sharing.
Case studies and session recordings became high-performing assets for year-round sales enablement and demand gen activities, reinforcing EcoVadis as the go-to thought leader in sustainable procurement.