Dr. Michael E. Conroy is a former academic, funder, advocate and

                                             analyst of the emergence of new systems for corporate social and    

                                             environmental accountability. For the past twelve years he has been

                                             at the forefront of the movement to build systems that encourage and

                                             reward higher standards of corporate accountability in a wide range

                                             of industries, from sustainable forestry and sustainable tourism and

                                             ecotourism to certified Fair Trade, responsible mining, and the

                                             Equator Principles for international project lending by global

                                             banking groups.

                                             Building on a 25-year academic career as a Professor of Economics

                                             at the University of Texas at Austin and later as a Senior Research

                                             Scholar and Senior Lecturer at Yale University, Dr. Conroy has

                                             taught about, researched, and written about the “certification

                                             revolution” that has created unprecedented transformation of global corporate practices on social and environmental fronts over the past 15 years.

He has also spent a dozen years outside academia in the philanthropic world, first at the Ford Foundation (nine years) and then with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (three years), building new modes of corporate accountability through support for the development of certification systems in sustainable forestry, Fair Trade for agricultural commodities, responsible mining, sustainable tourism and ecotourism, and a wide range of other explorations still coming together.

His academic record includes the first courses at the University of Texas on the Global Economics of Sustainable Development, a half-dozen academic books, and scores of refereed professional publications. His latest book, published in September 2007, is Branded! How the ‘Certification Revolution’ is Transforming Global Corporations, (Vancouver and London: New Society Publishers).

Dr. Conroy is co-founder of Colibrí Consulting, a firm dedicated to the intersection of certification systems, corporate accountability, and global sustainable development. A charismatic speaker on the full range of issues covering corporate engagement with sustainability issues, market campaigns, and certification systems, Dr. Conroy is available for presentations, trainings, and consultation on these most critical issues of the 21st Century.

For further information, please contact him at: michael@colibriconsult.com,

or +1-914-374-0631.

Dr. Michael E. Conroy