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Stories from the front lines of business and sustainability innovation.
Episodes
Friday May 01, 2020
Friday May 01, 2020
Killing Color Trends in Fast Fashion: A Conversation with Journalist/Author Elizabeth Segran
Elizabeth Segran is senior staff writer at Fast Company, whose work has appeared in a range of publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Salon. Her latest book The Rocket Years was released on March 31, 2020 by Harper Collins.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in the field of South and Southeast Asian Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality. She is an expert on India, having devoted a decade to studying its history, literature, culture and gender dynamics.
She is a global nomad who grew up in Brussels, Paris, Singapore, Jakarta and London before moving to New York to attend Columbia University. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA with her books, her husband and her baby girl.
For this episode of the Impact Report, Bard MBA’s Kirstie Dabbs speaks with Elizabeth about her new book, the rise of fast fashion and the growing consumer desire and need for durable products that stand the test of time.
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Body Positive & Planet Positive Products For Women: A Conversation With Meika Hollender, Co-founder & President Of Sustain Natural
Meika Hollender is the Co-Founder and President of Sustain, the leading brand of all-natural, vagina-friendly sexual wellness and period care products. Also an author, activist, and entrepreneur, Meika has consistently made marketplace history with a myriad of product innovations in the sexual wellness space that redefine the stigmatized narrative around female sexuality..
Meika teamed up with her father Jeffrey Hollender, the Co-Founder and former CEO of Seventh Generation, to launch Sustain Natural in 2014. Speaking to the fact 40% of condom purchases were by women, the company introduced its flagship product—the world’s most sustainable condom. Sustain has since grown to include wipes, lubricant, and 100% organic cotton tampons and pads as well as reusable period products. Touting the 10%4Women initiative, 10% of all pre-tax profits benefit women’s reproductive healthcare organizations in the U.S.
In August 2019, Sustain was acquired by Grove Collaborative, a leading digital-first brand and e-commerce platform for natural home and personal care products. Meika joined the Grove Collaborative team as Head of Communications, while remaining President & Co-Founder of Sustain.
For this episode of the Impact Report, Bard MBA’s Michelle Aboodi speaks with Meika about social entrepreneurship, body positivity and reframing the conversation and market around sexual wellness.
Friday Apr 17, 2020
Friday Apr 17, 2020
How The 50th Anniversary Of Earth Day Is Going Virtual In The Face Of Covid-19: A Conversation With John Oppermann, Executive Director Of Earth Day Initiative
For this episode of the Impact Report, Bard MBA’s Kristin Hanczor speaks with John about how Earth Day is now more relevant than ever and how individuals and organizations can participate while social distancing.
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Friday Mar 06, 2020
Working to End Childhood Hunger In The U.S.: A Conversation with Billy Shore of Share Our Strength
Friday Feb 21, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Friday Feb 07, 2020
Playing for Change: How the Green Sports Alliance Mobilizes Sports Fans
16 leagues. 194 teams. 195 venues. Members of the Green Sports Alliance embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices—and they inspire millions of fans to follow their lead.
The Alliance believes that the sports industry is uniquely positioned to make large-scale impact in the environmental performance of many of the world’s largest public spaces. It also believes that sport teams place a special role in influencing citizens and mobilizing communities to action.
To find out more about how the Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote sustainable practices, Bard MBA student Kristin Hanczor spoke with Roger McClendon, the organization’s Executive Director.
McClendon joined the Alliance just over a year ago, after serving as the first ever Chief Sustainability Officer for Yum! Brands, whose holdings include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC. He and Kristin also spoke about McClendon’s own career journey and his decision to switch to the relatively niche world of green sports.
Friday Dec 20, 2019
Friday Dec 20, 2019
Smart Grids for the Future: A Conversation with John Radgowski, Vice President of Portfolio Management at Landis + Gyr
For more than 120 years, Landis+Gyr has been an industry leader in energy management solutions. Using their advanced metering infrastructure and other cutting-edge smart grid technologies, they’ve helped utility companies all over the globe improve their operations, protect their assets, lower their operating costs and provide better customer service. With a focus on quality, reliability, and innovation Landis+Gyr’s portfolio of products and services can help customers do the same and modernize their smart grid for the future.
John Radgowski is the Vice President of Portfolio Management for Landis+Gyr Americas. In this role, he is focused on providing cross-functional smart grid solutions that span from the customer to the grid operator.
Bard MBA's Molly Kiick speaks with John for this episode of the Impact Report.
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Friday Dec 06, 2019
Regenerating Natural Capital in the Rainforests of Costa Rica
When Amanda Wilson, Joshua Hughes and Sara Czarniecki founded Blacksheep Regenerative Resource Management in 2015, they committed to honoring their custormers, communities, workers, shareholders and the land.
Based on 178 acres in the rainforests of Costa Rica, the Blacksheep team works alongside local neighbors to regenerate degraded land into biodiverse mixed forests. Their competitively priced turmeric products are the result of the reforestation process, and they create livelihoods for Blacksheep’s worker-owners.
Now Blacksheep is scaling. The company offers a suite of services to help other teams start regenerative projects and to connect investors with landowners in environmentally exhausted areas. It’s also working to secure private investors to fund an agricultural processing center in Costa Rica.
Bard MBA students Michael Conway and PJ Connolly spoke with Wilson, Hughes and Czarniecki about why it’s important that businesspeople enter the agricultural space, the company’s services, and Blacksheep’s plans to scale.
Friday Nov 15, 2019
Friday Nov 15, 2019
Charging the Future By Making Batteries Obsolete: A Conversation Yuval Boger, CMO of Wi-Charge
Yuval Boger has served as chief executive, chief marketer and evangelist for technology companies from seed stage to NASDAQ. He led business and product development programs that generated over $200M in revenue.
Wi-Charge is the leader in long-range wireless power technology. WiFi eliminated the data cord, and Wi-Charge will eliminate most power cords. They provide a new way to power to smart, mobile and IoT devices, delivering more power than batteries and more freedom than power cords. Their patented light-based system is the only way of delivering several watts of power at room-sized distances while earning all required UL and government safety certifications. With Wi-Charge, devices appear to charge themselves without user intervention, cables or charging pads.
Mr. Boger holds an MBA from the Kellogg school at Northwestern University and a M.Sc. in Physics from Tel-Aviv University. He is also a TALPIOT graduate and laureate of the Israel Defense Award. He plays violin with the Columbia Orchestra, and once a year with the world-renowned Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Bard MBA alum Heather Bowden speaks with Yuval Boger for this episode of the Impact Report.
Friday Nov 01, 2019
Friday Nov 01, 2019
ESG Data and Nasdaq’s Leadership on Enhanced Disclosure
Nasdaq has promoted corporate responsibility for over a decade, playing its part in creating a more efficient and sustainable capital market system. Today, Nasdaq Global Head of Sustainability Evan Harvey and his team are at a nexus of companies, regulators, and investors working to enhance environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure.
Since 2014, the cost of ESG-related scandals and controversies at S&P 500 companies has amounted to $534M losses in market capitalizations—and that number is rising. After California power company PG&E’s recent bankruptcy filing and subsequent stock market plunge, forecasted outages due to risk of wildfires could cost the state economy more than $2B.
ESG is a data-driven attempt to understand long-term performance, and Nasdaq has co-authored reports that assist companies in identifying and disclosing ESG-related factors that are material to corporate performance, as well as addressing the gap in quality, reliable ESG data. Nasdaq is reminding capital players that the growth, transparency and standardization of ESG reporting will improve market efficiency.
MBA student Roxi Sharif spoke with Nasdaq’s Evan Harvey about how materiality can help manage ESG data and about SDG investing and reporting.