The Impact Report

Working to End Childhood Hunger In The U.S.: A Conversation with Billy Shore of Share Our Strength

Better Decisions With Better Data: A Conversation with Sarah Tuneberg, CEO & Co-Founder of Geospiza

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, Pi

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. 

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

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 grad

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 quali

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. IMPACTREPORTPODCAST.COM

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, an

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.

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

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 busi

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.  ImpactReportPod

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 Jonath

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 b

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 Fo

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. impactreportpodcast.com    

Taking the Trash Out of Takeout: Durham, NC’s GreenToGo Imagine checking out a takeout container like you would a library book. Instead of a Styrofoam clamshell that you have to throw out, you’d get a reusable box that you’d return for cleaning and redistribution to another diner. That’s the idea behind Durham, NC’s GreenToGo reusable takeout container service, which operates in local restaurants. Members use the GreenToGo mobile app to check out a reusable box for their takeout or leftovers from participating restaurant. Once they’re done with the box, they drop it back off, and it gets sanitized and returned, ready for the next customer. GreenToGo's mission is to disrupt the status quo of our take-and-trash economy, and to inspire and proliferate the circular economy everywhere. Since its launch in 2017, its containers have been used over 2,000 times, and it’s been featured in Fast Company and on the PBS NewsHour. Bard MBA alum Amy Campbell Bogie spoke with GreenToGo Founder Crystal Dreisbach about the

Leveraging Best Practices in Sustainability For Customers & Company Scott Tew’s sustainability journey began on his family’s produce farm in Alabama. There, he learned that “natural resources are precious gifts that need to be nurtured, protected, and never squandered.” Today, Tew’s the Exective Director of Ingersoll Rand’s Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (CEES). But, as he writes in Practicing Sustainability, in many ways he hasn’t travelled all that far from the farm. The CEES supports all of Ingersoll Rand’s strategic brands—Club Car, Ingersoll Rand, Trane and Thermo King—and is responsible for forward-looking sustainability initiatives aimed at transitioning to more efficient and climate-friendly solutions, and minimizing resource use within company facilities. The company has appeared as a top performer in both the U.S. and World Rankings for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). Tew’s efforts have led to the development of world class initiatives, including the introducti

Friendly Food on a Mission: A Conversation with Keeley Tillotson, CEO of Wild Friends Foods Keeley Tillotson started Wild Friends out of her dorm room with her co-founder and roommate, Erika Welsh. Seven years later, their women-run company distributes their unique, healthy nut butters nationally. On a mission to “make food friendly” for their customers, suppliers, and the planet, they make their products with short lists of clean ingredients, excluding palm oil, hydrogenated oils, and added sugar. Wild Friends’ giveback program donates 1% of sales to help women and girls fund their dreams. Their first non-profit partner, Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest, provides resources and opportunities for girls of all ages to grow up strong, smart and bold. Bard MBA candidate Caitlin O’Donnell spoke with Tillotson about creating a company culture, balancing fundraising and daily operations, and what keeps her going as a young entrepreneur. The Impact Report  brings together students and faculty in Bard’s MBA i