Matthew Gitsham

Matthew Gitsham is Professor of Sustainable Development and Director of the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability at Hult Ashridge Executive Education, part of Hult International Business School. He is a speaker on sustainability, including topics such as sustainable development and sustainable business. He has advised several organisations including the UN Global Compact, Unilever, IBM, HSBC, GSK, amongst others.

Matt has led numerous research projects on business and sustainable development and human rights for nearly two decades at Ashridge. Recent projects include exploring CEO perspectives on the implications of sustainability for business leadership; CEO lobbying for more ambitious government policy on sustainable development; the role of business in shaping the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); how companies are embedding the SDGs (in partnership with Business Fights Poverty); and corporate leadership on Modern Slavery (in partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative).

Matt has collaborated with several well-known networks, including the UN Global Compact, Business in the Community, and organisations such as Unilever, IBM, HSBC, GSK, De Beers, Cemex and Pearson, amongst others. Matt’s research and insights have featured in several publications including the Economist, the FT and the Harvard Business Review.

Matt leads courses on Sustainable Business on the Hult Ashridge MBA and Global Human Rights on the Hult undergraduate business program. He has contributed to numerous executive education programs for organisations including Bayer, Ericsson, Marks & Spencer, Rabobank, Rolls Royce, Signify, Sinopec, Swarovski, Tesco, and UK Senior Civil Servants. Matt is also a doctoral supervisor for the Ashridge Executive Doctorate in Organisational Change and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust Doctorate in Consultation and the Organisation on themes relating to sustainable development and organisational change.