Towards Sustainability welcomes three new Directors and appoints Christel Dumas as new Chairperson

The Towards Sustainability Labelling Agency (CLA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Catherine Delanghe, Harry Hummels and Thierry Smets to its Board of Directors. They will sit as independent directors and take over from Olivier Marquet, Antoon Vandevelde and Dieter Vander Beke, whose mandates are ending. Christel Dumas will succeed Olivier Marquet as Chairperson.

Catherine Delanghe has been active for almost 34 years in Belgian-based international financial institutions, where she gained significant experience in financial analysis and asset management. Conscious of the major role finance should play in driving the world towards a more sustainable future, she decided to focus on responsible investing and corporate governance practices. She complemented her Master’s degree in Roman philology and literature (KULeuven) with various certificates, the most recent of which were awarded by Chapter Zero, GUBERNA, Saïd Business School and Louvain Management School. She serves as a non-executive director on the boards of various financial institutions.

Catherine Delanghe: “In today’s world of profound change and growing uncertainty, trust needs to be built every day. The Towards Sustainability label offers transparency and reliability: it sheds light on responsible choices and supports everyone on the path to sustainable progress.”

Harry Hummels is a passionate and enterprising professor at Maastricht University. He teaches Ethics, Organisations and Society and has been affiliated with the Finance Department of the School of Business and Economics since 2006. He is professor emeritus of Social Entrepreneurship at Utrecht University. He also taught at Nyenrode from 1999 to 2006, where he was the first European professor of Sustainable Investment. In his work, Harry focuses on “the other”. As social beings, we can only develop ourselves in relation to others – to achieve our goals through cooperation. In addition to his academic positions, Harry held senior management positions in the financial sector for seventeen years. He regularly publishes on compassionate entrepreneurship, inclusion, impact investing, corporate social responsibility, business and organisational ethics, and labour philosophy.

Harry Hummels: “Towards Sustainability is a beacon of responsibility and sustainability in a world adrift. By providing information about the sustainability characteristics of financial products, the label gives an important impetus to critical reflection and dialogue. It is an honour to be able to contribute to the constructive conversation on the development of the label in the coming years.”

Thierry Smets spent most of his career in the banking sector, mainly in private banking in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. He initially worked in operational support and control services and eventually took on the role of CEO at Puilaetco for about six years. He later worked as an independent interim manager for other banking institutions and on Fintech and/or social projects. Thierry currently holds the position of Managing Director of Les Petits Riens/Spullenhulp.

Thierry Smets: "I have always been interested in financial markets in general and investment products in particular. While my interest in sustainable finance was not immediate, I have been closely following developments in this area for several years now. I am thus very honoured to be part of the Towards Sustainability team and contribute to providing investors with a guide that can help them make decisions based on transparent and independent information."

Christel Dumas, Chairperson of the Board: “I am really pleased to welcome Catherine, Harry and Thierry to the Board. I'm confident they'll help us navigate these challenging times and build greater retail investor appetite for sustainable investing, while maintaining the label's quality and independence. Together, we'll strengthen the label's leadership and scale up our impact in promoting a more sustainable and inclusive financial market. I also want to thank Olivier, Antoon, and Dieter for their tremendous commitment and contribution since we launched the label in 2019.”

The Board of Directors currently consists of six members from outside the financial sector, e.g. academia and civil society, and five members from the financial sector.