4.21.2008 - 05:59pm ET

(CSRwire) NEW HAVEN, CT – April 21, 2008 - Gifford Pinchot III, President and Cofounder of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, delivered the keynote address Thursday to Yale University's Conference of Governors on Climate Change alongside Theodore Roosevelt IV. Five governors, former EPA head, Christine Todd Whitman, and several foreign dignitaries gathered to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Conference of Governors, which launched the modern conservation movement and spurred the development of the national park system and to honor Pinchot's grandfather and Roosevelt's great-grandfather.

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt I called a Conference of Governors to address the issue of land preservation in the United States. Gifford Pinchot I, at the invitation of the President, attended as the leading conservation specialist and keynote speaker. Pinchot was the first head of the U.S. National Forest Service and is commonly referred to as the "Father of the Conservation Movement." Washington State's Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which contains Mt. Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument, was named after Pinchot I.

"I was sheep-dipped in the environmental movement from a very early age," chuckled a grinning Gifford Pinchot III, "whenever the Roosevelts came to the Pinchot household several things were always discussed: land use; boxing and wrestling."

Pinchot I has followed in his grandfather's footsteps as a life-long conservationist and now as the head of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, which is pioneering sustainable business education. Says Pinchot, "I believe we need to teach business education on the triple bottom line [profit, people and planet] instead of solely using profit as the gauge of success. If business takes the lead in the conservation movement, we can change the world".

About Bainbridge Graduate Institute

BGI was born six years ago when Co-Founder and President, Gifford Pinchot, a renowned business consultant, realized that the nation's graduate business schools were churning out one-dimensional MBA graduates with solid short-term profit-maximization skills, but lacking a deep understanding of how to integrate social and environmental issues into business decisions.

"As business leaders become more dominant in shaping our society and as business has increasing impact on climate and planetary life support systems, it is deeply important that business leaders take a broader view of their responsibilities," Pinchot says.

The Institute's pioneering MBA in Sustainable Business prepares a diverse group of leaders to build enterprises that are economically successful, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. The innovative curriculum preserves the rigor of a traditional MBA program, while infusing sustainability-including both environmental and social responsibility-throughout every course.

Enrollments in BGI's programs have increased more than twelve-fold from 14 students in 2002 to over 180 in the spring of 2008. The MBA in Sustainable Business is a hybrid program combining 4-day weekend residentials with long distance web-based learning. Most BGI students work full time. MBA classes are held at Islandwood on Bainbridge Island, Washington, just outside of Seattle. BGI's certificate classes in Sustainable Business and in Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship are held weeknights in downtown Seattle and on weekends at Islandwood, respectively. The programs attract students from across the US and Canada.

Let's Change Business for Good

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