SLF End Of Year Meeting
This year’s meeting will review SLF’s annual report, benchmarking and technical advancements along with the opportunity to hear from experts and industry professionals. See below for more details on the speakers and agenda.
Our focus this year is on the value of partnerships through collaborative projects that provide tangible pathways for the implementation of improvement measures across environmental, social and governance responsibility. Increasing regulatory pressure to verify and prove compliance creates additional challenges for the leather industry and working to provide solutions-driven support is needed more than ever before.
Join us on Tuesday 3rd December 2024 to hear about the range of activities that are taking place to provide this support, including the latest updates on incoming directives and regulations.
All are welcome to attend either in-person or remotely and you can register using the link below:
Speakers
Deborah Taylor, Managing Director, Sustainable Leather Foundation.
Deborah founded the SLF in July 2020 specifically to support the leather industry to become more sustainable across environmental, social and governance aspects. The Foundation promotes an A.I.M. Approach to sustainable improvement – Accessible, Inclusive and Modular. Having created the innovative SLF Transparency Dashboard™, the first of its kind in the leather industry, Deborah is passionate about providing the right environment for transparent and verifiable information.
In addition to her work at the Foundation, since April 2020, Deborah has also worked as the leather value chain expert for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on projects related to traceability and transparency. A practitioner member of the Chartered Quality Institute and a certified SA8000 lead auditor, she also serves as Vice-President for the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists, and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Curriers.
Hans van Haarst, Global Director of Sustainability, SHV Holdings
With over 30 years experience working for Blue Chip process companies, Hans is an experienced strategist. As the CEO of Royal Smit & Zoon for 10 years, Hans was instrumental in steering the company to become one of the industry’s leading chemical companies when it comes to a sustainable business vision. Now as the Corporate Director of ESG at SHV Holdings, Hans expands this perspective with a wider approach to sustainability.
In addition to his full time role, Hans has served on the Advisory Board of SLF since it’s inception in 2020 and is the current Chair since 2021, providing governance oversight to the Foundation.
Katie Kutskill, Business Operations and Strategy, Is It Leather?
Katies holds her BA in Environmental Studies and Political Science, along with a Masters in Leather Technology.
Katie’s early career was within the automotive leather sector, working with both Eagle Ottowa and then Pangea (formerly GST Autoleather) where she was the Executive Director of Global Product Development and Sustainability Officer. More recently Katie worked at the Sustainable Leather Foundation as Technical Director before moving into a consulting role which led to her current position advocating for a sustainable leather industry with Is It Leather?
She is a member of the American Leather Chemists Association, Katie is a believer in driving positive communication, backed up by robust data.
Kevin Latner, Vice President, Leather and Hide Council of America.
Kevin has 30 years experience in agricultural trade policy, strategic planning, trade marketing, monitoring and research. He is passionate about the contribution that sustainable and renewable agricultural products make to our lives, our communities, our supply chains and world. Kevin is Vice President of the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) and has previously served as Executive Director of the Cotton Council International and as Vice President of the National Cotton Council of America.