WEC TEAM

Glenn Prickett

President & CEO

Frank Werner

Director WEC Europe e.V.

Ernesto Samayoa

Director of Latin American Operations

Smitha Konduri

Program Manager

Zoie Gaidos

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Adane Woldemariam

Finance Manager

Veronica Diaz-Torres

Gender Specialist & Grants Coordinator

President & CEO

Glenn Prickett

Glenn Prickett is the President & CEO of the World Environment Center (WEC). He was the interim President & CEO since June 2019. Mr. Prickett oversees WEC’s world recognized programs and strategic mission to advance sustainable development and corporate sustainability in partnership with governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector, and other stakeholders.

Mr. Prickett comes from The Nature Conservancy where he served as Chief External Affairs Officer. As the Chief External Officer at The Nature Conservancy, he founded and led the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business at Conservation International, and was a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation to help shape core elements of an effective global response to climate change. He also served in the Clinton Administration as chief environmental advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he coordinated policy and budget for U.S. environmental and energy assistance to developing nations.

Glenn graduated from Yale University in 1988. He lives in Great Falls, Virginia with his wife and two teenaged sons. Aside from his family, conservation, and the outdoors, Glenn’s other passion is music. He performs with The Oxymorons, a blues, rock, and funk band in Washington, DC.

Director WEC Europe e.V.

Frank Werner

Frank Werner has led the European office of WEC since January 2008. Amongst other responsibilities, hefacilitates an information exchange on sustainability issues among Vice Presidents of multinational companies and advises them on how to create value for both their company and society. In addition, he is responsible for further developing WEC’s Capacity Building Program to support member companies that implement sustainability strategies across their business and value chains. In this function Frank also oversees projects that include Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) and aim at increasing their sustainability performance.

Prior to his current position at the WEC, Frank worked in the field of Corporate Responsibility for eight years. He advised multinational companies on all aspects of sustainability reporting (with Akzente Kommunikation und Beratung, Munich, Germany) and earlier evaluated the sustainability performance of more than 100 global players as a sustainability analyst (with Oekom Research, Munich, Germany).

Frank received his diploma in Geography (equiv. to Masters) from the University of Heidelberg in 1996, where he also studied Political Science and Public Law. During his academic education he spent one year at York University (Toronto, Canada) and later on worked as a scientific researcher on sustainable water management in Chile. In addition to his native German he speaks English and Spanish as well as basic French. He is the author of several publications in the fields of sustainable water management, environmental business strategies and sustainability reporting.

Director of Latin American Operations

Ernesto Samayoa

Since joining in 2006, Mr. Samayoa has led the operations of WEC in Latin America. Several initiatives have been carried out with successful results, through projects funded by the U.S. government, where WEC has implemented its initiative Greening the Supply Chain among the private sector in Latin America. Before joining WEC, Mr. Samayoa was advisor to the Minister of Economy of El Salvador and country consultant for the World Bank on Corporate Social Responsibility. He also had managing roles in the apparel industry for several years and leads a family business in the coffee sector of El Salvador.

Some of the multinationals and industry sectors that have received WEC’s assistance under Mr. Samayoa´s guidance include Walmart, Coca Cola, Marriott International Hotels, the food, dairy and hotel sectors in Guatemala and El Salvador, and recently-added projects in Chile and Morocco.

Program Manager

Smitha Konduri

Smitha Konduri brings a wide range of experience in project management, event planning, communications and marketing. In her role at WEC, she has focused on supporting the activities of WEC’s government-funded activities in Latin America that help SME’s access new markets and adopt sustainable practices.

Before joining WEC, she worked with one of the major management educational institute in Malaysia as a Corporate Communications Officer & Marketing Executive. Ms. Konduri holds a BA Environmental Studies from Hawai’i Pacific University, and an MBA in General and Strategic Management from Maastricht School of Management.

Marketing & Communications Coordinator

Zoie Gaidos

Zoie Gaidos is the WEC Marketing and Communications Coordinator. Zoie studied environmental science at Western Washington University and has a background working in small scale organic agriculture and recyclables waste management. Let Zoie went on to work on the front lines of healthcare, supporting skilled nursing and mental health before returning to school to complete her MBA from Western Governors University with a concentration in IT management in 2020. Zoie used her skills in communication and process improvement to help clients and small businesses grow their online presence through the strategic and mindful use of technology and software. She is excited to bring her passion for addressing climate change and human rights to the WEC team and looks forward to connecting with their partners and stakeholders in 2022 and beyond.

Finance Manager

Adane Woldemariam

Adane Woldemariam joined WEC as Finance Manager at WEC since February 24, 2020. Adane is a Certified Public Accountant in the United States and he is also member of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accounts (ACCA) in UK. He has extensive knowledge and experience in accounting, auditing, tax consulting, budgetary planning and control of profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Prior to WEC, Adane worked in a CPA firm, World Food Program (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in various positions of Accounting, Auditing, Budget and Resource Management. He always ensures that legal and regulatory requirements are adhered and professional standards and ethics are followed. He successfully accomplished special assignment to investigate and reconcile a budget variance and accounting anomalies in three different countries.

Adane has a BA degree in Accounting from Addis Ababa University, ACCA (Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants) from UK and CPA (Certified Public Accountant) from Washington State board of Accountancy.

Christian Izquierdo Cruz

Mr. Izquierdo has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Politecnico Nacional) in Mexico City. He has twenty years of professional experience focused on applying business development, facilitation and training, project management, and technical assistance to resolve business, sustainability, energy and environmental challenges. He has participated in clean production audits (+200) as an environment, water, process and, energy specialist in various industrial & service sectors including, oil & gas, foods & beverage, hotels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, among other industrial sectors & subsectors (+10).

He has designed and implemented projects with international experts from Germany, the US, Canada, North Africa, Jordan, India, Pakistan, Mexico, and Central America in a wide variety of industrial, service, and governmental sectors. As a consultant, he has provided consulting services for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), World Environment Center (WEC), United States Department of State (US DoS), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Trade and Development (UNTAD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Institute for Sustainability (IFS), International Lead Management Center, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PA Consulting, Tetra Tech ENE and various National Cleaner Production Centers from the Middle East, North Africa, Central, and South America, among others.

He has published various articles (+20) and technical guides in National and International renamed publications like the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences; the Journal of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy and the Industry and Environment Review. As an expert, he has participated as a presenter in conferences (+30) in various countries of Latin America, Morocco, and Jordan.

Gender Specialist & Grants Coordinator

Veronica Diaz-Torres

Verónica Díaz-Torres is a committed professional with comprehensive experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. She joins WEC as a Gender Specialist & Grants Coordinator for the Empower Innovation Challenge Grant. With a strong background in gender equality and social inclusion, she has developed research, policies, and guidelines to advance these principles and practices in a variety of contexts. Verónica graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a BA in Sociology and an MSW with a concentration in Social Services Administration. She has pursued further studies in Evidence-based Policy Research Methods, Communication for Development (C4D), and Human Rights Framework. Throughout her career, Veronica has worked in diverse settings, including Taller Salud, UNICEF, and academic institutions. Her professional background, academic qualifications, and dedication to advancing gender equality and social inclusion will provide WEC with a body of knowledge and experience. Verónica is committed to promoting social justice and equality and is fervent about having a positive impact through her work.