GCSU faculty member engages with global sustainability leaders at 2026 NASRS

Professor Dr. Jehan El-Jourbagy, Georgia College & State University Sustainability Council member and associate professor of Business Law and Ethics in the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology, attended the 2026 North American Sustainability and Responsibility Summit in early March. The three-day conference brought together chief sustainability officers, ESG leaders and corporate social responsibility directors from companies including Tesla, GM, Johnson & Johnson, HP, Netflix, Cargill, Sysco, Volkswagen, Target, Prologis, Kelly Staffing and McKesson, among many others. 

A prominent theme throughout the conference was the growing role of data science in corporate sustainability. Sessions explored how organizations are building the data governance infrastructure needed to meet mandatory reporting frameworks such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, with particular attention to the challenges of Scope 3 emissions measurement — those arising from a company’s supply chain and product end-use.  

Practitioners from Workiva, Salesforce and Netflix, among others, addressed how artificial intelligence is accelerating the shift from data collection to strategic decision-making, while cautioning that AI tools are only as reliable as the data foundations underlying them. 

El-Jourbagy’s attendance reflects her ongoing scholarly and professional engagement with corporate sustainability, which includes leading study abroad programs focused on sustainability leadership in Peru, the Netherlands, Sweden and New Zealand, as well as her research on environmental law and business ethics.  

“The conversations happening at the highest levels of corporate sustainability have direct implications for how we prepare students to lead in an increasingly complex regulatory and environmental landscape,” she said.