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Stories from the front lines of business and sustainability innovation.
Episodes
Friday Oct 18, 2019
Friday Oct 18, 2019
The View From 20—GM’s Global Sustainability Energy Manager Reflects on Changes at the Automaker
Rob Threlkeld, Global Manager of Sustainable Energy, Supply and Reliability for General Motors, began his career at the automaker as manager of the powerhouse and wastewater treatment plant operations at GM’s Lordstown, Ohio assembly complex.
In the almost 20 years since, his sustainability career has grown alongside the company’s sustainability commitment. From an initial focus on energy efficiency, both his role and the company’s efforts have expanded to encompass renewable energy procurement and EV integration. General Motors is now on track to meet the electricity needs of its global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Bard MBA student Sahara James spoke with Threlkeld about how GM has responded to changes in the renewables landscape, how company leadership reacted to his team’s pitch to join RE100, and why there’s still power in numbers.
Friday Oct 04, 2019
Friday Oct 04, 2019
A Behind-the-Scenes Account of McDonald's Sustainability Journey: An Interview with Bob Langert
Starting in the 1980s, McDonald’s was repeatedly challenged on hot-button social and environmental issues by powerful NGOs. It spent over a decade in defensive mode, as groups like Greenpeace and PETA demanded that the company rethink its approach to issues like packaging, animal welfare, deforestation, and nutrition.
Eventually, though, the mega brand shifted to strategically solving issues with NGO partners. As it integrated sustainability into its core mission, it began to rebuild brand health with consumers.
Former McDonald’s VP of Sustainability Bob Langert recounts the company’s sustainability journey in his new book, The Battle to Do Good. It’s an insider’s view of the company’s highs and lows, as well as a guide to making business stronger and more relevant.
Bard MBA alum Ben Volk spoke with Langert about the company’s toughest challenges, how McDonald’s made the shift to integrating sustainability, and where it can continue to lead by example.
Friday Sep 20, 2019
Friday Sep 20, 2019
Waste-less School Supplies: Wisdom Supply Co.’s Mission to Reduce Plastic Waste, An Interview with Founder, Heather Itzla
Unless you have school-age children, you may not realize that we’ve just come through the second biggest shopping season of the year. According to Deloitte’s July 2019 Back-to-School Survey, US shoppers will have spent $27.8 billion, or $519 per student, on everything from clothing to calculators. Of that, $6.1 billion will have gone to purchasing school supplies.
Heather Itzla reads that last figure and thinks plastic waste. Realizing how back-to-school shopping encourages the rote purchase of disposable plastics, Itzla and partner Nicole Kozlowski founded Wisdom Supply Co. to provide affordable, zero-waste alternatives to most school supplies.
The company’s paper-covered binders are 100% recyclable. Its refillable dry erase markers feature aluminum barrels and replaceable nibs. Its highlighters are made of wood and wax. Plus, Wisdom Supply Co. has been a B Corp since its 2017 launch.
Impact Report producer Katie Ellman spoke with Itzla about the company’s origin story, how it designs its products, and why affordability is a key component of its mission.
The Impact Report brings together students and faculty in Bard’s MBA in Sustainability program with leaders in business, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.
Friday Sep 06, 2019
Friday Sep 06, 2019
Rethinking Wealth & Investing for Impact: A conversation with Matthew Weatherley-White,Co-Founder of Caprock
The principal architect of Caprock’s Impact Investing Platform and the creator of the now-independent impact reporting platform iPAR,Matthew is a sought-after speaker and thought leader in the discipline, most recently being honored as an Industry Pioneer. In addition to keynoting conferences and lecturing at leading business schools around the world, he serves as a strategic advisor to several Impact Investing funds, and has appeared in Barron’s, Yahoo Finance TV, International Business Daily, Bloomberg Business Week, Journal of Philanthropy, Forbes, Conscious Company, The New York Times, Financial Times and many more. More recently, he successfully shepherded two pieces of legislation through the Idaho Statehouse, the first authorizing Pay For Success Contracting and the second awarding legal status to businesses structured as Benefit Corporations.
Prior to co-founding Caprock, Matthew was a partner in The Owyhee Group, a boutique advisory team within Smith Barney. During his thirteen years with the company, he was a member of Citigroup’s elite Leadership Development Program and helped craft the firm’s Private Wealth Management platform. Matthew graduated from Dartmouth College, has competed internationally in five different sports and continues to serve as a Director for the Lee Pesky Learning Center, an organization he helped launch 20 years ago.
Bard MBA’s Emma Jenkinsspoke with Matthew in the fall of 2018 about his career journey, investing for impact and the advice he would give to someone just starting out in the field.
Friday Aug 30, 2019
Friday Aug 30, 2019
The Blue, Green and Orange Economies Merge in St. Lucia’s Sustainable Development Agenda: A Conversation with Dr. Gale Rigobert
Dr. Gale TC Rigobert made history in 2014 by becoming the youngest and first female Leader of the Opposition in St. Lucia. Then in 2016, when her United Workers Party won the federal election, she was appointed Minister of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development for the Eastern Caribbean island nation.
Passionate about the ways in which policy, education and innovation intersect in sustainable development, Rigobert works to leverage business to protect the wellbeing of St. Lucians. As she remarks, for St. Lucia, sustainable development is about “the urgent need for survival.”
Bard MBA student Jesse Gerstin spoke with Rigobert about the role of the private sector in sustainable development and her approach to “people-centered” engagement.
The Impact Report brings together students and faculty in Bard’s MBA in Sustainability program with leaders in business, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Friday Aug 16, 2019
Building a Brighter, More Equitable World: A Conversation with Dory Trimble of the Honnold Foundation
“There’s no point supporting environmental causes that don’t support standards of living to help people.” Adventure rock climber Alex Honnold came to that realization in 2010, when he traveled to Chad on an expedition. Struck by local communities’ lack of access to power, Honnold began to think about how he could impact global inquality while addressing climate change.
Two years later, when Honnold and fellow climber Maury Birdwell founded the Honnold Foundation, they came to another realization: solar power is the solution. Today, the Foundation addresses inequality by supporting solar energy initiatives worldwide. It awards grants to bold and ethical organizations driving innovation in the solar industry.
Bard MBA alum Sam Monkarsh spoke with Honnold Foundation Executive Director Dory Trimble about the Foundation’s mission, how the organization has evolved, and why it focuses on solar.
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Friday Jun 28, 2019
Cooperating to Bring the Good: A Conversation with Jonathan Reinbold
In 1988, a handful of Midwest family farmers fed up with the state of American agriculture gathered at the Viroqua, WI courthouse to talk about doing farming differently. Thirty years later, the farmer-owned cooperative they started, Organic Valley, represents more than 2,000 farmers in 34 US states and achieved $1.1 billion in 2018 sales.
Building on its founding mission of saving family farms through organic farming, Organic Valley has embraced a wide range of sustainability initiatives. It has committed to switching all of its remaining fossil fuel-based electricity to renewables by this year. It keeps the distance its milk travels as short as possible via a regional distribution model that includes a biofuel-powered fleet. And its Grassmilk products use dairy from 100% grass-fed cows, promoting animal and soil health, and sequestering C02.
Bard MBA alum Ben Volk spoke with Organic Valley’s then Senior Manager of Sustainabiltiy Jonathan Reinbold in the fall of 2018. They talked about the company’s cooperative business model, its new community solar initiative, and the future of the industry as a whole.
Friday Jun 07, 2019
Friday Jun 07, 2019
Canvas is on a mission to create a world of superhealthy people: A conversation with founder, Sarah Pool.
Sarah is the Co-Founder & CEO of Canvas, a healthy beverage company committed to improving individual and global health through functional nutrition and innovative technology applications. Sarah is the former Founder/CEO of Pacific Superfood Snacks, later acquired by Made In Nature. Sarah is a graduate of UC-Berkeley (M.A., B.A.).
Canvas is creating a new category of functional health beverages for improving the microbiome. Utilizing plants and science, our beverages are designed to optimize digestion and overall well-being.
Canvas is driven by a dynamic, intelligent, and passionate team committed to improving individual and global health through functional nutrition, innovative technology applications, and better food systems.
Their mission is to create a world of superhealthy people.
Partnering with VX Ventures and InBev, Canvas is using new technology to utilize spent brewers grain in their beverages. This process will prevent billions of pounds of grain from being discarded each year and will provide a nutritious drink option to people worldwide.
Bard MBA Alum Alexander Lykins spoke with Sarah in Fall 2018 about entrepreneurship in the food industry and how upcycling spent brewers grain is a game changer for the industry.
Friday May 17, 2019
Friday May 17, 2019
Investing in Peace Through Innovation: A Conversation with Shiva Sarram of the Blossom Hill Foundation
A world where conflict-affected children thrive. The vision of the Blossom Hill Foundation drives its mission to invest in solution-driven initiatives for refugees and internally displaced communities.
Over the last nine years, the Foundation has supported almost 56,000 war-affected children in 10 countries by funding breakthrough ideas through its Fellowship program. It invests in products like apps that teach literacy, projects such as STEM education centers near refugee camps, and programs like art, music and sports therapy that help refugee children develop critical life skills.
Fellowships offer up to $50,000 per year to fund innovative projects. Fellows must demonstrate their commitment to social change, as well as the need for and potential impact of their idea.
Bard MBA student Esra Elshafey spoke with Blossom Hill founder Shiva Sarram about the work of some of its current fellows and how the Foundation measures impact. Sarram was born and raised in Tehran during the devastating Iran-Irag war and has resided in the US since the early 1980s. Her passion for war-affected children as well as her education in economic development led her to the Blossom Hill vision.
Friday May 03, 2019
Friday May 03, 2019
SUSTAINABILITY IN SPORTS: Conversations with Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, Rocky Harris and Kaitlin Sandeno
According to Forbes the sports industry’s projected worth is to grow to over $70 billion this year. In January 2019, the New York Yankees became the first sports team in history to create the position of Environmental Science Advisor to its staff. The legendary sports franchise chose Dr. Allen Hershkowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council, ex-President of the Green Sports Alliance and Founding Director of Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI) for this role.
Bard MBA student Alexandra Criscuolo, an athlete in her own right, spoke with Dr. Hershkowitz, Rocky Harris, CEO of USA Triathlon and Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Kaitlin Sandeno about sustainability in sports and how the field is primed to move fans and society toward a more sustainable future beyond the sporting arena.