MBA Intensive Featured SpeakersPodcasts from these sessions will be posted here shortly after this event. Part of the MBA in Managing for Sustainability program at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, different speakers will be featured each month. Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 pm ~ Whittemore Theater
Intentional Cities, Intentional Economies Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the founder and Executive Director of Global Community Initiatives (GCI), has over 25 years of experience working with municipal, regional, and state government in the United States and internationally. She has served as a City Manager, a Regional Planning Director, Senior Planner for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy Resources, the Deputy Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, and as an international specialist on sustainable community development. Her international experience has included work with the United Nations Environmental Program, the United Nations Development Program, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, the International City/County Management Association, the Academy for Educational Development, and Earth Charter International. In addition to her academic training in public policy (M.A. Brown University), she has done Ph.D. work in international environmental policy at the University of British Columbia, and theological studies at the Andover Newton Theological School. She currently serves as the President of Vermont Earth Institute, and was on the founding board of the Vermont Peace Academy and the Twinfield Learning Center. GCI has offices in Montpelier, Vermont, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Her book, The Key to Sustainable Cities: Meeting Human Needs, Transforming Community Systems, and a new workbook Taking Action for Sustainability: The EarthCAT Guide to Community Development, are being used by several communities to initiate an innovative new planning process – including the City of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and the City of Newburgh, NY. The approach is based on using universal human needs as a starting point for engaging in a multi-stakeholder process, building on assets, and using a whole system understanding that identifies critical leverage points for change. She lives in Montpelier, Vermont, with her husband, George, and her son, Dylan, and is a member of the Plainfield Friends Meeting.
Elizabeth Bankowski - New Chapter - Brattleboro VT "Doing Good by Doing Good": Making the business case for social and environmental responsibility "Doing good by doing good" was a founding principle of Ben & Jerry's, similar to what Bill Gates referred to as creative capitalism in his recent speech at Davos. In her presentation, Bankowski will define CRS as business strategy derived from the Ben & Jerry's model and extend that to the recognition of this practice by mainstream companies like Wal-Mart. She will talk about the challenges of integrating CRS with business strategy and day-to-day operations, focusing on the role of those who will have this responsibility in their workplaces, as well as the need for systems and practices that assure transparency, credibility and measurement. As Senior Director for Ben & Jerry's from 1991 through 2001, Liz Bankowski was one of, if not the first, executive in a public company to hold a position with broad responsibility for corporate social and environmental responsibility. While at Ben & Jerry's, she was involved with the start-up of the national organization Businesses for Social Responsibility and served on the board of The Social Venture Network, a national organization of entrepreneurs and philanthropists. Currently she is working with New Chapter, a Brattleboro-based, national vitamin and supplements company.
PREVIOUS PRESENTATIONS Feb 23rd Alex Wilson, founder and president of BuildingGreen, Inc., discusses green architecture and urban planning, and shares his impressions of his recent research trip to Southern Sweden Listen Jan 17th Jeb Spaulding speaks on Vermont's Socially Responsible Investing Listen September 2006 - Mark Albion talks about Values-Based Leadership Listen
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