• The New York Times, Tuesday, July 3, 2007 11:15 AM

Chief Sustainability Officers are swelling the C-level suite, and they are not simply environmental watchdogs charged with keeping regulators at bay. The new environmental chiefs are helping companies profit from the push to go green.

The titles vary, mixing and matching "chief" and "vice president," "sustainability" and "environmental." But whatever they are called, the new environmental chiefs are exploring partnerships with vendors and customers to create green products--and they have the power to close the deal. They are also getting a vote--often, the deciding vote--on product research and advertising campaigns.

The environmental chiefs hail from widely disparate backgrounds. Owens Corning plucked its chief from research, while Home Depot dipped into its merchandising ranks. Linda J. Fisher of DuPont once worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, while Francis Sullivan, deputy head of group sustainable development for the HSBC Group, came from the World Wildlife Fund.

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