Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Dan Viederman
Focus Area(s) Addressed: Sustainable Markets
Award Year: 2007

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DESCRIPTION:

Dan Viederman has spent his career solving the problems of inequitable and unsustainable development that are by-products of the global economy. He first worked in rural China teaching children from the countryside who had battled astounding odds simply to be in the classroom. He spent the next 15 years working in Asia to establish the China offices for the World Wildlife Fund and Catholic Relief Services. Leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a place growing as rapidly as China taught him that if the private sector was not provided with incentives to become more sustainable, civil society solutions would fall short and the world as a whole would suffer. Dan came to Verité in 2001 inspired by its potential to improve workplace conditions globally, and he has led the organization beyond its factory audit roots. Under Dan’s leadership, Verité has successfully scaled geographically and across industry sectors and is poised to launch a broader replication strategy through the collaborative RAISE Institute.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS OF 2010

• Verité’s partnership with several of the world’s largest retailers provides a platform for an impactful new approach to workplace human rights that will be implemented in more than 11,000 factories globally.
• China’s first textbook on corporate responsibility with a focus on workers’ rights has been adopted by 5 provincial-level universities in China — with financial support and technical expertise from Verité. The network of users will expand in 2010.
• In partnership with just a single leading brand, Verité’s social investigations helped return 3 million dollars to several hundred poor migrant workers in Asia who had been cheated by labor brokers.