Yalmaz Siddiqui, is Office Depot’s Director of Environmental Strategy. He is responsible for setting strategic direction and integrating a wide range of environmental programs into the global organization. Office Depot’s industry-leading environmental programs span all parts of the company - from supply chain (buying green) to internal operations (being green), to business and consumer markets (selling green). Yalmaz’s internal role is to initiate, facilitate and communicate environmental programs that are then implemented through Office Depot’s core functions such as merchandising, purchasing, construction and marketing. He also helps educate suppliers and customers on environmental issues and opportunities. His goal is to help improve the environmental performance of Office Depot and its range of stakeholders. Yalmaz came to Office Depot from IBM Business Consulting Services where he was a Senior Consultant in Customer Relationship Management, and author of the first global study on environmental purchasing of wood and paper products. Before IBM, he was a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on the forest, paper and packaging industries.Yalmaz is a frequent speaker at National and International Conferences on the environment, including:

§  Keynote addresses at the Green Purchasing Summits in 2007 and 2008
§  National Retail Federation Annual Conference
§  National Institute of Government Purchasers Annual Forum
§  National Association of Counties Annual Forum
§  Sustainable Brands International
§  Fortune Magazine Brainstorm: Green
§  Chief Financial Officers Green Summit.

Yalmaz holds a Master of Philosophy in Environment & Development from the University of Cambridge in England where his thesis focused on Industrial Ecology, Life Cycle Analysis and Bio-mimicry. He also has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing & International Business from McGill University in Canada.