Andrew’s fascination with corporate responsibility was inspired by animated conversations as a teenager with his uncle Nigel Cross (Director of SOS Sahel, then the IIED) considering whether voluntary CSR could drive a ‘race to the top’. He would subsequently study for an MSc Development Management with The Open University.
As a local councillor in Hounslow and trustee of the local authority’s pension fund he prioritised good governance and responsible investment setting out detailed proposals, now broadly adopted by the Council’s pension fund, to raise the responsible investment practices of the authority’s multi-million pound pension fund assets
Andrew led the Public Affairs function for Business In The Community (BITC) and played a key role in shaping the organisation’s response in late 2008/ early 2009 to the first phase of the global financial crisis. This re-articulated the business case for corporate responsibility and helped maintain the organisation’s relevance to its members.
From competition and collaboration to cooperatition
Whilst at BITC Andrew encouraged the Office of Fair Trading (now CMA) to develop an innovative framework for enabling business collaboration on sustainability issues without breaching competition policy – a complex and sensitive area.
This was an issue he continued to pursue under the umbrella of The Cooperatition Incubator and led to the OfT’s introduction of Short Form Opinions (SFOs). This would lead to SFOs on joint purchasing and rural broadband wayleaves, but none on business collaboration for environmental sustainability (unfortunately SFOs were not actively promoted by the CMA).
It would take a further 13 years for the leadership of the CMA to fully recognise the need to reduce competition law barriers to business collaboration on climate change. (For a quick intro to the issues read Andrew’s article on the Guardian Sustainable Business website.)
Postgraduate education leadership
Andrew was founding Course Leader and a tutor in Business Ethics & Sustainability on the University of Bradford’s MBA programme (2010-15) helping the programme secure a Financial Times league table ranking of #8 globally in 2015.
At the heart of the module was the fantastic ‘Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization‘ textbook now in its 5th edition (2019), authored by Matten, Crane & Glozer.
Do acquire a copy and have a read if you get the chance.
Business as a force for good
At West London Business Andrew has put ‘business as a force for good’ back at the heart of the organisation’s purpose. During the pandemic his team produced 20hrs+ of live webcasting to help guide and reassure WLB members and supporters throughout the crisis. (The production quality got slicker as time went by!) The team also launched London West Innovation Network, delivering £3.5m of innovation grants to businesses in London boroughs of Ealing and Hillingdon.
Today West London Business works on six themes:
- Climate change
- Energy & infrastructure
- Education & skills
- The built environment
- Inclusion
- Innovation & growth
Andrew was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability (ICRS) in 2019, is a member of UKSIF and a supporter of the Institute of Business Ethics.