Cascale, the worldwide nonprofit behind the Higg Index measuring provide chain sustainability, has chosen Ying McGuire as CEO. She brings greater than 20 years of worldwide nonprofit and company management, together with at Dell Applied sciences.
When McGuire begins June 1, Cascale’s interim CEO Harsh Saini will step down after almost a 12 months.
McGuire has described working a nonprofit group like a enterprise. “We nonetheless have to convey one of the best and brightest expertise and make investments [in] know-how and optimize prices,” she stated a number of years in the past on the Heidrick & Struggles Management Podcast. “However the one distinction between working a nonprofit and working a enterprise is we’re making impression. We’re not making internet revenue.”
Cascale’s Higg Index provides a typical methodology for client items firms to measure efficiency on environmental and labor elements inside their provide chains. Greater than 40,000 organizations use the suite of 5 instruments, in keeping with Cascale.
McGuire will lead the group because it advances a decarbonization program that launched in 2022, requiring members to chop emissions by 45 p.c by 2030. The aim marked a shift within the early 2020s to amplify collective trade impacts.
Cascale just lately warned that the style trade must pursue ignored emissions hotspots, reminiscent of mills.
“We’re delighted to welcome Ying McGuire as Cascale’s subsequent CEO and look ahead to working intently together with her, our members and the broader ecosystem to strengthen collective motion and advance a extra sustainable and resilient international worth chain,” Cascale Board Chair Tamar Hoek stated in an announcement.
McGuire’s roles
Most just lately, McGuire served as CEO, president and board member of the U.S. Nationwide Minority Provider Growth Council. Over 4 years, she grew company membership by 48 p.c, doubled income in two years and sought to modernize companies, in keeping with her LinkedIn profile.
As well as, the group’s 17,500 companies from historically underserved communities employed some 2 million U.S. jobs and created $379 billion in annual revenues in 2024.
Previous to that, she spent a decade as vp of worldwide operations and enterprise improvement at Expertise Integration Group. She additionally served for 2 years as a council member of the US Funding Advisory Council.
For greater than 11 years, McGuire led provide chain efforts at Dell Applied sciences, together with as international chief of oblique procurement.
In September McGuire grew to become a restricted accomplice and enterprise advisor for IA World Ventures, specializing in serving to immigrant startup founders.
She holds an MBA in worldwide enterprise from the Thunderbird College of Administration and graduated from Nankai College of Tianjin, China.
Cascale historical past
Cascale has had a number of management and organizational transitions in recent times. In February 2024 it ditched its unique identify, the Sustainable Attire Coalition (SAC), which Walmart and Patagonia launched in 2009.
The coalition had hit pause on its consumer-facing scorecard after the Norwegian authorities in 2022 accused the coalition, together with H&M and Norrøna, for deceptive customers. After complying with regulators and present process an exterior evaluate, the SAC rebranded and recalibrated.
For the previous two years, Cascale has emphasised collective motion on local weather, nature and labor points. It additionally reworked its engagement with members to emphasise enter from producers and suppliers.
Saini, additionally a Cascale board director, final July grew to become short-term CEO to exchange Colin Browne, who served for one 12 months.
McGuire has spoken of objective, technique and tradition as keys to organizational transformations. “Clear and ongoing communication helps alleviate fears and uncertainties, encourages buy-in and ensures that everybody will be on the identical web page all through the journey,” she stated.