Steve Voien Principle Consultant
Sustainability & Human Rights Reporting
Global Sustainability Standards
Sustainability Project Management
Stakeholder Communications & Engagement

Steve Voien helps companies articulate their Sustainability and Human Rights stories in ways that are credible, compelling and aligned with global standards. He also manages Sustainability initiatives and helps companies understand and engage their stakeholders productively.

Steve has project-managed, written, edited and developed GRI Indexes for 12+ Sustainability reports. He has also written and edited reports outlining a global mining company’s Human Rights Assessment program (most recently to 2015 UNGP Reporting Framework), and edited a Progress Report on the Voluntary Principles on Security & Human Rights.

Steve’s clients appreciate his deep expertise in global and industry-specific standards, frameworks and requirements. They also value his perspective, critical thinking and listening skills, and his professional approach to delivering results that meet client needs and integrate CSR more deeply into performance and outcomes.

• Worked with 15+ Fortune 500 companies
• Launched CSR practices at two large communications-consulting firms
• Five years at the nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), leading member consulting projects and directing the Global Resource Center
• Six years as a U.S. diplomat with environmental, human rights, and political-economic reporting responsibilities in Africa and the former Soviet Union

Recent Project: For $30 billion extractive project in Africa, project managed team responsible for developing ESG reports for government & lenders (Equator Principles).

Steve has published two political-environmental novels (In a High and Lonely Place, HarperCollins; Black Leopard, Knopf) to excellent reviews in the New York Times, Washington Post and People magazine (“Page Turner of the Week”) among others.

Selected Clients
Acorn International, Anadarko, Barrick Gold, BP, Caesars, Ford Motor Co., IFC, JPMorgan Chase, Kraft, Marathon Oil, Merck, Noble Energy, Oracle, Philip Morris (now Altria), Southern Co., Total, Toyota, USAID, Verizon

Country and Regional Experience
West Africa, the Balkans (Albania, Bulgaria), Lithuania, Ukraine

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2008 to present: Principal Consultant, VoienConsulting
For $30 billion project in Africa, managed team responsible for delivering ESG reporting to host government and lenders (Equator Principles)
Project managed, wrote, edited, and developed GRI and IPIECA indexes for 4 Sustainability Reports for mid-sized U.S. Oil & Gas companies
Wrote/edited 2 reports on a global mining client’s Human Rights Assessment program (most recent to 2015 UNGP Reporting Framework), and edited Implementation Progress Report on the VPs for Security & Human Rights
Co-led Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) trainings
For a global development bank, interviewed 50+ internal & external stake-holders to create a common global stakeholder engagement strategy
Provided strategic counsel, led research projects, wrote transparent, credible CR communications including executive talking points
Clients included: Anadarko, Barrick Gold, Brown-Flynn, Caesars, IFC, JPMorgan Chase, Marathon Oil, Noble Energy

2007-2008: VP Global Corporate Citizenship, Waggener Edstrom
Launched and led Global Corporate Citizenship practice
Developed proposal for/co-led presentation to a top 5 Oil & Gas super major for a community vocational training project, winning a $3+ million account
Drafted/presented successful board proposal for business strategy and funding
Clients included: top 5 global Oil & Gas company

2007: Principal Consultant & Founder VoienConsulting
Led business ethics/anti-corruption & bribery training for U.S. employees of a European Oil & Gas super major
Co-led extensive field assessment of USAID-funded democracy-building initiatives in Ukraine, Lithuania and the Balkans; the assessments were praised by USAID staff as among the most useful they had ever received
Clients included: Business for Social Responsibility, IFC, Total, USAID

2003-2006: Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, Edelman
Launched and led Edelman’s West Coast CSR consulting practice
Co-led successful stakeholder engagement for global automaker with a tough activist coalition (Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange, Sierra Club)
Developed CR mission/vision for a leadership tech company
Led/wrote/edited CR reports for home & garden, energy, and pharmaceuticals
Clients included: Ford Motor Co., Kraft, Merck, Oracle, Schwab, Toyota

1998-2003: Manager/Director, Business for Social Responsibility (nonprofit)
Benchmarked best practices in corporate anti-corruption & bribery initiatives and created strategic program recommendations for O&G super major
Developed strategy and staffing for new CSR department of a major telecom
Directed the Global Resource Center, which published CSR research/best practice white papers and a CSR resource website
Served as BSR point person for business ethics/values
Clients included: BP, Chevron, Levi’s, Philip Morris (now Altria), Verizon

1989-1994: Foreign Service Officer, U.S. State Department
Influenced U.S. decision making through analysis and policy reporting on political-economic, environmental, labor, NGO, HIV/AIDS issues
Led a highly diverse consular team during a potentially overwhelming period of refugee influx, maintaining productivity and high morale
Managed extreme conflict situation in Liberia, negotiating with rebel warlord Charles Taylor and his lieutenants to gain Red Cross access and release U.S citizens trapped in the conflict zone
Postings: Bulgaria, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Washington, D.C.

PUBLICATIONS
Moving at the Speed of Light: Recent Developments in Human Rights Reporting, 2015-2016
http://voienconsulting.com/HumanRightsReporting.shtml
Eleven CR Reporting Tips for Reputationally-Challenged Companies
- Sustainable Life Media, Part One May 4, Part Two, June 3, 2011
http://voienconsulting.com/SustainReportingTips.shtml
Where Are All the Energy Star Slot Machines?
GreenBuzz, July 2009
http://greenbiz.com/news/2009/07/13/where-are-all-energy-star-slot-machines
Black Leopard (novel), 1997, Knopf, and In a High and Lonely Place (novel), 1992, HarperCollins: Political-environmental novels that received excellent reviews in the New York Times, Washington Post, People magazine (“Page Turner of the Week”), and on National Public Radio.

EDUCATION
Bachelor’s: World Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara
Additional coursework in economics and finance

CERTIFICATES
Global Reporting Initiative; ISO 26,000; Radical Collaboration (conflict resolution); Managing Ethics in Organizations