The challenges and opportunities of considering nature and biodiversity in making decisions in the private sector are becoming ever more urgent. At this panel discussion, co-organised by the Oxford Martin School and the Saïd Business School, Professor Mette Morsing (Interim Dean of Saïd Business School) will moderate a discussion amongst Oxford researchers and senior executives from the private sector to explore these issues.
This is the third of a series of events marking the International Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services plenary meeting in Manchester in February at which a major report on biodiversity and business was launched.
This event will be followed by a drinks reception.
REGISTRATION
- To attend in-person or online, please register here: Biodiversity and Business Tickets, Thursday, Mar 19, 2026 from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm | Eventbrite
If you have any questions about registration, please contact oxfordsaid.events@sbs.ox.ac.uk
Professor Mette Morsing (Chair)
Interim Dean, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Mette was Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and Professor of Business Sustainability at the University of Oxford. She joins Saïd Business School as Interim Dean.
At the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Mette Morsing led a team of scholars committed to achieving Net Zero and the UN SDGs through interdisciplinary, international and impactful teaching and research. She also serves on numerous Councils and Advisory Boards Worldwide (USA, Europe, Asia, China, UK).
She previously served the United Nations, New York (USA), where she led Principles for Management Education, the UN’s largest initiative responsible management education with over 800 universities and business schools to transform leadership education towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her research has won international awards and recognition, and she is an invited author, researcher and speaker globally. Having published extensively in some of the world’s most highly regarded academic journals on business and sustainability and recently co-edited the textbook 'Corporate Sustainability: Managing Responsible Business in a Globalised World'.
Professor Baroness Kathy Willis
Professor of Biodiversity, Department of Biology and Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
Kathy is Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology and the Principal of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. She is also a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords. Previous roles include Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a member of the UK Government’s Natural Capital Committee.
Her research falls into three categories. First, the determination of how plant biodiversity responds, from decades to millennia, to climate change and other environmental drivers. Second, the flow and spatial distribution of critical ecosystem services that we obtain from nature such as the draw-down of atmospheric CO2, flood risk protection, clean water, and soil erosion. Third, the relationship between biodiversity and human health (good and bad). ‘Bad’ includes ongoing mosquito projects associated with the HumBugII and IVCC projects. ‘Good’, is a relatively new but rapidly expanding research avenue to examine the mechanisms of action that occur when our senses (sight, smell, sound, and touch and the hidden sense of the environmental microbiome) interact with certain aspects of nature, to bring about positive physical and mental health outcomes.
In addition to her research work, she has led a number of initiatives to assimilate global knowledge on plant (and fungal) biodiversity change including State of the World’s Plants (2016, 2017), State of the World’s Fungi (2018) and as a lead author on the 2019 Global Assessment of Biodiversity for the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Mary Johnstone-Louis
Senior Fellow in Management Practice, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Mary Johnstone-Louis is Senior Fellow in Management Practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, a regular contributor to Forbes.com, and co-author of The Financial Times Guide to Sustainable Business.
Mary’s published work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, as well as in publications by the United Nations and British Academy.
David Craig
Co-Chair, TNFD Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
David has 30 years leadership experience in financial markets data, analytics and technology. He was founder and CEO of Refinitiv, one of the world’s largest data and technology platform providers to financial markets, which was acquired by LSEG for $27B in 2021.
David is co-chair of the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) with over 1800 members and 500 adopters, representing managing $17.7 trillion of managed assets.
David chairs the Investment Committee for Triple Private Equity focusing on financial services technology and data. He is also a private investor and director of several natural capital technology companies. He is a member of the International Technology Advisory Panel for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and has advised several institutions, including the Bank of England, and Bank of Spain on data and technology.
David is a member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) launched by His Majesty King Charles III, leads the measurement workstream on the IAPB (International Advisory Panel for Biodiversity Credits) presented at COP16, and chairs the TNFD global Nature Data Public Facility.
David chairs Urban Synergy (Youth Mentoring) Corporate Charity Board and is a Trustee at the Natural History Museum in London.
Jakob Stausholm
Former Chief Executive, Rio Tinto and Leadership Fellow, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
Jakob Stausholm is the former Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto. As Chief Executive, Jakob used his strategic, commercial and governance expertise to oversee the implementation of Rio Tinto’s strategy. He was committed to building trust with communities, governments and other stakeholders, improving operational performance, and decarbonisation.
Jakob worked globally in senior finance for more than 20 years. From 2012 until 2018, he worked for A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company. He was Chief Strategy, Finance and Transformation Officer, first for Maersk Line and later the broader Maersk Group. In 2008, Jakob moved back to his native Denmark as Group CFO of the global facility service provider ISS. Before that, he spent 19 years working for Shell across Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific.
From 2009 to 2016, Jakob served as a non-executive director of Statoil (now Equinor), the last six years as Chairman of the Audit Committee. He also served as a non-executive director of Woodside Petroleum between 2006 and 2008.
Jakob grew up in the city of Nyborg, Denmark, the son of a civil engineer and a teacher. He made his start in business working at Shell’s Danish head office while studying at the University of Copenhagen. Jakob was married with three children and split his time between homes in Denmark, Mallorca, and London. An avid cyclist, Jakob’s favourite way to get to know a place while on business was through an early morning bike ride.
James Airton
Estates and Land Manager, United Utilities
James has worked in the water industry for over 15 years with extensive experience in operations management across both water and wastewater, process and network. This range of experience gives a broad understanding of the assets and operations across the water industry and how these interact with the natural assets we impact upon. More recently James has utilised this experience in a strategic role supporting the development of long term environmental plans such as the Water Industry National Environment Plan with a focus on developing integrated plans for catchments and driving the uptake and delivery of nature based solutions to capture multiple benefit. As a result of this James now chairs the technical working group for the Mainstreaming Nature Based Solutions Ofwat Innovation Fund Project and sits as a Director on the board of the Wyre Catchment Community Interest Company delivering natural flood management across the Wyre catchment.
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