Born and raised in the Dolomites, she is an environmental sociologist with a master’s degree in urban planning. Since 2001, she has worked on environmental and social sustainability for major international events, particularly sporting events, including the Winter Olympics, Asian Games, Universiade and World Ski Championships. From 2018 to 2021, she served as Sustainability Director for the World Alpine Ski Championships Cortina 2021. She then spent two years as Head of Sustainability for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In July 2023, she joined the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) as its first-ever Sustainability Director.
2024
Brittany Saulsbury
Brittany Saulsbury is the Director of Facility Operations & Sustainability for the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Quarter. With a keen focus on innovation and impact, Brittany leads comprehensive sustainability efforts spanning the Rose Quarter campus. Her strategic vision aims to not only reduce environmental footprints but also inspire sustainable practices among fans, forge strategic partnerships, and foster community engagement. Brittany is passionate about influencing change through the power of sports and working to promote a circular economy through innovative material management programs.
Dr. Sasha Sutherland
Dr. Sasha Sutherland is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO). In her role she manages teams in the 18 Caribbean RADO member countries to strengthen their anti-doping frameworks. She is also a lecturer at The University of the West Indies and serves as a Director of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc., where she is Chair of the Education Commission, a member of the Governance Commission and Sustainability Lead.
With a desire to increase awareness around issues of gender (in)equality, governance and doping in sport, she has published work on menstrual health, Sport for Development, sexism and sport impacts on girls and women, and gender and race in sport. She is also Chair of the Barbados Girls Cricket Club- the first of its kind in the Caribbean. Here she is committed, with her team, to provide safe spaces for girls to participate in and thrive in and through sport.
She is a former triple-discipline athlete of Lawn Tennis, Football and Hockey and enjoys Open Water Swimming who brings her knowledge of being athlete, administrator and academic together to inform the world in any way she can.
Annie Horn
Annie Horn is Associate Vice President, Social Impact & Inclusion and Sustainability at the NBA, where she leads the league’s environmental sustainability strategy across the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and Basketball Africa League, working across league operations, events and partners to integrate sustainability into the business of basketball, in addition to NBA’s health and wellness platform, NBA Total Health. She has guided the NBA’s climate commitments, including becoming the first professional sports league in North America to sign the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework, and led the league’s first carbon footprint assessment and public greenhouse gas emissions disclosure.
Her work focuses on helping the league measure, reduce and report its environmental impact while advancing practical sustainability initiatives across marquee events and year-round operations. Through collaboration with teams, venues, corporate partners and industry stakeholders her work advances scalable solutions strengthening both sustainability and fan engagement. She is passionate about harnessing the power of sport to create positive social and environmental impact.
Rishi Jain
Rishi’s current position as Director of Impact, sees him being responsible for leading his organisation’s approach to sustainability through the lens of equality, diversity and inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Having worked in football for over 20 years, he has an expert understanding of successfully integrating strategy into businesses and ensuring positive change. Rishi is responsible for The Red Way; Liverpool Football Club’s holistic strategy that encompasses the clubs plans across all areas of business operations and ensuring that sustainability is embedded throughout. Rishi is a driving force for change and successfully works with colleagues and business leaders to ensure progress.
In 2022, Rishi presented at the United Nations in New York City at the launch of the UN’s Game Plan: a document implementing a plan of action to counter hate speech through engagement with sport. He has continued to work in partnership with the United Nations and multiple international organisations to implement this work across the US, UK and beyond, as well as featuring at multiple COPs and New York Climate Week.
In 2023, Rishi was named on the Pride Power List, and has previously been named on the Global Diversity List as a Top 20 Diversity Professional. His work led has to wide-ranging recognition at the European Diversity Awards, North West Football Awards, Inclusive Companies Awards, Sport Industry Awards and most recently, from Front Office Sports. In 2024, his work has been recognised externally no less than six times with recognition from inside and outside of sport, including at the Global Sustainability and ESG Awards where The Red Way was named as ESG Programme of the Year. He has worked consistently to lead the organisations he’s worked for to be awarded with the Premier League Equality Standard Advanced Level on multiple occasions, and the internationally recognised ISO20121 standard.
Prior to joining his current role, Rishi has held roles at Manchester United, Kick It Out and The FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, where he has worked throughout his career to make a positive impact across society.
Bob Ramsak
Bob Ramsak is the Head of Sustainability at World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field and long distance running, a journalist who has covered the sport globally for more than two decades and a long-time advocate for environmental, economic, and social justice.
Pragnya Mohan
Pragnya is an elite triathlete and IOC Young Leader from India who has made significant strides in both sports and sustainability. Starting her athletic journey at age 8, she became a national champion and led India’s triathlon debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She is also a Chartered Accountant and a TEDx speaker, showcasing her multifaceted talents.
Pragnya’s innovative project, “Ek Beti, Ek Cycle” (One Daughter, One Cycle), addresses educational barriers by providing bicycles to rural girls who travel long distances to attend high school. This initiative promotes recycling and environmental sustainability by refurbishing unused bicycles from urban students. Since 2023, her project has distributed hundreds of cycles, with a goal of reaching 1,000 girls by the end of this year.
Her work has inspired change at multiple levels, from mobilizing local volunteers to influencing national policies and connecting with global changemakers through the IOC Young Leaders program. Pragnya’s dedication to promoting gender equality, education, and sustainability exemplifies her leadership and commitment to making a positive impact.
Jamie Farndale
Jamie’s thirteen-year rugby career saw him captain his country on the international stage. He has played fifty-nine international sevens tournaments for Scotland and is their second highest try scorer of all time. He won Twickenham Sevens back to back in 2016 and 2017, has been to two Commonwealth Games and two World Cups and is a European Games silver medalist with Team GB. He has also played for Cambridge University in the Varsity match.
Alongside playing, Jamie is a leading voice in the sport and sustainability space. He co-wrote a letter to World Rugby demanding environmental action signed by hundreds of professional players and gaining international media attention. He then worked with his own union to galvanise sustainability action and helped set up an ESG group which baselined current activity and workshopped sustainability aims from which to write a sustainability plan. Jamie’s research at Cambridge University has focussed upon sport’s role in influencing the uptake of sustainable technology amongst fans in the transition to a net zero economy, and he has used his platform to speak about sport’s responsibility in light of the climate crisis and the positive impact it can and should be having.
He has spoken at COP28, Global Sports Week, Sport Positive, COG-X, and at the Hong Kong sustainability summit. He has also spoken on podcasts such as High Impact Athletes, Emergency on Planet Sport, the ESG engagement podcast and has co-presented an hour-long BBC radio show on sustainability at the Rugby World Cup. Jamie has picked up awards as the International Olympic Committee Sustainability Ambassador award winner, Mastercard’s Future XV of those shaping the future of rugby, and is sustainability ambassador for Scottish Rugby and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games
Rafael Muela Pastor
General Manager at Real Betis Balompié Foundation since 2018, with experience in policy design, institutional coordination and field interventions in Asia, Central America, Europe, and United Nations global events. Specialising in environmental issues, sports, youth employment, social inclusion of vulnerable groups of people, within the framework of Corporate Sustainability.
Lindita Xhaferi Salihu
Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu leads business engagement in climate action at UN Climate Change, mobilizing companies and industry leaders to deliver ambitious climate action. She has developed landmark initiatives such as the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action and Sports for Climate Action, and brings extensive experience in international diplomacy, stakeholder engagement, and climate policy. Lindita’s academic background combines electrical engineering, international relations, and energy and climate policy.
