Maria Castillo is appointed Social and Environmental Impact Director of IÉSEG
10/24/2022
Sustainable development and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) are a major axis of IÉSEG’s current and future development as well as of its strategic plan “Inspire – Connect – Transform” for the upcoming years.
To implement this strategy at all levels at the School in a systemic and global approach, Maria Castillo has been appointed Social and Environmental Impact Director of IÉSEG and joins the Management Board. Maria was until now the School’s CSR Manager.
Reporting directly to Caroline ROUSSEL, Dean of IÉSEG, the Social and Environmental Impact Direction, currently composed of 4 people, will ensure the coherent and transversal integration of social, economic, societal and environmental issues – from a strategic perspective as well as in the School’s everyday operations and their implementation by all services and departments. The Direction will also monitor the CSR key performance indicators to measure the impact of those actions.
On the academic dimension, Maria CASTILLO will ensure that CSR and sustainable development issues are taken into account in all programs and that inter-disciplinary teaching is developped in all disciplines, as well as ever more active and cutting-edge research in sustainability. She will thus work closely with the Director of Research, the Program Directors, all the Heads of Department and Academic Directors and the ICOR (IÉSEG Center for Organizational Responsibility) and ICIE (IÉSEG Center for Intercultural Engagement) Centers of Excellence. Since September 2022, 1,600 students have taken a Sustainable Development and CSR seminar integrating the Climate Fresk serious game, and 1,700 students have taken a SPOC created by IÉSEG to prevent Sexist and Sexual Violence.
On the School dimension, Maria CASTILLO and her team will work in close collaboration with all of the School’s departments and services to implement itstrategy, in line with the School’s main orientations around diversity, inclusion, disability, environment, responsible campuses… and implement all the required actions to achieve the objectives defined in the strategic plan.
Among the priority actions: the training of all students and teams (both academic and administrative) in sustainability, the launch of a Climate Lab managed by students, the creation of a Well-Being Hub, the strengthening of initiatives such as the « Cordées de la Réussite » or « Article1 » to better support students from disadvantaged social backgrounds, the increase in the granting of scholarships and honorary loans by the IÉSEG Foundation or the creation of a network of Referents on Diversity and Inclusion.
With a PhD in Management, Maria CASTILLO teaches sustainability at IÉSEG and the School’s CSR Manager since 2016. She developed many CSR initiatives such as the “Responsible Leaders” program, the Sustainability Certificates, the “CSR and Diversity Week”… and improved the School’s collaboration with all its stakeholders (such as its students, alumni, companies, professional networks and NGOs…). She also coordinated the “People – Planet – Profit” interdisciplinary project since its creation.