The award recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate exceptional leadership, innovation, and societal impact. Kelly received the distinction during the ninth edition of the Rotterdam Businesswoman of the Year Awards, where Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten presented the awards to three women who are helping shape the future of business and society.

Kelly founded GSES with a clear mission: to make sustainability measurable, transparent, and verifiable. What started as a vision to bring greater accountability to sustainability performance has grown into an internationally recognized platform supporting organizations, governments, and supply chains worldwide.

Today, GSES enables companies to benchmark, validate, and improve their sustainability performance using internationally recognized frameworks and independently verified data. By turning sustainability ambitions into measurable actions, organizations can make better decisions and demonstrate progress with confidence.

The jury highlighted Kelly’s ability to build a company from Rotterdam that is creating impact on a global scale. Through a combination of vision, perseverance, and entrepreneurial courage, she has developed a platform that helps organizations navigate an increasingly complex sustainability landscape.

This recognition reflects not only Kelly’s leadership but also the collective efforts of the GSES team, members, partners, and clients who work every day towards a more transparent and sustainable economy.

Receiving this award is an important milestone in the continued growth of GSES. As sustainability regulations evolve and expectations around transparency continue to increase, the need for trusted, measurable, and independently verifiable sustainability data has never been greater.

At GSES, we remain committed to helping organizations move beyond promises and demonstrate real, measurable impact.

While we are honoured by this recognition, we see it as motivation to continue building. Together with our members, partners, and stakeholders, we will keep working towards a future where sustainability performance is transparent, comparable, and trusted.

Congratulations to all finalists and winners of the Rotterdam Businesswoman of the Year Awards 2026.

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