WAFA Selection Committee
The WAFA Selection Committee consists of experts in water, air and food sustainability. They are responsible for evaluating and certifying Award applications and selecting the WAFA finalists.
Elizabeth Boye
Elizabeth Boye is an experienced sustainability and ESG specialist with over 25 years of international experience in strategic sustainability, value chain development, impact investment and compliance, particularly in relation to corporate responsibility for human rights and the environment. She has worked extensively across sectors and geographies, including long-term stays in Denmark, Germany, India, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, as well as projects in large parts of Africa and Asia.
Elizabeth Boye currently works for EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group), where she contributes to the development and implementation of European sector-specific standards for sustainability reporting and due diligence. Her role involves ensuring that companies can integrate and document sustainability and human rights considerations in their business practices and reporting, and she has a particular focus on operationalizing complex EU requirements in practice and that the same creates lasting value for the company.
Elizabeth’s core competencies include management and implementation of sustainability and compliance processes, including CSRD, CSDDD and LkSG (German Supply Chain Responsibility Act), development of risk management systems, due diligence and impact measurement across global value chains, capacity building, change management and training of managers and employees in responsible business operations. She is a facilitator for multi-stakeholder and sector initiatives, including in the food, textile and financial sectors. She also teaches and is an external lecturer at CBS, specializing in strategic corporate sustainability and impact investment.
Elizabeth Boye is known for being able to translate complex requirements into concrete solutions that create both business value and documentable sustainable impact.
Omar Hayat
Omar Hayat earned a first-class degree in Engineering and a Ph.D. in catalytic kinetics from Imperial College, London University. He continued there as a postdoctoral fellow. He has extensive knowledge of transport emissions, notably their effect on the environment and human health.
Dr. Hayat founded a technology company that developed the world’s first non-metallic combustion enhancer to reduce fossil fuel emissions. He also serves as a director of a biotechnology start-up specializing in the treatment of pregnancy complications. The company offers the first diagnostic and therapeutic for preeclampsia. He recently stepped down as Trustee and Director of Scott Bader Commonwealth Limited – a global chemical company with a cooperative ownership structure.
A trustee of The Gandhi Foundation for the past 12 years, Dr. Hayat has been responsible for the prestigious Gandhi Foundation International Peace Award.
Dr. V. Kurian Baby
Dr. Baby, formerly from the IAS, is a well-known water and sanitation expert at policy and programme levels. Credited with many innovations, he has served as Lead, WASH-India, Oxford Policy Management; India Country Director, IRC, Netherlands; and Managing Director, Kerala Water Authority and Executive Director, Kerala Rural Water & Sanitation Programme (Jalanidhi). He has also undertaken extensive international assignments for the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, DIFID, BMGF, JICA and EU in South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
He holds a first-class MA with a PhD in regulatory economics, specialising in Project Management (IIM-A) and Environmental economics and Development Policy from the USA. While working as District Collector, Thrissur, Kerala, India, he conceptualized, designed and implemented the ‘Mazhapolima’ rainwater water conservation programme, the winner of the 2018 WAFA Water Award.
Suhas Wani, M.Sc (Agri), Ph.D.
Dr. Wani, former Research Program Director – Asia and Director, ICRISAT Development Center (IDC) at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India. Currently serves as a Consultant to the International Rice Research Institute, South Asia Regional Center, Varanasi, India, Asian Development Bank, (ADB) Manila; and Advisor to the JSW Foundation, Mumbai. He works to improve rural livelihoods in Asia and Africa with sustainable agricultural practices and integrated water resource management. Dr. Wani has been a member of the many Expert Committees on climate change and for Technical Evaluation and as an Honorary Trustee and organizing committee member of the S.M. Sehgal Foundation (SMSF) and the Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD), BAIF Integrated Rural Development, Hyderabad. He has served as Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board (SAAB) Member of Unilever and as a jury member for the JSW-Times of India Earth Care Awards and Times of India-PRF Social Impact Incubator Program.
Peter Stearmose
A Mechanical Engineer with Masters’s in economics Peter has been associated with large international companies encompassing 22 years’ experience with leadership development, strategic planning, and executive search for large and medium-sized companies, across China, Ukraine, and several eastern European countries. He is also an Assistant professor at Copenhagen Business School teaching marketing and managerial economics. Moreover, he is a Rotarian for more than 30 years serving in various capacities up to District Governor and is now serving in the operating committee for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene at the international level.
