Moderator

Akiko Sato

Akiko Sato is a human rights lawyer who is engaged with business and human rights issues as well as access to justice for socially vulnerable people, both in Japan and Southeast Asia. She serves as Deputy Secretary-General of Human Rights Now.

Ms. Sato holds an MA in Development Studies with a major in human rights from the International Institute of Social Studies at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University in The Hague, and a JD from Hitotsubashi University.

Panelists

Lauren Compere

Lauren Compere is a Managing Director and Head of Stewardship and Engagement at Boston Common Asset Management (www.bostoncommonasset.com), a majority-employee-owned and woman-led investment management firm specializing in U.S. and international responsible investing.

Ms. Compere heads Boston Common’s shareholder engagement program. She has worked in the responsible investment industry for 30 years and has 18 years of experience in global responsible investing. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Asia and a guest contributor to the Huffington Post and Medium.

Ms. Compere currently sits on the board of the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and previously served on the boards of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and the Access to Nutrition Foundation. Ms. Compere serves on the Advisory Council for the Investor Alliance for Human Rights (an ICCR project), serves as the Co-Chair for the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) Natural Capital Committee, and is part of the PCAF (Platform for Carbon Accounting Financials) Core Team which in 2020 developed a global standard for carbon accounting for six asset classes). Ms. Compere was Co-Chair of the Emerging Markets Disclosure Project (EMDP) and co-lead for the EMDP Korean team (2009-2012).

Since 2014 Ms. Compere has led a multi-year global investor engagement “Banking on a Low Carbon Future” which has benchmarked the performance of 60 banks on climate risk, strategy, and funding climate adaption and mitigation through the creation of new metrics, reports, and active engagement. Lastly she sits on the Strategy and Design Team of the Climate Safe Lending Network (CSLN).

Kikka Hanazawa

Kikka Hanazawa is a founder of Fashion Girls for Humanity, an award-winning nonprofit organization, a CEO of VPL, a sustainable fashion brand, and a founder of Yabbey, a DIY digital fashion marketplace. She is internationally recognized as an experienced leader in social impact business and initiatives, women’s entrepreneurship, impact investing, sustainability, cultivating creative public-private collaborative partnerships and fundraising for social good. Ms. Hanazawa is passionate about businesses and projects that make a positive difference in the world.

In 2007, VPL was selected as a finalist for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)’s Vogue Fashion Fund, and in 2012, VPL won the CFDA Lexus Eco Challenge. In 2014, Fashion Girls for Humanity received Asia Society’s Game Changer Award and has been recognized by Fast Company for “World Changing Ideas” in 2021.

Prior to VPL, Ms. Hanazawa was Director of Strategy for Theory, responsible for the development of corporate strategy and evaluating and executing new businesses opportunities, such as retail, e-commerce and M&A, leading to the company’s successful IPO. She also served as a VP of Marketing at Cygne Designs where she led a management buyout of the division and eventually sold the business. She began her career at Itochu Corporation where she became a general manager of Itochu Fashion System’s New York office.

Ms. Hanazawa has served on CFDA’s finance committee and Asia Society’s Japanese art committee. She was also a jurist for NYEDC’s incubator fund and a sustainability advisor to Swarovski Foundation’s One x One initiative in partnership with UN. She currently serves on the Columbia University’s School of General Studies Board of Visitors and Executive Director’s Advisory Council for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Born in Tokyo, Ms. Hanazawa graduated magna cum laude from Columbia in Art History and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has since become the first Japanese woman to be selected as a Forbes 48 Heroes of Philanthropy, a finalist for 2020 Rising Star Award by Harvard Business School Women’s Association of Greater New York and received a FLAIR Award from Harvard Alumni for Fashion, Luxury and Retail in 2021.

Kazuko Ito

Since 1994, Kazuko Ito has been active as a Tokyo-based human rights lawyer dedicated to women’s and children’s rights, criminal justice/death penalty and public interest litigation in Japan as well as critical of human rights issues around the world.

In 2004-2005, Ms. Ito researched international human rights law as a Hauser research fellow at NYU School of Law. In 2005, she worked for several human rights organizations including the Center for Constitutional Rights in NY.

In 2006, Ms. Ito established Human Rights Now (HRN), the first international human rights NGO based in Japan, and since then she has served as its Secretary-General.

Ms. Ito also sits on the gender equality committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. She has published several books on human rights issues in Japanese.

• This event will be conducted via Zoom. Please have Zoom installed on your computer, iPad or phone in order to watch our webinar.
• Contact Us : hrnnyinfo@gmail.com