Simon LeeGoldSenior Sustainability StrategistTbilisi, GeorgiaEnglish€100 - €200 / hour
Gold
Tbilisi, Georgia
English
€100 - €200 / hour
About me
Sustainability strategist, researcher and facilitator with 19 years’ experience across sectors (public, private, non-profit, social enterprise/alternative business, international development) and a range of industries including transport, travel and tourism; land, property and housing; banking and finance; and public services (education and healthcare).
Expertise in accelerating industry shifts towards low-carbon, circular and nature-positive models, utilising systems thinking and futures techniques such as climate scenarios, multi-level perspective, three horizons, and spheres of control and influence. Key services include strategy development, materiality assessment, stakeholder engagement, and reporting.
A qualified researcher and experienced facilitator, Simon delivers collective visioning, theories of change, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and technical evaluations – for individual organisations, alliances, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. Having lived and worked in Europe and Asia, Simon embraces global perspectives and is internationally mobile.
Expertise in accelerating industry shifts towards low-carbon, circular and nature-positive models, utilising systems thinking and futures techniques such as climate scenarios, multi-level perspective, three horizons, and spheres of control and influence. Key services include strategy development, materiality assessment, stakeholder engagement, and reporting.
A qualified researcher and experienced facilitator, Simon delivers collective visioning, theories of change, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and technical evaluations – for individual organisations, alliances, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. Having lived and worked in Europe and Asia, Simon embraces global perspectives and is internationally mobile.
- Categories
- AdvocacyAffected CommunitiesBiodiversityBuilt EnvironmentBusiness ConductBusiness Sustainability & ServicesCSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)Carbon ManagementCircular Business ModelsCircular Economy
- Industries
- Cross-sectorEducationFood & BeveragesGovernment & StatesPublic ServicesTourismWholesale & Retail tradeBankingHealth CareHotels & Lodging
- Experience
- 10 - 19 Years
- Regional Expertise
- Global, Europe, Asia, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, China, Belgium, Georgia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, United States
- Qualification
- Master's Degree
- Certifications
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership – Sustainable Finance
UN SDGs Academy – Globalization: Past and Future
Forum for the Future – Understanding Systems Change- Services offered
- Advisory, Consultancy, Key note speaking
- Expert Type
- Individual
Professional experience
Associate Senior Consultant
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)EducationAdvisoryOct 2020 - Now
Strategy advisory and research, supporting multinational companies and foundations to enhance sustainability and systemic impact.
Associate Senior Consultant
The Purpose BusinessBusiness Consulting & ServicesAdvisoryOct 2020 - Now
Strategy advisory, research and strategic communications, enabling corporations in South East Asia to develop more robust sustainability programmes and disclosure.
Thematic Lead, Sustainable Business & Industry
Collaborative ImpactBusiness Consulting & ServicesConsultancyOct 2020 - Sep 2021
Strategy advisory, research and learning, helping to cultivate inclusive and sustainable development in low and middle-income countries. Working with industry-led alliances and multi-stakeholder initiatives to catalyse/accelerate sector and systemic transformations.
Founder & Consultant
Reroot.orgNGOAdvisoryMay 2019 - Now
Promoting sustainability in the electronic music industry by supporting organisations such as DJs for Climate Action and Bye Bye Plastic to amplify and enhance their work. Research, training, facilitation and strategy advisory, with a systems and futures lens.
Project: Supporting Georgian Companies to Critically Self-evaluate their Circular Economy Initiatives
CENNNGOTrainer2024
Simon was contracted by CENN, a leading environmental NGO in Tbilisi, to lead a workshop on the planning, development and monitoring of circular strategies as part of a UNDP-funded programme. Participants were drawn from a range of sectors, including hospitality, a music festival, and local charities. During the half-day session, participants were introduced to circular economy principles, strategies, and international best practice examples. Credible, relevant frameworks – such as CISL’s Business Transformation Framework and The Purpose Business’s Maturity Curve (which Simon co-created) – helped participants to locate their own activities within the full scope of potential strategies, to identify gaps and opportunities for further development. A creative group scenario-based activity enabled the organisations to consider diverse approaches to stakeholder dialogue and collaboration, to enable the systemic change needed to build truly circular, cross-sector solutions.
Project: Strategic Sustainability Recommendations for Leading Cruise Tourism Company
Leading Global BrandTourismConsultancy2022 - 2024
A globally leading cruise company needed to stress-test and augment its existing sustainability goals to ensure that they went far enough, fast enough. Simon co-designed and co-delivered key components of the work, including: comprehensive external trends analysis; qualitative interviews with business partners and stakeholders; mapping of identified risks and opportunities across the value network; cross-departmental workshops to explore medium and long-term implications and generate strategic responses; consolidation of those actions into a succinct, cohesive set of strategic recommendations; and prioritisation through a materiality matrix. Simon worked closely with the company’s senior leaders to further test and refine the recommendations for presentation to the executive team. As the business now moves towards implementation, understand of sustainability-related risks and the investment case for strategic action has improved dramatically.
Project: Materiality Assessment for Major Asian Branded Food Company
Leading Multinational CompanyFood & BeveragesConsultancy2023 - 2024
As internal Strategic Counsel to the team carrying out the materiality assessment and accompanying stakeholder engagement, Simon advised on methodologies for the external evidence review, industry benchmarking, stakeholder interviews, and materiality results; provided templates, reference materials and key sources; reviewed and edited draft assets and outputs; and provided continuous guidance. The materiality assessment enabled the conglomerate to understand how previously prioritised topics (e.g. climate change impacts) had changed in scope or nature since the last assessment was conducted, and how the recommended newly material topics had grown in relevance and importance since then (e.g. product and production innovation). With the materiality results having been signed off by the executive team, the company is now well positioned to develop ambitious goals and effective strategic plans against the updated material topics and themes.
Project: Co-creating Principles for Investment in Community Health
Johnson & Johnson FoundationHealth & HealthcareConsultancy2020 - 2021
As an Associate Consultant with CISL, Simon co-authored a working paper for the Johnson & Johnson Foundation exploring opportunities for community-led health and social care as a mechanism for delivering improved health and resilience in communities. Simon conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with a range of community health experts across Western Europe, employed the multi-level perspective framework to identify key ‘principles for quality growth’ as well as systemic constraints, and articulated five key investment opportunities for the Foundation and other actors. The findings helped guide and shape future funding programmes delivered by the Foundation.
Principal Consultant, Inclusive & Sustainable Business
ItadBusiness Consulting & ServicesConsultancyJan 2019 - Aug 2020
• Defined purpose, strategy and plan for new Inclusive & Sustainable Business theme
• Won major projects with Estee Lauder Companies, IKEA Foundation, VF Corporation
• Established monitoring & evaluation frameworks incl. theories of change, thematic KPIs
• Managed project teams and contributed to management of Inclusive Growth practice
Principal Strategist
Forum for the FutureNGOAdvisoryApr 2017 - Jan 2019
• Worked closely with blue-chip companies incl. Kingfisher, M&S and The Crown Estate to develop and activate ambitious sustainability strategies and programmes
• Facilitated multi-stakeholder visioning and roadmapping processes with industry alliances and platforms incl. the ASBP, CTPA, Co-operatives UK, LWARB and Social Enterprise UK
• Co-led the emergent Circular Economy Challenge Lab; led work on financing circularity
Project: Developing Circular Economy Business Models for the Built Environment
Climate-KICCross-sectorConsultancy2018
Climate-KIC funded a consortium involving the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products, London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), Forum for the Future, Sustainable Development Foundation and Whole Life Ltd to develop and test the business case and client benefits for circular approaches to construction, with a focus on the social housing sector. Simon facilitated a generative, multi-stakeholder workshop bringing together local government, developers, designers and housing providers. Participants were guided to develop a collective diagnosis of the current market and drivers for change; articulate a positive future vision with high-level outcome goals; and develop roadmaps under four key themes: Nurturing Innovation; Finance & Procurement; Market Shaping; and Building Confidence. Following the workshop, Simon undertook further analysis to produce specific recommendations for policymakers, finance, housing providers, industry bodies, and more.
Project: Collectively Envisioning a Thriving Future for Community Enterprise
Power to ChangeConsultancy2017 - 2019
This collective visioning project brought together key actors in the community enterprise ecosystem, including Co-operatives UK, Social Enterprise UK and Power to Change, as well as dozens of experts and stakeholders across the UK, to envision how entrepreneurial communities could contribute to a thriving economy and civil society by 2030. Simon led a literature review, interviews and generative workshops to 1) understand the shifting context and systemic drivers, 2) identify how community enterprise is different, 3) envision what positive outcomes for the sector would look like by 2030, within the context of the wider macro economy, 4) roadmap the way there, and 5) identify specific roles and recommendations for key actors and stakeholder groups, including funders, infrastructure organisations, central and local government, mainstream businesses, and citizens.
Senior Manager, Sustainable Business HK
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS)Government & StatesResearcher2014 - Apr 2017
• Formed and convened Zero Waste Alliance HK to develop circular solutions within F&B sector
• Planned and delivered campaign/editorial programme of 30+ case studies, blogs and videos
• Produced analytical reports incl. practical guide to the UN SDGs for 4 key Hong Kong sectors
• Represented HKCSS externally at events including a conference and guest university lectures
Senior Project Manager
CSR AsiaBusiness Consulting & ServicesConsultancyJan 2014 - Aug 2014
• ESG reporting for corporations in the transport, infrastructure and property sectors
• Project management including client liaison and presentations to the C-suite
• Oversaw research and consultation processes including stakeholder engagement, materiality assessment and KPI data collection
Research & Business Development Manager, Marketplace Sustainability
Business in the CommunityNGOAdvisory2010 - 2013
• Advisory services to inform ESG strategies and practices in retail, beverage and finance
• Responsible Supply Chain workstream lead, exploring global risks and mitigation approaches
• Analysed implications of global ESG trends for product/service and value chain development
• Presented to audiences of up to 200 at UK and European conferences
Consultant, Regeneration & Economic Development
ECOTEC Research & ConsultingPublic ServicesConsultancy2007 - 2010
• Evaluated social investment programmes for UK Government departments and agencies
• Qualitative research including 50+ semi-structured interviews and 8 focus groups
• Quantitative analysis of socio-economic and survey data from a wide range of sources
• Project management, business development and proposal-writing