Season 2, Ep. 4 | Driving Sustainable Change with Noel Kinder
In this episode, we sit down with Noel Kinder, former Chief Sustainability Officer at Nike, to explore what it really means to lead change inside a global brand.
Noel’s path from operations into sustainability gave him a front-row seat to and, later in his career, explicit accountability for how decisions in one part of the business ripple across supply chains, factories, and communities worldwide.
He explains how sustainability becomes meaningful when it’s integrated into everyday business decisions — not treated as a side project. By aligning goals with innovation, efficiency, and profitability, companies can create real impact while also strengthening the business itself.
Noel also shares lessons on leadership—that change requires learning and practicing patience to focusing on what can truly be influenced as a way to deliver systemic solutions. He emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships and trust, which prove critical not only in moments of crisis but also in sustaining progress over time.
This conversation highlights how values come to life inside an organization. It’s a candid look at the balance between vision and pragmatism, and a reminder that employees’ energy and passion are among the most powerful drivers of change.
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Show Notes
Noel Kinder is a senior global operations executive with over 20 years of experience in transforming businesses and driving sustainability initiatives. He is widely recognized for his expertise in organizational transformation, leading with purpose through crises, and practical approaches to ESG and sustainability.
As Chief Sustainability Officer at Nike, Noel accelerated Nike’s materials innovation strategy to align with sustainability goals, positioning Nike as a leader in corporate sustainability through active engagement with government, NGOs, academia, and media. He transformed labor and environmental operations footprint across 550 factories in 42 countries, integrating sustainability practices across major functions. Noel also served as the external spokesperson for Nike’s sustainability initiatives.
He has served on advisory boards such as Collab Fund’s Sustainability Advisory Board, the NYSE Sustainability Advisory Council, and the Global Fashion Summit Steering Committee. In 2024, Noel joined The Executive Council at o9 Solutions, bringing his expertise in global sustainability, supply chain management, and government relations.
Key More Elephant Takeaways in this Episode:
True sustainability sparks both innovation and profitability.
Patience is key when driving change — not everything will be within your control.
The most effective strategies come from focusing on fewer, high-impact priorities.
In times of crisis, relationships and trust are what matter most and the passion and energy of the team are often the most powerful forces for progress.
…and more.
More About Noel Kinder: LinkedIn
Transcript
More Elephant Intro
[00:00:38] Jason Rudman: So it's time for a new conversation on the More Elephant Podcast. And my guest today is Noel Kinder, who is a senior global operations executive with over 20 years of building, shaping and transforming businesses, and so, a perfect intersection with what the More Elephant platform and what our conversations are about, which is about ideas and change agents reshaping how we think about the world.
Most recently, Noel was the chief sustainability officer for Nike and he successfully drove the acceleration of Nike's material innovation strategy to align their sustainability ambitions with being a leader in the corporate sustainability space and building that organization from 75 to 300 plus people, ultimately integrating sustainability leadership, processes and programs into major functions across the organization.
But there's a whole lot of history that got Noel to that point, as well as an intriguing conversation about what he's thinking about now. So with that, Noel, welcome to the More Elephant Podcast.
[00:01:44] Noel Kinder: Thanks Jason. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
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