Make Your Career (& Life) Make a Difference

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005 - 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Social Entrepreneurship - Socially Oriented For-Profit Business Models

Jessie Myszka, Director of Distribution, Equal Exchange

Jessie Myszka came straight to Equal Exchange from DePauw University in Indiana where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude in Economics and French. Jessie had not initially thought about going into commerce but was attracted by Equal Exchange’s mission-based business model.

Jessie’s role at Equal Exchange has grown apace with the growth of our cooperative. When she arrived in 1996, she started as one of six salespeople in a $3.5 million company. She became Sales Manager in 1998 when sales topped $10 million in annual sales. Before transitioning in June 2004 to manage the warehouse and distribution, Jessie spent four months on an organic farm in Miraflor, Nicaragua, giving labor in exchange for agricultural training and lodging.

At a worker cooperative like Equal Exchange, anyone may choose to run for the Board of Directors. Jessie was first elected to serve in 1998 and was reelected in 2001. The Board elected Jessie as Chair in the Spring of 2002; at 28 Jessie was one of the youngest Board Chairs in the natural products industry.

Jessie also serves on the Board of Directors at Harvest Cooperative Markets and is a member of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation. In October 2002, she was named as one of “40 under 40 Boston Business Leaders” by the Boston Business Journal.

Al Nierenberg, President of Evergreen Consulting & Training

Al Nierenberg, is currently President of Evergreen Consulting & Training. Since founding the firm in 2000, he has designed and facilitated a strategic planning process for EPA and New England Indian Tribes, facilitated a strategic planning meeting for EPA Assistance and Pollution Prevention Team, facilitated a 60 stakeholder meeting for state agencies to improve their work with the private sector in the design and construction of "green" schools and other public buildings, and researched and identified strategic partnerships to change from virgin to recycled boxboard packaging for Environmental Defense's Alliance for Environmental Innovation. He helped found and leads the Responsible Business Association of Greater Boston (RBA). He currently designs and teaches a course, "Successful Management: What Every Supervisor Wants To Know," for The Boston Consortium for Higher Education, a network of a dozen leading colleges and universities in the Boston area. He leads trainings at AOL, EPA, Federal Reserve Bank, Fidelity, Harvard Business School Publishing, Interaction Associates, Lucent Technologies, Osram Sylvania, Reading is Fundamental, State Street, Sun Microsystems, and The MathWorks. Prior to starting his own firm, Al was most recently a Senior Consultant for Interaction Associates and has a dozen years of varied industry and functional expertise. Robin Chase, Founder, Zipcar

Robin Chase co-founded Zipcar in January 2000 and was Chairman and CEO for its first three years. She is currently a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University.

Zipcar gives members 24-hour access to cars by-the-hour that are parked throughout major metropolitan areas. The company's innovative use of the internet and wireless technology enables rental cars to emulate personal cars. Robin is also known for the evangelical virtual community she created among the members. Today, Zipcar has grown to 23,000 members using cars in over 400 different locations in Boston, Washington DC, and New York. It is rapidly revolutionizing people's relationship to their cars and improving the quality of urban life.

Robin lectures widely and has been frequently featured in the news including the Today Show, The New York Times, Inc, Entrepreneur, Wired, and Time Magazines. She has received many awards, including the Massachusetts Governor's Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, Start-up Woman of the Year, Fast Company's Fast 50 Champions of Innovation, technology and innovation awards from Fortune, CIO, and Info World Magazines, and numerous environmental awards from national, state, and local governments and organizations. Robin currently serves on the National Smart Growth Council, Massachusetts Small Business Assistance Committee, and the Kyoto Cities Initiative International Advisory Panel.

Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT's Sloan School of Management and has three children.

Brandon Busteed, Founder and CEO, Outside The Classroom

Brandon Busteed has led Outside The Classroom from its inception in June 2000 to its status today as the nation's leading provider of online alcohol prevention programs. His unique experiences as a student leader, nonprofit co-founder, technology salesman and university trustee brought forth the synergies that formed the company. Prior to Outside The Classroom, Busteed co-founded CIRCLe Network, a nationally focused nonprofit organization that worked jointly with students and administrators to find solutions to complex campus issues; the organization is now part of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). Busteed is a former Duke University trustee where he served on the student affairs committee. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Entrepreneurs' Foundation of New England and the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy Board of Visitors at Duke University.

Busteed speaks and writes frequently on higher education policy, specifically as it relates to alcohol prevention and risk liability. He is a frequent guest lecturer at academic institutions, including MIT's Sloan School of Management, and the author of numerous articles and academic papers, including Trusteeship Magazine and Campus Safety Journal.