WASHINGTON, D.C.-December 12, 2007-The World Environment Center (WEC) today announced the election of new Officers and Members to its Board of Directors and approved the update of a strategic plan that establishes ambitious new initiatives for expanding the organization’s global activities.

Elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors is Wayne S. Balta, Vice President, Corporate Environmental Affairs and Product Safety at IBM. Mr. Balta will succeed Elizabeth A. Lowery, Vice President, Environment, Energy and Safety Policy at General Motors on January 1, 2008. Ms. Lowery will remain as a WEC Board member.

"I am very honored to succeed Beth Lowery who has re-directed and re-established WEC as a global leadership organization in sustainable development," stated Mr. Balta. "WEC's focus on strategic business issues enables it to generate value for business and society in ways that are unique across the spectrum of institutions that are advancing sustainability issues."

Other appointments announced by WEC included:

• Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors—Jeff Seabright, Vice President of Environment & Water Resources, Coca-Cola.
• Secretary-Treasurer—Paul Hagen, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond.
• Re-appointment to the Board of Directors for a second term—Armando J. Garcia Segovia, Executive Vice President, Cemex; and Dieter Hübl, Head of Health, Safety and Environmental Management, Bayer Health Sciences.
• New Members of the Board of Directors—Martin Hostalek, Senior Vice President of Environment, Health, Safety, Security and Quality, Merck KGaA; and Ienobu Kakegawa, Senior Specialist, Corporate Environment Division, Ricoh Company.

The Board also gratefully acknowledged the many contributions and years of service of Prof. Nicholas A. Robinson, Professor in Environmental Law, Pace University School of Law.

WEC also announced the approval of a new strategic plan that includes the following core areas and initiatives:

• Advancing sustainable solutions through capacity building.  The Board endorsed expanding WEC’s current activities in China that will include new capacity building projects and establishing a permanent office in Shanghai in 2008; and strengthening the organization’s capabilities in the Latin American region.  These actions directly assist businesses and their suppliers to implement sustainable development across their value chains.
• Building sustainable development competencies.  The Board endorsed a 2008 program of strategic level roundtables that will address such issues as improving energy efficiency in the Chinese private sector, advancing sustainability standards across the supply chain, designing collaborative strategies for solving global problems and building regional climate change strategies.  The time and location of these roundtables will be separately published.
• Honouring business excellence.  The Board noted that the winner of WEC’s 24^th annual Gold Medal Award for International Achievement in Sustainable Development was Marks & Spencer.  The company will be honoured at a gala black tie dinner in Washington, D.C. on May 9, 2008 preceded that day by a Colloquium on the topic of Global Non-Governmental Organizations:  A Discussion of Strategies with Their Chief Executive Officers.

The Board of Directors also directed that planning begin to establish WEC membership and projects in India.

For more information, please contact:

Iris Ovadiya, 202-312-1211, or iovadiya@wec.org