Dive Brief:
- The B Lab, the nonprofit organization behind B Corp Certifications, hired Peter Williams, who most recently was president and CEO of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, to be the organization’s first CEO, according to a Wednesday press release.
- Williams will take the helm on Nov. 2, according to the release. He’s led IIRR, a nonprofit focused on using social and sustainability strategies to decrease rural poverty, since 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- B Lab finalized updated standards for its B Corp Certification last year, a framework by which for-profit companies can verify they meet certain social, environmental, transparency and accountability standards.
Dive Insight:
B Lab launched in 2006, and the nonprofit said it is naming its first CEO as it “continues to evolve into a more integrated global organization.” More than 11,000 companies, employing over one million workers in 105 countries, have received B Corp Certification since the nonprofit’s founding, according to the Oct. 21 press release.
B Lab Board Chair Francine Lemos called Williams “a steady, mission-led leader,” which she said is “what this moment asks for.” Lemos was named chair of a refreshed B Lab board in March.
“Peter has spent his career building organizations that serve communities and guiding them as they evolve and grow,” Lemos said in the release. “As B Lab becomes a more integrated global organization and our community adopts the most rigorous standards in our history, the Board is confident he is the right person to lead us into our next chapter.”
Prior to joining IIRR, Williams founded another nonprofit, Archive Global, in 2007. As founder and executive director of the New York-based nonprofit, Williams built out the organization that looks to use housing design and architecture advocacy to improve global health outcomes. Williams received his undergraduate degree in architecture and earned Master’s degrees from Columbia University and the University of Oxford.
Williams said in the release that he trained as an architect because of a belief that “the structures we build shape the lives people lead,” adding that he believes “the same is true of our economy.”
“Much of my work has dealt with the consequences of how business and capital behave,” Williams said. “B Corps are showing that those consequences can be changed at the source.”
Williams has also had multiple stints at the World Bank as a consultant, urban health expert and international strategy expert over the years.
B Lab finalized its first significant standards update in April 2025, and this June was the first time companies became certified B Corps under the new standards. The initial cohort certified under the updated framework included nine companies across North America and Europe, including public Italian hotel group Xenia; Swiss-owned confectioner Ricola, behind the cough drops of the same name; Finnish beauty group Lumene; and U.S. impact advisory firm Enharmonic Encounters.
