Leading with Purpose: Navigating An Evolving Business Landscape
As the business climate shifts by the day, many businesses are operating in a state of uncertainty, with questions about how to run a purpose-driven business now.
Join VBSR and The Sustainable Innovation MBA (SI-MBA) program of the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business as our panel shares real-world examples of leading with values in today’s evolving business landscape!
An evening of networking, warm coffee, and inspiration awaits!
According to this year’s Conscious Consumer Spending Index, 66% of Americans believe it’s important to support socially responsible brands, and 32% plan to increase spending with these companies in 2025. While these numbers are lower than the record highs of 2023, the success rate for socially responsible goals has also dropped to 55% this year.
In a challenging business environment that prioritizes finance and functionality, how can socially responsible businesses stay true to their values while avoiding backlash? Join us to gain valuable insights on driving positive change, overcoming obstacles, and building organizations that thrive in a dynamic market. There will also be plenty of time for Q&A with the panelists, including:
- Paige Flanagan, from UVM's Sustainable Innovation MBA Program
- Sascha Mayer, Cofounder + Chief Experience Officer at Mamava
- Kenneth Merritt, Jr., Managing Director at Merritt & Merritt
- Craig Walker, Financial Advisor at Greenvest
- Michael Casella, Market Area Manager at Casella
- Srini Venugopal, Ph.D., Academic Director, Sustainable Innovation MBA Program; Donald and Gabrielle McCree Endowed Professor of Business; Associate Professor
All Vermont business leaders and students are welcome. This is a great opportunity to meet and network with UVM SI-MBA students and alumni! We will have plenty of time for networking and connecting with one another before and after the panel in the beautiful atrium of Kalkin Hall.
Food & Drinks
There will be complimentary drinks including hot tea and coffee, in addition to delicious appetizers and desserts, including gluten free and vegan options! Courtesy of the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business.
Meet our moderator!
Srini Venugopal, Ph.D.
Academic Director, Sustainable Innovation MBA Program; Donald and Gabrielle McCree Endowed Professor of Business; Associate Professor
Srini Venugopal is an Associate Professor and holder of the Donald and Gabrielle McCree Endowed Professorship of Business at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business. Srini’s research demonstrates how social innovation can serve as a potent tool in providing wellbeing enhancing solutions in contexts of poverty. He has published 20 articles on the subject of social innovation based on field data gathered from diverse contexts of poverty spanning five continents. Srini is an award-winning researcher and teacher. His research has won discipline-wide awards from the American Marketing Association and the Association of Consumer Research. For his teaching efforts, Srini was voted the professor of the year by SI-MBA students for three years in a row. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Srini led a technology-based social venture in India. His venture was focused on delivering education services to low-income consumers in rural India. Committed to being an engaged scholar, he continues to lead an education-focused social enterprise called Diya that operates in several low-income neighborhoods in South India.
Meet our panelists!
Sascha Mayer, Cofounder + Chief Experience Officer
Sascha is a recognized expert on lactation space design, family-friendly workplace policies, and social entrepreneurial leadership. A seasoned brand strategist, she has worked with Levi’s, Lululemon, Nike Women, and Seventh Generation. When she’s not designing new ways to support breastfeeding parents, she’s gardening and tending her chickens.
H. Kenneth Merritt, Jr., Managing Director at Merritt & Merritt
Not only does Ken lead the firm’s transactional corporate practice, he is also deeply involved in the local entrepreneurial community and active in multiple professional organizations and various angel and investor groups throughout the United States. He is a Founding Member of Slow Money Alliance and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Board Member of Investors’ Circle, as well as Board Member and Managing Director of North Country Angels, Vermont’s only angel investment group. For over 35 years, Ken has concentrated in general corporate and securities transactions as well as the formation and governance activities of privately and publicly held companies, non-profit organizations, venture capital funds and financial institutions. Ken led the drafting of the Vermont Benefit Corporation legislation, and he is passionate about fostering the growth of socially responsible businesses.
Craig Walker, Financial Advisor at Greenvest
Craig has long been motivated to help others make a difference. Prior to joining Greenvest, he taught in public school, before deciding he could have a greater impact as a socially responsible Financial Advisor. He is a lifelong Vermonter, deep environmentalist, and social organizer with various VT groups. He is dedicated to helping clients achieve both their financial and social goals, particularly young professionals and employee retirement plans. Craig loves hiking, biking and snowboarding with his wife Natasha, and showing his two young sons all the wonders of Vermont.
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The Sustainable Innovation MBA (SI-MBA) at the University of Vermont Grossman School of Business is the leading program for emerging change-makers who believe business can, and must, become a force for good. Our accelerated, one-year program integrates sustainable business practices across disciplines, focusing on the essential toolkit needed to manage — and transform — business.
SI-MBA graduates jump back into the world making an impact in half the time and with half the cost of a traditional MBA. They become change agents in fields as diverse as impact investing, sustainable development, mission-driven marketing, supply chain management, nonprofit management, and other socially responsible business functions.
During the full-time, on-campus program, SI-MBA students gain unique access to Vermont’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Students learn from sustainable business leaders working to transform business into a force for good. We continually revise our curriculum and extracurricular activities with input from leading sustainability thought leaders. The SI-MBA experience is capped off with a practicum project, where students work on consulting engagements within sustainable businesses across Vermont, the US, and beyond.
Our program is currently recognized as the #1 Better World MBA in the United States and #2 globally, by Corporate Knights. Additionally, our program has been and continues to be the U.S.’s highest ranked green MBA program accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the most prestigious accrediting body for business programs. Only 5% of programs worldwide earn this honor. AACSB accreditation means that our curriculum, faculty, and program governance regularly pass an in-depth review by academic business experts.
Businesses of the future need to work for people and the planet. For that to happen, we need to evolve how business is taught. That’s what we’re here to do. Change is our business.
Parking
Free parking is available on site in the parking lot highlighted in orange on the map below, the Faculty/Staff lot behind Votey Hall (includes spots for accessible parking).
From highway:
Take Exit 14W off 1-89 on us Rte 2W /Main Street Williston Road. Travel 0.6 miles and take right onto University Place. When the road ends, take a right onto Colchester Avenue and take the first right into the Votey Parking Lot (indicated with yellow star).
From downtown Burlington:
Travel uphill on US Route 2E/Main street, turn left onto South Williams
Street. Take a right onto Pearl street/Colchester Ave. After passing
University Place, take the first night into the Votey Parking Lot (indicated with yellow star).
This event is family-friendly and caretakers of any kind are welcome to attend with your dependents!
Please make note of any accommodation requests when you register.
Questions? Interested in sponsoring this event? If so, please contact to Molly Rand at mollyr@vbsr.org for details.