October 7, 2026 – Stakeholder Forum Director Irena Zubcevic is pleased to announce that Craig Boljkovac, Sander van Bennekom, & Kyra Sadat Ruben are Stakeholder Forum’s newest Fellows & Associate. SF Fellows and Associates are experts in the field of sustainable development with 5 to 10 years – or more – of experience. They work with us to develop partnerships and programs that can promote SF’s mission and work.
Craig Boljkovac is Executive Director of Green Cross International, a Geneva-based Senior Advisor with a Regional Centre for the Basel and Stockholm Conventions, and an independent international environmental consultant with over 35 years of experience in relevant fields. He was formerly head of the Chemicals and Wastes Programme at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), where he served as Chair of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), Policy Advisor at WWF-Canada, and Director of Environment at the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now known as “Inuit Tapirisat Kanatami, ITK”). Craig is also a full observer participant in the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations for a global plastics agreement and has written extensively about the negotiations.
Sander van Bennekom has extensive experience in lobbying and networking for NGOs and multi-stakeholder partnerships on both environmental and development issues. Starting with the protection of Antarctica (at IUCN NL), he moved on to focus on the interface between economy and ecology. The author of numerous articles on that topic, Sander organized multiple strategy meetings. During that time, he became an experienced spokesman on trade and investment policies, from the point of view of sustainability. During the course of his career, Sander has been heavily involved in UN Meetings on Sustainable Development, especially Rio+5 and the 2002 WSSD in Johannesburg, while working for ANPED (the Northern Alliance for Sustainability) international secretariat. During his employment by Oxfam Netherlands, his attention shifted to the private sector. Apart from continuing the work on trade and investment, he initiated a position at Oxfam on biofuels and food security and subsequent campaigns.
Kyra Sadat Ruben is an interdisciplinary climate change adaptation professional working to advance sustainable global development. Fluent in English and French, proficient in Arabic, and a beginner in Spanish, she thrives in multicultural environments that require curiosity, adaptability, and cross-cultural communication. Kyra holds a Master’s in Climate and Society from Columbia Climate School, where she received a Collaborative Research Grant for her work on climate mobility. She was also selected as a Hiroshima Orizuru Fellow, representing Columbia in Hiroshima, Japan, with the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
SF is very fortunate to have Craig, Sander, and Kyra join our team. You can read more about them by going to Stakeholder Forum’s Fellows & Associates page.