Higg, the environmental software platform responsible for the Higg Index, has appointed James Schaffer as chief strategy officer to lead business development and partnerships. Schaffer’s experience in developing industry initiatives in the apparel sector, where Higg’s platform is widely used, is expected to be instrumental in guiding the company’s expansion of its SaaS (software as a service) platform to deliver best-in-class sustainability data to the consumer goods industry. Last year, Schaffer led negotiations to establish an alliance among four institutions connected with the Higg data ecosystem - the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), Textile Exchange, the Apparel Impact Institute and ZDHC - to drive efficiencies and accelerate sustainability efforts in the apparel industry. The alliance has provided an essential framework to streamline sustainability initiatives across the global value chain. Schaffer was also instrumental in developing the strategy that led to Higg’s spin-off from SAC in 2019. Schaffer brings more than 20 years of experience as a partner and technology leader for Higg, most recently as managing partner at Schaffer & Combs, the consulting firm he co-founded in 2009. Previously, Schaffer was CEO of Global Data Vault Corporation, an enterprise data storage company operating in the U.S. and U.K.
