SURESH T. M

A leading UK-based retailer focused on sustainable and ethical sourcing, ensuring compliance with global labor laws, human rights policies, and environmental sustainability standards.

• Social Audits & Ethical Compliance: Conducted comprehensive audits across South Indian factories, ensuring full adherence to the NEXT Code of Conduct, and global labor standards.
• Factory Management Assessments: Evaluated supplier factory operations, identifying gaps in labor rights, worker safety, wage structures, and compliance risks, and provided customized corrective action plans.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Development: Worked closely with NGOs, labor unions, and regulatory bodies, contributing to policy improvements, labor rights discussions, and supply chain transparency initiatives.
• Risk Management & Compliance Oversight: Developed compliance tracking models, monitoring critical risk areas related to forced labor prevention, fair wages, workplace discrimination, and grievance-handling mechanisms.
• Grievance Resolution & Operational Improvements: Managed supplier grievance systems, ensuring swift resolution of worker concerns, pay discrepancies, health and safety violations, and management misconduct cases.
• Training and Capacity Building: Delivered workshops on occupational health and safety, fair trade policies, environmental impact management, and ethical procurement strategies to enhance supplier competency.
• Continuous Improvement Initiatives: Led factory-level projects designed to increase supply chain transparency, enhance sustainability reporting, and boost compliance efficiency across supplier networks.
• Regulatory Benchmarking & Compliance Reporting: Maintained compliance with local labor laws, international trade regulations, and multi-stakeholder ethical trade certifications, ensuring seamless buyer audit processes.

Climate Action, ESG, and Future Sustainability Initiatives.

• Expanding expertise in ZDHC, ESG, and GHG policies, actively integrating climate-conscious practices into supplier audits, and corporate compliance strategies.
• Assisting in corporate sustainability roadmap development, ensuring alignment with NEXT’s long-term ESG goals, and carbon neutrality objectives.
• Researching and implementing chemical management policies, focusing on safe chemical usage, water conservation, and waste reduction in supplier operations.
• Championing data-driven sustainability practices, leveraging compliance audit insights to propose long-term improvements in supply chain environmental impact.

Led compliance operations across 5 manufacturing sites, overseeing 1,500 employees while ensuring alignment with global sustainability and compliance benchmarks.

• Developed advanced risk assessment models, identifying non-compliance hotspots in supplier networks and optimizing corrective action planning.
• Spearheaded internal audit mechanisms, maintaining compliance documentation, payroll integrity, and statutory regulatory submissions.
• Designed training programs for supplier management teams on labor law compliance, employee rights education, and sustainable sourcing principles.
• Conducted real-time compliance checks in subcontract factories, personally overseeing corrective measures to eliminate ethical violations.
• Led audits for Sedex, SA 8000, GOTS, OEKO TEX, GRS, BEPI & HIGG Index, ensuring holistic sustainability integration into supply chain processes.
• Managed buyer audits for Disney, Tesco, Primark, and John Lewis, ensuring transparent regulatory adherence and long-term supplier credibility.
• Designed ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance frameworks, helping suppliers align with climate action and responsible sourcing standards.

Oversaw compliance governance for 10 manufacturing sites, ensuring ethical trade and sustainability adherence across 1,000+ employees.

• Led statutory compliance audits, assessing factory operations against global fair labor policies, workplace safety protocols, and corporate governance standards.
• Developed industry-first compliance training modules, strengthening supplier knowledge on human rights policies, anti-child labor regulations, and gender equity advocacy.
• Optimized supplier contracts, integrating mandatory environmental and social compliance clauses to enhance fair trade accountability.
• Introduced digital payroll verification, ensuring real-time monitoring of worker wages, overtime tracking, and benefit allocation accuracy.
• Led audits for Sedex, SA 8000, and OEKO TEX, embedding climate-conscious strategies into supplier compliance frameworks.
• Transformed non-compliant factories into fully accredited supplier sites, strengthening long-term relationships with global buyers and ethical trade partners.

Managed compliance oversight for 3 textile production sites, ensuring ethical trade governance for 850 employees across supplier and subcontractor factories.

• Conducted compliance audits for CTPAT, WRAP, BSCI, and buyer-driven assessments for Tommy Hilfiger, Li & Fung, and Disney.
• Developed and implemented grievance resolution systems, ensuring worker welfare concerns were addressed efficiently and fairly.
• Coordinated employee occupational health and safety training, focusing on PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) usage, hazard prevention measures, and workplace well-being programs.
• Introduced smart card payroll systems, optimizing transparency in wage distribution, overtime allocation, and benefits tracking.
• Designed ERP-based compliance documentation protocols, ensuring seamless audit management and real-time supplier oversight.
• Provided supplier capacity-building initiatives, improving adherence to anti-bribery, fair labor, and regulatory compliance mandates.