Lucas Simons
A brainstorm with our CEO and founder is like entering a tornado of ideas.
His books Changing the Food Game (2014) and Changing the Game (2021) are examples of how these ideas can become reality, create momentum and drive lasting change. It is this kind of visionary leadership that has driven the strategies and successes of many of our flagship projects:
- CocoaAction: read about how the third phase of market transformation can be organized.
- Organic Cotton Accelerator: see how the combination of facilitation, strategy and technical knowledge can drive momentum and change.
- Service Delivery Models: find out how business case thinking and economic modeling can ignite innovation.
Lucas is always seeking sustainability solutions in the market. Previously, Lucas was the first director of UTZ CERTIFIED (2002-2008) – a leading global certification and sustainability standard organization for sustainable coffee, cocoa and tea. Besides NewForesight, he founded SCOPEinsight, which is a farmer organization assessment company bridging the gap between professional farmer organizations, markets and sources of finance.
His sustainability efforts do not go unnoticed. In 2011, he was honored as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for his commitment and accomplishments in the field of sustainable trade, agriculture and rural development. In 2013, he became an Ashoka Fellow for his pioneering role as a social entrepreneur and a systemic change maker. And in February 2015, Lucas was announced as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) – an initiative of the Clinton Foundation which convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
As an excellent speaker and facilitator Lucas always evokes action on tough and systemic challenges. To get an idea of how Lucas is translating his ideas into sustainable sector transformations, his TedX talk can be seen here. More on Lucas’ facilitation skills you can see in this video:
Lucas holds an MSc in Environmental Hygiene from Wageningen University and an MBA with merit from Tias-Nimbas Graduate School of Management.
Contact us if you would like to invite Lucas to inspire your organization, your company or your students. Lucas loves to teach at (business) universities, sector or sustainability events or stir up a boardroom.