The Institute on the Environment is thrilled to announce a brand new Fall 2018 Speaker Series titled “Making Change: Organizations and Sustainability”.

This talk will feature Gayle Schueller, Chief Sustainability Officer, and John Ostergren, Director of Environmental Health and Safety, 3M, presenting on “Sustainability at 3M – Applying science to improve every life”. This hour long talk with Q&A will take place in the Learning & Environmental Sciences Bldg’s Room R-380.

View this event live on YouTube here.

Gayle Schueller
Vice President, Sustainability and Product Stewardship and Chief Sustainability Officer

Dr. Gayle Schueller is 3M’s Vice President, Sustainability and Product Stewardship and Chief Sustainability Officer.  Gayle started in 3M’s corporate laboratory as a product development engineer and has over 20 years of technical and business leadership experience.  Her career spans a broad range of businesses from electronics to healthcare to consumer industries. She has led technical and business teams from around the world including Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America.  

Gayle’s previous assignments include Vice President of New Platforms for Growth and Commercialization, Directora General for 3M Mexico, Vice President for Global Sustainability, and Vice President of Research & Development and Design for 3M’s Consumer and Office Business.  

She is passionate about making a positive impact in the world through science and technology.

John D. Ostergren
Director, EHS & Medical

John leads 3M’s Environment, Health, Safety & Medical organization (EHS & Medical), responsible for the company’s global EHS & Medical programs and performance – ensuring safe & healthy workplaces, environmental performance, operational sustainability, and compliance. He earned his JD and Ph.D. (geochemistry) from Stanford University. Prior to his current role, John served as 3M’s Associate General Counsel for Supply Chain and EHS & Medical, and previously as Division Counsel for operating units in 3M’s Industrial, Electronics, and Safety & Graphics business groups. Before 3M, Mr. Ostergren was an attorney at Dorsey & Whitney in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his practice focused on environmental and technology litigation, and regulatory matters. He served as Editor-in-Chief for the Stanford Environmental Law Journal, and his doctorate research focused on molecular-scale surface chemistry affecting contaminant fate and transport.   

The Series Context:

With the private sector producing more than 60% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and the largest corporations generating over $2 trillion in annual ‘externalities’ to society in the form of emissions, freshwater use, pol­lution, waste and land-use change, new sustainability-centric organizational models will likely need to dominate production and consumption systems within the decade.

To provide the IonE Community (students, researchers, faculty and staff) some insight into how organizations are thinking and acting in this direction, we present a new Fall 2018 speaker series “Making Change: Organizations and Sustainability”. This series offers students and scholars an opportunity to interact with leading corporate and organizational leaders actively pursuing sustainable transitions in the areas of energy, water, food, materials and communication. Please join us in exploring the major trends, catalysts and barriers affecting some of the most influential regional, national and global organizations’ sustainability efforts.