BSR is delighted to announce that the Board of Directors has named Diederik Timmer as the new President and CEO, succeeding our longtime leader, Aron Cramer.
Diederik, originally from Netherlands and who has lived and worked in the US since 2014, will assume the role on September 1 and will be based in New York. Aron will work as a Strategic Advisor for a period following that date, supporting Diederik and the team to ensure a seamless transition.
A 20-year leader in sustainable business, Diederik joins BSR following a distinguished career including several leadership roles as President, Climate Solutions, at Glass Lewis & Co; EVP at Morningstar Sustainalytics; Chair of US Social Investment Forum (US SIF) and service as a board member at Knology.
Diederik is the right person to lead BSR through its next chapter, providing the vision and leadership needed to shape what comes next, and to ensure that our commitment to you, our members, remains as strong and central to our mission as it has always been.
For more than 30 years, BSR has been proud to serve as your trusted partner, helping you to transform your sustainability challenges into opportunities that create business value and competitive advantage.
As we make this transition, our exceptional team looks forward to continuing to be deeply engaged with you, serving as a crucial resource for you and your colleagues, delivering valuable insight, advice and opportunities for collaboration as we work together to achieve crucial impact in the world.
Throughout his career, Diederik has served in client and member-centric roles, including leadership of the commercial side at Morningstar Sustainalytics for 17 years, during which time he oversaw rapid growth and geographic expansion, and built out Sustainalytics' corporate solutions business. He is an innovator, who has built corporate solutions and climate offerings at Sustainalytics, and most recently set up and launched climate intelligence at Glass Lewis using human-centric AI to support analyst evaluations of corporate transition strategies and their execution.
“The board is very pleased to welcome Diederik Timmer as the next President and CEO of BSR,” said BSR Chair Peter Herweck. “Diederik brings an outstanding wealth of experience and a proven track record in business, sustainability, and technology. This long-planned transition comes at a time of substantial change in the market, where BSR is prepared to lead. The board is extremely thankful for Aron Cramer’s excellent decades long leadership of BSR in forming and leading the organization to what it is today, a thought leader and trusted partner in the field of sustainable business. As we prepare for this transition. we remain committed to our mission to work with business to create a just and sustainable world.”
Diederik Timmer, incoming President and CEO of BSR added “I've followed BSR, and Aron's leadership, for nearly two decades. What BSR has built is unique: a network of more than 250 member companies and three decades of trusted thought leadership. Corporations are navigating meaningful change in how the world thinks about sustainability, just as smart technologies reshape how they compete, and the moment demands an innovative partner who can help with both strategy and implementation. I'm looking forward to driving that work forward together with our members, our funders, and the broader BSR network.”
The BSR Board selected Diederik following a global search process that began early this year. Following assessment of multiple candidates, including interviews with several, the Board unanimously voted to appoint Diederik at its most recent meeting late last month.
To lead BSR into the future, the Board sought a proven business leader with deep experience in sustainability, someone who is deeply client and member-centric, understands what it means to run a member organization, brings an innovator's track record, has a strong understanding of data and technology, and has experience and sensitivity to sustainability across global markets, in addition to providing leadership consistent with BSR’s values.
As we communicated to you at the beginning of the year, Aron is stepping down from his role as CEO after 31 years at BSR, and 22 leading the organization. He joined BSR in 1995 as the founding Director of its Business and Human Rights Program, and in 2002 opened BSR’s first European office in Paris. During that time, BSR grew into a more global organization, becoming a trusted advisor for its 250+ member companies, and a collaboration leader and partner with many companies, funders, and other key actors in the sustainable business ecosystem.
“Leading BSR has been an utter privilege,” said Aron Cramer. “The opportunity to work with so many great BSR colleagues, our network of member companies, and so many like-minded partners in every corner of the world has been more than I could have imagined when I joined BSR more than 30 years ago. We have, together, made so much progress in that time. And there is still much to do to make good on BSR’s mission of working with business for a just and sustainable world. I know that Diederik is the right person to take the baton and lead BSR into the future, and I am excited about what awaits him, our team, and our network as he takes up his post and charts a path forward.”