Contact:
Tom Eggert, Executive Director,
WI Sustainable Business Council,
tom@wisconsinsustainability.com,
608 279-8608
Christina Olbrantz
Conference Team
cmolbrantz@wisc.edu
715 581-4164
The 7th Annual Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council Conference will take place at the Harley-Davidson Museum on December 3rd. This will be the first time since 2009 that the conference will return to Milwaukee. The conference creates a forum for sustainability leaders to learn from each other and develop new ideas for growing sustainable activity at Wisconsin businesses.
This year’s conference theme will be “On the Road to Sustainability” – incorporating the idea that sustainability is a journey, not a destination. According to Tom Eggert, Executive Director of the WI Sustainable Business Council, “Every business has the opportunity to benefit from becoming more sustainable. Our goal is to provide the tools and ideas businesses need to continue on or begin their sustainability journey.”
Dr. Jeff Thompson, CEO of Gundersen Health, will be a keynote speaker at the conference. Thompson has guided Gundersen to an incredible accomplishment: they now produce more energy from renewable sources than they use. His keynote will feature many of the ideas that Gundersen has implemented to bring about their sustainability success.
Matt Levatich, president of Harley-Davidson, will also be a keynote speaker at this year’s conference. Harley-Davidson has made remarkable strides throughout their sustainability journey. Recently, Harley-Davidson announced their line of electric motorcycles, Project LiveWire. The conference will be the only place in the state to see one of these paradigm changing bikes!
Attendees will be able to choose between ten unique sessions to fit their interests. These sessions are tailored to a variety of sustainability topics to ensure that all attendees can have an individualized learning experience. This year, we will specifically feature a number of small businesses. Women will also have the opportunity to attend a specialized session for Women in Sustainability. According to Christina Olbrantz, WI Sustainable Business Council Conference Team, “Four out of five of us on the planning team for this conference are women. We recognize that women are playing a large role in sustainability, and we will be highlighting this role at the conference.”
Some other interesting sessions that will take place include sustainability metrics, how sustainability can grow the employee value proposition, CFO’s and sustainability, and communicating sustainability. Each session will feature three business professionals that have extensive experience on their topic. These sessions all are designed to encourage the exchange of ideas between participants and speakers.
This conference is planned entirely by five students from the University of Wisconsin – Madison overseen by the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council’s Executive Director Tom Eggert. Christina Olbrantz of the conference team summarizes, “This conference is a way for business professionals to learn about how sustainable business practices can make a positive impact on their business and on our society.”
For more information about the conference, please visit our website at http://www.wisconsinsustainability.com/2014-conference/. The most recent information about the conference can be found on our blog at http://www.wisconsinsustainability.com/category/wsbcblog/ . To register, go to http://bpt.me/887773.
Tom Eggert and Christina Olbrantz are both available for interviews or follow-up.
The Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council serves businesses in the state who are interested in sustainability, “greening”, corporate social responsibility or corporate citizenship. The Council’s focus is on educating Wisconsin businesses, facilitating information exchange, and rewarding businesses that are interested in moving in a more sustainable direction.
For more information visit http://www.wisconsinsustainability.com
