Yalmaz Siddiqui of Office Depot

Does your workplace need a facelift? Join our host, David Crew, as he speaks with Yalmaz Siddiqui, Environmental Strategy Advisor for Office Depot, about Office Depot’s industry leading environmental programs and the steps he is taking to educate suppliers and customers on environmental issues, the opportunities surrounding them, and the benefits of being “green.”

As Office Depot’s Environmental Strategy Advisor, Yalmaz Siddiqui is responsible for advising the company on the development and integration of a wide range of environmental programs into the global organization. Office Depot’s industry-leading environmental programs span all parts of the company - from the supply chain (buying green) to internal operations (being green), to business and consumer markets (selling green). Siddiqui’s role includes improving the understanding of environmental issues and opportunities among suppliers, associates and customers. His goal is to help improve the environmental performance of Office Depot and its range of stakeholders.

Siddiqui also oversees Office Depot’s five-year, $2.2 million Forest & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance (www.forestryalliance.org), which develops critical information, standards and tools for global forest and biodiversity conservation. The Alliance is Office Depot’s collaboration with Conservation International, NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy, three of the world’s most respected science-based conservation organizations.

Siddiqui came to Office Depot in April of 2006 from IBM Business Consulting Services in Canada where he was a Senior Consultant in Customer Relationship Management, and author of the first global study on environmental procurement of wood and paper products. Before joining IBM, Siddiqui was a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on the forest, paper and packaging industries.

Siddiqui holds a Master’s Degree in Environment & Development from Cambridge University in England, and a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Marketing & International Business from McGill University in Canada.