Lise Kingo is CBS Distinguished Alumna 2018

"Lise Kingo is a CBS alum in whom we take great pride’’ says president Per Holten-Andersen. She is a role model by virtue of the leadership values she represents. Throughout her career, she has worked in the intersection between social responsibility and management, which is also essential to CBS’ values today.

Lise Kingo holds a Graduate Diploma in Marketing from CBS. Since 2015, Lise Kingo has served as CEO and Executive Director of United Nations Global Compact and is in charge of ensuring corporate co-responsibility to achieve the 17th UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) before 2030. Lise Kingo was also chair of the Danish Council for Corporate Responsibility under the Danish Business Authority (2012-2015). In terms of CSR, she has also been working a great deal with CBS’ research and education environment.

"This appointment as distinguished alumnus means a lot to me. It is a great honour and a huge privilege to receive this type of recognition by my former university, especially since CBS is so strongly committed to CSR."

A diplomat in New York
Even though Kingo has worked globally for Novo Nordisk for 25 years, she has never worked and lived abroad. When the chance arose to go to New York to promote CSR worldwide, turning down the opportunity was unthinkable.

"The United Nations is an incredibly exciting place to manoeuvre in. I’ve always dreamt of being a diplomat. And now I am and get to play that role. Learning about this new area of knowledge is exciting and demanding, and promoting an agenda that I consider to be crucial to everyone is highly rewarding."

Pushing the 17th UN Sustainable Development Goal forward and the business community’s co-responsibility
The 17th UN SDG is part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda to end poverty and hunger. The United Nations Global Compact is a management platform under the Global Goals that focuses on developing, implementing and spreading responsible business operations in accordance with ten universally accepted principles on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

"Unfortunately, the Global Goals are not being disseminated very well and 2030 can seem like a long way off into the future. Consequently, to create a burning platform, I’ve pointed out that we only have 5,000 days left before then to make the world a better place. That’s the kind of language companies understand."

According to Kingo, the challenge is making sure that the energy and momentum are maintained. So far, more than 75 percent of the companies in the Global Compact are working on the goals at the executive level, which is also putting demands on subcontractors. At the same time, various financial institutions have begun to view the SDGs, from an investment perspective, as a gift because they provide clear guidelines on the direction the world should move in.

Read the full story "Lise Kingo – businesswoman of mind, humanist at heart" here