Bennett Freeman

For over the last two decades of a four-decade career, Bennett Freeman has been an innovative leader in the business and human rights, multi-stakeholder governance and ESG investment arenas.  As Principal of Bennett Freeman Associates LLC, he advises multinational corporations, international institutions, NGOs, and foundations on policy and strategy related to international labor and human rights.  In 2018, he authored the report Shared Space Under Pressure: Business Support for Civic Freedoms and Human Rights Defenders that has subsequently informed corporate policies and actions.  He co-founded B4 Ukraine, the Cotton Campaign, the Global Network Initiative, and the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.  As Senior Vice President for Sustainability Research and Policy at Calvert Investments from 2006-15, he directed the firm’s ESG analysis as well as its shareholder advocacy and public policy initiatives.  Freeman served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor from 1999-2001.