Mary Jane currently serves as Chief Sustainability and Global Impact Officer at General Mills. She has reshaped global sustainability and philanthropy strategies unlocking unique value for multiple stakeholders. She was instrumental in the development of an innovative governance structure, establishing a new global impact corporate function, and building a long-range investment/accountability strategy to drive business and planetary impact. She engages deeply with the investor community and provides strategic updates to the Board and C-Suite.

Mary Jane’s accomplishments have been featured in many publications including Forbes, Greenbiz and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She is an in-demand public speaker with global media experience. Her colleagues value her thought leadership, independent point of view and collaborative, values-driven leadership style. Committed to lending her expertise and leadership to support related professional and community organizations, she currently serves on the Executive Committee of The Conference Board’s Sustainability Council, WRI’s Corporate Consultative Group, and the Board of the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation.

Mary Jane Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• General Mills’ key sustainability initiatives: Reducing GHG emissions, advancing regenerative agriculture, and recyclable/reusable packaging
• Strategies to engage with farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture
• Getting leadership buy in for SBTI goals
• The importance of partnerships with key stakeholders and peer companies
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Mary Jane’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Give yourself a little grace and space. This work, it's not a quarter, it's not a year, it's many years. You need to be prepared for the marathon, not the sprint. The days can be really hard, but they can be really rewarding. So grace and space for yourself is really important.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I am most excited about the promising outcomes that regenerative agriculture is driving for the planet, for farm ecosystems, for communities, and for farmers, and what it's doing for nature. When I stand on a regenerative farm and I see these bugs and birds and so much life, it's really cup filling.

What is one book you'd recommend sustainability professionals read?

This is going to sound like a strange answer, but I would say The Alchemist, because there's something in there about the sustainability of the human soul that is really beautiful and worth reading.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

My favorite Go-to resources would be the Corporate Eco Forum. They have a plethora of research and information and latest emerging ESG rules and regulations, and also have created a really closely connected group of chief sustainability officers and sustainability professionals that I just have found invaluable in the time I've been in this role.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at General Mills?

For General Mills, they can visit www.generalmills.com, that's our company website. There you can also see a global impact and sustainability page that will take you to the great work that the company's doing in regenerative ag, our sustainability report, our governance structure. For me, you can check me out on LinkedIn, Mary Jane Melendez.

Ellen is spearheading the integration of Mastercard's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy into the organization. As part of this work, she is driving climate leadership for Mastercard-wide programs and commitments, such as reaching net-zero emissions by 2040, and helping accelerate the company’s impact in climate action initiatives like Priceless Planet Coalition. Mastercard’s ESG efforts, established more than a decade ago, are rooted in a belief of doing well by doing good in order to have true impact and enable both people and the planet to thrive.

Previously, Ellen served as Chief Impact Officer and Head of Sustainable Impact at HP. Her global team developed and delivered a wide range of programs focused on climate action, human rights and digital equity. Earlier in her career, she served in several management and consulting roles.

Ellen is part of the advisory board of the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network, is a deputy advisor on the World Economic Forum’s Champions for Nature community and has served as a faculty member of The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme at the University of Cambridge.

Ellen Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Mastercard's net zero goals, sustainable consumption strategy, and inclusive climate action
• Decoupling emissions from growth through strategies like tying compensation to progress on ESG targets/supplier engagement
• MasterCard’s Priceless Planet Coalition
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Ellen’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

The way I think about sustainability jobs now, every job is a sustainability job. Some people may have heard that before, but I truly believe that, especially as we're working across all the different areas of MasterCard to innovate in this space. I need marketing professionals to help us inspire more sustainable consumption in the messaging that they're creating and in the partnerships and the sponsorships that they're funding. I need engineering to be thinking about how energy efficient is the code they're creating, they need to be on board with this as well. I need our technology team to ensure that when we're expanding our data centers, they're choosing the most sustainable servers and partners who can help us innovate and achieve net zero. So no matter what role you're in, there really is a sustainability impact and an angle to that job. I just encourage people to think about what they can do to raise the bar to make more aggressive progress in this space.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

We're just seeing such a shift. There's never been so much positive energy in terms of tackling the climate crisis and it's coming from all different areas. The next generation is certainly being more vocal than ever before. I'm seeing innovation and inspiration come from different colleagues where maybe you didn't hear it so much in the past, but now, everybody wants to be on the sustainability team and they're bringing real ideas and solutions and innovation. I just feel like the energy that is focused on this issue right now is stronger than ever before, and I think that's really exciting.

What is one book you'd recommend sustainability leaders read?

I tend to be more of a podcaster or a newspaper reader, so I'm going to choose a book that's based on my favorite podcast, Outrage and Optimism. The book is The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I mentioned Outrage and Optimism, that podcast, if you haven't listened to it, I think it's a fantastic resource. Project Drawdown continues to bring incredible tools as well to this space. In terms of staying on top of the latest news, the climate forward section of the New York Times I find is very valuable. The Guardian also reports quite a bit in this space. So lots of different resources, but I'll always go back to Outrage and Optimism.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at MasterCard?

You can follow me on LinkedIn, Ellen Jackowski. If you want more information about what MasterCard is doing or to skim our EHG report, you can go to the MasterCard website, mastercard.com and search sustainability and you'll find lots of resources and information there.