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The Future of Business is Both Profitable and Sustainable

The Future of Business is Both Profitable and Sustainable

Published 09-27-04

Submitted by Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability NW

SEATTLE - Sustainability is good for the bottom line and the Profitable Sustainability Conference equips companies for success. Sponsored by the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability and the Future 500, this benchmark conference gives companies the tools needed for conservation of resources, social and environmental best practices and accountability to a wide circle of stakeholders.

The conference kicks off with a plenary session featuring three thought-leaders in sustainable business - Bill Shireman, Anita Burke and Sarah Severn.

    BILL SHIREMAN, CEO, Future 500 - Profitable Sustainability: The Key to Triple Bottom Line Success

    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.

The speakers and panelists during this three day conference include a who's who of sustainable business leaders, including Hunter Lovins, President, Natural Capitalism, Inc.; Michael Braungart, co-author Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things; Brian and Mary Nattrass, Sustainability Partners and authors of Dancing with the Tiger, Michael Phillips, Chairman, the Russell Investment Group; Oystein Dahle, Chairman, WorldWatch Institute; Aileen Carrell and Ben Packard from Starbucks Coffee Company.

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:

  • Equip businesses with the tools needed to embed sustainability throughout the workplace.
  • Showcase best practices and groundbreaking companies, both local and international.
  • Highlight the triple bottom line‚ benefits of sustainability, increased environmental, financial and community value.
  • Develop and strengthen partnerships between business and the public sector to advance sustainability and propel businesses into the future.
The conference is September 27-29 at the Westin Hotel in Seattle. More information is available at the conference website www.nbis.org/conference. For more information contact Mary Rose at the Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability at 425.828.0982 or 425.445.2600.

Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability NW

Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability NW

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