FIS Announces Susanna Sieff As New Sustainability Director

In recent years, the leadership of FIS has made clear that sustainability is central to the federation’s mission. Climate change isn’t just an inconvenience. It is an existential threat to our sport, which is why we feel a solemn responsibility to protect the climate on which our sports depend. This is why FIS signed up to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework; why we established the FIS Rainforest Initiative; and why we have become the first Climate Positive sports federation.

Now FIS is strengthening that commitment by hiring a Sustainability Director whose job it will be to drive this agenda, ensuring that everyone across FIS is working towards the high ambitions that we have set ourselves.

FIS is delighted to have secured an excellent new team member for this critical post. Susanna Sieff is an environmental sociologist with over twenty years’ experience in the field. Since 2001 she has been working on aspects of environmental and social sustainability for the organizing committees of major sports events.

She began her work for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Val di Fiemme 2003, the first sports event in the world with an environmental certification (ISO 14001). Sieff continued with the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games Torino 2006, the Doha Asian Games 2006, the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Val di Fiemme 2013, Winter Universiade Trentino 2013 and Expo Milano 2015.

From 2018 to 2021 Sieff was Director of Sustainability for the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Cortina 2021, after which she became Head of Sustainability of Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, the organizing committee for the next Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

With such a wealth of experience, FIS could not have found a better candidate. FIS President Johan Eliasch said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Susanna on to the team, though she is already well known in the snow sports community. Since I became President of FIS I have made clear that sustainability is a core part of our mission. It is my passion to prove that we can have a dynamic, exciting calendar while at the same time taking meaningful action on climate protection. Susanna will help to turn our ambitions into action, bringing her extensive experience to bear across the calendar of FIS events.”

Ahead of joining FIS in July, Sieff said: “I am so happy to be joining the FIS family. Having worked in the organizing committees of so many winter sports events, trying to make them more sustainable both environmentally and socially, this role is an exciting opportunity to use all I have learned. To be able to put myself at the service of the International Federation and the future organizers of the World Ski and Snowboard Championships, and also of the World Cup races, means really using my experience to help winter sports move forward. Together, I look forward to contributing to global efforts on climate change and on new social themes such as human rights.”