2007 Spring Conference Wrap-Up and Resources

Food for Thought… and Action: Wrap-Up and Resources

350 attendees
85-90% locally sourced food
86.5 lbs of waste diverted from landfill through composting
VBSR member-hosted space…

...the 2007 Spring Conference was our greenest, biggest, and best yet. Check out the photos! A list of bios for each workshop presenter is available below, and you can download the list of Conference Attendees as an Excel file (PLEASE NOTE: this list includes name, business, city, and state; if you attended the conference and would like contact information for some attendees, please call VBSR at 802-862-8347):

2007 Spring Conference Attendees (45.5 KB)

Special thanks to all of the people who lent their time, resources, and energy to make this Conference greener and more successful:

Champlain College Conference and Events Center--Linda Wheeler, Director and staff
Champlain College Executive Chef, Pete Elder
Jen Moffroid of Vermont Fresh Network
City Market/Onion River Co-op for breakfast
Healthy Living Market for afternoon snack
Megan Kolbay/Earthgirl Composting
Katie McLaughlin, VBSR Silent Auction Intern
Connie Beal, volunteer
Jon Crystal, volunteer
Ryan Farran, volunteer
Hannah Hauser, volunteer
Jessica Hyman, volunteer
Don Jamison, volunteer
Mike Loner, volunteer
Ellen Shapiro, volunteer
Laura Shaw, volunteer
Daniel Shearer, volunteer
Susan Thompson, volunteer
Marianne Ward, volunteer

Workshop Presenter Bios

Concurrent Workshops--Session A

1. Raising Capital for Your Business
Carolyn Cooke, Isis
Ben Kaufman, Mophie
Charlie Kireker, FreshTracks Capital
Eli Moulton, Merritt & Merritt & Moulton, Attorneys at Law
Moderator: Melinda Moulton, Main Street Landing
When you decide the time is right for your business to grow, it may also be time to seek out sources of equity capital to fuel your growth. How can you find equity capital and position your business to be successful raising capital? What are the upsides and downsides of procuring funding? When you find an investor, how can you maintain your commitment to socially responsible principles? This interactive session will offer a detailed view and answer your questions about financing options, growth hurdles, legal ramifications, and stepping stones.

Carolyn Cooke is the co-founder and President of ISIS, a woman's outdoor clothing company that was started in 1998 and is located in Burlington, VT. Previously she was the General Manager for a European woman's clothing company called Wild Roses and before that spent ten years at Karhu USA in a variety of sales and operational roles. She is the founder of the OIWC (Outdoor Industry Women's Coalition) and holds a BA in General Studies from the University of Maryland.

Ben Kaufman was born an entrepreneur. Ben started his first company at 14 years old and grew his web design/video production company (BKMEDIA) handling large clients such as Maybelline, Loreal, footlocker and many more. Ben then got bored and founded mophie in 2005. He designed and launched mophie’s first product while still attending High School in Long Island, NY. He is now in his second year at Champlain College, in Burlinton, VT where mophie is headquartered. Ben drives product development, marketing, and corporate culture.

Charlie Kireker is a co-founder and managing director of FreshTracks Capital, L.P., based in Middlebury, Vermont, which manages $11 million in Limited Partner capital. FreshTracks co-invests in early stage companies, primarily in New England, with Village Ventures, a national fund development group serving a network of fourteen similar regionally-based venture funds. Before launching FreshTracks in 2000, Kireker co-founded in 1993 Green Mountain Capital, L.P., a mezzanine Small Business Investment Company that invested in more than 30 companies in northern New England. Earlier, Charlie launched Twin Birches, Ltd. in Middlebury in 1986 to specialize in downtown commercial revitalization and neighborhood development projects. Kireker also co-founded North Country Angels in 1999, which convenes regularly to source and diligence investments in companies throughout northern New England. He is an experienced angel investor, Board member and advisor to emerging growth companies in Vermont, including VEMAS, Vermont Teddy Bear, EatingWell: The Magazine of Food and Health, Autumn Harp, and eesa. Charlie formerly chaired the Board of the Vermont Land Trust, and recently co-chaired their successful $25 million capital campaign. Kireker graduated from Princeton University (BA,1972) and Harvard University (MPP, 1981). He resides in Weybridge, VT, having moved to Vermont with his wife and twin sons in 1986.

With clients ranging from small start-up ventures to public companies, Eli Moulton, director of Merritt & Merritt & Moulton, acts as outside general legal counsel, providing expert advice on business issues such as intellectual property protection; employment and consulting relationships; equity incentive compensation; property leases; distribution, customer and supplier relationships; etc. Private equity transactions comprise a large portion of Eli's practice - from multi-million dollar venture capital and mezzanine rounds to early-stage angel and family and friend offerings. He also has substantial experience structuring, negotiating and closing M&A transactions, including public company mergers as well as small private asset acquisitions. He is a founding board member of the Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association, the Burlington Referral Organization and an active member of the board of the Sara Holbrook Community Center. Eli graduated with honors, magna cum laude, from the University of Colorado Business School, with a double major in accounting and finance. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Virginia Tax Review. He is currently a member of the Massachusetts and Vermont bars. Outside the office, Eli enjoys golf, adventure racing, camping, skiing, wood working and home brewing.

Melinda Moulton has been involved in environmental and socially conscious redevelopment since 1983. She and her redevelopment partner, Lisa Steele, are co-founders of Main Street Landing. They created the innovative “team approach to design, development, and construction” philosophy and produced in concept a 25-year incremental redevelopment project for the Burlington Waterfront. The most-recent project is at the corner of Lake & College Street on Burlington, Vermont’s waterfront, which includes a two-screen cinema, black box performance theater, restaurant, solarium, and retail and office space, viewing and pedestrian terraces, public linkages to the Waterfront, and 18,000 sq. feet of new public park land. A resident of Vermont for thirty-two years, Melinda, along with her husband Rick, built a stone house and barn, raised two children, made documentary films, and serve on a variety of community endeavors. Melinda serves on the Board of Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, and is the Board Chairman of the Intervale Foundation. Melinda grew up surrounded by the construction business where her father owned one of the leading general contracting firms in Pennsylvania, H. E. Stoudt & Sons. Her role as co-founder and redeveloper of the Main Street Landing project includes supporting the arts and local culture, providing incubator space for start-up local businesses, nurturing social responsibility, and educating people about environmental and social conscience.

2. Digital Printing and Environmentally Sound Practices
Martin Feldman, Light-Works, Inc.
Jonathan Hull, Hull Printing
Tom Moreau, Chittenden Solid Waste District
We live in a visual society. Signs and images are everywhere, and in business their use is prolific. Marketing graphics play a big role in businesses for retail point-of-purchase, trade shows, exhibits, and events. But when the event is over, the campaign is complete, and the content is outdated, the graphics become part of the ever-increasing and often hazardous waste stream. How can we as responsible businesses make better choices? Is the digital printing industry ready for environmentally sound practices? The answer is a resounding yes, and in this presentation we will learn the issues and uncover the solutions.

Martin Feldman founded Burlington’s Light-Works, Inc. in that late 70’s as Vermont’s first commercial photo lab, converting to a digital imaging service in the late 90’s, and lately adapting green printing technology as the cornerstone for the company’s future. Marty has served on the boards of the Association of Professional Color Imagers, and the Association of Imaging Executives, and is currently serving on the Committee for Sustainability for the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association. In the mid-90’s, Marty served on the coordinating council for the Pine Street Barge Canal Superfund site in Burlington, helping to determine the site remedy and garnered an Environmental Merit Award from the EPA for his efforts. He brings to the table a keen juxtaposition of small business savvy and a passion for environmental ethics. Marty lives in Essex and North Hero with his wife, Amy. They have two young and three adult children.

Jonathan Hull is president and third generation owner of Hull Printing, Inc. He grew up in the family business and started learning the printing industry at an early age. After high school he enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in printing in 1998. Since graduating, he has spent the last nine years learning and running his families 40 year old printing company.

Tom Moreau is and for the past 12 years, the General Manager for the Chittenden Solid Waste District. This is county wide municipal solid waste authority charted by the State of Vermont with the responsibility to manage the solid waste activity within a county of 150,000 people. CSWD has an annual budget of ~$7.5 million and operates a number of diversified solid waste programs. Tom has been in the recycling and solid waste business for the past 20 years and his formal education is in Environmental Chemistry and Biology. In a previous career, Tom was with the City of Burlington where he managed the City’s wastewater system of 3 treatment plants and 25 pump stations.

3. The Intersection of Civics and Business
Rick Moulton, KeyStone Productions
Representative Sue Minter
It starts small-you get involved in a specific event. Then you testify at the Legislature, then you volunteer to be on a committee, and the next thing you know, you're running for office. It's all about service, learning, and engagement, and VBSR members are getting involved every day. Vermont's small size means YOU can have an outsize impact. Join Rick Moulton, local activist in Huntington, and other speakers to share ideas about making connections between business and civic life.

Rick Moulton has been a filmmaker for over thirty years. His filmmaking began in the 1960s with the making of Freeform and Oceans, surf movies made in Hawaii and California. He came back east with his wife Melinda and worked for Vermont Public Television in the 1970s. As an independent filmmaker in the early 80s, his film Legends of American Skiing won the Banff Mountain Film Festival and was nationally released on PBS. Rick has produced numerous productions for the ski industry. Other clients include IBM, The Orton Foundation, and NBC. Rick has extensive archival experience, setting up the Care Collection for the New York Public Library, a film archive for the National Ski Hall of Fame, and most recently working with the Lowell Thomas collection.

4. Innovative Office Environments: Design Trends for the SR Workplace
Gregor Barnum, Seventh Generation
Jan Blittersdorf, NRG Systems
Kim Martin, Steelcase
Bill Maclay, William Maclay Architects
Designing workspaces for today's dynamic business environment requires exploration of recent trends and longstanding questions. Are open or closed offices better, or are there more productive options? How can design and planning help create more productive, satisfied, and inspired employees and teams? How can effective design help your business feel connected and collaborative as it grows? Panelists will give an overview of local and national developments, and discuss their real world experience in recent innovative office projects. Participants are encouraged to bring questions and challenges from their own workplaces to spark active discussion.

Gregor Barnum is the grandson of Walter Rockwell of Rockwell International. In the late 1980's when Rockwell was cited for environmental injustices, Gregor thought it to be a call to educate corporate America on incorporating environment into the very fabric of the corporate strategy. As a result he helped start and grow a New Haven based corporate environmental management-consulting firm that was later sold to a division of Thermo Electron Corporation. He was the Director of Operations/Business Development for o.s.Earth, Inc., in New Haven, an educational company, building global and regional simulation events for both education and corporate markets. (The product was originally created by R. Buckminster Fuller and called The World Game.) He presently is the Director of Corporate Consciousness at Seventh Generation, Inc – the leading brand of natural household products in the United States – in Burlington, Vermont. He works with Jeffrey Hollender, President of Seventh Generation, in evolving the company’s corporate responsibility program. He has his Masters Degree (MAR) from the Yale Divinity School with a focus on ethics.

Jan Blittersdorf has served as President and CEO of NRG Systems since 2004, prior to which she served as the company’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. NRG Systems is a global leader in wind measurement technology, and has been growing at roughly 30% a year. Jan is an active contributor to her communities nationally and in Vermont. In 2006, she was the first woman to be named Wind Woman of the Year by Women of Wind Energy (WOWE), an organization that encourages and supports the participation of professional women in the wind energy industry. Jan is also a member of the Audit Committee for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Closer to home, she serves on the Board of Directors for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR), on the Board of Advisors for Vermont Technical College and for the Business School at UVM, and on the Board of Directors for the Fairbanks Museum. She is also a member of the Vermont Business Roundtable.

Kim Martin is a Senior Marketing Specialist on the Corporate Marketing team at Steelcase, an international work effectiveness company whose knowledge, products and services enhance the quality of people's lives in work environments. Kim joined Steelcase in 2006. She has over 10 years of marketing experience in a range of industries. As a Senior Marketing Specialist, Kim’s work includes the development and implementation of corporate marketing strategies and tactics. She also leads the development of services and planning tools for the Architecture and Design community.

Bill Maclay is the Principal of William Maclay Architects & Planners, a firm specializing in the design of buildings incorporating energy and resource conservation, optimal indoor air quality, healthy building design technologies and environmentally responsive land use planning. Since its inception, the mission at WMAP has been design focused on connecting people to nature and other people through innovation and excellence in green, sustainable, and healthy building technologies. Over the last three decades, WMAP has been at the leading edge of innovative and sustainable design. The firm has been recognized, both nationally and locally, for its work on projects such as the NRG Systems Gold LEED rated 45,000 square foot office and manufacturing facility in Hinesburg, VT, and the Seventh Generation Corporate Headquarters in Burlington, VT. He is a former president of the Vermont AIA and Board member of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and Yestermorrow Design School.

5. Local First Vermont
Stephanie Lahar, Stephanie Lahar and Associates
Chris Morrow, Northshire Bookstore
Liz Schlegel, Spike Advertising
Local First Vermont is a group of Vermonters committed to supporting Vermont's locally-owned, independent businesses. Our vision is a robust and sustainable economy fueling the vibrant communities, built on the cornerstone value and practice of thinking, "Local First." Meet Chris Morrow, of the Northshire Bookstore, and other founding members of this new statewide group to hear about the ways LFVT is helping educate Vermonters about the impact their purchasing habits can have on the state's economy.

Chris Morrow is General Manager of Northshire Bookstore, a family owned, independent bookstore in Manchester Center. He doesn't want Vermont to become a suburban strip mall and he likes locally-owned, independent business and free spirited people. He is married with two young rascals and lives in Weston.

Liz Schlegel, of Sp!ke Advertising, is a founding member of Local First Vermont. Liz is a marketer who has been working with Vermont's growing businesses and nonprofit organizations since 1993. She joined VBSR in 1998, serves on the VBSR Program and Education Committee, and was the 2006 recipient of VBSR's Terry Ehrich Small Company award for her work founding and organizing the Solo Circle.

6. Nuts & Bolts on Paying Fair Wages and Supporting Livable Jobs
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Vermont Livable Wage Campaign
Meredith O'Neill, Onion River Co-op/City Market
Spencer Putnam, formerly of VBSR
VBSR's 2006 Livable Jobs Toolkit will be the focus of this interactive workshop. The 2007 livable wage (LW) figures and how to utilize the Toolkit will be explained, plus how LW figures are calculated, how employers can pay a livable wage while remaining profitable, and how employers can adopt beneficial policies from inexpensive to more costly ones. Through hands-on activities, you will learn how to rethink your current business budgets and policies to help strengthen your jobs and benefits. Burlington's City Market will be presented as a "real life" case study of a company's experience of implementing livable jobs.

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak serves as the Director of the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign. She was born in Marshfield, VT. She graduated from Smith College in 2002 with a B.A. in American Government. She became the Director of the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign at the Peace & Justice Center in July of 2003. Over the last three years, Emma has advocated for low-wage workers in the Vermont Statehouse to increase the state minimum wage, organized public school workers to increase wages to a livable level, led countless economic justice workshops around the state and region, and edited two phases of the Vermont Job Gap Study. In June 2004, Emma also began work as the part-time Peace & Human Rights Coordinator for the Peace & Justice Center. Her prior work includes working for an immigration law firm, theVermont Public Interest Research Group, American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, and Senator Patrick Leahy’s Office. She recently ended her six year term on the board of trustees for the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. Emma also worked as the statewide Field Director for democratic gubernatorial candidate, Scudder Parker in 2006. She currently serves on the board of directors and New England funding panel for the Haymarket People’s Fund Board. She also serves as the Vermont Alumnae Admissions Coordinator for Smith College and is the second Vice President of the Vermont Smith College Club. She lives in Burlington’s Old North End.

Meredith O’Neill is the Human Resources Director at Onion River Co-op dba City Market. Meredith received a BA in Spanish and French from the University of RI, and an MS in Administration and Management from St. Michael’s College. She has worked in HR for over eighteen years and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Prior to joining City Market in 2004, she was the Regional HR Manager for KeyBank. Meredith is now, for the third time, in the process of negotiating the Collective Bargaining Agreement with City Market’s union, and has been diligently working towards the achievement of a Livable Wage for City Market workers.

Spencer Putnam was Executive Director of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility from August, 2002, until April, 2007. Previously he served as General Manager of Danforth Pewterers in Middlebury for two years and as Vice President of Operations at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company for twelve years. He was on the VBSR board of directors for five years. At the University of Vermont Spence headed the Cooperative Education Program, placing students in short term employment that related to their academic studies, for 7 years. Currently he is serving as a consultant to the MBA program in Sustainable Development at Green Mountain College.

7. It's a Brave New World: Corporate Responsibility Will Never be the Same Again
Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation
In the past two years the world and specifically the idea and practice of corporate responsibility have changed in ways many of us don't fully realize or understand. What are these changes, how will they affect us and how do we need to adjust our thinking and strategy to adjust to these changes? Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation will report from the field on global warming, Wal-Mart, and the intersections of responsibility and profitability.

President and Chief Inspired Protagonist for Seventh Generation, Jeffrey Hollender is a well-respected leader in the socially and environmentally responsible communities. An entrepreneur at heart, his first business ventures were rooted in adult education. He began the not-for-profit organizations Skills Exchange of Toronto, a learning exchange that offered practical and professional development classes, and Network for Learning, New York City, an adult education and audio-publishing company; both were social and financial successes. After his tenure as president of Warner Audio Publishing, New York City, Jeffrey seized the opportunity to work with a small mail order catalog of energy conservation products, Renew America, which eventually blossomed into Seventh Generation. Jeffrey has led Seventh Generation from its humble beginnings to its current position as the nation’s leading and fastest growing brand of natural home and personal care products, and the leading authority on issues related to making a positive difference in the health of the planet and its inhabitants through our everyday choices. He has served as a Board member and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Currently Hollender serves on the Board of Directors of Greenpeace USA, Healthy Child Healthy World (formerly Children’s Health Environmental Coalition), Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, and Alloy Inc., a publicly traded company.

8. Intentional Growth: How to Succeed With Integrity
Victor Morrison, American Flatbread Company
Janice Shade and Judith Joyce, Close to Utopia
Explore the concept of Intentional Growth-defined as the appropriate means to achieving a company's vision without compromising its values, culture or integrity; growth that is anticipated and managed in accordance with the scope and scale of a company's current and future capabilities. The session includes a brief introduction of concepts and models, a case study of American Flatbread Company presented by president Victor Morrison, and Q&A time for sharing stories and ideas.

Victor Morrison's experience includes working as a Financial Operations Manager for IBM in Essex Junction, as the CFO for SkiTuner/Grindrite, as CFO/VP of Finance and Administration for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, as CFO and later CEO of the Elan Ski and Snowboard Company, as Operations Manager for Efficiency Vermont and as President of American Flatbread. He has also worked locally as a management consultant and is working on a book on management.

Janice Shade is an entrepreneur and consultant. With nearly 20 years experience in strategic planning, marketing and financial management, she’s worked for a wide range of consumer packaged goods companies, from Procter & Gamble to Seventh Generation. Since founding Close to Utopia LLC over a year ago, she’s provided strategic planning and implementation solutions for small, mission-driven businesses facing significant growth opportunities.

Concurrent Workshops--Session B

9. Bringing a Community Department Store to Saranac Lake, NY
Gail Brill, Saranac Lake Community Store committee
Sharon Earhart, Powell, Wyoming Chamber of Commerce
Melinda Little, Saranac Lake Community Store
Interested in hearing more about the successes and challenges of starting a community-owned retail store? As the name implies, these stores are owned by community members, and are designed by residents to meet specific local shopping needs at fair prices. The stores complement other businesses to create a diverse and thriving local economy while maintaining the community's unique character. Building on Sharon Earhart's lunchtime keynote address, Sharon and a board member from the Saranac Lake Community Store will talk about how Saranac Lake residents have made steady progress towards opening their own store.

Gail Brill is a founding member of the Saranac Lake Community Store Project and is now VP of the Interim Board. A professional calligrapher and artist, Gail moved with her family from congested Greenwich, Connecticut to beautiful Saranac Lake in July of 2003. Committed to preserving the uniqueness of this northern Adirondack community, Gail has thrown herself into the fight to keep big box commercial development out and to find a solution to the retail dilemma that plagues the area. The development of the Community Store was the answer. Now only weeks away from selling shares, it seems like a dream has really come true. Gail and the citizens of Saranac Lake owe a tremendous amount to the inspiration of Sharon Earhart and we look forward to having her at our ribbon cutting ceremony in the not to distant future!

Sharon Earhart, from the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce, was instrumental in helping to create the Powell Mercantile, a community-owned department store which has since become a model for others around the country. Sharon has made a career of working with Volunteers. She was Director of Volunteers and Marketing at Powell Hospital for 10 years, a Physician Recruiter for three years, served on the American Hospital Committee on Volunteers for 3 years, and is the past President of Powell Rotary Club. Sharon was the Executive Director of the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce from 1996-2006, when she stepped down to part time in order to serve as Chairman of the Powell 2009 Centennial Celebration Committee. Recognizing Sharon’s immense contribution to community, she was recently honored as Powell's 2006 Citizen of the Year by the Powell Kiwanis.

Melinda Little is one of the founding members and a principal of Independent Means Inc.. Based in Santa Barbara, CA, IMI is the country's leading provider of financial education services, products and programs. IMI is Little's second entrepreneurial venture. In 1987, she co-founded The Company of Women, a pioneering mail-order catalog company that marketed inspirational/whimsical products celebrating women’s achievements. As CEO, she particularly enjoyed directing the merchandising and product development, and overseeing the production and mailing of the catalogs. Little joined the Saranac Lake Community Store Project Committee last June and crafted the Business Plan upon which the Store's Prospectus is based. She is now serving as President of the Company. Little has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Wellesley College.

10. Planning the Future of Your Business: Where Are You Today and Where Do You Want to Go?
sponsored by Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO)
Rocki-Lee DeWitt, University of Vermont, School of Business
Allison Hooper, Vermont Butter & Cheese Company
Dann Van Der Vliet, Vermont Family Business Initiative, UVM
What are your company's founders thinking about now? What should they be thinking about over the next 5-10 years to allow for a smooth transition of leadership and ownership? Dann Van Der Vliet, of UVM's Family Business Initiative, will work with other planning experts to answer your questions and outline some important steps to consider and answer questions about the purpose and process of succession planning. Business sustainability is inextricably linked to continuity and sound planning; how sustainable will your business be after you exit?

Download the PowerPoint Presentation from this workshop (WARNING: this is a large file and may take a few minutes to download):

Planning the Future of Your Business (2.3 MB)

Rocki-Lee DeWitt, Ph.D., is Dean of the University of Vermont School of Business. Prior to joining the UVM faculty in January 2002, Dr. DeWitt was the Associate Dean for Professional Masters Programs at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. DeWitt has received numerous teaching awards and has discussed teaching innovations at multiple national conferences. Her research on downsizing and restructuring has been published in top tier journals. Dr. DeWitt serves as an advisor to mature and declining businesses as well as startups.

Allison Hooper is co-founder of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company. Before starting that business in 1984 with Bob Reese, she was a dairy products quality technician with the Vermont Department of Agriculture. She began her career as a cheesemaking apprentice in Brittany and Haute Alps while studying in France. Ms. Hooper has served on boards of directors for the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, a state initiative fostering economic development in environmental technology, agriculture, and forestry, as well as the Vermont Fresh Network, an organization that promotes local, sustainable food distribution through farmer-to-chef partnerships. Allison and her partner, Bob Reese, were named Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year in 1996. She has worked for Land O'Lakes International Development to revitalize domestic cheesemaking in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. She is the founding president of the Vermont Cheese Council. Allison lives in Brookfield, Vermont, with her husband, Don, and their three sons, Miles, Sam, and Jay.

Daniel Van Der Vliet is the Director of the Vermont Business Center & Vermont Family Business Initiative at the UVM School of Business, where he oversees the VBC leadership and management development program and serves to match organizational training, education and business needs with resources at the University of Vermont.

11. A Healthy Diet of Local Media
Marselis Parsons, WCAX
Cathy Resmer, Seven Days
Randall Smathers, Rutland Herald
Moderator: Erik Filkorn, Spike Advertising
The changing media landscape is leading many nationally owned news organizations to abandon the models that have sustained them, often at the expense of local coverage. What opportunities and challenges do these changes present for enterprising locally owned media and what does it all mean to businesses in Vermont? Public relations expert Erik Filkorn will lead a diverse panel of journalists to help us sort it all out.

Marselis Parsons has reported for WCAX since 1967 and has served as News Director since 1984. On his watch, the newscast has been recognized for excellence on many occasions including receiving the Edward R. Murrow award for best television newscast in the United States. He currently co-anchors the 6PM news and hosts the weekly public affairs show, "You Can Quote Me."

Cathy Resmer started writing for Seven Days in 2001, not long after the publication did a story about her poetry and an independent zine she was publishing. Eventually hired as a staff writer, she started Seven Days first blog, 802 Online, and has been instrumental in engineering the newspaper's expansion onto the Web. Earlier this year she was named to the newly created position of online editor.

Randall Smathers joined the Rutland Herald as editor two years ago. At the Herald, he has put into practice the lessons in community journalism he has learned throughout a career at independently owned newspapers in Moscow, Northern Virginia, Maryland and New Hampshire. As a result, the Herald is concentrating more on local news and is also establishing new, in some cases groundbreaking, community partnerships.

Director of community relations for Spike Advertising, Erik Filkorn began his career in media in the entertainment industry in California, working with major recording artists, film, television and interactive media companies. He rode the Internet bubble to Vermont in the late 90's where he started his own Public Relations firm, eventually joining Spike in 2006. A long-time member of VBSR, he serves on the program and education committee.

12. Roundtable for CEOs Only
Moderator: Don Mayer, Small Dog Electronics
Being at the helm of a socially responsible business presents unique challenges. As the leader of your business, how do you handle diverse political expression in your workplace? What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating employee manuals? What issues arise in managing multiple locations? You are invited to take part with other CEOs in this confidential session to explore these and other questions. Take advantage of this "safe" setting, and come away with fresh insights from your peers.

Don Mayer is a graduate of Goddard College and lives on Prickly Mountain in Warren with his wife Grace. He founded Small Dog Electronics in 1995 and now serves as CEO. Don's entrepreneurial background is varied, including: Founder of North Wind Power Company (now Northern Power Systems), 1974-1988; Founder of Maya Computer, 1988 to 1992; Founder of River Computer, 1992-1993; General Manager of Portfolio Software, 1993-1995; Co-Founder and Board member of American Wind Energy Association, 1975-1988. From 1980-1986, Don was elected auditor of the Town of Warren. Board member of the Apple Reseller Advisory Council, Member of Board of Trustees, Goddard College, Member of Board, Vermont Health Care for All.

13. The Hard Choices in the Food Business
sponsored by Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO)
Randy George, Red Hen Bakery
Linda Hagen, Hunger Mountain Coop
Jen Moffroid, American Flatbread
Moderator: Paul Ralston, Vermont Coffee Company
What kind of purchasing decisions are food companies faced with? What about socially responsible companies? How do you decide about sourcing, packaging, distribution, marketing in an SR way, when you are competing with larger companies? Join us for a conversation about the difficult choices that sometimes have to be made, the process for making values-based purchasing decisions, and the ways these companies handle the impact of these purchasing decisions and the effect of higher costs.

Originally from midcoast Maine, Randy George spent six years baking in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA before founding The Red Hen Baking Company in 1999. He and his wife, Eliza Cain, operate Red Hen with the help of 18 employees. They bake several varieties of hearth-baked, certified organic breads and deliver them around north/central Vermont every day.

Linda Hagens is the Community Relations Manager at Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier. Linda brings more than 20 years experience in the natural foods industry and a passion for local sustainability, respect, and fair trade to our discussion. Her prior career accomplishments and education provide a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the challenges of local producer-retailer relationships. Linda is responsible for the successful development and execution of many creative concepts and educational events that support local farmers and producers. Linda is active in the business community, working with Montpelier Businesses, Slow Food Vermont & Vermont Fresh Network, and Central Vermont Localvores. Linda holds a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition from Rutgers University.

Paul Ralston is the owner of the Vermont Coffee Company which roasts 100 percent certified organic, fair trade coffee for its friends. He has accumulated a variety of business and organizational experiences – some useful and relevant; some interesting and arcane. He lists his most satisfying business accomplishment as becoming a full-time, full-fledged fair trader.

14. Ownership and Social Responsibility: Whom Do We Serve?
sponsored by Community & Economic Development Office (CEDO)
Yvette Jarreau, Eileen Fisher
Cindy Turcot, Gardener's Supply Company
Ginny Vanderslice, Praxis Consulting Group
A common view of business is that it exists exclusively to serve shareholders' financial interests, whereas non-profit organizations exist to serve their beneficiaries-individuals and/or communities. An increasing number of companies are turning to employee ownership, because the nature of stock ownership, shared with employees, is intimately linked with their core commitments to serving their customers, their local communities, and their environment. This interactive session uses several case studies to explore ownership, both through Employee Stock Ownership Plans and worker coops, and also as a way of framing the long-term commitment of business organizations to balancing profitability and broader social responsibility commitments.

Yvette Jarreau is a learning and development leader, career coach and marriage and family therapist. Currently with EILEEN FISHER, INC., she is leading efforts in leadership, employee, and organizational development. Growth for individuals and the organization are her areas of focus and passion. Yvette began her career in human resources with Richardson Vicks Inc., progressed into market research with their Health Care Division, and after almost eleven years there, moved to Black & Decker’s small appliance division and held various marketing and human resource positions. After a little more than ten years with B&D, she made a significant career change to executive search for marketing and sales positions in consumer goods companies, while attending Fairfield University to complete an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy. During the post graduate period she managed three roles: Executive Director for the CT Associate for Marriage & Family Therapy, Adjunct Consultant for Right Management Consultants, and Staff Counselor for Family ReEntry, a non-profit with the mission “to empower individuals and strengthen families to reduce violence, crime, abuse, and neglect.” This eventually segued into a full time position with Right Management Consultants, as VP, leading the Career Consulting practice in the Norwalk office. From there she was recruited to EILEEN FISHER, INC., as Director of Leadership, Learning & Development. She holds an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Fairfield University and BS in Marketing from Marymount College. She is a member of ODN and CAMFT.

Cindy Turcot is the COO at Gardener’s Supply Company, priding themselves in being a “triple bottom line” company. Gardener’s Supply is an employee owned company with 45% ownership in an ESOP. Cindy is very active in the ownership culture within the company while maintaining a strong commitment to not only the financial health of the company but a strong connection to our community. Cindy serves on the Vermont Employee Ownership Board and is an officer of the New England Chapter of the ESOP Association.

Virginia J. Vanderslice, Ph.D., is President and a founding Principal of Praxis Consulting Group, as well as a faculty member of the graduate program in Organization Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. She consults with individual leaders and leadership teams on change management, leadership development, strategic planning, organizational structure and organizational culture transitions including diversity and gender equity initiatives. She also consults with companies interested in making employee ownership a significant element of their organizational culture. Ginny has more than twenty-five years of experience as an organizational development consultant. Ginny has experience designing and facilitating systems change strategies that include organizational diagnoses, planning, team building, and both leadership and employee communication and development programs. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in the social psychology of groups and organizations from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

15. Making Money: Increasing Business Through a Vermont Currency
Amy Kirschner, formerly of Burlington Currency Project
Will Raap, Gardener's Supply Company
Growing out of the experience of Burlington Currency Project and the Burlington Time Bank, Vermont Sustainable Exchange (VSE) is a new company focused on creating homegrown economic opportunities for Vermont businesses. VSE supports an online electronic trading system which will allow companies to develop their own capital for expansion and new opportunities through low-cost credit, increase sales in Vermont by streamlining interactions with local vendors and customers, and reduce their environmental footprint by making buying locally easier. Participants will examine how VSE can help VBSR companies measure and increase their member-to-member business.

Amy Kirschner is the founder of Vermont Sustainable ExChange. She was previously Executive Director of the Burlington Currency Project and is a graduate student in the School of Natural Resources at UVM. She has been involved in progressive monetary issues since 2003.

16. Swimming Against the Tide
Chuck Lacy, Barred Rock Fund
Paul Millman, Chroma Technology
Jim Pratt, Cabot Creamery, and Chair of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce
Moderator: Judy Warriner Walke, Judy Warriner Walke Collaboration & Planning Consultant
How do you deal with trade organizations or other business groups that provide technical support, networking, education and or assistance and also have lobbying efforts to which you are opposed? VBSR members and other local business leaders will share their stories of being the "voice in the wilderness" - how do you make your voice heard when everyone disagrees with you?

Paul Millman is Chief Executive and Vice President of Chroma Technology Corp., an employee-owned company in Rockingham. VT. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Employee Ownership Center and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He is also a member of the Vermont Business Roundtable. Chroma Technology is a member of both the Greater Falls and Vermont State Chambers of Commerce. In 2006 the Vermont Chamber named Chroma Technology as it's Exporter of the Year. Paul earned a BA from the New School for Social Research and an M.Ed in early childhood education from Antioch New England. The latter degree prepared him well to function in today's business world. Following his tenure as a business wiz, he hopes to return to tending bar, a life experience that also serves him well in his current endeavors.

Jim Pratt is Senior Vice President of Operations for Cabot Creamery Cooperative, makers of the "World's Best Cheddar." Raised in the Rocky Mountain states, Jim attended high school on a Wyoming Indian reservation. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining Cabot in 1993, Jim gained experience with LaBatt, Pepsico and Procter & Gamble in a variety of operations management positions. He has served as a Cabot representative to numerous industry groups and is currently the Chairman of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Jim and his wife Ann live in Waterbury and have four grown children. Cabot Creamery is owned by the dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast’s premier dairy cooperative.

Concurrent Workshops--Session C

17. The Business Case for a Workplace Volunteerism Program
Michael Dupee, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
David Jones, University of Vermont
Over one million non-profit organizations in the U.S. rely on volunteer workers who, together, represent the equivalent of over nine million full-time employees. Simultaneously each year, hundreds of thousands of employees are encouraged by their companies to engage in community service. In 2006, the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation teamed up with David Jones, of the University of Vermont, to develop a more rigorous understanding of the benefits of employee volunteerism programs to participating employees and their employers. Learn about how investing in a volunteerism program can provide significant returns to a company and its employees, and get best practice recommendations for designing and managing a volunteerism program.

Michael Dupee serves as the Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. In his role, Mike leads the company's overall Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, including providing strategic direction and focus for the company's social responsibility programs; managing the company's allocation of 5% pre-tax earnings into socially responsible projects; generating increased understanding of and recognition for the company's SR activities, both internally and externally; and developing next-generation commercial partnership opportunities with social responsibility as a key competitive differentiator. Prior to joining Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mike was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York, NY, making and managing opportunistic investments in distressed financial assets from 2000 to 2004. Mike graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in History from Boston College in 1990. In 2000, he graduated cum laude with a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center and with a Master in Business Administration from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Mike was one of 18 professionals to recently complete the Sustainability Institute’s 2005 Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows Program, a program dedicated to empowering a new generation of sustainability leaders to incorporate systems thinking, reflection and vision in their work and life.

David Jones is a professor of management in the School of Business Administration at the University of Vermont, where he teaches courses in management, organizational behavior, and business ethics. David completed his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Calgary in Canada. His primary program of research is on employees' perceptions of fairness in the workplace. Specifically, David studies the processes through which employees judge fairness and respond to their perceptions of fair and unfair treatment through cooperative behavior, turnover, revenge, and counterproductive behavior (e.g., wasting time, theft). Dr. Jones is a member of the editorial board for a scholarly journal called Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, which is one of the premier outlets for organizational behavior research and is included in the Financial Times Top 40 list of business journals across the disciplines. Most recently, David has been working with the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) Foundation to study how GMCR's company-funded volunteerism program may affect employee attitudes and behaviors. David is becoming increasingly interested in volunteer management within non-profit organizations.

18. Dissension Within! Now How Do We Develop a Ground-Breaking Public Policy?
Paul Burns, Vermont Public Interest Research Group
Andrea Cohen, VBSR Public Policy Coordinator
Pat Heffernan, Chair, VBSR Public Policy Committee
Rep. Robert Dostis, Chair, House Natural Resources Committee
Sen. Ginny Lyons, Chair, Senate Natural Resource Commitee
People with shared values can disagree, passionately. Join us for lively conversation as we discuss the challenges of creating forward-thinking public policy before turning our attention to the status of energy and climate change policy in the legislature today. Then we'll move on as a group to develop revolutionary new strategies to forward VBSR's mission-to advance a business ethic that values multiple bottom lines-economic, social and environmental.

Paul Burns is the Executive Director of Vermont Public Interest Research Group. Paul has been working as an organizer, advocate and attorney for PIRGs in New York, Massachusetts and now Vermont since 1986. As Toxics Program Director for MASSPIRG, Paul was instrumental in the passage of major environmental legislation aimed at rivers protection, brownfields cleanup, beach water testing and pesticide use reduction and disclosure. At VPIRG, Paul directs a staff of experienced advocates working on issues ranging from clean energy to health care, sprawl to financial privacy, and sustainable agriculture to campaign finance reform. Paul is a recognized statewide leader within the environmental and consumer advocacy communities. He earned his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York College at Oswego, and his law degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.

Representative Robert Dostis, M.S., R.D., PhD. (D-Washington-Chittenden-1) has led statewide efforts to develop programs and advocate policies to prevent hunger for Vermont's children and families since 1994, serving as Executive Director of the nonprofit Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. A registered dietitian, Dostis holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University and a Master's degree in Clinical Nutrition form Hunter College. He received an honorary doctorate from Burlington College in 2004. Robert moved to Waterbury, Vermont in 1994 with his partner of 23 years, Chuck Kletecka. Robert is the recipient of the: Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World Award (2004-2006); Legislator of the Year, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, (2005); Legislative Champion Award, Renewable Energy Vermont (2005); and Friend of the Family Award, Vermont Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (2005). He is a founding member of the Northeast Regional Anti Hunger Network (1996-Present); Member, National Conference of State Legislators, Energy & Environment Committee (2005-Present); Governor's Commission on Hunger (2006-Present); Governor's Commission on Global Climate Change Plenary Group (2006-Present).

19. Preparing Your Business for Oil and Natural Gas Scarcity
Hilton H. Dier III, Renewable Energy Design
Kelsy Raap, Carbon Neutral Vermont
Today's fossil fuels supply and demand situation requires businesses to think differently about energy use. In this session, panelists will address probable scenarios for the timing and magnitude of oil and gas shortfalls, the linkage with global warming, and business's spheres of influence in energy use. How can we reduce demand, increase renewable supply, and influence others? Using informational handouts, participants will discuss how they can begin to create a new energy strategy, including reducing or offsetting their ecological/carbon footprint while saving money.

Hilton Dier III is a consultant in the field of renewable energy. He has served clients ranging from individual homeowners to the U.S. Government, performing site assessments, designing solar, wind and micro-hydro systems, giving advice on sustainable design, and installing RE hardware. Hilton has worked in the fields of architecture, commercial hydroelectricity, electric vehicles, and industrial-scale solar and wind power. He has been a guest lecturer at UVM, Cornell, and Dartmouth, and teaches at the Yestermorrow design/build school in Warren. Hilton lives in the solar powered house he designed and built.

Kelsy Raap holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and in Political Science from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. She has worked in Brazil researching and making recommendations on ecotourism possibilities for rural river communities. In Costa Rica she worked as a Teaching Assistant for courses in environmental restoration and ecological entrepreneurship, and as an environmental educator for middle school students. Kelsy currently works as a freelance sustainability consultant. She works with companies and organizations on a range of issues that address her clients’ ecological impacts, social and economic sustainability, and development and marketing efforts that help environmentally and socially responsible establishments communicate their successes. Some of her recent projects include strategic planning for a watershed-based ecological restoration and economic revitalization strategy, marketing and sales for the first residential conservation development in Costa Rica. In Vermont, Kelsy is working on environmental assessments for several local companies, helping them to understand their ecological footprint and choose appropriate measures to reduce carbon emissions and waste.

20. Greening the Firm: Some Long-Range Visions and Attainable Realities
Steve Avery, Vermont State Employees Credit Union
Chad Cliburn, Vermont Business Environmental Partnership
Tom Hengelsberg, Truex Cullins & Partners Architects
Brian Woods, VSECU Board of Directors
In 2006 two VBSR members, the Vermont State Employees Credit Union and Truex Cullins & Partners Architects, each made conscious decisions to "green up" their businesses-to operate more sustainably both in their own office environments and in their work. In this session you'll hear about each company's process and experiences, as they considered how best to prioritize their environmental impacts and develop strategies to minimize those impacts. You'll also participate in an interactive, hands-on exercise to help you gain practical experience and prepare you to achieve similar results in your own company.

Download the PowerPoint Presentation from this workshop (WARNING: this is a very large file and may take a few minutes to download):

Greening the Firm (26.8 MB)

Steve Avery is the VSECU Facilities Manager. Steve has also held positions at Firetech Sprinkler as a Fire Sprinkler System Designer, at National Life Group as the Facilities Manager, and as a Civil Engineer for the state of Vermont.

Chad Cliburn has spent the last 14 years working for State and Federal government, assisting businesses with compliance, environmental management and pollution prevention issues. He currently works in the Environmental Assistance Office at the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and co-manages the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership.

Tom Hengelsberg, AIA, LEED AP, is a registered architect who has been with Truex Cullins & Partners Architects for 13 years. He has a wide range of experience and skill with a varied group of clients, in all aspects of the firm’s work from conceptual design, through construction documents, and construction administration. His commitment to sustainable design enables a highly collaborative process at the front end of the project, including the client as a key member of the team, with goals of maximizing aesthetic beauty, energy efficiency and durability and minimizing operating costs. Tom is a LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professional, qualified to lead a team to comply with the green building rating system’s five subject areas: sustainable site planning; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality. Tom is the Secretary of the Vermont Green Building Network (the Vermont chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council), and is Chair of the Advocacy Committee. He is currently working with local municipalities to incorporate green building incentives and regulations into their zoning codes, as well as testifying in partnership with VBSR on anti-global warming legislation.

Brian Woods served on the board of directors of the Vermont State Employees Credit Union from 1996 to 2007. He continues to volunteer as a member of the credit union's Environmental Strategies Committee. He works as an Environmental Analyst at the Vermont Department of Environmenta

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