Developing the Next Generation of Innovative Business Leaders – Arizona State University

From supply chain volatility to climate risk and shifting stakeholder expectations, organizations increasingly recognize that adopting a forward-thinking and sustainability-aligned perspective is a strategic advantage. Businesses that integrate sustainable frameworks and principles consistently outperform peers, with research showing measurable gains in market competitiveness.

The SDG Innovation Accelerator for Young Professionals builds on this by equipping emerging business leaders with the tools, mentorship, and cross-sector network needed to embed forward-looking strategies within their organizations.

Arizona State University (ASU) has played a key role in shaping the program’s design, ensuring its focus on practical outcomes and innovation. The program demonstrates how young professionals can turn ambitious goals into tangible results, strengthening their organizations’ resilience, advancing innovation, and driving meaningful impact across industries. In our conversation with ASU, we explore the program’s intention and why this Accelerator Program remains a powerful platform for cultivating the next generation of leaders.  

1. Can you share what initially drew ASU to become involved with the SDG Innovation program?

For the fifth year in a row, Arizona State University (ASU) has been ranked the No. 1 university in the U.S. for global impact in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. As an inclusive public research university, ASU, through the Thunderbird School of Global Management, prepares global leaders and drives innovation to support sustainable prosperity in an interconnected world.

Thunderbird’s Oath of Honor is deeply aligned with the mission of the SDGs, the UN Global Compact, and UN Global Compact Network USA (Network USA), reflecting a shared commitment to advancing equitable and sustainable prosperity worldwide.

The question for us was never if we would become involved with the SDG Innovation Program, but when. From the outset, Thunderbird served as an academic partner of Network USA—mobilizing students, faculty, and our broader community to help companies align their strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption. The alignment between our mission and Network USA’s values lies at the heart of why this collaboration has been so powerful and enduring.

2. What makes the SDG Innovation Accelerator an effective model for advancing sustainability in the private sector, particularly for young professionals?

The SDG Innovation Accelerator stands out as a transformative learning experience for emerging leaders. From Thunderbird’s perspective as a global business school, the program offers young professionals the opportunity to understand how their organizations create long-term value beyond shareholders by embedding sustainability into core strategy; break down silos by collaborating across functions and integrating sustainability across the business; expand their professional networks to support career growth and more sustainable business models; and access mentorship from top faculty and subject-matter experts that strengthens both their leadership capacity and their impact.

3. From ASU’s perspective, what elements of the SDG Innovation Accelerator’s design (such as collaboration, mentorship, or project-based learning) are most critical to its success?

From Thunderbird’s perspective, the program’s success lies in its intentional design, which blends faculty mentorship, expert guidance, and cross-functional collaboration. This structure fosters a resilient, purpose-driven community of emerging leaders and managers, equipping them to embed sustainability at the strategic level. These participants are not just learning about sustainability—they are learning how to lead with it across all units. For this reason, mentorship and collaboration are fundamental pillars of the program’s long-term impact.

4. Over the years of working on this program with UN Global Compact Network USA, are there particular success stories or moments that have resonated with you?

There have been numerous moments of innovation and success. To capture these lessons and highlight the impact of this collaboration, Thunderbird and Network USA co-authored Network USA’s first-ever white paper on SDG Innovation, featuring a practical SDG Innovation Framework and a collection of successful case studies from across the years:

A Business Approach: Achieving Employee Mental Wellness

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) participated in the first cohort, aligning its sustainability strategy with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 12 (Responsible Production), and SDG 17 (Partnerships). A cross-functional team from sustainability, HR wellness, and the BMS Foundation was charged with translating the SDGs into a practical business solution focused on employee mental wellness. Using the Accelerator’s innovation frameworks, the team developed a comprehensive mental health strategy despite having no formal project management background.  

The project quickly exceeded expectations and was adopted as a global HR policy, introducing initiatives such as days of rest, a low-stress “quiet time” week, expanded LGBTQ+ engagement, and company-wide training. Its business-focused design also secured C-suite support for a quarterly “My Voice” survey centered on mental health and well-being. Launched ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, the framework positioned BMS to respond early and effectively to workforce mental health challenges and has since become a hallmark of the company’s social responsibility efforts, demonstrating the tangible value of SDG-driven innovation.

Small Finds to Big Ideas: Data-based decision making on water usage and infrastructure improvements

Another team of young innovators from Univar Inc. joined the Accelerator in 2022, focusing on advancing circular products while driving internal cultural change, strengthening communications, and securing leadership buy-in through cross-functional collaboration. The Accelerator team, drawn from sustainability, operations, and engineering, was tasked with reducing water consumption across facilities. Through rigorous problem definition and data analysis, the team identified a significant water leakage in one of their facilities,  leading to the development of a global water usage assessment tool that compares billing and consumption data across locations, enabling data-driven infrastructure and maintenance decisions aligned with Univar’s SDG goals. The innovation delivers projected savings of 48 million gallons of water annually and $100,000 in avoided costs.

As business priorities in response to mounting challenges, the SDG Innovation Accelerator for Young Professionals equips emerging leaders to translate the SDGs into practical, business-ready strategies. Investing in next-generation leaders is a strategic imperative, organizations that build internal capacity to operationalize the SDGs strengthen resilience, unlock innovation, and position themselves competitively in a rapidly shifting marketplace.

For companies ready to future-proof their business and for young professionals prepared to turn bold ideas into enterprise-level impact, the program helps young professionals drive measurable impact aligned with the 2030 Agenda through hands-on problem solving, collaboration, and providing a practical platform for execution. Explore participation and view the program to learn more.