Vali Marszalek

Executive Director of UN Global Compact Network Croatia / supporting companies on their sustainability journey

Vali loves doing her job supporting UN Global Compact participants in Croatia in meeting corporate sustainability requirements and aligning corporate strategies with ESG criteria and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Her career in sustainability started in 2016, right after the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs were adopted by the UN member states, including Croatia, as the top priority to achieve green, resilient and inclusive future. At that time, she came to work at Croatian Employers´ Association and took over managing the local network of UN Global Compact, the UN initiative that is today the biggest corporate sustainability initiative in the world.

Over the years, Vali has assisted companies in SDG impact assessment and sustainability strategy development, as well as SDG prioritization and sustainability reporting. Today, she runs UNGC programmes like SDG Ambition, Climate Ambition Accelerator and Target Gender Equality, all of them running in second or even third round, with new companies joining every round.

Vali´s focus and interest, very much determined by the business´ needs, is on Climate Action, Circular Economy and Supply Chain Sustainability, with all three closely interconnected.

Being a sociologist by vocation, she never misses pointing out that people are at the hart of the Agenda 2030 and that the environmental sustainability topics are about saving humans, our existence, our society, not the Planet! The topic of gender equality is especially close to Vali´s hart, knowing very well that it is key to green and just transition.

Supply chain sustainability is something Vali stresses as the most challenging to implement and yet crucial for delivering on global goals in all three aspects of business impact: environment, social and governance. She is therefore very excited to talk about this topic at the summit, hoping to inspire young women and men, amongst them no doubt our future leaders and changemakers, to join in creating the world we want!