The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has appointed Christianna Wood, a US institutional investor and a member of the board of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), as chairman.

Until June 2012 Wood served as the chairman of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), an investor-led organisation that promotes standards of corporate governance.

GRI launched last May the fourth generation of its sustainability reporting guidelines (G4), a framework that enables companies and organisations to report on their economic, environmental, social and governance performance.

"With the integration of corporate governance and institutional investors in the recently released G4 guidelines and our stakeholder network, respectively, as well as Christy’s involvement in the IIRC, she is the perfect person to lead the GRI board in the next phase," outgoing GRI chairman Herman Mulder said.

IIRC chairman Mervyn King said the appointment reinforced his belief that Wood will make a "positive contribution towards promoting sustainability reporting" as King nominated her to the board during his chairmanship of the GRI.

Wood said it is an incredibly important time for investors to be heard as a growing number of companies look to integrate GRI sustainability reporting standards into integrated reporting.

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"With over three quarters of the 4,000 largest companies in the world already using GRI standards for sustainability reporting, all stakeholders have a vested interest in maintaining the highest standards of transparency and comparability in the evolution of global reporting," Wood said.

Wood’s appointment comes into effect 24 November 2013.

Board members
GRI has also appointed five members to its board to further enhance "the existing balance, diversity and expertise".

The five members are Eric Hespenheide, Alexandra Watson, Pavan Sukhdev, Roberto de Ocampo and Manfred Warda. They replace long-serving members who had completed their terms.

The GRI has also reappointed Roberto Waack to the board. Their terms are effective until December 2016.

The outgoing chairman Herman Mulder is also joining the GRI board.

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