Community Updates

Sustainable Brands Releases Program Details for SB’13 Conference in San Diego CA, June 3-6, 2013

Published 11 years ago | About a 5 minute read

SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 17, 2013 – Sustainable Brands® recently announced program details and a list of confirmed speakers for its largest community gathering in San Diego, CA on June 3-6, 2013. Presented by host sponsor BMW i, Sustainable Brands expects record-breaking attendance this year that will draw over 2,000 businesses, solutions and service providers, NGOs, academics, entrepreneurs and government agencies to collaborate on enabling successful purpose-driven innovation. Confirmed speakers from companies such as UPS, Starwood Hotels, Philips, Microsoft, Target, PUMA, T.G.I. Friday's, plus others will inspire interactive discussions, facilitate breakout sessions, and lead plenary presentations during each of the three main conference days.

The gathering begins on Monday, June 3 with half-day pre-conference workshop sessions. Comprehensive sessions provide skill-building fundamentals and foundational learning in sustainability strategy and execution. Sessions are devoted to calculating the ROI of sustainability with Bob Willard, author of The New Sustainability Advantageintegrating smart carbon offset strategies that address unavoidable emissions with panel participants representing CodeREDD, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and International Emissions Trading Associations (IETA); the North American launch of G4 Reporting Guidelines with GRI-certified trainers and sector leaders; and a research roundtable with the latest consumer insights from BBMG, GlobeScan, MPG/Havas Media, Shelton Group plus others. Additional workshop sessions can be found on the conference website.

Trends, market drivers, and brand innovations set the tone for morning plenary sessions beginning June 4 and will include thought-provoking contributors such as:

Bea Perez, Chief Sustainability Officer of The Coca-Cola Company on the challenge of building shared value and how Coca-Cola is working to put sustainability in the heart of the brand.
Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle on the many consumer faces of trash as treasure.
John Havens, Founder of The H(app)athon Project, Contributing Writer at Mashable on unleashing the personal data economy.
Uwe Dreher, Head of Marketing at BMW i sharing perspectives on a sustainable future without tradeoffs.
Katie Bethell, Managing Director of US Campaigns, Change.org on the power of positive, consumer-focused messages in the evolving dialogue between brands and consumers.
Natasha Davidson, Area Marketing Manager of Philips Lighting Africa on energy infrastructure innovation for emerging markets, providing a sneak peek into the grid-free future.
Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme on the beauty and versatility of algae.

Facilitated breakout sessions are scheduled for each afternoon in six conversation tracks addressing forward-looking topics: Strategy & Metrics, Employee Engagement & Organizational Change, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Product & Service Innovation, Consumer Insights & Behavior Change, and Communications. Distinguished faculty leading these sessions includes:

Hailey Broderick, Brand Manager, Global Sustainability Programs at PUMA on translating technical effort and complex impacts into effective consumer-facing communications.
Ephi Banaynal, Director, Social & Environmental Accountability at Microsoft along with Mary Lewis, Sourcing Manager at Sprint and Scott Lercel, Director of Social Responsibility at Target on tackling transparency and effective utilization of data collected through supply chain scorecard programs.
Andy Broderick, VP Community Investment at Vancity and Jonathan Atwood, VP of Sustainable Living and Corporate Communications at Unilever share case studies on tangible HR incentives facilitating corporate sustainability agendas.
Kim Lopdrup, SVP Business Development at Darden Restaurants in conversation with James Gibson, Head of Sponsorship at Air New Zealand on adding brand value through innovative investments in ecosystem services and biodiversity.
Erol Odabasi, Director of Sustainability, Medical Device & Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson, along with Gwen Migita, VP of Sustainability & Community Affairs, Caesars Entertainment, and Daniel Aronson, Leader, Sustainability Transformation & Sustainability Strategy, Deloitte, on conquering uncharted territory in demonstrating the ROI of corporate sustainability.
David Bennett, VP, Global Corporate Partnerships, National Geographic, along with Todd Reeve, CEO, BEF and Christian McGuigan, Director, Social Action Film Campaigns, Participant Media, on making consumption real through sticky visualization of environmental impacts.

"This is our 7th year gathering visionary and optimistic change makers from across the globe who share a passion for purpose and a desire to contribute to our flourishing future," states KoAnn Skrzyniarz, Founder of Sustainable Brands. "We are thrilled to have such a vast and diverse community of business and brand leaders who are focused on the positive shifts in business and society and willing to gather in person each year to provide examples of purpose-driven brand innovation that is reinvigorating our global and local economies."

An expanded Solutions Expo is also featured at SB'13. This best-in-class selection of solutions used by the world's leading brands to help them maintain the business leadership in a changing world will showcase many of the knowledge resources and tools needed to deliver more sustainable products and services to market. Featured exhibitors include: BMW i showcasing its series of electric cars and offering test drives of its ActiveE vehicle released just last year, Ecologic Brands sharing their smartly designed line of fully compostable containers, Covanta 4Recovery discussing waste-to-resource solutions, plus cause-related organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, 1% for the Planet, and Environmental Defense Fund.

Located at Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, CA, this premier gathering of business leaders is presented by host sponsor BMW i, as well as supported by many others including BASF, Saatchi & Saatchi S, Citizen Group, Target, and other sponsoring companies. For further information on the conference program, a complete list of confirmed speakers or sponsorship requests, please visit the conference website at www.sustainablebrands13.com

About Sustainable Brands

Sustainable Brands® is the premier global community of brand innovators who are shaping the future of commerce worldwide. Since 2006, our mission has been to inspire, engage and equip today's business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a better future. Digitally published news articles and issues-focused conversation topics, internationally known conferences and regional events, a robust e-learning library, and peer-to-peer membership groups all facilitate community learning and engagement throughout the year. Sustainable Brands is hosted by Sustainable Brands Worldwide, a division of Sustainable Life Media headquartered in San Francisco, CA.