Kristina Jansen promoted to lead 34-year-old nonprofit into the future
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The World Business Academy is pleased to announce the selection of Kristina Jansen as its new Executive Director and is delighted that Kristina has accepted this position to lead the organization into the future.
Ms. Jansen has served as the Academy’s Chief of Staff since October 2017, working closely with founding President and CEO Rinaldo S. Brutoco to oversee operations and develop key programming initiatives. Prior to her tenure at the Academy, she worked in a variety of business management and operational capacities within several industries, including commercial real estate investment, utility scale solar development, on-site power generation and emergency response.
“After 17 years working in organizations that prioritized profit-driven activities, often to the detriment of other success metrics, I came to a point in my career when I felt called to shift my professional energies into a role that better aligned with my values,” explains Ms. Jansen. “In pursuing this calling, I left a lucrative position without a specific plan but found a new home at the World Business Academy.”
Founding President and CEO Rinaldo Brutoco says, “Kristy brings tremendous experience, maturity, dedication, and wisdom to our team. She is exceptionally talented at identifying methods and solutions needed to achieve our strategic mission. As our organization evolves in these constantly changing times, we are fortunate to have a pragmatic optimist at our helm.”
“The challenge faced in the business world continues to be elevating stakeholder capitalism above shareholder interests as an economically viable and sustainable business model,” says Kristina. “The World Business Academy provides critical information, programming and mentorship to the world’s greatest business leaders in order to advance the inevitable paradigm of business in alignment with society’s core needs. I am thrilled to be given this opportunity, and I look forward to working with our Board of Directors, Fellows, and leadership team to achieve our mission.”
President Brutoco: “Kristina’s core strengths are in solving problems and finding efficiencies while also humanizing operations and objectives. She is passionate about helping to build a sustainable future through bridging communication divides and generating greater cooperation between industries (or individuals) reliant upon traditional and/or disruptive technologies to positively transform our world. Since 2018, she has brought her talent for clarifying and bringing complex ideas to life by producing various webinars, videos, podcasts, and events for the Academy. In 2021, Kristy’s key goals as Executive Director will balance both the history and future of the organization. While leveraging the Academy’s tremendous legacy, she will innovate and implement key action plans that serve our strategic mission and expand the scope, reach, and influence of our work.”
Over its 34-year history, the World Business Academy has significantly contributed to conscious business development through strategic initiatives including:
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- Development and promotion of more socially conscious business practices, including stakeholder capitalism, circular economy innovations, and socially responsible finance.
- Conception of and continued participation with JUST Capital, an independent research nonprofit launched by the Academy in 2013 that is changing the relationship between the public and Corporate America.
- Action advocacy on the risks presented by climate change, with a focus on the economic opportunities available in transforming our energy and financial systems and the dire consequences of inaction.
- Education and public outreach concerning the ongoing risks of nuclear power through research, activism and litigation.
- Extensive promotion of advances in clean, green renewable energy, including renewable technologies, microgrids and other distributed energy systems, and the promise of hydrogen as a required element for building a 100% renewable energy economy.
- Support and expansion of The Optimist Daily, a solution-oriented news site addressing humanity’s biggest challenges.
Ms. Jansen holds an M.A. in Psychological Anthropology from U.C. San Diego and a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara. In addition to her responsibilities at the World Business Academy, Ms. Jansen also serves as the Chief Content Officer of The Optimist Daily and leads the editorial team supplied by the Academy as the information source for the solutions-based, reader-funded media service.
