About Us

Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable Team

“I have found the BSRT team very helpful, concise and knowledgeable in providing insights to allow me to have a head-start in defining my sustainability strategy as the CSO.”

Our History and Team
The Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable launched together with the initial SASB (now ISSB) standards for Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals in 2013.  For the first time, biopharma had a sector-focused, materiality-based sustainability forum.

With encouragement from the original participants, Sandor Schoichet and Thomas Scheiwiller decided to repeat the program as an annual peer-to-peer discussion on sustainability-related trends, challenges, and best practices.  In 2015, the Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable expanded to include an ongoing Investor Dialog aimed at improving ESG communications with the capital markets.

Myrto Kontaxi joined the team in 2016, taking the lead in developing the “Biopharma Investor ESG Communications Initiative” which launched in 2018, and has published a series of Biopharma Investor ESG Communications Guidance documents.

All our team members (Myrto, Sandor, and Thomas) also work as independent sustainability/ESG and strategy advisors both within and outside the biopharma sector.

Every year, we deliver a participant-driven program of online and in-person events, group initiatives, and bespoke advisory services.
Today, the Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable (BSRT) includes most large biotech and pharma companies globally as well as a range of mid-scale biopharmas.  BSRT is recognized as the leading independent biopharma sustainability forum within the sector, and for connecting with its key stakeholders: Investors, Standard setters, Rating organizations, and Trade associations.

Team Members

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Sandor Schoichet

Co-Founder and Partner, Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable
Director, Meridian Management Consultants

Sandor launched the Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable (BSRT) in 2013, creating a platform to connect biopharma ESG leaders and help address the strategic environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns then coming into focus.

Before launching the BSRT, Sandor’s consulting focused on helping clients achieve strategic, operational, and process improvement objectives. Projects included operations strategy, capital planning, business process design, change management, and implementation program leadership for clients like Amgen, BioMarin, BMS, Genentech, Illumina, and Novartis.
Sandor is also a Director with the Alliance of CEOs, facilitating a quarterly Life Sciences CEO Roundtable and related events, and is an independent advisor to early-stage life science and agbio companies. Previously he was active organizing events with the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab (VLAB) and mentoring graduate student pitch teams with the UCSF Bioentrepreneurship program.

Prior to starting Meridian Management Consultants in 2009, Sandor worked at the operations strategy firm PRTM (acquired by PwC), the boutique life science advisory firm Acumen Sciences, and as an independent consultant. And before consulting he was an operating manager for IT strategy and implementation at several biotech, web service, and systems integration firms, including Director of Information Sciences for Medical Affairs at Genentech, and CIO for bioinformatics start-up Gorilla Genomics.

Sandor earned EE and MS degrees in Computer Science at MIT, studying AI, process reengineering, and management of innovation. Undergraduate degrees in Information Science and Philosophy are from UC Santa Cruz.

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thomas

Thomas Scheiwiller

Thomas is the co-founder
of the Biopharma Sustainability
Roundtable.

After 18 years with one of the Big4 Accounting Firms, where he helped build and also headed the Sustainability Practice globally for several years, Thomas now works as an independent Advisor and serves as Board member. He has worked as ad interim Head of Sustainability and member of Sustainability Committees in large multinational businesses, both listed and family-owned.

Thomas is internationally recognized for his expertise in Sustainability, Integrity, Governance, and Compliance. He advises members of the Board of Directors, Senior Executives, and functional leaders at large international businesses. He takes the role of an independent Advisor, Coach, Sparring Partner, Challenger, and Reviewer. He is a regular speaker and moderator at business events, and has taught regularly in Executive MBA programs about Sustainability and Governance at one of the global top 10 business schools. Thomas has also worked and is still working as a strategic Advisor for large Consulting companies.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Advisory Board at the Center for Corporate Reporting CCR, a Member of ISSB’s Technical Reference Group, and an external Member
of the ESG Steering Committee at a privately owned Pharma business, and a member of the Foundation Board of the Center for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability CCRS.

Thomas has earned a PhD in Physics from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. He is able to work in English, German, French, and Italian.

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Myrto Kontaxi

Myrto is a partner
of the Biopharma Sustainability
Roundtable.

Myrto joined the BSRT in 2016 and brings expertise that combines a blend of consulting, corporate, and non-profit international experience.

Myrto is leading the Biopharma Investor ESG Communications Initiative, which brings together leading global biopharma and investor companies to address ESG communications, since 2018. She also leads the BSRT Human Rights Focus Group discussion launched in 2022.

Previously based in Europe and now in Boston, Myrto advises companies and organizations in the US and Europe on ESG and Sustainability strategy and integration. She acts as coach, sparring partner, and reviewer to senior executives. She facilitates senior teams’ thinking process and understanding of ESG trends, drivers, and developments. 

She is a Senior Advisor with NOIMA, a Sustainability and Social Innovation consultancy based in Barcelona.

Myrto has held leadership positions in CSR and Communications at Imerys (previously S&B Industrial Minerals, an international mining and minerals company). She led its award-winning Annual Sustainability strategy and disclosures, stakeholder engagement, and key award-winning Corporate Responsibility programs for a decade.

Myrto created and led PwC’s sustainability practice in Greece in the early 2000s, establishing a leading position in the then nascent market. She began her career in the non-profit sector at MIO-ECSDE, the largest Federation of Mediterranean NGOs for Environment and Development.

She brings a multi-year involvement with member-led business organizations such as the UN Global Compact Hellas, the CSR Network Hellas, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the Industrial Minerals Association-Europe.

Myrto holds a degree in Chemistry from the National Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), an MSc in Environmental, Science, Policy, and Planning from the University of Bath (UK), and an MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece).

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