LONDON — Former Unilever sustainability chief Sue Garrard has confirmed her next move, working as an independent consultant with two consultancies: corporate comms agency Headland and Re_Set, a new consultancy specialising in disruptive businesses.

At Unilever until September 2018, Garrard was part of the executive team and led the Sustainable Living Plan, which aimed to “support growth, build brands with purpose, build employee engagement and future-proof the business.” By the end of 2017, over 25 of Unilever’s brands were purpose-led, growing 50% faster than its other brands and representing 70% of the company’s growth.

Garrard has been operating as Sue Garrard Consulting since she left left Unilever. She told the Holmes Report: “I’ve been incredibly lucky to be approached by big companies and big comms agencies, and I couldn’t match what I had at Unilever. But there is a big – and rapidly-growing – demand for what sustainability is, how to make it work, how to talk about it and how to use it to engage employees. There’s a limited supply of people who can help with that, and I can see how it works from the inside.”

As an associate at Headland, Garrard will help to build a sustainability consultancy and communications offer for large organisations seeking to develop and communicate commercially-aligned sustainability strategies.

Garrard had previously worked with Headland co-founder Neil Hedges at Fishburn Hedges. She said: “I always thought he was a remarkable person, in the way he strives for excellence and advises clients; he’s always two steps ahead of the game. It’s been a year’s conversation about what this could look like.”

Headland CEO Chris Salt said: “Sue is an outstanding advocate in this area, and we see great potential in our collaboration. Sustainability issues are going to become more important to businesses through investor pressure, consumer attitudes, regulator action, competitive advantage or moral imperative. It is the one area where management consultancy and communication really need to work together if organisations want to achieve change.”

Re_Set was set up last year by James Bidwell, who was behind the reinvention of the Selfridges department store in London. Garrard said: “Sustainability is one of the biggest disrupters, and both Re_Set and Headland are young, lean, outstanding at what their do and really interested in servicing clients well.

Garrard is balancing her new roles with pro-bono sustainability consultancy for start-ups and charities.