Warren Te Brugge

As a top-tier management consultant for the past 17 years, I have been engaged by investors and chief executives of large and emerging companies to assist in setting the strategy and resolving core operating issues to improve financial performance, while creating a strong focus on sustainability and corporate social responsibility to also achieve social and environmental success.

I have been fortunate enough to be a frequently requested speaker and subject matter expert on sustainability and corporate responsibility. I worked as part of the Arizona Stare University team to develop heir Masters is Sustainable Post graduate program and am also a mentor in the Arizona State University EPICS and Global Resolve engineering programs. In addition to that I'm also a guest lecturer at the Global Institute of Sustainability where I get to work alongside faculty and advise students on motivating corporations to establish a commitment to achieving economic, social, and environmental success through the implementation of sustainability strategies.

Before, founding my consulting practice, Manzimvula Ventures, Inc., a certified B Corporation, I was a senior-level corporate executive with diverse, high-performing companies headquartered in the US and Canada, where my in-depth background in finance and accounting combined with my extensive knowledge of international markets enabled me to turn around under-performing businesses, initiate, develop and grow global markets, increase margins, reduce expenses, and consistently improve operating performance. My hands-on market experience spans over 40 countries.

As both a passionate social advocate and a native South African, I founded the My Arms Wide Open Foundation (www.myarmewideopen.orghttp://www.myarmewideopen.org) in 2009 to empower mothers, children, and youth in South Africa to build sustainable communities and autonomous, responsible businesses, while living free from of the burdens of past prejudices. We also built one of our vertical food wall systems at the Ray-CAM Center in the downtown east side of Vancouver in 2012, which is still going strong. This was right as I was diagnosed with my cancer challenge. In addition to serving the Foundation as its Chairman and Director, I donate up to twenty-five percent of his time and corporate revenue each year to ensure its continued success. The exception to this was during 2012 and 2013 when I was challenged with stage 4 cancer. I am a cancer warrior.

I also served as a Director and Vice President of the California Chapter of the Professional andTechnical Consultants Association and is a member of the Project Management Institute and the founding member of the PMI Registered Consultant Program. I was honored by TIDES Canada, as one of the Ten Visionaries for the Next Decade in its 2010 Annual Report. In 2011, I was really fortunate to be nominated for the coveted Katerna ward for Game-Changing Ingenuity in Sustainability, the pinnacle of global sustainability recognition.

I studied Commerce at the University of South Africa. Thereafter, I immigrated to Canada when my then employer, promoted me and transferred me to a key position in Canada and the United States. I believe in being an active member of the community, and have always tried to be involved as much as possible. With my first start in Canada I organized United Way and Sick Kid's Hospital campaigns while at Compugen Systems and my family and I are involved in other charitable and community projects.