On October 7, 2021, the Global Electronics Council (GEC) honored Beril Toktay, Brady Family Chair in Management at Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, with a Sustainability Champion Award for her work through the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business (“Center”), where she is faculty director. The GEC is a mission-driven non-profit that leverages the power of institutional purchasers to drive demand for sustainable technology. The award was presented at A Night Out with GEC, which was hosted virtually at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia.
The GEC shared the following comments about Toktay’s contributions to sustainable business: “We are impressed with the Center’s work in driving environmental change and empowering a new generation of business leaders to focus on positive environmental and social impacts. Your work supports the same values as the Global Electronics Council. From working to decrease the carbon footprint of the state of Georgia to exploring the environmental impacts of e-tailers versus brick-and-mortar retail, you are leading the kind of initiatives that we champion.”
At the awards event, Toktay first spoke from her perspective as an educator, noting, “Students need to understand that technology is a force for good and can create prosperity, but without attention to environmental and social governance, it can strip communities of their resources and harm the environment.” She also referred to her research on the worldwide problem of electronic waste. She said, “Through an environmental justice lens, landfills with e-waste leakage are often sited in under-resourced communities. We need to continue to work on these issues that are both hyperlocal and international in scope.” Toktay acknowledged the opportunity for the business community to advocate for better regulation and collective action.
At the event, the GEC also recognized three other individuals as Sustainability Champions: Mustafa Santiago Ali, vice president of environmental justice, climate, and community revitalization at the National Wildlife Federation as well as CEO and founder of Revitalization Strategies; Andy Shallal, founder and CEO of Busboys and Poets; and Nathaniel Smith, founder and chief equity officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity. (Smith is also a member of the Center’s Advisory Board.)
By Jennifer Holley Lux
