Meet Brian Nash: Driving Sustainability, Overcoming Challenges and Achieving Success

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, sustainability has become a critical focus for companies worldwide. Brian Nash , a seasoned expert in environmental and sustainability practices, has been at the forefront of this movement for nearly two decades. As the leader responsible for developing and executing Ingredion’s global sustainability strategy, Brian has played a pivotal role in driving the company’s ambitious goals and initiatives. His journey from environmental, health and safety (EHS) to becoming a key figure in sustainability reflects his deep commitment to creating a positive impact on the environment and society.

In this interview, Brian shares his insights on the biggest challenges customers face in achieving their sustainability goals, highlights successful initiatives and reflects on his career journey and proudest achievements. He also discusses his personal passions and philosophies that have shaped his professional life. Join us as we delve into the mind of a sustainability leader who is dedicated to making a difference.

Q: What are the biggest challenges customers face when working to achieve their sustainability goals?

A: Our customers, like most companies pursuing sustainable ambitions, face the challenge of how to tackle such monumental challenges like climate change given the challenges of business such as budget, resource constraints and varying demand from customers and consumers. Sustainability is very complex and therefore requires complex solutions. Many of our customers are engaging their supply chain partners – like Ingredion – in collaborating to identify solutions to these challenges.

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Q: Can you share examples of successful sustainability initiatives you’ve implemented?

A: We have achieved a lot in sustainability as a company, but if I had to share just a single initiative, I would look at our work in sustainable agriculture. When we first started looking at this work in 2012, we struggled to make progress against the differing programs our customers were implementing. In 2015, we set a target of putting 100,000 metric tons of crops into sustainable agriculture programs by 2020 and began laying the foundation to drive global progress. Now we are focused on having 100% of our priority crops sustainably sourced by 2025, and at the end of 2023 had nearly 6.5 million metric tons of crops under our sustainable agriculture program. To go, in just over a decade from taking a challenge that looked nearly impossible, to where we are today gives me confidence that we can continue to drive progress across our sustainability efforts.

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Q: How did you get started in your career, and what inspired you to pursue this path?

A: I started my career in environmental, health and safety (EHS) before I had even heard of sustainability. I had a boss who shared my interest in the environment, so we began researching company sustainability programs and trying to figure out what a program might look like for our organization. After about a year and a half of working on what a program would look like, our CEO decided that sustainability would be critical to long-term business success and officially added it as part of my job responsibilities.

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Q: What are some of your proudest achievements or milestones in your profession?

A: After nearly 17 years of working in sustainability, I have the benefit of looking back over a long career that has seen a lot of evolution in sustainability. Given that perspective, I would say I am most proud of my work in developing our current sustainability strategy. I’m not necessarily referring to the goals and milestones themselves, but to the overall spirit and intention of the program and how it has helped shape the mindset in our company. We have created goals that require collaboration in our supply chain, sustainability is part of our overall business strategy and we have engaged and enabled employees all across the organization in driving sustainability. My contribution to the evolution of our company is one of my proudest achievements.

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Q: What are your passions outside of work? Any hobbies or activities you particularly enjoy?

A: I love playing soccer, snow skiing and reading books. I listen to a lot of audiobooks while going on walks, and I really enjoy being outside and in nature.

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Q: How do these interests contribute to your overall well-being or influence your professional life?

A: For me, physical activity is imperative to maintaining balance with my professional life, as well as maintaining good mental health to focus on the complex challenges of the job. I guess it’s no surprise that my love of the outdoors has led to a career that has spanned 27 years of working in the environmental and sustainability area.

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Q: Do you have any personal or professional philosophies that you adhere to?

A: My team at work would all recognize me saying “You don’t summit Everest in a day." I say this to remind myself that when you are working on complex or challenging tasks, there are a lot of steps along the way. I think sometimes we get so fixed on the goal (e.g. standing on top of Mt. Everest), that we think anything short of that is failure. But there are multiple basecamps on the way to Everest, and you need those stops along the way to allow for acclimation. Implementing sustainability can be very similar. Sometimes knowing the right answer isn’t enough, you have to bring other stakeholders along for the journey, which is how we change sustainability from being a series of projects to being part of our culture. This sometimes means allowing time for acclimation.

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About Brian Nash

Brian Nash is responsible for developing and executing Ingredion's global sustainability strategy, as well as engagement with key stakeholders, such as customers, investors and NGOs. He makes certain Ingredion’s strategy remains relevant to the varying needs of their stakeholders to drive competitive advantage while minimizing risk across the value chain. Brian is also responsible for chairing Ingredion's Global Sustainability Council, a team of senior leaders within the organization, that help deliver against Ingredion’s 2030 All Life sustainability plan. Brian holds a BS in Chemistry from Indiana University, an MS in Health, Safety and Environmental Management from the University of Findlay and an MS in Sustainable Leadership from the University of Cambridge.