New York Office

Farooq Ullah – Executive Director 

Farooq took over formally as Executive Director on September 1, 2012. He joined Stakeholder Forum as Head of Policy and Advocacy in September 2011. Before this, Farooq was at the UK Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) for nearly five years. Farooq worked on strategic assessment at the SDC; analysing public policy, sustainable operations and procurement, strategy, governance and decision-making in order to hold the UK Government to account and improve its sustainability performance. Key elements of this work included policy advice, stakeholder engagement and capability building. In all, Farooq has nine years of public sector experience at international, national and local government levels, with a further three years of private sector consultancy experience.

Currently, Farooq is a Specialist Advisor to the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee and a member of the Alliance for Future Generations. Additionally he is a founding member of Brighter Future; a climate-change action group in London.

Farooq holds a BComm in Management Science from the University of Alberta and an MSc in Public Policy from the London School of Economics.

John Romano – UN Representative

John Romano joined Stakeholder Forum in 2014. As UN Representative for Stakeholder Forum, John spearheads the organization’s work around the United Nations in New York, liaising with stakeholders and governments and assisting with the delivery of the SD2015 programme.

Prior to joining Stakeholder Forum, John was a Global Policy Fellow in the International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). He has also worked for the UNDESA’s Division for Sustainable Development as a consultant with the Major Groups Programme, and coordinated social media outreach for the UN at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

John has a M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in Environmental Studies and Geography from Ohio Wesleyan University.