The Impact Report

#407: Gary J. Nix

Strategy As A Service: Gary J. Nix, Founder and Chief Strategist, The BRANDarchist

Gary J. Nix is a strategy executive who earned his stripes as a disruptor, innovator, and predictor in the entertainment, magazine publishing, and marketing industries. Known for merging traditional marketing principles with modern marketing techniques, he has used his in-house and agency experience with Fortune 500 companies to open the brandarchist: strategy as a service. Additionally, his expertise & distinct point-of-view has positioned him as a frequently sought after source in the advertising trades, guest lecturer, as well as a subject matter expert on ethics, culture, and community as a business necessity. Furthermore, his perspective led him to be named a 2020 Innovator by the Advertising Club of New York.

When not tending to his consultancy, he serves as a senior leadership member for 100 Roses from Concrete & The G.R.O.W.T.H. Initiative and a strategic advisor for the communications agency Bold Culture by Streamlined.

Bard MBA’s Olivia Taussig speaks with Gary for this episode of The Impact Report. 

 

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#406: Stacy Smedley

Addressing Embodied Carbon's Role in Climate Change: Stacy Smedley, Executive Director of Building Transparency

Building Transparency, a 501(c) nonprofit organization that provides open access data and tools that support broad and swift action across the building industry in addressing embodied carbon’s role in climate change.

Formed in 2020, Building Transparency hosts, manages and maintains the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, which provides thousands of digital EPDs in a free, open-source database. Building Transparency strives to provide the resources and education necessary to promote adoption of the EC3 tool, including through the official materialsCAN program, and works with global policymakers to shape a better building future.

In her role at Building Transparency, Stacy leads the continued management and development of the EC3 tool and works to educate and engage the building industry on actionably reducing embodied carbon emissions of building materials.

Bard MBA’s Sahara James & Kiana Cardwell speak with Stacy for this episode of the Impact Report.

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#405: Peter Krull

Investing for Good: Peter Krull, CEO & Director of Investments, Earth Equity Advisors

Peter Krull is a well-known leader in the green business community and a long-time advocate for fossil fuel free and sustainable, responsible and impact (SRI) investing.

He was selected to the 2018 Investopedia 100 list of the one hundred most influential financial advisors in America, and was one of the first individuals to earn the Chartered SRI Counselor™ designation from the College for Financial Planning.

His responsibilities at Earth Equity Advisors include managing all of the firm’s sustainable, responsible and impact portfolios. He also coordinates the firm’s marketing activities and works closely with the team to improve operations and processes.

He has guided Earth Equity Advisors rapid growth as well as the firm’s rise to prominence as a four-time Best for the World Certified B Corporation.

Bard MBA’s Johnathan Pham speaks with Peter for this episode of the Impact Report. 

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#404: Jessica Thurston

Media as a Mode for Social & Environmental Good:Jessica Thurston, Director, ESG Strategy at ViacomCBS

Jessica Thurston leads ViacomCBS’ environmental, social, and governance strategy. She oversees the development and implementation of key ESG programs across the global company, including ESG reporting and engagement with rankers, raters, and investors.

Jessica’s background is in ESG and sustainability strategy and communications. Previously, she worked at New York-based agencies supporting clients including Chipotle, Carhartt, Keurig Dr Pepper, Merck & Co., Inc., and more. She previously worked in sustainability at Tiffany & Co., and started her career at the U.S. General Services Administration, where she worked in sustainable procurement policy and communications.

Bard MBA’s Olivia Taussig speaks with Jessica for this episode of The Impact Report. 

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#403: Natasha Dyer

Making Cities More Resilient By Eliminating Food Waste: A Conversation with Natasha Dyer, Senior Recycling Program Coordinator for the City of Atlanta

In her role with the Mayor’s Office of Resilience, Natasha Dyer focuses on creating municipal programs that increase wasted food diversion from landfill as part of the City’s Climate Action and Food Access plans.  This includes programs that recover edible surplus food to feed food insecure residents and collaborating with external partners to create decentralized composting systems that then benefits local urban agriculture.  In her role with the City, she has also created and administers a citywide Sustainability Ambassador Leadership Program that graduates just under 100 participants per year.

Bard MBA's Emma Chandler speaks with Natasha for this episode of the Impact Report.

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#402: Paul Sellew

The Future of Agriculture is Local and Greenhouse-Grown: A Conversation with Paul Sellew

Paul Sellew, founder and chief executive officer of Little Leaf Farms, had a vision to grow lettuce in New England year-round after mastering the growing and distribution of greenhouse-grown tomatoes with his previous company, Backyard Farms.

Founded in 2015, Little Leaf Farms grows flavorful, crisp, leafy baby green lettuce in a state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, sustainable greenhouse facility in Devens, Mass. By innovating greenhouse growing, capturing rainwater, and using sunlight, Little Leaf Farms is an industry leader in controlled environment agriculture, allowing the company to grow lettuce and ship it to stores within 24 hours thereby surpassing competitors on taste and quality. Little Leaf Farms is able to reduce food miles and waste by growing locally as compared to 95 percent of the lettuce grown and trucked cross-country from California and Arizona. Using captured rainwater allows the company to use 90 percent less water than field-grown lettuces. Using natural sunlight over electric lights contributes to the company’s efficiency in growing practices. No human hands touch Little Leaf Farms’ lettuce throughout the growing process to ensure safe growing practices and to reduce any risk of contamination. A socially responsible company, Little Leaf Farms also works with nonprofit charity partners, Greater Boston Food Bank, Loaves to Fishes, and Daily Table, to name a few.

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#401: Karen Chovan

Reducing Risks for Responsible Mining: A Conversation with Karen Chovan, CEO & Founder of Enviro Integration Strategy

Enviro Integration Strategies is focused on helping leaders to rapidly integrate sustainable choices and practices into mining designs and operations. 

After 20 years in mining, CEO and Founder, Karen Chovan has gained a breadth of experience and knowledge working as a geological engineer and project manager. She has also worked as an organizational change agent helping teams to solve environmental problems, avoid risks in future major projects, and create programs and protocols to improve performance within the sustainability realm. From problem identification, all the way through to change implementation, Karen has helped teams get to the other side, and she has a very large network to find any unique support the project might need to get there.

Bard MBA’s Patrick Connolly speaks with Karen for this episode of the Impact Report. 

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#321: Karla Magruder

Collaborating to Accelerate the Textile Industry's Move From Linear to Circular: A Conversation with Karla Magruder, Founder & President of Accelerating Circularity 

Karla Magruder has 35 years of global experience from fiber to finished garments. Accelerating Circularity is a 501(c)3 with a mission to divert textiles from landfill and incineration for textile-to-textile circular supply chain systems.

Karla also founded Fabrikology International, a textile consulting company in 2003. She led the apparel launch of Ingeo fibers, the 1st manmade fiber created from 100% annually renewable resources and developed Textiles Exchange’s first preferred fiber and material strategy and their rPET Working Group. During her tenure leading the group she successfully facilitated a commitment of over 60 major brands and retailers to increase their recycled polyester use by 25% by 2020.  Karla is currently a Textile Exchange Governance Board member, UNFCCC Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action Steering Committee Member and Co-Chair of the Raw Material Working Group and a Gr3n Advisory Board Member.

Bard MBA's Kirstie Dabbs speaks with Karla for this episode of the Impact Report.

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#320: Ben Vandenwymelenberg

The Great Pivot: A Conversation with Ben Vandenwymelenberg, Chairman & Founder, WOODCHUCK USA

WOODCHUCK USA manufactures technology-driven wood products and specializes in customization. WOODCHUCK USA was founded with a simple mission: putting nature back into people's lives. Their passion is to be a daily reminder of our planet's vulnerability by using real wood products and planting a tree with every product sold. Their way of making a better world for future generations is us bringing jobs back to America while bringing quality products to our consumers. 

Ben founded WOODCHUCK USA as an undergraduate senior at the University of Minnesota and is the true visionary behind the company. Ben graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2012 with a degree in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. He grew up on a small farm in Wisconsin and learned the importance of strong morals, hard work, and a deep love for nature, which he infuses into everything the company does today. Ben was named “40 Under 40” by the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal, “Power 50” by Minnesota Business Magazine, and “32 Under 32” by the Minnesota Ad Federation.

For this episode of the Impact Report Series Producer, Katie Ellman speaks with Ben about entrepreneurship, learning from missteps and putting people and planet first in business.  

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#319: Jane Lawrie

Purpose, Prosperity & Priorities: A Conversation with Jane Lawrie, Global Head of Corporate Affairs at KPMG International.

Jane Lawrie joined KPMG International as the Global Head of Corporate Affairs in late 2019. With more than 30 years’ communications experience, Jane has worked for global brands including Coca-Cola, Diageo, Boots and most recently Tesco.  A member of the Tesco Executive Committee from 2016 to 2019 she led the Group Communications function through the company’s turnaround including the acquisition of Booker.  She led the Tesco Board Corporate Responsibility Committee and established a new sustainability program, The Little Helps Plan.

Throughout her experience, Jane has focused on stewarding businesses to make the right decisions to protect and shape reputation. She has fronted developments in companies from policy decisions through to digital investments. Jane was recognized as PR Week’s No1 Corporate Communicator in 2018. Jane sits on the Cass Global Women’s Leadership Council.\

Bard MBA's Molly Kiick speaks with Jane for this episode of the Impact Report.

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