IRMA welcomes two new Board Members representing the purchasing sector: Mercedes-Benz’s Johannes Danz and Microsoft’s Leslie Esparza.

Johannes is a sustainability expert for raw materials and human rights at Mercedes-Benz. In this role, he developed the company’s approach to due diligence in raw material supply chains and holds responsibility for a range of strategic areas including mining standards. Prior to his current position, Johannes served as the program manager of Extractives and Development – a German Development Cooperation program focused on policy advice and the design of strategic topics related to human rights, responsible supply chains and economic beneficiation in mining.

Leslie is the head of Responsible Sourcing for Microsoft Devices, dedicated to ensuring that Microsoft’s products are manufactured ethically and sustainably. She has over 25 years of multi-sector experience developing and leading programs in the fields of ethical sourcing, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and human rights. Leslie has specific experience related to auditing: as a social compliance auditor she assessed workplaces in over 35 countries; she also led a multistakeholder working group to define social auditing for the then-newly formed Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA).

Johannes and Leslie come to us as the previous Purchasing Board Member representatives depart. Thanks to Claudia Becker of BMW Group and J.J. Messner de Latour, formerly of Microsoft and now IRMA’s Purchasing Sector lead, for the wisdom and service they provided as IRMA Board Members.