Deep Ocean Expeditions

Mr. Schmidheiny is a prominent world businessman and noted philanthropist. Following far-reaching restructuring of his 4th generation Swiss family business he broadly diversified his holdings into manufacturing, retailing, banking, and real estate.

Building on the previous' generations investments in Latin America he built GrupoNueva who has become the leading supplier of forestry products and water pipes on the continent. His interest and active involvement in issues of development and the environment lead to his appointment as Principal Business Advisor to the Secretary General of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Schmidheiny also founded the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, now with a membership of well over 150 world leading companies.

Schmidheiny's began his career as a philanthropist when he founded in 1984 the FUNDES foundation for the promotion of small businesses. The insights he gained around the Rio summit lead him to found AVINA in 1994, an organization working with leaders of civil society and business for sustainable development throughout Latin America. In order to assure the financial sustainability of his philanthropy he recently donated the stock of GrupoNueva to an irrevocable trust.

Stephan Schmidheiny has served on a number of boards of global companies including ABB, Nestle, Swatch, and UBS. He was awarded honorary degrees from several distinguished universities. As author and co-author he published several books including Changing Course(1992) and Financing Change (1996).

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