Richard Samans

Managing Director / Chairman

Richard Samans was the Chairman of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB). Prior to this, he was the Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He led the Forum’s action-oriented multi-stakeholder initiatives on major global challenges as head of its Centre for the Global Agenda. He was also responsible for the Forum’s relations with international organisations and coordinated its portfolio of public-private partnership projects. From 2011 to 2013, he served as Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute, a new international organisation headquartered in Seoul, Republic of Korea. He led the organisation’s transformation from a start-up non-governmental organisation to a treaty-based intergovernmental institution active in over 20 countries. Before earlier service at the World Economic Forum from 2001 to 2011, Samans served in the US White House as Special Assistant for International Economic Policy to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs of the National Security Council. Prior to that, he was Economic Policy Adviser to US Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle and served in a range of roles in other public, private and research institutions. Since 2007, he has also served as Chairman of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board, a consortium of business and environmental organisations that has established a common framework for reporting of carbon-related corporate performance and risks in mainstream reports to the investment community.