Jorge Fontanez is the CEO of B Lab, a non-profit network that believes business can be a force for good. B Lab is best known for certifying B Corps, companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance and accountability. To become a B Corp, companies need to be transparently addressing things like DEI, their own climate footprint and labor conditions. There are currently just over 9,000 B Corps in 102 countries across 162 industries, including well known brands like Patagonia, Toms, and Ben & Jerry’s. 

As the steward of B Lab’s rigorous certification process, Jorge believes that business can be more loving. To Jorge, this means building out corporate structures where every single person has access to opportunity and can benefit from a company’s growth.

In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt sit down with Jorge to discuss just what love really has to do with it (business). Jorge also offers his digestible wisdom on daunting topics like facing down the ESG backlash, corporate hubris, how to identify a new generation of justice minded CEOs and rethinking marketing as a tool for education.

On this season of DB|BD, co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observing equity by highlighting the “redesigners” — people who are addressing urgent problems by challenging big assumptions about how the world can and should work — and who it should work for. 

This season of DB|BD is powered by Deloitte. 

Visit our site for more on this episode and to view a transcript.

B Lab’s website.

Sarah Ganz Blythe Appointed as Director of Harvard Art Museums

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