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Stories from the front lines of business and sustainability innovation.
Episodes
Friday May 07, 2021
Friday May 07, 2021
Improving the Lives of Pets, Pet Parents & the Planet: A Conversation with Francesca Mahoney of Petco
An accomplished retail leader, Francesca Mahoney leads Petco’s sustainability strategy and works with business leaders across operations, products, and supply chain to advance sustainability and drive strategic growth. She is passionate about creating a better planet for pets and pet parents alike and has been the driving force in Petco’s recent industry-leading commitment to increasing its assortment of sustainable pet products to 50% by the end of 2025. She has also spent more than a decade transforming teams, building brands and leading marketing strategies for renowned companies. Before joining Petco, she worked at Target Corporation for +10 years in a variety of Merchandising and Marketing roles.
Bard MBA Alum Cory Skuldt speaks with Francesca for this episode of the Impact Report.
- Petco Sustainable Product Shop: https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/category/sustainable-products-shop
- Petco Corporate Responsibility home page: https://corporate.petco.com/corporate-responsibility
- Sustainable Brands Op-Ed on transforming the pet industry, by Francesca and Cory: https://sustainablebrands.com/read/product-service-design-innovation/how-sustainable-choices-for-pet-parents-can-drive-industry-transformation
Friday Apr 30, 2021
Friday Apr 30, 2021
Touching the Future of Textiles: Nicole Meier, Director of Branding at Ultrafabrics
Ultrafabrics is reshaping the world of leather-free performance fabrics. Operating on three continents with over five decades of expertise, Ultrafabrics innovates in sync with emerging customer needs to create versatile solutions for any surface, and for a multitude of industries. Every fabric coming out of their mill is a premium, sustainable and intelligent product that speaks to—and elevates—the senses.
They are dedicated to innovation and sustainability and are always improving to continuously deliver superior performance fabrics.
As a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Nicole Meier utilizes her merchandising background to position Ultrafabrics as the premier animal-free performance fabric across a variety of worldwide sectors. During her tenure, she has introduced educational programs, material donation and community partnerships while overseeing content development and the overall brand experience. Together with a consulting firm, she leads the Ultrafabrics’ sustainability committee and ensures the strategy is integrated throughout the company.
Bard MBA’s Isobel Modica speaks with Nicole for this episode of the Impact Report.
Friday Apr 23, 2021
Friday Apr 23, 2021
Population empowers home and fashion brands to embed an integrated approach to sustainability into their business models, brand strategy and marketing. As consultants they blend the creative and strategic to build authentic narratives, safeguarding against performative marketing and greenwashing.
From widespread extraction and pollution to over-consumption and waste, industries had been reckoning with their impacts on the planet. We were already at a tipping point, when a global pandemic hit. Fashion brands cancelled orders leaving numerous manufacturers and workers unpaid. Not long after, garment workers put their own health and safety at risk making PPE. And in the midst of all this, George Floyd’s murder catalyzed a racial reckoning and a wave of wokewashing. It may not seem like it, but these problems are interconnected.
For this special episode of the Impact Report, Series Producer, Katie Ellman speaks with Population co-founders Lauren Hill and Catherine Tedrow and their co-host of the Unspun podcast series, Danielle Arzaga.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
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.
ImpactReportPodcast.com
Friday Apr 02, 2021
Friday Apr 02, 2021
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.
Friday Mar 19, 2021
Friday Mar 19, 2021
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.
Friday Mar 12, 2021
Friday Mar 12, 2021
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.
ImpactReportPodcast.com
Friday Mar 05, 2021
Friday Mar 05, 2021
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.
Friday Feb 26, 2021
Friday Feb 26, 2021
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.
Friday Feb 12, 2021
Friday Feb 12, 2021
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.