Plenary Sessions
Gary Hirshberg, Chairman, President and CE-Yo, Stonyfield Farm
Closing Keynote: 2:30-3:30
Gary Hirshberg, the husband of Meg Hirshberg and the father of three teenage yogurt-eaters, is Chairman, President and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, based in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
For the past 25 years, Gary has overseen Stonyfield Farm’s phenomenal growth, from its infancy as a 7-cow organic farming school in 1983 to its current $260 million in annual sales. Stonyfield has enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate of 27.4% for more than eighteen years, by consistently producing a great-tasting product and using innovative marketing techniques that blend the company’s social, environmental, and financial missions.
A New Hampshire native, Gary was one of the first graduates of Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, has received six honorary doctorates and won numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership. He serves on several corporate and non-profit boards including Honest Tea, Sambazon, Peak Organic Brewing Company, Dannon Company, and Climate Counts. He is also the Chairman and co-founder of O’Naturals, a chain of natural fast food restaurants.
Dr. Mark Albion, Author and Co-Founder, Net Impact
Opening Keynote: 10:00-10:30 & Career Sessions
Mark is a social entrepreneur who has co-founded seven organizations. In 1988, he left his job as a marketing professor at Harvard Business School to develop a community for service-minded MBAs, founded with Social Venture Network colleagues, today called Net Impact. A fellow of the World Business Academy, Mark is also a founding member of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and a 19-year active member of SVN, currently heading up a two-year initiative of mentoring young social entrepreneurs. He has spent the last fifteen years traveling to over 125 business schools on five continents, speaking on messages from his books: New York Times Bestseller written for Net Impact, “Making a Life, Making a Living”, “Finding Work That Matters”, and “True to Yourself: Leading a Values-Based Business”.
Panel Sessions
INVESTING FOR A GREEN TOMORROW (10:45-11:45 - Classroom B)
Bonny Moellenbrock is Executive Director of SJF Advisory Services, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to and increases access to capital for businesses whose expansion generates environmental, societal and employment gains. SJF Advisory Services is allied with SJF Ventures, a venture capital fund with $45 MM under management that invests in high-growth companies that positively impact the world, focusing on the cleantech, technology-enhanced services, and premium consumer products sectors. Bonny has been with SJF since 2001. She holds an MBA, a Master of Regional Planning, and a BA in Environmental Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Farnum Brown is a vice president and senior portfolio manager at Trillium Asset Management Corporation. With over a billion dollars of assets under management, Trillium is an internationally recognized leader in the field of progressive shareholder activism. The Company pioneered the use of shareholder rights to maximize financial return while improving corporate performance in the areas of environmental, social and media responsibility. For the past 20 years Farnum has managed investment portfolios for many of the leading progressives in the music and film industries. Farnum holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
R. Paul Herman has focused his life on solving human problems in business, nonprofit and government operations, with experience as an entrepreneur, management consultant at McKinsey and CSC Index, chief development officer at Ashoka.org, and investment strategist at eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Network. As the founder and CEO of HIP Investor, Paul advises investors, companies and entrepreneurs (both business and social) to solve human problems for sustainable, profitable growth. Paul graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and has lectured at Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, and U.C. Berkeley, as well as networks of Echoing Green social entrepreneurs, Net Impact MBAs, and international Fulbright Scholars.
Heidi Soumerai is Director of Social Research at Walden Asset Management (Walden), a leader in integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis into investment decision-making with approximately $1.7 billion in assets under management. Since she joined Walden in 1985, Heidi has overseen ESG research and analysis of existing and potential portfolio companies on a broad range of topics including, among others, environmental stewardship, employment practices, community investment and engagement, management and director accountability, and global supply chain management. Heidi earned a BS in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts and an MBA from Boston University.
Jack Davis is partner and founder of EKO, a company specialized in discovering and monetizing unrealized or unrecognized environmental assets. EKO matches capital with people, projects, and companies that are poised to profit from new and emerging environmental markets in carbon, water, and biodiversity. Jack is a corporate lawyer by training, with over a decade of experience. He has served on the management teams of several venture/private equity backed companies and has worked directly on the principal investing side as well. In addition to his work at EKO, he is the general counsel for Hatteras Venture Partners, a Durham-based VC firm focused on early stage life science investments and for Brandport, Inc., a NY-based internet advertising company. Jack received both his BA and JD/LLM from Duke University.
JUST GETTING STARTED: ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL CHANGE (10:45-11:45 - Classroom C)
Gregory Dees, Director, Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, Fuqua (moderator). Professor Greg Dees is the founding Faculty Director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Greg has written extensively on social entrepreneurship. Prior to coming to Duke, he served as the Miriam and Peter Haas Centennial Professor in Public Service and co-director of the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Greg also taught for several years at the Harvard Business School, where he helped launch the Initiative on Social Enterprise. Greg currently serves on the boards of directors of the Bridgespan Group and SJF Advisory Services, as well as on the advisory boards for the Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards, REDF, Communities by Choice, and Management Leadership for Tomorrow. He holds a Masters degree in Public and Private Management from Yale and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Johns Hopkins.
Bill Stevenson, Manager of Corporate Social Investments, Lenovo. Bill Stevenson has been working in marketing for Lenovo and IBM's Personal Computing Division for a total of six years, with a few years off chasing his dotcom dream in the early 2000's. He has also served on several nonprofit boards and is the creator of the Carolina Hope Festival, a music and arts celebration that benefits women and children in Africa affected by HIV / AIDS.
Leah Fish de Sacordote, Director, Marketing and Communications, Endeavor. Leah Fish de Sacerdote manages Endeavor's Global external communications, and coordinates marketing and public relations. She develops, implements and maintains Endeavor's international brand and manages Endeavor's website and annual publications. Leah joined Endeavor after graduating from Brown University with a degree in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies.
THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION (10:45-11:45 - Classroom D)
Maia Blankenship is the Managing Director of Education Pioneers, a national nonprofit organization working to transform K-12 education by closing the critical human capital gap. Maia began her professional career at Ernst & Young LLP as a management consultant, and also launched Empowerment Resource Network, a community-based organization in Atlanta focused on entrepreneurship education. With an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill, she joined College Summit to increase the college enrollment rate of low-income students. Before joining Education Pioneers, Maia was the Director of National Partnerships & Investments, developing multi-year relationships with private investors and foundations. Education Pioneers expects to support nearly 1,000 Alumni who have completed the Fellows Program by 2010 and will have 175 Fellows completing the program across the country in 2008.
Andrew Garland is a Project Director of Policy and Research with The New Teacher Project, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving teacher quality in high-need schools. As Project Director, Andrew manages partnerships with school districts and states to build the case for reform of teacher hiring, staffing, and transfer policies within collective bargaining agreements and state law. Andrew began his career as a high school teacher on the West Side of Chicago, and has also worked in operations management with Leadership Public Schools in San Francisco, as an Education Pioneers fellow. Prior to graduate school, Andrew worked largely in the international humanitarian aid sector, coordinating emergency food distributions in Ethiopia and working with children living on the streets of Congo-Brazzaville. Andrew graduated with an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and an MA Education from the School of Education at the University of Michigan, and received his bachelor's degree in English from Princeton University.
Eric Guckian is the Executive Director of KIPP North Carolina. He earned his BA in English at Colgate University and later received a Masters in Education from Harvard University. Eric began his professional career as an elementary teacher in the South Bronx as a part of the Teach For America program. He has continued to work to bridge the gap between education and business in a variety of roles with The Gates Foundation, The North Carolina New School Project and Teach For America. He lives with his wife Lisa and his daughter Scarlett in the Bull City. KIPP North Carolina is part of a regional network connected to the Knowledge Is Power Program. KIPP is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life. There are currently 57 KIPP schools in 17 states and the District of Columbia serving over 14,000 students.
Rob Lalka is a 2008 Southern Growth Policies Board Research Fellow who has spent the last several months focusing on public education reforms taking place in Post-Katrina New Orleans. In particular, he has concentrated on the policy implications of youth leadership and will be presenting a policy paper to be presented at the Southern Growth Policies Board's 36th Annual Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the first week of June. Originally from Roanoke, Virginia, Rob graduated with distinction in both English and history from Yale University. After working in investment banking, he moved to New Orleans to join the relief and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina as an AmeriCorps volunteer, tutoring and mentoring in schools and at temporary housing shelters. He helped found the Duke-New Orleans Post-Katrina Partnership after arriving at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy in the autumn of 2006. This initiative has engaged Duke students with the most pressing issues being faced in New Orleans today through policy consulting trips to Louisiana, panels and events held on campus to discuss Post-Katrina renewal, and a range of other efforts that have contributed to public policy reform in the Gulf Coast.
Adrian Mendez, School Support Manager, New Schools for New Orleans. Adrian has been a resident of New Orleans since he was ten years old. He attended New Orleans public schools. He graduated in 2005 from the University of Chicago with a major in political science and a minor in Latin American Studies. In Chicago he developed an interest for education, particularly college attainment for low-income communities. While in college he created a community service organization dedicated to helping Chicago public school students get into college. After college, he helped his family and community recover from the hurricane, and later moved to New York to work at a corporate law firm. Adrian returned to New Orleans because he deeply believes in the future of the city.
CARBON CREDITS: THE GOOD AND THE BAD (12:00-1:00 - Classroom C)
Lydia Olander, Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Lydia Olander is the Senior Associate Director for Ecosystem Services for the Nicholas Institute. She has worked on a range of issues for the institute including: national energy and transportation policy and their linkages with climate change and climate policy; oil and energy security; clarifying new science relevant to climate change policy for decision makers; and water issues for a rapidly developing North Carolina. Lydia joined the Nicholas Institute after spending a year as a AAAS Congressional Science and Technology Fellow working with Sen. Joseph Lieberman on environmental and energy issues. Before moving to Washington, D.C., she was a researcher with the Carnegie Institution of Washington’s department of global ecology, where she studied the biogeochemical impacts of logging in the Brazilian Amazon and worked with new techniques to extrapolate impacts regionally using remote sensing. She received her doctorate from Stanford University, where she studied nutrient cycling in tropical forests, and has a masters in forest science from Yale University.
Dr. Garth Boyd, Senior Vice President, Camco North America. Since October, 2007, Dr. Garth Boyd has directed agricultural activities in North America as Senior Vice President for Camco, a carbon credit aggregation and project development firm. Camco is a leading climate change business in the growing carbon and sustainable development markets. They offer a full range of carbon-related services to public and private organizations worldwide. The Group has a 20-year track record and manages one of the world's largest carbon credit portfolios, currently at 150 million tonnes. Dr. Boyd was recently appointed to the Chicago Climate Exchange Ag Methane Technical Advisory Committee and the inaugural EPA Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee, specifically to advise EPA on carbon policy as it relates to agriculture.
Al Vazquez, VP TurboGreen - Carbon Revenue for Cleaner Industry AgCert Services USA. A founder of TurboGreen, Mr. Al Vazquez has over 28 years of industry and consulting experience implementing rapid, strategic change in large organizations. He has led such improvements in multi-national enterprises across a number of industries, playing a key role in the expansion of General Motors into Latin America. His consulting clients include IBM, Nabisco, Johnson and Johnson, North Star Steel, National Semiconductor, GTE Sylvania, and Baxter Healthcare, as well as governments. TurboGreen, a division of AgCert (LSE:AGC), is a pioneer in providing truly integrated carbon solution teams to the industrial sector. They excel at defining, developing and managing emission reduction projects in a manner that produces saleable emission reduction credits under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). With over 75 registered projects and more than 600 project sites internationally, TurboGreen has the breadth and expertise in developing turn-key carbon revenue development projects.
Eben Polk, Associate - Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University. Eben joined the Institute in 2006 after graduate studies at Duke, during which time he also worked for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Geneva and North Carolina’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund. At the Institute his work is focused primarily in climate policy, water policy, and sustainability. Recent projects include the Institute's first major conference and research papers on long-term solutions to protect North Carolina’s water quality and supply, a collaboration with the National Religious Partnership on climate policy that protects the poor, and development of a corporate executive course on climate strategy, the Climate Change Leadership Program. Current projects also include a feasibility study of the role of carbon offsets in meeting Duke's commitment to carbon neutrality. He holds an M.P.P. (Public Policy) and M.E.M. (Environmental Management) from Duke University, and a B.S. in biological science and M.A. in media studies from Stanford University.
THE NEXT FACE OF MICROFINANCE: WHO WILL BE LEFT STANDING? (1:15-2:15 - Classroom C)
Lisa Jones Christensen, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at UNC-Kenan Flagler. The research and teaching of Lisa Jones Christensen focus on sustainable enterprise in the United States and in developing economies, corporate social responsibility, leadership, change management and change implementation. She worked for nearly 10 years as a marketing and sales manager at Silicon Valley startup firms before she began her academic career. She also co-founded H.E.L.P. Honduras (now HELP-International), a nonprofit organization originally focused on post-disaster relief and micro finance work in Honduras, which has expanded to emphasize economic self-reliance and micro finance principles in developing economies such as Peru, El Salvador, Venezuela and Thailand. She now sits on its board.
She received her PhD in organizational behavior from UNC Kenan-Flagler, her MBA from the Marriott School and an MA in international development from the David Kennedy School, both at Brigham Young University. She received her BA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Elisabeth Rhyne is ACCION International's senior vice president for Policy and Research and Development. She directs ACCION's research efforts to develop new financial products for the poor, and leads ACCION's microfinance industry development activities. Recognized as a leader in the field of microfinance, Ms. Rhyne has published numerous articles and four books on the topic. Her experience in microfinance includes her work as director of the Office of Microenterprise Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 1994 to 1998. From 1989 to 1993, she designed and coordinated USAID's GEMINI project, a microfinance research initiative responsible for publishing over 100 titles on microenterprise best practices. Prior to joining ACCION, she worked as an independent microfinance consultant based in Mozambique. Ms. Rhyne's consulting assignments have included advising several government banks on microfinance policy, as well as conducting diagnostic assessments and business planning for more than 10 microfinance institutions. Ms. Rhyne earned a master's and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. She holds a bachelor's degree in history and humanities from Stanford University.
THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SUSTAINABILITY (1:15-2:15 - Classroom D)
Michael Lenox, Associate Professor, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. Professor Lenox is Associate Professor of Strategy at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. He holds a secondary appointment as Associate Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke's Nicholas School of Environment. He is the area coordinator for the Fuqua School’s Strategy Area and the faculty director and founder of Duke’s new Corporate Sustainability Initiative. He also coordinates and teaches the core MBA strategy course. He received his Ph.D. in Technology Management and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999 and the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. Professor Lenox joined Fuqua after three years as an assistant professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.
Vanessa Stiffler-Claus is Manager of Federal Affairs for John Deere. In this role she serves as the company's main government affairs staff for energy and environmental issues, as well as issues of corporate and product liability, data security, and public infrastructure. She is the company's main representative to the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition of 33 businesses and environmental groups dedicated to securing passage of mandatory greenhouse gas legislation. Prior to joining John Deere in January 2007, she was Legislative Counsel for CH2M HILL, a multi-national consulting engineering firm. In that role, she handled all issues of energy, environment, and water resources. She is a graduate of American University and the University of Maryland School of Law, and completed several graduate certificates at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
Rob Whittier, Deloitte Consulting LLP Sustainability and Climate Change. Rob has experience in corporate sustainability, alternative energy, and green building. He has recently worked with clients in the financial sector to develop enterprise-wide sustainability strategies including planning their new product and service offerings and supporting their GHG inventories and reporting. Before joining Deloitte, Rob Whittier was a Director with General Electric’s ecomagination initiative, where he led cross-functional teams through the development of several new products as well as building bundled product and service offerings in the residential and commercial building sectors. Before that, he was a Program Manager with GE Energy where he worked on a variety of projects in alternative energies including wind, solar, and nuclear, and he helped develop the marketing analysis and strategy for GE’s rapid growth in wind energy. His experience in the "green" space extends beyond sustainability and carbon-free power generation into emerging technologies for resource conservation, energy efficiency and CR&S reporting and assurance. Rob completed his MBA at The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan with a focus on strategy and corporate sustainability. Rob is also Six-Sigma Black Belt Certified and a LEED accredited professional with the USGBC.
SOCIAL IMPACT FROM THE CORPORATE SECTOR (1:15-2:15 - Classroom B)
Matt Nash has been the Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business for the last three years. Before joining the Fuqua team, Nash served as a Senior Consultant in Strategy and Change Solutions with the Public Sector Practice at IBM Business Consulting Services. He earned his MBA from the Yale School of Management. After earning his undergraduate degree from Yale - where he received the graduation prize for public service - Nash volunteered with the US Peace Corps in Romania.
Evan Hochberg is the National Director of Community Involvement for Deloitte Services LP. In this role, he oversees the U.S. Firms’ national corporate citizenship and community involvement initiative, including providing strategic direction for philanthropy, volunteerism and workplace giving. Previously, Evan was the managing director of a national consulting firm that worked with major corporations and nonprofits on a range of strategic issues aimed at generating business and social impact from community activities. His clients included cutting-edge socially responsible corporations and leading nonprofits.
Sam Whitt is the Executive Director of Cherokee Gives Back. Prior to joining Cherokee, Mr. Whitt served as Chief Executive Officer of Wind Channel Communications, a wireless telecom company, which grew from start-up phase in 2003 until sold to a venture-backed company in 2006. From 1999 to 2003, he worked with technology companies, serving as Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel of MediaSpan Group, a media services company with over 200 employees and 4000 media customers, where he was responsible for legal, business development, HR and public relations matters.
Ruth McCullers Lee, Global Civic Councils Program Manager, Cisco Systems. Ruth McCullers Lee is the Global Civic Councils Program Manager for Cisco Systems, based in Research Triangle Park. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Ruth has been with Cisco 11 years and has nonprofit experience with Ruth Sheets Adult Care Center in Raleigh, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia, and serves on the board of Communities in Schools of Wake County. She currently lives in Raleigh with her husband and two children. Ruth has a special affinity for Duke, with both her mother and sister being alumnae.
INTERACTIVE SESSION: SPRINGBOARD WITH BURT’S BEES (11:45-1:15 - Classroom F)
Paula Alexander is Director, U.S. Marketing for Burt’s Bees, the $260 million leading natural personal care brand in the United States. She manages the brand in the U.S. and is responsible for all go to market activities including media, promotions, interactive and public relations. Prior to Burt’s Bees, Paula spent eight years in brand management at Unilever including managing the $600 million Dove bar and body wash business. Paula graduated from Texas A&M University with a BBA in Marketing in 1993 and from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with an MBA in 1998
Brian Berklich is Brand Manager, U.S. Marketing for Burt’s Bees, the $260 million leading natural personal care brand in the United States. He currently oversees the brand’s Cleansing categories as well as the company’s Kit business in the U.S. Brian began his brand management career at H.J. Heinz where he worked on brand positioning for the Smart Ones, Heinz HomeStyle and Boston Market brands. Brian graduated from Wake Forest University with a BA in Communications in 1997 and from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business with an MBA in 2004.