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Stories from the front lines of business and sustainability innovation.
Episodes
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.
Friday Dec 18, 2020
Friday Dec 18, 2020
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.
Friday Dec 04, 2020
Friday Dec 04, 2020
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.
Friday Nov 20, 2020
Friday Nov 20, 2020
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.
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Leveraging Business to Protect Wild Places: A Conversation with Brady Robinson, Executive Director of the Conservation Alliance.
Brady Robinson is a conservationist, climber and educator whose career has included over a decade at Outward Bound and 11 years running the Access Fund, the national organization that keeps climbing areas open and conserved. He was Director of Strategy and Development for Tompkins Conservation, which creates terrestrial and marine national parks in Chile and Argentina, reintroduces missing species and conserves biodiversity, and now serves as the Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance, which works with businesses to fund and partner with organizations to protect wild places.
For this episode of the Impact Report, Bard MBA's Sean Reckert speaks with Brady about the need for better representation, diversity and inclusion in the conservation space and the future of this work in light of the pandemic.
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 30, 2020
Friday Oct 16, 2020
Friday Oct 16, 2020
Transforming Degraded Landscapes into Regenerative, Circular Economies: A Conversation with Neal Spackman of Regenerative Resources Co.
Neal Spackman is the CEO/Founder of Regenerative Resources Corporation. He lived and worked with tribes of bedou from 2010-2018 in Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia, where he cofounded and directed the Al Baydha Project. He is also the founder of Sustainable Design Masterclass, a free webinar series on the intersection of entrepreneurship, ecology, and agricultures. Neal is an alumni of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, and has a Bachelor's in Middle East Studies/Arabic from Brigham Young University.
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Parks for the People: A Conversation with Mitchell J.Silver
Mitchell J. Silver became Commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in May 2014. Commissioner Silver is also the immediate past president of the American Planning Association. He is an award-winning planner with more than 30 years of experience and he is internationally recognized for his leadership in the planning profession and his contributions to contemporary planning issues. He specializes in comprehensive planning, place making and implementation strategies. As Parks Commissioner, Mitchell Silver oversees management, planning and operations of nearly 30,000 acres of parkland, which includes parks, playgrounds, beaches, marinas, recreation centers, wilderness areas and other assets.
One of the nation’s most celebrated urban thinkers, Commissioner Silver has been elected to Planetizen’s list of the 100 Most Influential Urbanists (2017), and named an honorary member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (2017), a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences (2016), an honorary fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia (2015), a fellow of the American Planning Association (2014), and an honorary lifetime member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (2014). In addition, he has been honored as one of the top 100 City Innovators in the world by UBM Future Cities, and in 2012 the Urban Times named him one of the top international thought leaders of the built environment.
Bard MBA’s Sahara James, Justin McAmmond and Tessa Rainbolt speak with Commissioner Silver for this episode of the Impact Report.
This episode of The Impact Report is sponsored by reSET Social Enterprise Trust, a Hartford based organization advancing the social enterprise sector through its Impact Accelerator, Food Incubator, and advocacy work. reSET invites you to join our virtual Beyond Business as Usual conference on October 8th at 9am. Use code Bard2020 for a special discount. You can find more information at www.resetco.org
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Breaking the Mold on Investing: A Conversation with Lily Trager of Morgan Stanley
Lily S. Trager is an Executive Director and the Director of Investing with Impact and Head of Impact Solutions for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Since 2006, Lily has dedicated her career to sustainable and impact investing. Lily joined Morgan Stanley in 2014. In her current role, Lily works to provide individual, family and institutional clients with investment products, solutions, research and tools to capture the opportunities and mitigate risks posed by key sustainability and impact themes.
Previously, Lily worked for Veris Wealth Partners in New York, a Registered Investment Advisory focused exclusively on serving clients with interest in sustainable and impact investing, most recently as Head of Research & Due Diligence. Lily began her career at Cambridge Associates in Boston, where she worked on teams overseeing $3.9 billion in nonprofit, high-net-worth and foundation investment portfolios.
Lily was named to the 2018 class of MAKERS @ Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a recognition that celebrates women who are ground breakers, advocates, and innovators in their given field.
Lily earned a M.B.A in Sustainable Business from Presidio Graduate School (formerly Bainbridge Graduate Institute) and her B.A. in Anthropology from Bates College. She also co-founded Women Investing for a Sustainable Economy (WISE), a professional networking group in New York City with chapters in Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Toronto, London, Los Angeles and Philadelphia
Bard MBA's Emma Jenkins and Lucien Harlow-Dion speak with Lily for this episode of the Impact Report.
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Strong Returns, Measurable Impact: A Conversation with Alexa Blain and Fernando Alvarado of Deetken Impact
Deetken Impact is a Canadian impact investing firm.
Their priority is delivering strong, uncorrelated stable returns to clients. They differ from other firms in two striking ways: their focus is geographic and their mission is to make a social and environmental impact in the Americas, with a deeper focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, a region which — like other emerging markets — is projected to grow at 2x the rate of advanced economies in the next 5 years. Access to capital is necessary to capture and nurture this growth. Two, they focus investments on businesses and social enterprises that promote entrepreneurship, provide or improve access to basic services, and have a positive environmental impact. They seek-out untapped opportunities for growth in five different sectors that positively impact communities in the Americas.
Bard MBA's Leigh Anne Statuto and Stephanie Lavallato speak with Alexa and Fernando for this episode of the Impact Report.