Sustainability warrior joins MBS

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands has appointed Roger Simons as associate director, sustainability.

Formerly the regional sustainability director (APAC) for MCI Group, Simons leaves agency life behind to focus on implementing sustainable practices across the mega resort, which includes the Sands Expo Centre, Shoppes, and the Art & Science Museum.

In his new role, Simons will be responsible for driving and engaging all departments in property-wide sustainability initiatives, in areas including energy, water and waste, product innovation, and staff and consumer engagement.

As well as overseeing the responsible procurement of food across the resort, Simons has a particular focus on sustainable events.

“I support our MICE clients in setting ambitious sustainability goals through our Sands ECO360⁰ green meetings programme, and guide our team through execution and impact reporting.”

And according to Simons, the trend to ‘go green’ is evolving.

“When we launched our green meetings package in 2013, we only had five clients choosing to hold green events. This has grown to 150 in less than four years,” he said. “More clients are also looking to integrate corporate social responsibility elements into their events and involve the community.”

Simons will also work closely with partners from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to champion sustainable seafood consumption and raise standards within Asia’s hospitality industry.

Together with WWF, the mega resort has developed measurable goals to improve responsible seafood procurement and transform its supply chain—this includes an ambitious goal to have 50 per cent of its seafood supply (by volume) responsibly sourced by 2020.

Commenting on the change of scenery, Simons says: “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work for such an iconic integrated resort, which has really become a symbol of Singapore, and a global destination of choice in itself. The scale of our operations enables Marina Bay Sands to make a huge impact through our sustainability actions.”