Past Events
Spring 2012
Can a big company be agile, resilient and innovative in the same way that a smaller company can? How does a small, innovative company grow to scale quickly? New models of collaboration between corporations and social entrepreneurs are emerging that seek to answer "yes" to both of these questions by rolling out innovative models of social enterprise through the global operations of global corporations. Waste Management's recent investment in Recyclebank is one example of how it's being done. Join the Center for Responsible Business, Recyclebank, and Waste Managemeent to discuss innovative models to scale sustainable innovation. Speakers include
- Ian Yolles, CSO, Recyclebank
- Joseph Vaillancourt, Managing Director Organic Growth, Waste Management, Inc.
On February 17th, the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative (BERC) will be hosting a Resources Roundtable event focused on solutions to problems associated with electronic waste. Confirmed speakers currently include:
- Barbara Kyle, Executive Director Electronics, TakeBack Coalition
- James Kao, CEO, Green Citizen
- Heidi Sanborn, Executive Director, California Product Stewardship Council
- Dustin Mulvaney, Professor, San Jose State University
- Francis Valluzzo Manager, State & Local Government Affair Eastern US, Dell
- Renee St. Denis, VP Business Development Americas, Sims Recycling
- Mark Robards, Vice President Sales & Marketing, ECS REFining
- Sheila Davis, Executive Director, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
- Tony Kingsbury, Executive in Residence, Haas School of Business.
The East Bay Haas Alumni Network in Partnership with the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship is excited to offer a discussion with Paul Rice, Founder, and CEO of Fair Trade USA and Jennifer Walske, Director of Social Entrepreneurship, UC Berkeley on the topic of "What it takes to Scale the Social Venture."
Capital is perhaps one of the most essential ingredients for changing the world. From microfinance to venture capital, institutions' decisions on the flow of money play a significant role in the degree and direction of positive social impact. This year, Net Impact Berkeley Undergrad, in association with Haas School's Center for Responsible Business, is proud to host the first annual Kaleidoscope titled "Funding Sustainability: A Greener, Profitable Future." This speaker-panel event engages UC Berkeley students with professionals to explore the opportunities and challenges of funding sustainable projects and businesses. Speakers include
- Manao Keegan, SVP Cleantech & Emerging Technology Group, Wells Fargo
- Chad Spitler, Director of Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment, BlackRock
- Ed Heacox, VP Solar Inverters, Advanced Energy
A select group of SAP executives and Haas MBAs join in facilitated conversation to envision what a sustainable future looks like for SAP. Student participants will have the opportunity to engage with SAP executives from across the company, gain deep insight into how SAP currently integrates sustainability into its corporate strategy, and influence executives' vision for SAP's future.
The session will be facilitated by CRB Faculty Director Kellie McElhaney.
When companies evaluate the sustainability of their products and systems, measuring social impacts is typically a significant challenge. While life-cycle assessment tools can be used to measure environmental impacts with a reasonable degree of accuracy, there are no similarly robust tools for social impacts. It can also be difficult to determine which metrics for social impact are most important for supply chains to prioritize. This roundtable will help companies prioritize key metrics, and will help researchers find gaps in current understanding of social metrics to guide future research and to develop new tools.
Fall 2011
The Berkeley-Haas Center for Responsible Business and The European Center for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) at Maastricht University presented the conference, "Finance and Responsible Business Practices: Research, Practice and Policy". The conference brought together leading practitioners and researchers working at the intersection of finance and sustainability.
Today's most innovative companies are moving beyond traditional conceptions of corporate responsibility and sustainability and integrating social productivity into their core business, particularly in the value chain. Forming public/private partnerships, developing inclusive business models, and investing in value chain-related infrastructure drives both business and social value in emerging markets. Representatives from FSG Social Impact Consultants, Nestle, and Dow will discuss how leading companies are creating shared value in their value chains.
A coral reef a swarm with ocean life. A honeybee busy over a flower. A forest standing silent guard over a river. These everyday sights of nature bring us joy, wonder, and comfort.
But can we quantify the benefits nature gives us that go beyond aesthetics? In a world with poverty and hunger, how can we justify paying so much attention to conservation and the environment? The answer is simple: Human well‐being depends on the benefits that nature provides for free, every day and everywhere. Humans depend on ecosystems such as forests and coral reefs for clean water, fertile soils, food, fuel, storm protection, minerals and flood control. Join expert panelists from The Dow Chemical Company, The Nature Conservancy and UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources to discuss the emergence and importance of ecosystem services. Lunch provided for the first 50 students. Space is limited, so please sign up as soon as possible. This event is private to Haas students.
Sustainability continues to be a much debated term and growing area of focus for academia, industry, government and non-profits alike. Understanding the emerging trends in sustainability will be important for leaders across all sectors and as our own Dean Rich Lyons indicated in a recent Economist.com blog post, what the world needs is "path-bending leaders" who can correct the unsustainable commercial paths where straight-line continuations don't work. What are these "unsustainable paths" that pose both significant responsibility as well as opportunity? Where are private equity firms placing sustainability bets? In what areas are firms making sustainability commitments and investments? Join the conversation with Will Rosenzweig, Managing Director of sustainable living-focused venture capital firm, Physic Ventures and Mark Lee, Executive Director of leading consulting firm, SustainAbility. Lunch provided for the first 50 students. Space is limited, so please sign up as soon as possible.
Meet Patagonia's VP of Sustainability, Rick Ridgeway, and learn about the clothing company's plan to improve environmental and social impacts throughout the supply chain. Patagonia has a long history as a leader in sustainability, and is now going even farther, with marketing and consumer engagement playing a key role. Rick will share the backstory behind the Footprint Chronicles and explain how they fit into Patagonia's new "Common Threads" program, which aims to engage consumers at every stage of the product's lifecycle, including encouraging consumers to actually buy less. Rick will also share details about the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a major industry group Patagonia helped found last year. The October issue of Harvard Business Review will include an article Rick wrote about the coalition as the lead story.
Resource shortages, shifts in technology and transparency, and changing consumption patterns are changing the way businesses manage their value chains. Representatives from Levi's, Nike, and Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting share in-depth perspectives and frameworks on how social and environmental issues that were once considered "outside the fence" are being used to drive innovation, uncover opportunities to cut costs and expand market share. Lunch will be provided and participants will receive a discount on purchases from Levi's onsite retail store.
Hear from one of the world's leading electronics companies about how product design has transformed the sustainability of their laptops, phones, and other products. Through careful design, they've acheived a position of environmental leadership in their industry. Lunch provided for the first 50 students.
The Center can assist you in thinking strategically about your career objectives and offer you a structured approach to tackling the job market. Personalized services offered by the Career Center include:
- Henry Chesbrough, Executive Director, Center for Open Innovation, Haas (moderator)
- Matt Plante, Vice President of Sales, EnerNOC
- Kevin Casey, Founder and CEO, New Avenue
- Santokh Badesha, Xerox Fellow and Manager Open Innovation at Xerox
- Nancy Keith-Kelly, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, HP
Why view resource limitations, growing waste streams, and uninformed consumers as a barriers to your business when they can BE your business? Startups like New Avenue and EnerNOC are building their strategy around what were once seen as challenges to traditional business. Industry giants like HP and Xerox are innovating new business models with inspiration from both internal and external sources. Panelists from companies pioneering new markets stemming from what are traditionally viewed as limitations share their inspirations and successes.
- Sustainability representative, Levi's
- Dr. Omar Romero-Hernandez, LCA expert
As businesses work to improve the environmental sustainability of products and services, lifecycle analysis (LCA) is increasingly used to understand environmental impacts and identify leverage points for change. This workshop will give MBA students and a select number of executives the opportunity to learn the basics of LCA. By the end of the afternoon, participants will understand what an LCA is, how it is typically performed, and how to interpret results to make business decisions. A company will explain how they've used LCA in real-world situations, and an engineering expert will explain the basics of the technical process.
Travis Lee, Sustainable Engineering Lead, Lunar Design
This workshop introduced participants to design thinking and dive deeper into the "synthesis" phase of the design thinking process. Led by sustainability expert from one of the world's leading design firms, the workshop focused on a campus sustainability issue-- food waste-- and solutions will be considered for implementation at UC Berkeley.
>> Download the syllabus
Business leaders need sophisticated tools for decision-making that account for complexity and uncertainty in an increasingly volatile and interconnected world. Whether thinking strategically in highly regulated sectors like energy or planning for the long-term in resource-reliant sectors like consumer products, the concept of "sustainability" has provided a lens to deal with the strategic, marketing, and policy aspects of sustainable business.
This workshop goes a step further and explore the financial aspects unique to sustainability issues confronted by businesses.
Workshop description
This workshop is based on the assumption that the frameworks provided by economics and finance can, with appropriate modifications, help us understand and deal with the unique issues faced by a sustainable business.
The workshop will
- Focus primarily on environmental issues as they relate to financial decision-making- Modify existing economic and financial frameworks in an attempt to evaluate the effects of new and emerging regulatory and strategic environmental issues on the value of projects and firms
- Evaluate not only the private benefit, but also the social value, created or destroyed by a project and therefore the firm
** For students, the class Corporate Finance is a prerequisite; for professionals, significant corporate finance/ financial sector experience is required. If you're unsure if you qualify, please email Will Morrison.
- Dara O'Rourke, co-founder, Good Guide
- Drummond Lawson, Director of Sustainability, Method Products Inc.
- Alexis Limberakis, Director of Environmental Sustainability, Clorox
- Ian Foraker, Integrated Demand-side Management, PG&E
- Michael Kobori, Vice-President, Social and Environmental Sustainability, Levi Strauss & Co
Although much attention has been given to the impacts of consumer behavior, less work has been done on how to effectively change it. With the price of inputs on the rise and resource constraints putting disrupting business as usual, influencing consumer behavior has become more important that ever. Companies have started to mold consumer decisions through product design, pre-purchase education, post-purchase influence and design for end-of-life. Panelists from Clorox, PG&E, Method, and Good Guide will talk about the opportunities to better engage consumers in progress towards sustainability, whether that means encouraging them to buy less or buy differently.
- Sara Beckman, Haas School of Business, moderator
- Dawn Danby, Sustainable Design Program Manager, Autodesk
- Travis Lee, Sustainable Engineering Lead, Lunar Design
- Marcus Hays, Founder, Pi Mobility
In this panel, companies on the cutting edge of sustainable product design share innovative strategies for designing better offerings, so that consumers have better options to choose from. Panelists will share design strategies that go beyond the usual considerations of materials or manufacturing-- including ideas about design for end-of-life, design for upgradeability, design for durability/heirloom design, and more.
Kal Patel, President, Asia Region and EVP, Best Buy in conversation with Aron Cramer, President and CEO of BSR
How do you promote innovative products and business models in the Chinese context?
How do you engage Chinese employees, customers and stakeholders in conversations around sustainability? How do you try to address problems of e-waste in a country whose development plan includes putting a TV and a fridge in every home?
Kal Patel knows. As Best Buy's President of the Asia Region, Kal has led Best Buy's expansion into China. In conversation with Aron Cramer, President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility, Mr. Patel explores how Best Buy has approached leadership, innovation, and sustainable consumption-- from product design, to business model innovation, to consumer behavior. This discussion frames and kicks off the Peterson Series.
The video is now online. View it in the Haas Video Room.
The SPS program will host the second day of the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging course, created by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. The course is designed for packaging and corporate professionals seeking a deeper understanding of sustainability and how sustainability criteria can be effectively integrated into the packaging development process to enhance the lives of people, lower environmental impact and reduce costs. Learn more here.
Attendance at this event is by invitation.
Co-hosted with the California Product Stewardship Council, this intimate roundtable discussion will explore sustainable solutions to the challenges surrounding extended producer responsibility. Given the breadth of this topic, we will focus in on two areas in particular: end-of-life electronics and the challenges with hazardous materials they bring, and problematic packaging and the challenges of managing light weight, hard-to-collect packaging materials. By bringing academics, NGOs, retailers, manufacturers and waste management companies together, we intend to explore and identify a full range of solutions and shared opportunities, ranging from public policy to technology and partnerships to design.
Attendance at this event is by invitation.
This panel of speakers will share their experiences integrating sustainability into jobs outside sustainability departments. Open to MBA students, with lunch provided for the first 25 attendees.
Speakers:
- Tony Kingsbury, program director for the Sustainable Products and Solutions Program at Haas, is an executive-on-loan from Dow Chemical Company, where he leads Dow's Breakthrough to World Challenges 2015 Corporate Sustainability Goal.
- As VP of Innovation at Clorox, Mary Jo Cook worked on the GreenWorks line. She now is VP of business development at Transfair, an organization that promotes and certifies Fair Trade products.
- Pareen Shah is Senior Manager, Strategy Group at Levi's, where he has helped develop an internal tool measuring the environmental impact of different fabrics and finishes on products.
- Yonnie Leung is Manager, Supply Chain Strategy & Performance Management at PG&E, where she works on green supply chain issues.
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, is it constructive to continue to point fingers at responsible parties? Rather than focus on placing blame, we are looking to facilitate a future-thinking dialogue intended to explore a possible path forward.
As part of the Center for Responsible Business' Peterson Series on Sustainable Finance, the Haas alumni event What do Banks have to do Today to See a Thriving, Sustainable Financial Sector Tomorrow? will extend this conversation from UC Berkeley to those in New York. Professor Kellie McElhaney will facilitate a conversation with John Whitehead, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs and former Deputy Secretary of State, to hear his perspective on the current state of the financial sector and its sustainability going forward. Are the appropriate incentives, as well as checks and balances in place? Are we training the future “captains of industry” to think beyond short-term profits and make decisions that not only consider competing stakeholders, but long-term value creation? How do we ensure that the financial sector thrives, but not at the expense of society?
John Whitehead was born in Evanston, Illinois and graduated from Haverford College in 1945. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII, then earned his MBA from Harvard in 1947. John began his finance career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and became Partner in 1956, and Senior Partner in 1976.
In 1985, John was asked by President Reagan to become Deputy Secretary of State. He was sworn into office in July 1985, and served until January 1989.
John is the former Chairman of such diverse organizations as The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Harvard Board of Overseers, the International Rescue Committee, the United Nations Association, Haverford College, The Asia Society, the Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund, and the Boy Scouts of America/GNY.
In late 2001, John was appointed as Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp, the organization responsible for the rebuilding and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. He served in that position until May 2006. John is also the Founding Chairman of the National September 11th Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center.
John has been the generous supporter of the John C. Whitehead Faculty Fellowship as and the newly developed Sustainable Finance Program for the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School.
In his book, Michael Lewis tells the story of a handful of Wall Street outcasts that bet against the subprime housing market and won big. Mr. Lewis offers an insider's view on how Wall Street masked deception as “financial innovation” how the subprime market's complexity befuddled regulatory bodies and rating agencies alike, catalyzing, instead of curbing its excesses; and how it was not only greed, but the misalignment of incentives that encouraged the very bets that helped sink the financial system.
In addition, Mr. Lewis will speak to our Haas community about the future of finance as he sees it, and share his thoughts on whether today's business students have a chance to change it, or whether they should just run and hide from it.
Mr. Lewis graduated from Princeton with a BA in Art History, and in 1985 received his master's degree from the London School of Economics. He worked for Salomon Brothers as a bond salesman shortly after, until growing disillusioned with his job and leaving Salomon to write Liar's Poker, an account of his experiences in the industry.
Since then, Lewis has continued as a successful financial journalist and bestselling author of several books, including The New New Thing, Moneyball, and The Blind Side.
The event is free and open to the entire Haas community. The talk has been videotaped and made available in our online Video Room.
Social media is a powerful storytelling platform - where stakeholder engagement is a given, and the only limitation is the word count. The same tools that galvanized rescue and rebuilding efforts in Haiti also helped fuel Pepsi's project to crowdsource and fund ideas to "refresh" the world. This transformation was evident during the Mumbai terrorist attacks as microblogs informed new escape routes or in viewing Dove's latest online video that set out to redefine beauty for women globally. Social media is a proven, powerful tool for branding and marketing, employee engagement, innovation, customer loyalty and fundraising. We're just starting to see its potential to do much more.
Come to Hanson Bridgett's forum to hear experts from Yahoo!, Gap Inc., Whole Foods Market and Kellie McElhaney from the Haas School of Business discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with social media platforms. Engage with fellow attendees, including Hanson Bridgett attorneys, about how the legal landscape has evolved in response to these new mediums.
As the dust continues to clear from the financial crisis, business schools are having to answer for our share of complicity: Are we training the future “captains of industry” to think beyond short-term profits and make decisions that not only consider competing stakeholders, but long-term value creation? Nowhere is this debate more pertinent than in today's financial sector. The Center for Responsible Business is launching the Peterson Series on Sustainable Finance, a semester-long focus exploring the state of the financial industry today and where it will be tomorrow.
Are Bankers Aiming at a Sustainable Financial Sector? will convene a panel of leading bankers to discuss the sustainability of the financial sector - today and in the future. It's been two years since Lehman Brothers' collapse. Perception of Wall Street and the reality inside the financial sector has changed, whether measured by the public's trust of banks (at an all-time low) or new financial regulation seeking to “rein in” the risks that helped fuel the crisis. The court of public opinion has spoken, but have the banks? What's the view from inside on whether Wall Street needs the public's trust to “survive,” as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein attests? Or the effect new rules are having on the industry today? And finally, what do banks have to do today to see a thriving, sustainable financial sector tomorrow?
Hosted by the Dean's Speaker Series and the Center for Responsible Business' Peterson Series on Sustainable Finance.
In his book, Michael Lewis tells the story of a handful of Wall Street outcasts that bet against the subprime housing market and won big. Mr. Lewis offers an insider's view on how Wall Street masked deception as “financial innovation” how the subprime market's complexity befuddled regulatory bodies and rating agencies alike, catalyzing, instead of curbing its excesses; and how it was not only greed, but the misalignment of incentives that encouraged the very bets that helped sink the financial system.
In addition, Mr. Lewis will speak to our Haas community about the future of finance as he sees it, and share his thoughts on whether today's business students have a chance to change it, or whether they should just run and hide from it.
Mr. Lewis graduated from Princeton with a BA in Art History, and in 1985 received his master's degree from the London School of Economics. He worked for Salomon Brothers as a bond salesman shortly after, until growing disillusioned with his job and leaving Salomon to write Liar's Poker, an account of his experiences in the industry.
Since then, Lewis has continued as a successful financial journalist and bestselling author of several books, including The New New Thing, Moneyball, and The Blind Side.
The event is free and open to the entire Haas community. The talk has been videotaped and made available in our online Video Room.
This event is for the "Haas community" of students, faculty and staff.
A private business operates to maximize _________ value. On September 8, 2010, the Haas School of Business is hosting a debate that will explore how to fill in the blank for today's students and tomorrow's. Dean Richard Lyons will join Professors Ernesto Del Bao, Hayne Leland David Vogel in advocating for the merits of either shareholder or stakeholder value.
Each panelist will address the same 'set' of questions, such as...
- At the theory level - e.g. "The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits" - Was Milton Friedman Right?
- At the application level - e.g. "What does this mean for running a business - stakeholder vs. shareholder?"
We look forward to having the entire Haas community represented and actively participating in the discussion.
The panel has been videotaped and made available in our online Video Room.
Moderated by Michael Lewis, best-selling author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, and The New New Thing, and contributing writer to New York Times Magazine.
- Bill Campbell, Chairman, Intuit
- Robert Dunn, former CEO, Business for Social Responsibility
- Debra Dunn, former Senior Vice President, Hewlett-Packard
- Anne Gust, former Chief Administrative Officer, Gap Inc.
- Mike Homer, Founder and Chairman, Kontiki
- Mitch Kapor, Founder & Co-Designer of Lotus 1-2-3, Lotus Development Corp.
