William Blackburn Consulting, Ltd.
Providing leading-edge strategies to help organizations manage sustainability; environmental, health and safety; and emergency response.

William R. Blackburn is president of William Blackburn Consulting, Ltd., focusing on sustainability; environment, health and safety management; and emergency and crisis response. Until 2003 he was vice president and chief counsel, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety at Baxter International Inc., a global manufacturer of health-care products based in Deerfield, Illinois. Bill has more than thirty-five years experience in environmental law and management. At Baxter, he led efforts in pioneering innovative environmental management standards, EHS performance measures, public reporting on corporate EHS and sustainability issues, environmental cost and income statements, and emergency response programs. He is a frequent lecturer on these subjects. His book, The Sustainability Handbook—The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic, and Environmental Responsibility, was published in 2007 by the Environmental Law Institute (soft cover) and Earthscan (hard cover).

Before joining Baxter in 1978, Bill served five years as general counsel for Clinton Bogert Associates, an environmental engineering firm in New Jersey. Bill holds a JD in law from the University of Iowa and BS in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University. He is admitted to the practice of law in Illinois, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, and received his professional engineer's license in New Jersey. Bill is former chair of Chief EHS Officers Council I of The Conference Board, a business association, and a senior research fellow at the organization’s Center for Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability. He is co-chair of the Climate change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee for the American Bar Association’s section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. At the ABA, he led the development of a model sustainability policy and implementation guide for law firms. He is also on the board of advisors of the Environmental Management Program and Center for Sustainable Enterprise of the Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology. In addition, Bill is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Stakeholder Council of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a coalition of non-profits, investors, academics, companies, and others promoting public reporting by organizations on sustainability performance. He serves as a GRI delegate to the working group on the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility standard.

External Leadership

• Chairman, Chief EHS Officers Council I, The Conference Board, 2001-2002
• American Bar Association, Co-chair Committee on Climate change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems, 2007 - present; Vice chair, 2004- present
• Member, Stakeholder Council, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), 2003- present, (Coordinating Committee, 2004 - present)
• Delegate, International Standards Organization (ISO) Working Group on the Social Responsibility 26000 standard, 2005 - present
• Active participant with board of Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), 1997-2003
• Member, Board of Advisors, Environmental Management Program and Center for Sustainable Enterprise, Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, 2002-present

Corporate Experience

Baxter International Inc.   website
Deerfield, IL-based Fortune 500 multinational manufacturer and distributor of medical products.

Vice President and Chief Counsel, Corporate Environment, Health and Safety, 1997- 2003

Vice President and Chief Counsel, Corporate Environmental Affairs, 1989-1997

Leadership:

• Established a state-of-the–art EHS program and extended it to global operations; developed EHS culture of company
• Led drive toward sustainability
• Led department restructuring efforts due to function mergers, business spin-offs, and downsizing
• Developed public position papers on climate change, energy, and use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in products; initiated industry-wide efforts to address PVC issue
• Led several multi-functional groups, including: Compliance Council, Emergency Response Planning Team, Energy/Climate-Change Team, and Customer Advisory Council on Sustainability

Organizational Results:

• Reduced toxic air emissions by 98% from 1988
• Reduced accident rate more than 50% from 2000
• Reduced operations' waste and product packaging by one-third from 1989
• Reduced energy usage by 20% per unit of production from 1996
• In the Dow Jones Sustainability Index assessment for investors, secured top rating for Baxter's overall sustainability program in the medical products industry and top rating for Baxter's environmental program among all companies, 2003
• Earned more than 330 external EHS awards for operations from 1990
• Saved more than $150 million as a result of environmentally beneficial actions from 1991

Innovation:

• Pioneered development and use of state-of-art environmental management standards, metrics, and environmental financial statement in the early 1990s
• Initiated public environmental reporting in 1992
• Initiated sustainability reporting in 1999 (see www.baxter.com/ehs)
• Established EHS advisory council with hospital customers
• Co-authored the Baxter Environmental Manual, published by Clark Boardman

Senior Environmental Health & Safety Counsel; Corporate Environmental Counsel, 1978-1989

Clinton Bogert Associates
Ft. Lee, NJ-based environmental engineering firm

General Counsel 1973 - 1978

Government Relations:

• Presented testimony on federal water-pollution control legislation before the Water Resources Subcommittee of the Public Works and Transportation Committee, U.S. House of Representatives
• Member, New Jersey Consulting Engineering Council’s liaison committee with federal and state environmental agencies
• Drafted environmental regulations

Legal Services:

• Negotiated with state and federal environmental agencies
• Advised company concerning a wide range of environmental laws
• Provided legal services on construction, public contracts, federal grants, municipal procurements, and commercial business issues
• Helped develop and implement strategies to respond to adverse political and media attention


Other
Summers 1969-1972: Held engineering positions with Wray Scott Construction Company, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America.

Education J.D. Law, 1973, University of Iowa B.S. Aerospace Engineering, 1970, Iowa State University

Licenses (current and former) Illinois Bar (law), 1979 District of Columbia Bar (law), 1977 New Jersey Bar (law), 1974 New Jersey Professional Engineer's License, 1978