Published 09-27-04
Submitted by Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability NW
The conference kicks off with a plenary session featuring three thought-leaders in sustainable business - Bill Shireman, Anita Burke and Sarah Severn.
Called a "master of environmental entrepreneurism," Mr. Shireman has over 20 years of experience developing and implementing programs that align the interests of major corporations and their stakeholders. Shireman develops profitable business strategies that drive pollution down and profits up. As President and CEO of the Future 500, Shireman helps the world's largest companies and most impassioned activists - from Coca-Cola, General Motors, Nike, Mitsubishi, and Weyerhaeuser, to Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and the Sierra Club - work together to improve the profits and performance of business.
ANITA BURKE, Global advisor of operating strategies for delivering on the sustainability agenda - The Role of Business in Creating Healthy Communities
Anita M. Burke is internationally recognized as a business leader in the area of organizational change and transformation. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of how to deliver change and profits by reducing/eliminating ecological and social footprints of existing hydrocarbon industrial infrastructures and new exploration. Ms. Burke worked for Shell Canada as a Senior Advisor of Sustainable Development and Climate Change and recently as advisor to the Shell International Committee of Managing Directors on creating operational sustainable development and the energy portfolio implications of a carbon constrained future.
SARAH SEVERN - Director of Corporate Sustainable Development, Nike, Inc., USA - How Working with Nature can Contribute to your Company's Competitive Advantage
Under Sarah's guidance, Nike developed corporate policies and programs encompassing a range of environmental areas including organic cotton, PVC phase out, climate change and forest products. The Nike Environmental Action Team (NEAT) introduced environmental management systems into Nike owned and subcontracted footwear manufacturing operations that have subsequently been expanded to incorporate health, safety and labor aspects of manufacturing. The group also initiated programs related to product design and materials usage. In 1999 sustainability teams were established in the footwear and apparel business units and the work has expanded substantially. In that same year, NEAT launched a major sustainability learning initiative with a cross-functional group of managers to further stimulate the integration of sustainability into all business practices.
Profitable sustainable business models go beyond eco-efficiencies and waste reduction. Conference attendees will learn how to navigate successfully the growing economic, social and environmental challenges and pressures on business, and how to build top-line and bottom-line value through an integrated sustainability plan.
The Profitable Sustainability Conference is a three day intensive learning and demonstration event, which will:
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