Having trained as a labor lawyer in New Zealand, Brent has spent the last 28 years representing companies and their representative organizations across a range of labor and human rights issues in countries around the world.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola as director of Global Workplace Rights in April of 2015, for the last 15 years, Brent has been based in Switzerland with the International Organization of Employers (IOE) representing the interests of business in 150 countries on global labor and social policy matters across the UN and wider multilateral system, particularly within the International Labor Organization. As a result, Brent has directly engaged with Global Union Federations, NGOs, Governments, other stakeholders and opinion makers in the negotiation and resolution of issues.
In particular, Brent was engaged from the outset in the stakeholder discussions that led to the creation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, working closely with Professor John Ruggie and his team, and more recently with the UN Human Rights Working Group on their follow up to the implementation of the Principles. Brent also served on the Board of the UN Global Compact in his last role as IOE Secretary General and was co-chair of their multi-stakeholder Labor and Human Rights Working Group