Sheehy brings to clients, 20 years of project and program management experience. She manages a range of advisory projects including sustainability training initiatives, sustainability risk assessments and greener market positioning support. Sheehy’s other work experience included updating and growing the Corporate Equality Index for the Human Rights Campaign and served as director of Corporate Benchmarking Services at the Investor Responsibility Research Center, where she provided social and environmental screening data on companies to institutional investors. Sheehy holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame, an Master of Business Administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, and is a certified Project Management Professional. Catherine joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Background on UL and Catherine's role within UL Health impacts and reopening workspaces during Covid-19 Sustainability certification space and importance of pursuing certifications UL 3600 (circularity) standard Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Catherine's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I think that sustainability professionals exist everywhere in an organization, whether or not they have a title with sustainability in the name, but for those who are a sustainability by title, I would say, n my experience, a lot of folks are influencers more than they are purse holders, right? So they are advising and guiding the organization toward the tools and the solutions that are going to help make a difference to their organization. And so, learning about change enablement and, being engaged in networked in your organization is going to be key to the success of any sustainability professional. When I've talked to those who hold those kinds of roles in organizations, one of the things that recurs in terms of what they describe as their role, it's that of an influencer it's that of, a person who's really skilled at change enablement and someone who is trying to help people see a different way of viewing the same information. So, network influence, be connected within your organization. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? Hmm. I think I mentioned earlier when my excitement is really about what I see as the potential for integration, hearing the investors talk about ESG, the way that they are, it's not about necessarily making the world a better place, but that obviously is part of it. Those are the outcomes that we're all trying to achieve, but they really do see this as part of investment risk analysis is simply the non-financial data that they need to incorporate into that analysis. I see product managers, human resource managers all now having that conversation about these issues that some of us have been working on for decades. So to your point, you know, what has happened over the past 10 years, I've seen a sea change and I'm hopeful that that's going to accelerate because it needs to, because the issues that we're all also trying to address are pressing and urgent. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? Yep. I think in light of recent events, I am trying to educate myself about equity issues. More than some of the issues I've paid attention to, to date. So certainly I'm engaged as an employee in my organization, in our diversity and inclusion efforts. I've focused a lot of attention on sustainability or environmental issues, and I've known that there are environmental justice issues that relate to those things, but I'm not very well educated about those things. So I've actually just started this book by Mary Robinson. Who's the former President of Ireland, a UN special envoy on climate change and UN commissioner for human rights, titled Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience, and the Fight for a Sustainable Future. She published last year. It's an engaging read and so I'd recommend that. I will say I'm on my own journey and finishing it, but it's so far it's good and engaging and really good connector across the issues that we're all much more aware of these days in light of Black Lives Matter. And some of the reasons that people are in the streets protesting. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I look at a lot of blogs and this was hard for me to think of because I look at a lot of blogs. I look at a lot of articles from various publications. I go back to a lot GreenBiz waste dive because we have a strong practice in circular economy. We're looking at the recycled content, newsletters, and magazines. So those are the ones that I go to with regularity. And finally where can our listeners go to learn more about your work and the work being done at UL? Well, the main website, ul.com is where you can find a lot of information. We have a presence on LinkedIn and a Twitter account as well. And we show up on other sites like GreenBiz and elsewhere. So I'd start at ul.com and go out from there.

Kevin Wilhelm is the author of "How to Talk to the Other Side" and CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting and is one of the world’s pre-eminent business consultants and speakers in the field of sustainability. Kevin brings over 20 years of experience working with 165+ businesses ranging across 37 different industries including clients such as New York Life, Expedia, IAC, Nordstrom, REI, Alaska Airlines, The Seattle Sounders, North Face, Tommy Bahama, the Northwest Seaport Alliance. He has spoken hundreds of times, taught 13 different business courses on sustainability and is the author of three acclaimed books in this field including: Return on Sustainability: How Business Can Increase Profitability & Address Climate Change in an Uncertain Economy Making Sustainability Stick: The Blueprint for Successful Sustainability Implementation Sustainable Jobs: The Complete Guide to Landing Your Dream Green Job. Kevin joins the Sustainable Nation to discuss: Kevin’s new book – How to Talk to the "Other Side": Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession and Climate Change specifically about the power of listening, engaging in a difficult conversation, polarization of climate change, and the power of allyship Evolution of sustainability consulting over the last 16 years Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders  Kevin's Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Well, I would say anything you can do right now, especially over the next 18 months or two years, where, when you are trying to talk about sustainability, if you can get some training in how to make the business case, how to, show the financial benefit of, you know, whether it's cost savings or enhanced revenues that you might bring in by using sustainability. It's really important to have that because as we head into another period of economic uncertainty in the fall, and certainly into Q1 next year, if you want to jump into the profession, it's great to have all the skills to do the work, but if you can also have the skills and speak the language of business, you're going to be a little bit more successful. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I think the reality that things that seemed impossible in February now are just taken from the norm. I think that the change in mindset on the idea of working from home on the idea of needing travel to business meetings, needing to, you know, go to actual conferences in person, as opposed to speaking by video, I think it really fills me with a lot of excitement because I think it breaks down a lot of the norms which were in the offices. And I think it might lead to further innovation on other great challenges that we need to address. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? So Josh, can I plug my own two books or do I need to throw another one? I would say that if, if you're trying to make that business case, one book that, you know, was put together with about 65 different other thought leaders kind of on sustainability about how to actually implement sustainability, it's called Making Sustainability Stick. I will shamelessly plug my new book. It's called How to Talk to the Other Side, which is about finding common ground in a time of coronavirus, recession and climate change. And really the reason why I wrote this last book and I'd recommend it to your listeners is that people know what we need to do. You know, people know it just like with the masks and dealing with the pandemic, people know what they need to do, but emotion overtakes reason. And it's the same thing as trying to get people to take action on issues like climate change. They know we need to take action, but they just, for some reason don't. And so my book breaks down kind of the why behind it, and then how to actually engage people on a more personal and human level on an issue rather than trying to hit them over the head with science and facts. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Gosh, that's a great question, Josh. Well, I'd say, certainly check out this podcast, and follow it on the news. But I would say a lot of the resources I go to are, you know, sustainable brands, environmental leader, triple pundit, and using those, you know, not only bookmarking them, but make sure that the newsletters are coming to your office. You don't have to search for it and they're hitting your inbox. And then as far as tools, I think that, one of the most important ones for any audience listener to understand is how you really, especially as we lean back into climate and as we come out of the pandemic is how to do a greenhouse gas inventory. So if you can go to the World Resources Institute or the WBCSB, just get familiar with, you know, what is a carbon footprint, how to do it, because it'll take away some of the mystery to you. And if you're able to kind of understand that you'll be able to take a greater step towards helping organizations take action on climate change, which is what we all need to do not only after the pandemic, but we can even start doing right now. And finally Kevin where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work, and maybe find your new book? Yeah, thanks, Josh. You can go to learn more about my company and myself you can go to our website, which is sustainablebizconsulting.com. There you'll also find resources on, you know, in blogs and other things that you can follow as a listener. And then to find my book it's available on Amazon. So you can either search by my name, Kevin Wilhelm or How to Talk to the Other Side in books. And I will just put the, you know, you gotta get the tagline on it, which is about finding common ground and the time of coronavirus, because there are some other books that are out there called how to talk to the other side. And it's about how to talk to people in the afterlife and things like that. And don't buy those books. When I was searching for my title it didn't pop up. And then a few of them were published like that. And I was like, oh, maybe I should've changed the title, but I'm not talking to people in the afterlife. That's for sure. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Mark Lewis has more than 20 years’ experience as a financial analyst covering energy and environmental markets. He joins from Carbon Tracker, an award-winning think tank, where he was Head of Research. Previously, he was MD and Head of European Utilities Research at Barclays, Chief Energy Economist at Kepler Cheuvreux, and MD and Head of Carbon Research at Deutsche Bank. He was also a member of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures from May 2016 to May 2018. Prior to his career in banking, Mark was an academic at the University of London at Royal Holloway College. Mark has an MA in German from King’s College London, an MPhil in Latin American Studies from Cambridge University and a BA in Spanish & German from Sheffield University. Mark joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Process of integrating ESG metrics into portfolio evaluation Importance of weighting E, S, and G differently for each sector Current status of the TCFD and its evolvement Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Mark's final five question responses: What is one piece of advice you'd give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Never give up. I think in fact, you know, one thing I say a lot these days is every single day gets easier to make the case because the economics have changed fundamentally in the last five years. I feel now as if we're pushing on an open door, that door was only very slightly ajar 15 years ago. And we've had to do a lot of pushing over the last 15 years, but it's really opening up now and we just need more people to join in and keep pushing and keep developing. I'm much more optimistic than I was 10 years ago that we can build a better world. It's not to say it's guaranteed, but it's in our hands. The technology is there. We need policy makers to develop and for that we need as much enthusiasm and human energy as possible to keep pressing forward. So never give up and keep pushing. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I mean, for me personally it's just the tremendous possibilities that are opening up with energy storage and also hydrogen is back on the agenda because I think, you know, renewables can only get you so far if you don't have a way of storing, solar and wind energy. And I think the good news is we're starting to see breakthroughs in the cost of storage. Europe has just launched a very big incentive program for hydrogen as well, which can be used both as a source of storage and as an energy source in its own. Right. So to me, that's the next phase of the energy revolution is really being able to combine storage with wind and solar energy, so that we can decarbonize the global energy system completely within the next three, hopefully three, maybe four decades. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? Yeah, sorry again, to focus on the energy side, this is, you know, showing my own bias, but a really great book, relatively recent, I guess it is three or four years old now, is the Marginal Cost of Society by Jeremy Rifkin. I think that's a fantastic read. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Well there are so many, on the energy side there's a lot of publicly available data from the International Energy Agency and from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). World resources Institute is an unending source of knowledge and insight. I think WRI is just a fantastic, fantastic tool. So those would be three that spring to mind that I regularly look at. Carbon Tracker. I've gotta give a shout out to Carbon Tracker. You know, I spent nine months there in 2018 as the head of research. It's the most fantastic think tank on climate change and aligning financial markets with the challenge of achieving the Paris agreement. Mark, where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work? Well, you know, we have a website, the BNP Paribas Asset Management website. And, you know, if I may indulge your listeners, you know, I can be contacted on LinkedIn. I post regularly about my work and about interesting trends that I'm seeing and you can follow me on Twitter @MCL1965. About Sustridge: is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

An environmental scientist with over a decade of experience in sustainable manufacturing and design, Saskia is head of sustainability at Rothy’s, a global lifestyle brand best known for creating stylish, comfortable shoes from recycled plastic water bottles. At Rothy’s, Saskia develops strategies to minimize the environmental impact that Rothy’s supply chain has on the environment, advancing Rothy’s sustainable innovations in materials, production and fulfillment and more. Prior to joining Rothy’s, Saskia worked as senior director of sustainability at Method, a brand renowned for their clean, sustainable, and effective cleaning products. At Method, Saskia implemented sustainability initiatives on the ground for the European business and at Method’s LEED-Platinum soap factory in Chicago. Saskia joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: - Circularity and ocean plastic sourcing  - How to communicate sustainability value of products - Importance of industry collaboration - Mission driven company culture and employee retainment  - Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Saskia's final five question responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? I think that this would depend on where in their journey they are. For students, I would recommend taking some hard science classes and by hard science, I mean, kind of chemistry, and that will really serve you well in this emerging world of sustainability. I think that within corporations, within a lot of the emerging opportunities for sustainability, the science driven aspects of sustainability will be the most enduring. The reason for that is it's important to be grounded in facts in data. And that will allow sustainability kind of clear out a lot of the trendiness and the noise. So I think it's important to be kind of rooted in science. And then another thing that I found to be just true and I think will continue to be true in this landscape of sustainability careers is there are going to be so many different opportunities. Everything from local government, private companies, product companies, nonprofits. And for me, at least it was a process of elimination. I worked in some small nonprofits and learned a ton when I was there, but didn't necessarily feel that it was exactly the best fit for my talents and what was needed from that organization. So it was a kind of winnowing into what I really, really feel passionate and comfortable with today. So I would say like, don't assume that within sustainability, that you're going to land at the company, that's going to be your forever company. There is this kind of understanding that your own skills will kind of be refined and that each of the opportunities that you have, even if it's nonprofit going to government will still serve you in this larger landscape of sustainability. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I touched on it a bit before, but I think that I'm seeing a lot of momentum around this collision among these different, what were considered separate movements and the idea that we could just be looking at environmental justice and biodiversity and that those would be separate somehow. I think intersectionality and this awareness that all of these different pieces have to be happening at the same time and that they overlap and they're benefiting each other in a really clear way. We're starting to see a lot more awareness of that, even just like the awareness from COVID that the spread of disease is likely from some of the biodiversity loss and that climate change will continue to exacerbate that is all kind of coming out right now. So this will only serve us to all be aligned and to hopefully move quicker in the same direction. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? That's a tough one. And it's mostly because this is a hard book to read, but one of my favorite books came out pretty recently is an Uninhabitable Earth. Have you read it? I have not read that one yet. I've heard the recommendation though. Haven't gotten to it yet. It's by David Wallace Wells. And I say it's a hard one because it's about the effects of climate change that we can anticipate over the next few decades. And it's a very real view of what that will be like. It doesn't kind of sugarcoat it. And I think some people have critiqued it for not being a solutions oriented as it can be, but I think it's important for sustainability professionals to read it because it really grounds us in the challenge that we have ahead. And for me, it was motivating because knowing what this potential future could be, how can I double down on my efforts in order to mitigate it? What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Well, a few kind of different organizations that I look to a lot of Project Drawdown is a great organization that has pretty creatively looked at all the different options that we have around mitigating climate change and quantify them both in, in terms of how, you know, how much gigatons they can pull out of greenhouse gases, but also what are the financial benefits of that? And it doesn't just look at the electricity grid it also looks at kind of these social mitigation that we can do so I love them as a resource and I think the model that they've created is really creative. I also have worked quite a bit with a think tank called Forum for the Future, and they are really futurists. They think about what these possible futures could be and how businesses can better be equipped to adapt and respond to those features. So I think that they work in the world of sustainability, but they do it in a really creative way and I just love working in partnering with them. And then, because I am a scientist, I read a lot of different journals. I read nature science journal of industrial ecology and think being rooted in the latest sciences is really important too. And finally Saskia, where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at Rothy's? Check out the Rothy's blog and our . So we do quite a bit of new information, either product launches and talking about some of the materials we're using, I'll be writing on our blog and sharing some of our new initiatives around sustainability. So would encourage people to bookmark that and keep returning to that and sign up for our email list to get updates. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

With more than 20 years experience, Scott Paul has held senior positions at many of the world's leading environmental organizations including Greenpeace. He is an experienced leader within the global sustainability community. His career has been devoted to forest protection and mitigating the effects of climate change. Paul has successfully impacted policy change on both local and international levels and has led some of the most innovative environmental campaigns of the two last decades. Scott Paul joins Sustainable Nation to discuss:  Sustainability movement within the guitar industry Ebony project and vertical integration  Challenges of FSC certification in the music industry  Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Scott's final five question responses:  What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? It all depends on your company. What you're making, what resources you're using. Are you a retailer? Are you a manufacturer? You have to look at your footprint to understand to be able to answer this question, but there is a nonprofit organization. There are multiple nonprofit organizations that are working on issues that your company is involved with. And I'm not necessarily talking about former formal partnerships and eco labels necessarily. That's not a bad thing, but you know, get to know the advocacy community over coffee to understand the issues more profoundly that your company is stepping on. And then the other thing I would just say is be a mentor in terms of, you know, there's probably some 20 year old working for your company who came out of some environmental studies program and maybe they're not as well rounded and, you know, may say some foolish things sometimes, but their perspective is insanely important. And if you can't communicate with a 20 year old and understand, you know, convince them that what you're doing is the right thing and listen to them about what they think is important then you're not going to be able to communicate on behalf of your company, to the marketplace. If you're not able to connect with somebody of a different age, a different race, a different gender. So mentor somebody. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I think transparency, the increased societal expectation that I have a right to know what took place to bring this product to market. And honestly, a lot of companies would like to deliver that information, but they've evolved over decades that they can't necessarily, but they need to start figuring it out. So I think the increased expectation of transparency is going to drive a lot of good stuff. What one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? So I knew you were gonna ask this question and I'm going to cheat a little bit. There's two books that had a big influence on me I'm going to flag. And then I'll give the recommendation for me because I deal with wood. This guy, David Fairchild wrote an autobiography The World Was My Garden. He wrote it in 1930s, but this guy traveled the world finding plants on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring back to the U.S. and my understanding of natives and exotics, natural resources was turned upside down, reading that book. I also like it's another older book, I think from the eighties, the making of a conservative environmentalist. It was a Reagan appointee to the great lakes commission and Canada that made me think. But if you're doing policy there's a book by a guy named John McCormick Reclaiming Paradise: The Global Environmental Movement. It's a bit of a textbook, but it was written before the 1992 Earth Summit. So it's not almost anything you read is influenced by the Earth Summit and the UN institutions that were created as a result. This was an awesome book written before that, that if you're interested in policy and want to know why these institutions were formed and why people had positions that they took John McCormick's Reclaiming Paradise is pretty awesome. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Honestly, I'm just going to restate the other answer is, you know, the, the mentor find a 20 year old or in my case, I go home and talk to my kids who are not even 20 yet, but they are tuned in. I'm not taking everything they say as gospel, but I do need to understand what's driving them and where they're coming from. And my mind is constantly evolving when I'm getting inside the head of these impassioned recent graduates of environmental studies programs. It's like, if I can't communicate with them, if I can't use that resource, then I'm failing. And finally where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the sustainability work being led at Taylor? At the risk of plugging myself, the only place I can think of is my LinkedIn page. It has got a thing with all my blogs. I think it's called all the blogs that fit to print. You know, I bastardized the New York Times famous saying. That links all my blogs since I've been at Taylor and that pretty much covers the suite of initiatives that Taylor is looking into. Or just call me, people just call me. I'll always answer the phone. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Shannon Bergstrom is a LEED-accredited, TRUE waste advisor. She currently works at RTS, a tech-driven waste and recycling management company, as a sustainability operations manager. Shannon consults with clients across the hotel industry on sustainable waste practices. Shannon joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Strategies for implementing zero waste management Engaging with suppliers to reduce waste Addressing organic waste streams TRUE Zero Waste Advisor certification program Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Shannon's Final Five Questions: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Yeah, think it's really important as a sustainability professional to work for company where you really believe in the value and the vision of the company whatever that may be. For me, it was finding solutions for removing waste and kind of cleaning up the oceans from plastic waste. I think my company RTS as a company is really committed to finding solutions in order to reduce waste and clean up our planet and make our planet a better place. So that was really important for me. I would suggest anybody who's looking to get into the sustainability field, find something that you're really passionate about, whether that's waste or whether that's fashion or you know, buildings and energy find something that you love and get behind a company that's committed to, to being more sustainable in whatever field it is. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I'm really excited right now that sustainability has become as big of a topic as it has. I think probably, you know, five, 10 years ago, it's not something that a lot of businesses were focusing on or really cared about or really even understood. I think now it's just being pushed as part of legislation and consumers are really demanding more sustainable products or sustainable practices and it shows and, you know, in what they're choosing to purchase or where they're choosing to shop. So I think businesses are really reacting to that. And I think that's incredible, because I think they have so much power in changing the game and making our world a better place, a more sustainable place. It's through actions of consumers, like, you know, you and me. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? One book? I read Omnivore's dilemma. When I was in college, I think it was really valuable to kind of understand how where your food is coming from. It kind of inspired me to become a vegetarian just learning about the meat industry and how it kind of impacts the environment in a negative way. And that kind of shaped some of my habits so I would definitely recommend that one. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Favorite resources and tools? One of the big ones I would say that is not so exciting, but the EPA WARM model is something that we use. I think a lot of professionals in the waste industry use this as kind of a tool for waste reporting. It's kind of like an industry standard as to the weights of different material streams to help kind of create diversion reports for some of our clients. So definitely check out the WARM model as one of them. I guess just one more is just look at a B Corp that you know of that are in your markets and try and shop with those B Corps and support them. Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at RTS? So definitely we started working on as a team, as a sustainability team, working on podcasts, webinars and blog posts covering a wide range of sustainability topics that you can find through our website, rts.com and go to our resources page. And there, you can find our on demand webinars and blog posts. Definitely take a look at what you're interested in and stay informed. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Mike Wakeland serves as the CEO of DialogueDirect, a leader of face to face fundraising acquisition in North America.  His focus is building strong partnerships with charity clients, while improving quality metrics within the industry. Mike and his team believe quality and quantity can be obtained with the right partnerships and coaching. Mike hopes to create an environment of sharing ideas and strategies to ensure sustainable growth.  His commitment to the B Corp community’s values has driven DialogueDirect to align with the movement as the first B Corp Certified face to face company in the United States. Mike joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: B Corp certification process and lessons learned Talent retention and recruitment after achieving B Corp status Importance of mission driven business Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Mike’s Final Five Questions Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other mission-driven or B Corp business leaders? I would say the one piece of advice is your team will rally behind you because it's the right thing to do. It is a big lift. The lift is necessary to complete the assessment. It will take time, it will take resources, it will show some kinks in your armor. However, those are the exact reason why you'd want to do it. Those are the opportunities to realign the culture, realign the vision, and ultimately game plan for the business for the next generation. What are you most excited about right now in the world of business? Well, obviously the last four to six weeks have been interesting to say the least, but I'm still very optimistic. I'm positive. They are different times as of today. However, the situation we're all facing has actually provided a lot of us time to reflect personally, professionally, and ultimately give us an opportunity to plan for the future and reevaluate who we are and what our business priorities are. I'm really motivated to see the next generation bring the change in the world and to really reach out and take care of one another in a time of need, but more importantly focusing more on the impact we're making on this planet every single day, rather than just a paycheck we look forward to on Friday. I think there aren't many other companies to look at to really understand what that next generation of leaders looks like then Dialogue Direct. These are the people that we run into on the streets that are getting us to sign up for fundraising to support important nonprofits. These are passionate, dedicated people. I mean, it's not easy to walk up to a stranger and try to talk to them or, try to sell them on donating and these people are incredibly committed. A great group of people you guys have their at Dialogue Direct in a good, I think, glimpse into the generation that will be making some big changes in the coming years. Mike, what is one book you would recommend business leaders or B Corp leaders read? I'm actually in my office today looking at a whole stack of them. I've really been big into the Simon Sineck. I'm a big fan of his. I had the opportunity to see him speak a few times on a stage, but more importantly, I've had the opportunity to read his books, Start With Why. The one I'd recommend today would be The Infinite Game. It's something that I've shared with many people that I come into contact and back to my initial point, it's that we never really crossed the finish line. There's always more to do. The infinite game has really made the biggest impact on me that I would recommend to others. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Well, Zoom has obviously been very important recently. With that said the best resources we have are our people. As you mentioned, and thank you for your kind words, they're passionate, they're remarkable human beings. They're committed to our mission, which is changing the way America gives every single day. Our recent partnership we've developed is with an organization called Verb. It's a online development software learning platform. Our focus is professional personal growth from soft skills to leadership, to managerial skills. We understand that effective leaders know that it's not just about themselves, but it's about the future generation. So that's a resource that we've really committed ourselves to and put a lot of time and effort into. Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at Dialogue Direct? Yeah. Thanks Josh. is our website or you can go to and look for our profile or coming to a city near you. Hopefully you have the opportunity to meet one of our passionate Dialoguers so they have the opportunity to help explain a critical mission or an organization they're passionate about and you have the opportunity to jump on board and join the movement. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Joseph Brinkley, who holds a degree in Economics from Virginia Commonwealth University, was working for the Federal Reserve in Richmond, Virginia when he realized he would rather get his hands dirty than work in an office. He went back to school, the second time attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Horticulture in 2003. Following graduation, Joseph worked with a number of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms while complementing his education with workshops at Virginia’s Josephine Porter Institute, an internationally acclaimed educational facility that advances education and research in Biodynamics. “I was enjoying learning the details of farming land, including best practices for compost and soil management—and gaining insight to anything that contributed to the overall health of the farm,” Joseph remarks. Today, Joseph’s contributions and expertise, including his extensive knowledge of Biodynamic preparations, contribute to ongoing excellence at Bonterra. Joseph Brinkley join Sustainable Nation to discuss: Differences between organic biodynamic and regenerative farming  The path to organic farming and practices you can incorporate now Biochar trial at Bonterra  Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Joesph’s Final Five Questions Responses What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability leaders that might help them in their careers? I really think crossing over industries we can learn a lot. Sometimes we get kind of siloed within our own industry and so whatever the industry you're within, I think it's really important to kind of take a step back and look into other industries to see how are they solving their problems that that could certainly be applied within our own. What would you say you're most excited about right now in the world of sustainability or sustainable agriculture? I really think it's exciting all of these initiatives that you see from all over. I'm part of this group that we're going to educate and make lawmakers aware of the climate and farming and such. There's some big players there, General Mills. McDonald's is there, right? You see Levi's, I mean, you see some really huge players in the food and textile world really coming behind regenerative agriculture, and then just seeing consumers, so pumped up and excited and just demanding it. I think that's really showing some positive progress. Joseph, how about one book that you would recommend other sustainability leaders read? I'm still on Man or Matter. I think I've got to go back to the same one. If you haven't read it, I'm going to say it again, Man or Matter. That's the one. Excellent. And who writes that? It's Ernst Lehrs. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I really think talking to others, seeing what others do and then kind of looking into the other worlds of agriculture. Sometimes we get kind of so stuck, you know, we're in this great nation and we are, but we can look to other nations, to other continents to see there's a lot to be learned from more pastoral ways. And then just on different approaches to farming, to animal husbandry, to how we treat the land for the long-term success. And finally, Joseph, where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work at Bonterra? I would say go to the website: About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Rob Threlkeld is Global Manager of Sustainable Energy, Supply and Reliability for General Motors, leading the company’s energy procurement efforts including the commitment to meet the electricity needs of its global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2050. Threlkeld is responsible for leading the team that supports GM energy procurement and regulatory efforts including negotiating power purchase agreements, natural gas, green tariffs and engineering onsite renewable solutions for GM facilities across the globe, including opportunities associated with battery storage, behind-the-meter applications and EV integration. Threlkeld is a board member of the Renewable Energy Buyer’s Association. He is also involved in the American Wind Energy Association and Solar Energy Industries Association, two energy groups advancing the use of these renewable forms of energy. He serves as industry advisor to the School of Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University. He is a member of the Association of Energy Engineers, the Engineering Society of Detroit and the Solar Power International Education Council. Energy Manager Today has recognized Threlkeld as one of 50 top energy managers for driving GM and the energy management industry forward. Threlkeld began his career at GM in 2000 as a manager of powerhouse and wastewater treatment plant operations. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Purdue University. He is a registered Certified Hazardous Material Manager, Certified Energy Manager and Business Energy Professional. Rob joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Setting 100% renewable energy goal and developing a four prong strategy - energy efficiency, sourcing renewables, zero emissions, and policy and scale - to work towards it Partnering with utilities to advance renewable energy procurement and green tariffs Importance of joining and engaging with trade organizations - SEIA, REBA, AWEA Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Rob's Final Five Questions Responses: 1. What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? My one advice is, I call it, you know, the three P's. You have the people, planet, profit. Profit is the passion, perseverance and pragmatic view that you need to have. It's really that passion to drive the industry is a huge proponent or huge reason why I do what I do today. You got to have passion in order to really work both internally as well as externally communicate the efforts that we're doing as a company and as an individual. 2. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability, renewable energy, whatever it might be? It's a continued scale. I mean, you've seen the transformation of the industry over the past 10 years, the price declines, but it's also the ability to integrate battery storage into addressing the intermittency of the renewables. So that really is what's going to allow the scaling of renewables beyond to what it is today. 3. What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read? Ooh, that's a good one. I have read so many books. Let me come back to that one. 4. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Could be anything from websites, associations, technology, or software programs. Yeah, it really comes down to, I think REBA and I use a lot of news organizations, just keeping up with the various thread of what's happening on a day to day basis. You know, what's the next transformational change that's occurred? One of the things I read today was a French utility is actually looking at battery storage to forego having to do transmission upgrades, which can be both timely and take amounts of time to do as well as costly and thinking about addressing transmission congestion that renewables bring to the grid. So I think it's that readily accessible information that you can get from the internet itself and then thinking about how does that holistically impact what we're trying to do as a company and in the industry from a scaling standpoint. 5. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you're leading at GM? You can go to to be able to look at all GM's sustainability efforts. There's some good components that you can see what GM is doing and the efforts of renewables on there as well. You can also go to my LinkedIn site. You can kind of get some of the latest information on the things that I'm looking at and working and doing as well. As I said, you can go to the internet and there's some good information of tidbits that we've put out there as a company. We've got GM's blueprint for renewables that you can find that kind of summarizes our holistic strategy towards our renewable procurement efforts and our scaling efforts. That would be a great places to go to find some information about myself as well as GM. About Sustridge is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.

Yalmaz Siddiqui is the Vice President of Corporate Sustainability at MGM Resorts International.  He started this role in May 2016 and is responsible for leading a range of environmental sustainability initiatives for the company, including green conventions, food waste reduction, waste management, sustainable sourcing and employee engagement. He is also developing an advanced sustainability strategy framework for MGM Resorts, including metrics and goals, project accountability and roles, and reporting strategy. Yalmaz has a Masters in Environment & Development from the University of Cambridge in England, and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University in Canada. Yalmaz joins Sustainable Nation to discuss: Size and scale of impact of MGM Resorts Sustainable purchasing Food waste reduction and overall waste management strategies Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Yalmaz's Final Five Questions: 1. What is one piece of advice you'd give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Well, I'd say first, don't get stuck in false dichotomies and don't let others force you into false dichotomies around sustainability is always more expensive or sustainability means less luxury. Find proof that that is not true because it's not always true. In fact, it's often not true and persuade others using the help in persuading them by showing them politely that their predisposition might might be wrong. I'd also say pilot and scale new initiatives. Don't try and go comprehensive and too ambitious, too quick. 2. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I think this function has really matured and corporate America and corporate world in general is really interested in the value this functional area brings to the brands and to our companies more broadly. I think the excitement comes from maybe the emergence of this function as a very real and important thing that matters to major customers matters to employees and increasingly matters to investors. So it's the sort of arrival is a real thing in the corporate world that makes me excited. 3. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? So I read a lot and there's a lot of books that I could recommend, but I'm going recommend two, if that's okay. Number one is Influence by Robert Cialdini. It's not about environmental sustainability, it's not about corporate purpose, it's about how you influence others. It's got a whole series of lessons that have been extremely useful in my career because ultimately people in these roles or we in our roles have influenced, but we have no authority and so how do you learn from the best thinkers on influence? That's number one. The second would be Resonate by Nancy Duarte. Nancy Duarte's got a consultancy. It was the world's first and still foremost PowerPoint consultancy. She advises on how to craft great PowerPoints. Her message is that PowerPoint is the business world's communications tool, but no one knows how to use it or very few people know how to use it. If you read Resonate, you'll learn how to use it much more effectively than dense bullet points that no one wants to read or that you read when presenting. So read, Resonate and you will resonate more. 4. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? I think HBR, Harvard Business Review, reading that magazine, reading Fast Company. I'm a member of GreenBiz Executive Network, being part of that and Sustainable Brands. Then thematically on food, I really like to focus on ReFED. In terms of materials, love Ellen MacArthur Foundation's work. Associations, I'll certainly advocate SPLC (Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council) as one. SPLC, Sustainable Brands, and GreenBiz those are my go to’s. 5. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the sustainability work at MGM? Well, I'm the only Yalmaz Siddiqui on LinkedIn. I believe it makes it easy. And then . You can read all about our programs around focusing on what matters, embracing humanity and protecting the planet. About Sustridge  is a sustainability consulting firm providing consulting in sustainability strategy development, sustainability reporting, GHG emissions calculating and management, zero waste planning and guidance in a TRUE Zero Waste, B Corp, LEED and Carbon Neutral certification.