Summit for a Sustainable Economy

Theo LeCompte, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee told The Hill, “We are doing a lot, on a number of fronts, to maximize the sustainable elements of everything we are doing.”

Tomorrow I will moderate the first panel of the American Sustainable Business Council’s (ASBC) “Summit for a Sustainable Economy” in Charlotte.  The ASBC, of which I am vice chair, and its fifty plus partner organizations represent over 150,000 businesses and more than 300,000 individual entrepreneurs, owners, executives, investors and business professionals who can speak firsthand to the value of “triple bottom line” sustainable, socially responsible and environmentally sound policy initiatives.

The ASBC summit is a two-day event that will feature business leaders sharing how their businesses are helping achieve a sustainable economy—one that doesn’t borrow from the future to achieve artificially high levels of consumption today to the detriment of the next generation of businesses and citizens.

Below is ASBC summit scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.  If you are going to be in Charlotte, come join us.

September 5, 2012 – 8:30 am to 1:00 pmBuilding a Sustainable Economy

Join us in an interactive discussion with business leaders and elected officials exploring how public policy and business engagement can help build a more sustainable economy.

Photo Identification required for access to building. (Media is welcome)

The Summit will explore:
 How public policies can help promote a more sustainable economy
 Strategies for using financial capital for responsible, transparent and tangible investments
 Initiatives for building vibrant local economies
 Developing economic metrics that reach beyond GDP and factor in environmental and social factors
 Best practices by leading socially responsible companies, and,
 The transition that American market-based capitalism is undergoing in which new values and new business coalitions are emerging to ensure future prosperity.

The Summit will tell a consistent story: Business prospers when the larger economy resets its priorities to ensure a robust middle class, transparent financial markets, affordable healthcare, clean energy, fair tax system, reliable infrastructure, a campaign finance system not controlled by the wealthiest companies.

8:30 am
Coffee, Tea, Registration

9:00 am Welcoming

9:15 – 10:15 SESSION ONE: RESPONSIBLE CAPITAL: INVESTING IN A PROSPEROUS AMERICA
Financial capital can be deployed to create new jobs, stabilize communities, catalyze new productive technology and services and increase overall societal well-being. It can also to be used to reduce competition and enable a relatively few to consolidate market and political power. This session explores ways to use capital to have a broader societal impact. We’ll also explore how tax policies can encourage more of what the economy needs. And finally, we’ll look at how ‘responsible capital’ can foster local economic development where the metrics of success account for externalities and hidden costs.

Speakers:
 Roger Smith, President, American Income Life
 Bonny Moellenbrock, Executive Director, Investors Circle
 Brian Schneiderman, Self Help Credit Union
 Shivani Siroya, CEO and Founder of InVenture

Moderator
 Frank Knapp, President, South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce

10:45 – 11:45
SESSION TWO: BUILDING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Healthy economies; rural, suburban, urban – require the same ingredients: clean and affordable energy, jobs with a future, quality products and services, affordable health care, a robust food system, a sense of place and leadership from responsible businesses. This discussion looks at the degree to which government factors in such sustainability issues as: the value of a diversified local economy, quality of life, good infrastructure, TOD, education and strong environmental standards when seeking to attract new business.

Speakers:
 Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder, Seventh Generation
 Betsy Blaisdell, Environmental Stewardship, Timberland
 Nikhil Arora, President, Back to the Roots
 John C. Komisin, AIA, Little Architects

Moderator:
 Bryan Howard, USBGC

Speakers:
 Kim Jordan, CEO, New Belgium Brewing
 Lew Daly, Senior Fellow, Demos
 Beth Richardson, B Lab
 Kathrin Winkler, Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation
 Elected Official (TBA)

Moderator:
 Richard Eidlin, Public Policy Director, American Sustainable Business Council

September 6, 2012 – 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, K&L Gates LLP, Hearst Tower, 214 North Tryon Street, 47th Floor, Charlotte

WOMEN, BUSINESS & THE NEW ECONOMY
SCALING POLICY – PROMOTING EQUITY
9:00 am Welcoming

Roundtable/Q&A
9:30 – 10:00
A Conversation on The New Economy with Natalia Oberti Nogurera of Pipeline Fellowship featuring women innovators across the corporate, business, social enterprise, and economic development sectors; including Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Kim Jordan of New Belgium Brewery, Denise Boyer of American Income Life, and Kathleen Rose of Rose Associates.

Dialogue/Q&A
11:30-Noon 
A Conversation on Climate Change, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability with Danielle Deane of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Faith Taylor, Director of Sustainability Wyndam Group Worldwide.