CAN Board Appoints Tasneem Essop as New Executive Director
4 November 2019
04 November 2019: The Board of the Climate Action Network International (CAN) is very pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Tasneem Essop as the new Executive Director of CAN, effective from December 1, 2019.
This follows a thorough selection process managed by the Board. Ms Essop brings significant experience in the climate and environment sectors, having worked on these issues in government and civil society for many years.
Ms. Essop said: "I am deeply honoured to have been appointed as the new Executive Director for CAN International. I am also excited to be given the opportunity to continue the work we have started in terms of the transformation of the Network and the Secretariat. This transformation is urgent in this critical time when we are facing a climate crisis. I want to thank the Board and the Network for having the confidence in me to steer this ship. I also want to thank the staff for their continued dedication and hard work. They have never slowed down. Our responsibility to make this Network the best it can be, to help unlock its power has never been more urgent. I look forward to helping with this".
CAN International Board co-chair Wendel Trio said: “Ms. Essop has convinced the Board of her vision, motivation and capacity to further strengthen the CAN Network and the climate movement as a whole. We strongly appreciate her dedication to building a bottom up approach to the work implemented by CAN, especially through responding to the needs of national and regional nodes and strengthening their role. The Board is pleased by how Ms Essop has been leading CAN as Interim Executive Director since February 2019 and how she successfully guided and transitioned the Secretariat and the Network.”
South African born and based, Ms. Essop has significant experience in the climate movement. She has held various senior government positions in South Africa. She was a global climate policy and strategy leader for environmental NGO WWF International. Most recently, she was the founding director of an NGO in South Africa, focusing on energy democracy. Her vast management and leadership experience includes convening and building consensus around common goals amongst stakeholders from government, labour, business and communities, building collaborative partnerships, working in virtual teams across cultures, and building strong organisational governance, with an emphasis on finance.
For further information contact:
Hala Kilani, Senior Communications Officer, emaill: hkilani@climatenetwork.org, WhatsApp: +9613567928, Or
Dharini Parthasarathy, Senior Communications Officer, email: dparthasarathy@climatenetwork.org, WhatsApp: +918826107830
About CAN
Climate Action Network (CAN) is a global network of over 1300 NGOs in more than 120 countries working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. More information on www.climatenetwork.org
