Sessions & Speakers

Featured Speakers

María José “Majo” Cortés is chief sustainability officer at Atlas Renewable Energy, where she leads the company’s ESG and sustainability strategy across Latin America and the United States, supporting more than 8 GW of renewable energy assets in operation and development. From the earliest stages of project development, her role focuses on mitigating environmental and social risks by overseeing permitting, stakeholder engagement, and governance systems that enable projects to proceed sustainably. 

Her work focuses on securing the social license to operate by building community trust and integrating local realities into infrastructure development, ensuring renewable energy expansion serves as a force for social and economic progress. Under her leadership, the organization has developed award-winning workforce programs, strengthened labor and human rights practices, advanced responsible supply chain standards, and implemented biodiversity initiatives recognized across the industry. She has also pioneered the integration of ESG as a financial and operational lever—creating data-driven governance frameworks, due diligence readiness processes, and alternative financing mechanisms that link sustainability performance to access to capital and project continuity.

Alongside her corporate role, Majo actively explores sustainability culture and leadership, constantly asking how future leaders must evolve to build organizations that deliver both infrastructure and societal value in the energy transition.

As Primo Brands’ Chief Sustainability Officer, Charles Fogg leads the Company’s environmental sustainability strategy, with a strong focus on advancing water stewardship and circularity through reuse, reduction, and recycling initiatives.  

With sustainability at the heart of Primo Brands’ mission, Charles develops capabilities to enhance its stewardship of natural resources, optimize operations, and promote best practices, positioning the company for sustainable long-term growth.  

Since assuming his role in November 2024 with Primo Brands Corporation, Charles has been instrumental in integrating sustainability across all levels of the organization. He has a robust background in supply chain management, having previously served as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Primo Water Corporation and having held key leadership roles in various capacities, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Retail Division.  With over two decades of experience in the hydration industry, Charles brings deep sector expertise to Primo Brands' sustainability commitments. His prior operational leadership roles at Nestlé Waters North America and at Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. enrich his understanding of the industry's complexities and challenges.  

Charles’ vision and dedication to sustainable practices make him a valuable voice in the conversation about addressing critical global challenges, while supporting long-term value creation. 

Jacob Padilla, M.S., graduated from the University of Miami Herbert Business School with a degree in Sustainable Business in 2022.  He then moved on to working in the renewable energy sector, handling loan compliance for a variety of renewable energy projects ranging from 20 MW (megawatt) solar farms, 60 MW wind farms, all the way to 400 MW solar & storage projects.  He worked with developers on managing projects through permitting in local municipalities and interconnecting to the electrical grid.   From there, he moved into a full-time development role working for Sundial Energy in Minneapolis, MN, researching and assessing new municipalities and markets to enter into for battery energy storage and solar development, along with reviewing interconnection grid networks and capacity.  He has assessed projects in several different states and most major interconnection markets.

Chris Rider is Senior Counsel at Cencora, Inc., where he oversees American employment litigation and provides strategic guidance on organizational risk. Previously, Chris spent eleven years in public service with the City of Philadelphia, working on a wide range of issues from civil rights compliance to labor and workforce management. A key contributor to Cencora’s Responsible Use of AI policy, Chris specializes in the intersection of emerging technology, ethics, and labor law. He has completed the NXT-GEN Fellowship for Moral Leadership and holds a J.D. cum laude from Temple University Beasley School of Law.