ZSers unite to mitigate climate impact
ZSers are united by a drive to use our passion for positive change. Often, this means partnering with clients in healthcare and beyond to improve health outcomes for all. But other factors also contribute to those outcomes—including social drivers of health and climate impact.
As Jennifer Gold, a leader on our business responsibility and impact (BRI) team, explains: “There are so many intricate links between human health and planet health. One of ZS’s goals is to improve how we measure our climate impact, share these measurements for transparency and work to reduce our carbon footprint. Eventually, we’d like to help our clients meet their environmental goals as well.”
Jennifer Gold, BRI Lead, London
We’re taking intentional steps to embed sustainable practices across ZS—guided by passionate experts like Suzanne Boyan. Based in Evanston, Suzanne is a travel and operations manager who helps reduce indirect emissions from business travel, employee commuting and more, through thoughtful, responsible planning.
Where passion changes lives
Suzanne began her ZS career as a temporary front desk assistant. After impressing senior leadership with her skills, she was offered a full-time role. “I’d never felt this way about an organization before,” Suzanne says. “I felt like I belonged. ZS made it okay to be my whole self and contribute in a way that’s unique to me.”
Since joining full time, Suzanne has earned multiple promotions and now leads ZS’s internal travel and meetings program—blending her expertise in operations with her passion for sustainability.
“I’ve always cared about sustainability,” she says. “But when I had two children, it became even more clear that I need to leave this world better than I found it.” She lives those values every day—her Evanston colleagues have even noticed her taking paper plates and napkins home to compost properly.
Suzanne Boyan, travel and operations manager, Evanston
Professionally, Suzanne looks for small changes that can yield meaningful results. While reviewing contracts for a global principals’ meeting, she noticed a service charge line item.
“I always assumed service charges went entirely to servers—but they don’t,” she says. “Hotels retain a portion as profit.”
To reduce climate impact, Suzanne requested that the hotel redirect part of that service charge toward sustainable initiatives, such as the purchase of renewable energy certificates. This simple shift has become standard practice for large ZS events, helping offset energy use.
Her team is also enabling greener decisions for ZSers. They integrated BlueHalo technology into ZS’s travel booking tool to show the emissions impact of each flight. They’re also partnering with Lyft and Uber to encourage green rideshare options, such as electric vehicles.
“It’s generally about $3 more,” Suzanne says. “But choosing an electric car is a low effort for our people and makes a big impact on the planet.”
ZS’s commitment to sustainability is ongoing—and woven into everything we do. To stay up to date on our latest efforts, follow us on social media.
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