Natalia Olynec is Chief Sustainability Officer at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, where she designs executive education programs, drives advisory initiatives, publishes research, fosters cross-sector partnerships, and communicates impact.
At the Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business, which she co-leads, Natalia leverages IMD's expertise to empower leaders and companies on a path towards sustainable business practices.
Passionate about the intersection of sustainability and leadership, Natalia supports the development of Chief Sustainability Officers as catalysts for business transformation, building strong learning communities of practitioners. Beyond IMD, she co-leads the Business Schools for Climate Leadership initiative, collaborating with eight leading European business schools to advance thought leadership and alumni engagement to address the climate crisis. Her influence extends into corporate leadership, serving as a Non-Executive Director of Jeronimo Martins, a global food retailer, where she also contributes to the Corporate Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee.
Prior to joining IMD, Natalia served as the Global Head of Sustainability at Damco, a business of Maersk. Her diverse career includes work with the United Nations World Food Program's Logistics Emergency Team, impact investment platforms in Asia, and as a foreign correspondent at Bloomberg in Eastern Europe and Asia. Natalia covered pivotal events such as Ukraine’s corporate privatization, and Russia’s debt default, stock market collapse, currency devaluation. She has interviewed political and corporate leaders and reported on major global events, including the G-8, EBRD, IMF, and APEC summits, and produced reports on the impact of the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis in Asia and the Asian Role in Global Governance as part of a World Economic Forum Global Redesign initiative.
Natalia holds a Master in Public Administration from the University of Singapore and a Bachelor's degree in political science from McGill University, Canada and has completed several IMD executive education programs in leadership and corporate governance. She is also a proud mother of three daughters and a staunch advocate for women's sponsorship and inclusion in leadership.
