Barb Brown to speak at Conference Board and NIRI

Principal and Co-owner Barb Brown will be speaking at two conferences in the next two weeks; the Conference Board 2011 Conference: “Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Conference: The Nexus of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility”, as well as the National Investor Relations Institute‘s 2011 Conference.

The Conference Board is June 9-10 at the Westin Georgetown Hotel (formerly the Westin Grand) in Washington, D.C. Presenting sponsors are DuPont, Altria, Best Buy and American Express. Some speakers include:

• Paul Pascalis, Director, Global Compliance and Ethics, American Express
• Heather Loebner, Executive Director, ArcelorMittal USA Foundation, Corporate Responsibility Governance Board and Manager, ArcelorMittal Americas
• Tessie Topol, Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy and Community Affairs, Time Warner Cable, Inc.
• George Akiki, Senior Director, Corporate Affairs & Program Director, Partnership for Lebanon, Cisco Systems
• Tracey Noe, Senior Director, Global Citizenship and Policy, Abbott
• Mary Capozzi, Senior Director, Corporate Responsibility, Best Buy
• Paul Garrard, Director Corporate Affairs, Chairman Humana’s Corporate Social Responsibility Council, Humana, Inc.
• James R. Weigand, President, DuPont Sustainable Solutions
• Nancy Joy-Poignon, Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability Leader, Owens Corning
• Katherine Brass, Ecomagination Energy Leader, GE 

Barb’s session, “Brand, Reputation and Sustainability Rankings”, is on June 10 from 8:45-9:45am.

For more information and to register (there’s still time!) please click here.

Barb is also speaking at the 2011 NIRI Conference June 12-15 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, FL. Sponsors include PR Newswire, NYSE Euronext, Dell, FedEx Office, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Wells Fargo. Some speakers include:

• Adam Bryant, Columnist, The New York Times
• Sam Levenson, SVP, Investor Relations, Sony
• George Barrett, Chairman & CEO, Cardinal Health, Inc.

Barb’s sessions include:

• “Credibility in the Hot Seat: IR Crisis, Reputation, and Risk” on June 13 from 4:15-5:30pm. Barb will be joined by Mike Conway (Sherwin-Williams), Jay Gould (Huntington Bancshares) and Jeff Linton (Forest City)
• “Sustainability, Strategy and Leadership” on June 15 from 1:30-3:30pm with Kristin Lewis of Fairmount Minerals

For more information and to register, please click here. Hope to see you there!

 

 

GE’s “Ecomagination”: realistic or wishful thinking?

There is no question that GE’s “Ecomagination” program encourages innovation in sustainability and responsible business. Their open call for ideas is a chance for every day people to make the case for renewable energy and have their ideas funded by the energy industry’s leading company.

The first phase of this program called for ideas to revamp the power grid. The contest garnered over 4,000 ideas with the winners being Solar Roadways and Clarian’s plug-n-play, which each received tens of thousands of dollars from GE.

The next phase calls for ideas to change the way we manage energy at home; the “Powering Your Home” challenge invites innovators to design the ‘green home of the future’, and vy for some of the $200 million GE has allocated for this program. CMO Beth Comstock had this to say about this phase of Ecomagination:

“”Powering Your Home” will focus on technologies that consumers can touch and feel. It is being launched as a response to the overwhelming level of engagement and passion for big energy issues we saw in the first Challenge. To date, we have received more than 1,000 ideas in the home energy management space, which is why this new phase of the Challenge is ripe for innovation and investment to drive growth. We will be looking for new ideas and also re-examining ideas from the initial phase through the lens of innovative power use in the home.” (Fast Company)

This next phase of the contest begins today and ends March 1 with voting to follow. Winners will be offered varying amounts of cash as well as investment, development, distribution and growth opportunities from GE.

Ecomagination is a good idea in theory, but what about in practice? While Solar Roadways’ innovative roadway panels to recharge electric cars as they drive is a clever idea, how would a city or municipality realistically fund this type of renewable energy? It’s quite a big investment even for an NYC or LA.

What is GE’s ability to put the most practical ideas into action? In the world of sustainability, lofty goals and ambitions are often established, with the intent of coming down to earth in the short term and striving for perfection in the long term. Do you think this is a fair assessment? Do you think GE will choose a more realistic idea as the winner for this phase of the contest? Discuss!

To read the full article please click here.