2026 Program - CSO Summit & Symposium 2026

AGENDA

María José “Majo” Cortés is chief sustainability officer at Atlas Renewable Energy, where she leads the company’s ESG and sustainability strategy across Latin America and the United States, supporting more than 8 GW of renewable energy assets in operation and development. From the earliest stages of project development, her role focuses on mitigating environmental and social risks by overseeing permitting, stakeholder engagement, and governance systems that enable projects to proceed sustainably.

Her work focuses on securing the social license to operate by building community trust and integrating local realities into infrastructure development, ensuring renewable energy expansion serves as a force for social and economic progress. Under her leadership, the organization has developed award-winning workforce programs, strengthened labor and human rights practices, advanced responsible supply chain standards, and implemented biodiversity initiatives recognized across the industry.

She has also pioneered the integration of ESG as a financial and operational lever—creating data-driven governance frameworks, due diligence readiness processes, and alternative financing mechanisms that link sustainability performance to access to capital and project continuity.

Alongside her corporate role, Majo actively explores sustainability culture and leadership, constantly asking how future leaders must evolve to build organizations that deliver both infrastructure and societal value in the energy transition.

As CEO, Carlos has overall responsibility for the company operations and leads the development of Enfinity´s short and long-term strategy. He has over 30 years of global leadership experience. Over the last 15 years, he has raised and participated in raising over $20 billion of capital and developed 15 GWs of renewable assets at various stages and structures from greenfield to M&A of RTB portfolios.

Prior to joining Enfinity Global, Carlos cofounded ieX Renewables, LLC, which by 2015 was underwriting over 2 GWs of renewable assets. From January 2014 to November 2015, he served as President and CEO of TerraForm Power, Inc. and TerraForm Global, Inc. Carlos led the formation of both companies and the successful IPOs in 2014 and 2015, respectively. During Carlos’ leadership TerraForm Power became the largest NA yieldco with 2.8 GW of contracted PPAs and dividends per share growth of 1.7x from the IPO.

He joined SunEdison, Inc. in September 2007 as CFO and investor to take the company public. In January 2009 the Board named Carlos COO and in November 2009, he oversaw the sale of SunEdison to MEMC Electronics. He then became EVP of MEMC and President of SunEdison, Inc. He grew the company globally from 40 MWs per year of origination to over 1 GW per year, with a contracted backlog of over 1.5 GWs. In March 2013, he was named President of SunEdison Capital and became a founding partner at EverStream Capital.

Prior to joining SunEdison, Carlos spent 15 years General Electric (GE), where he served in a variety of leadership roles, including serving as the Chief Financial Officer of Universal Pictures International Entertainment.

Carlos holds Master Degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

As Primo Brands’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Charles Fogg leads the Company’s environmental sustainability strategy, with a strong focus on advancing water stewardship and circularity through reuse, reduction, and recycling initiatives. 

With sustainability at the heart of Primo Brands’ mission, Charles develops capabilities to enhance its stewardship of natural resources, optimize operations, and promote best practices, positioning the company for sustainable long-term growth.

Since assuming his role in November 2024 with Primo Brands Corporation, Charles has been instrumental in integrating sustainability across all levels of the organization. He has a robust background in supply chain management, having previously served as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Primo Water Corporation and having held key leadership roles in various capacities, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Retail Division. 

With over two decades of experience in the hydration industry, Charles brings deep sector expertise to Primo Brands' sustainability commitments. His prior operational leadership roles at Nestlé Waters North America and at Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. enrich his understanding of the industry's complexities and challenges. 

Charles’ vision and dedication to sustainable practices make him a valuable voice in the conversation about addressing critical global challenges, while supporting long term value creation.

Franz Gilbert is a managing director at Deloitte Consulting LLP where he leads Human Capital Strategy and Innovation and is on the Global and US Human Capital Management Committee. He and his team are responsible for developing and driving the human capital growth strategy, incubating new and emerging businesses, and stewarding alliances to bring innovative solutions and deliver more valuable outcomes for clients.

Gilbert has played an active role in advancing the HR profession throughout his career. He was a founding member of the International Standards Organization (ISO) HR Standards committee (TC260) which has created several HR ISO Standards to include ISO 30414 – Guidelines for Internal and External Human Capital Reporting. He is on the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) Board of Directors. Gilbert also holds the Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) certification and has served on many advisory committees for HR provider firms and HR member associations. Gilbert has been married to his wife Ashley for over 29 years, and they have one son.

Mar is Co-Founder of NU Advisory Partners. She is known to be exceptionally driven, collaborative, and customer-centric, with notable expertise in placing corporate officers (CHRO, CFO, GC), and also supporting boards, financial services, tech, telecommunications, and hospitality organizations in different talent needs.

Prior to co-founding NU, Mar was a senior member of the corporate officers, DE&I, and Financial Services Practices at Russell Reynolds Associates, where she was also the co-head of the Hispanic board initiative and led CHRO/CPO private equity work for the firm. Before her twelve years in the search industry, she held senior sales and marketing roles with firms such as Amicorp, Mphasis-EDS, and TTech.

Jim Madden joined Calamos Investments in 2021 and contributes more than 30 years of investment industry experience. Together with Co-Portfolio Manager Tony Tursich, Jim leads the firm’s Sustainable Equities Team. In the 1990s while at Portfolio 21, Jim and Tony developed a research and investment process that combined traditional fundamental analysis with a focus on sustainable and ESG-oriented business attributes.

At Portfolio 21, Jim also served as Chief Investment Officer and senior portfolio manager, overseeing one of the first global ESG mutual funds in the United States. In 2014, the fund was acquired by Trillium Asset Management and renamed Trillium ESG Global Equity Fund (PORTX). Jim earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin.

Jacob Padilla, M.S. graduated from the University of Miami Herbert Business School with a degree in Sustainable Business in 2022. He then moved on to working in the renewable energy sector, handling loan compliance for a variety of renewable energy projects ranging from 20 MW (megawatt) solar farms, 60 MW wind farms, all the way to 400 MW solar & storage projects.

He worked with developers on managing projects through permitting in local municipalities and interconnecting to the electrical grid. From there, he moved into a full-time development role working for Sundial Energy in Minneapolis, MN, researching and assessing new municipalities and markets to enter into for battery energy storage and solar development along with reviewing interconnection grid networks and capacity.

He has assessed projects in several different states and most major interconnection markets.

Chris Rider is Senior Counsel at Gopuff, where he serves as Lead counsel on all litigation, employment, and gig economy workstreams and a strategic partner for HR and management in complex, nuanced regulatory environments.

Previously, Chris served as Senior Counsel at Cencora, Inc., where he oversaw American employment litigation, provided strategic guidance on organizational risk and was a key contributor to Cencora’s Responsible Use of AI policy.

Chris also spent eleven years in public service with the City of Philadelphia, working on a wide range of issues from civil rights compliance to labor and workforce management. Chris specializes in the intersection of emerging technology, ethics, and labor law. He has completed the NXT-GEN Fellowship for Moral Leadership and holds a J.D.cum laude from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Mr. Sauter serves as the Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate R&D, and Agricultural Services at Fresh Del Monte, positions he has held since 2020 and 2014 respectively. Prior to these roles, Mr. Sauter worked for 25 years in different research and technical support functions in Fresh Del Monte’s operations in tropical Latin America, playing a leading role in the innovation of pineapple varieties and production practices.

After doing his M.Sc. graduate work at UC Davis, Mr. Sauter joined Fresh Del Monte in 1988 in the banana research division and later led the Costa Rica pineapple division research department during the time the Del Monte Gold® Extra Sweet pineapple was launched. He played a key role in the development of the new Pinkglow® and Rubyglow® pineapples, is author of several disease resistance related plant patents and more recently has led the organization to establish strategic collaborations for the improvement of Cavendish bananas.

Throughout his career, Mr. Sauter has continuously worked to harmonize agricultural production with environmental protection and biodiversity conservation. He regularly speaks at international panels dealing with sustainability and the transformation of agricultural systems.

Tony Tursich contributes more than 25 years of experience in socially and environmentally responsible investing strategies. Together with Co-Portfolio Manager Jim Madden, Tony leads the firm’s Sustainable Equities Team. He joined Calamos Investments following its 2021 acquisition of Pearl Impact Capital, LLC, the company he founded in 2018, where he served as Chief Investment Officer and as portfolio manager since inception for three ESG-integrated portfolios. Prior to launching Pearl Impact Capital, Tony and Jim served as portfolio managers for Trillium ESG Global Equity Fund (PORTX), which was launched in 1999 at Portfolio 21 and acquired by Trillium Asset Management in 2014.

Tony is an investment advisory board member for Multnomah County, Oregon, and a board member for the CFA Society of Portland. He graduated from Montana State University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and received an MBA from Portland State University.