News Articles
Hammond Lecture to Explore Sustainability in Business
Author to discuss how businesses can profit by thinking green
“The Business Case for Sustainability” is the topic of this year's Kenneth Hammond Lecture on Environment, Energy and Resources March 22 at 7 p.m. at the River Run Centre. Corporate sustainability expert and author Bob Willard will discuss how businesses can profit by thinking green.
“Executives do not have to be transformed into tree-hugging environmental activists to reap the benefits of sustainability,” says promotional material for Willard's 2002 book, The Sustainability Advantage, which discusses business cases for corporate sustainability strategies. “Good environmental and social programs make good business sense.”
He is also author of the 2005 book The Next Sustainability Wave: Building Boardroom Buy-in, which examines how to persuade executives and board members to adopt sustainable business strategies.
Willard spent 34 years at IBM, including 20 years in management. Since taking early retirement in 2000, he has worked full time on helping businesses to avoid risks and pursue opportunities in sustainability. He has served on the boards of Eco-Energy Durham and the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association and is currently a member of the advisory board of The Natural Step Canada.
This year's Hammond lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by U of G's new Guelph Institute for the Environment, part of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences. Launched in 2000, the lecture series is named for Kenneth Hammond, a former member of Board of Governors and an advocate of environmental and resource issues and environmental education.
For more information, call Jill Johnson at Ext. 58475.