The New Path to Profit: developing a sustainability plan for your business

The New Path to Profit: Developing a Sustainability Plan for Your Business

When: February 27, 2012 from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Darla Moore School of Business, Lumpkin Auditorium, 8^th floor

Sustainable Midlands and the Moore School Net Impact Chapter have teamed up to host a sustainability seminar titled "The New Path to Profit: Developing a Sustainability Plan for Your Business." The event will offer local businesses information on the value of developing a sustainablility policy and how that policy can lead to reduced costs and improved profits. Seminar objectives include: understand the principles of a sustainability policy; identify the steps of developing a sustainability plan, and the marketing advantages of being a sustainable business.

The keynote speaker of the event is Shawn Heath, Vice President of Sustainability with Duke Energy. Duke Energy has a comprehensive sustainability plan and approach to business emphasizing people, the planet, and profits. This includes developing innovative products and services, reducing their environmental footprint, building stronger communities, and demonstrating strong governance and transparency.

Dean Hildy Teegen of the Darla Moore School of Business will also speak at the seminar. Sustainable enterprise and development is the strategic direction of the Moore School, executed through its commitment to training the next generation of business leaders to value corporate responsibility.

Additional speakers at the seminar are sustainable business leaders working in the state of South Carolina. These include Ted Chalgren, business development manager of Cox and Dinkins, and Jeff Baxter, director of development of The Noisette Company.

The seminar will be held February 27^th on the 8^th floor of the Darla Moore School of Business in the Lumpkin Auditorium from 2-4:30 p.m. Reservations are required and there is a fee of $20, which includes conference materials, reserved parking and a wine and cheese networking session following the conference.

"We were an early leader in the sustainability movement because we thought it was the right thing to do for the environment. But we discovered something else along the way. Every one of our innovations ended up either saving us money or creating new markets and new revenue. We found, in other words, that we don't have to choose between the environment and profit. We can do both." Xerox 2009 Report on Global Citizenship: A letter signed by CEO, Ursula M. Burns, and Chairman of the Board, Anne M. Mulcahy

"Integrating sustainability is not just a good opportunity for business. It is essential for success in a world of constrained resources. Right now every business has a choice to make. We choose to move fast, using sustainability as a force for innovation. We choose to embrace transparency, collaboration and advocacy as tools to unlock opportunity and enable us to thrive in a clean and green economy." Mark Parker, CEO and President, Nike