One Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Entrepreneurs’ Network – Cambridge Meeting
Money and profits, income and shareholder return, drive many, and perhaps most U.S. companies. As the fictional Gordon Gekko long ago said in the film “Wall Street” – “Greed is good…it’s all about bucks” Yet, that is not so for all U.S. companies. Some companies are motivated instead by their social impact. For some companies, there is more than the financial bottom line, a bottom line of profitability, alone… For some entrepreneurs, there is a “triple bottom line”, that of the three P’s:
People: Social change & justice, employee well-being, governance, ownership, community involvement, philanthropy, legacy, and service;
Planet: Building performance standards, resilience, company carbon footprints,and environmental restoration;
Profits: Financial success and stability, growth, capitalization, sales and marketing, investment.
ENET’s meeting on May 17 will have three speakers who have each worked in the field of social impact entrepreneurship, who will share their experiences. One speaker is a noted serial entrepreneur whose companies are known for their social awareness; a second speaker heads the program at Babson College focused on social entrepreneurship; our third speaker is VP of Innovation and Social Impact at her company. Her company was one of the first certified New Hampshire “B” corporations, whose mission is the triple bottom line. Our moderator is ENET’s chairman who recently received the award from IEEE-USA for contributions to the IEEE entrepreneurial community. This is a night for entrepreneurs interested in giving back to the community as part of our business model – hope you can join us.
Speaker: Mark T. Donohue is a lifetime entrepreneur. ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/marktdonohue) Since the late 1980’s, he has been a pioneer in “triple-bottom-line” business, Cleantech and “impact” investing, within both the venture capital and PE worlds. He has held CEO roles in numerous enterprises endeavoring to “Do Well, while Doing Good.” In Sept of 2013, he was appointed Chairman & CEO of Sheffield Pharmaceuticals (www.sheffieldpharma.com). The company specializes in health & beauty care products since 1850. Sheffield manufactures for Walmart/CVS/Walgreens, does contract packaging for entrepreneurs, owns the “Dr. Sheffield” brands, and has company-owned brands, such as Bioroot All-Natural Hair Growth and Tanner’s Tasty Paste. It products are in 70,000 US stores and the company employs over 200. Mark also serves as Co-Chairman of Faria Beede Instruments, which is the leading provider of gauges/controls in the C&I and marine sectors, plus is a leading IoT and telematics player. Faria employs 200. He is also Managing Partner of Catalyst Insight Partners, where Mark partners with entrepreneurs to accelerate growth, improve profitability and optimize financial exits. Previously, in 2001, he was the Founder of Expansion Capital, a leading Silicon Valley pioneer in Cleantech investing, which manages $100,000,000+. He has been Chair Emeritus since April of 2008. In January of 2011, Mark was honored as one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America. Mark earned his BS, with honors, from Babson in 1988. He served on the Board of Overseers from 2002-2011. In September, 2010, he was honored by Babson with a “distinguished lifetime service to the college” award.
Speaker: Cheryl Kiser, Executive Director of The Lewis Institute for Social Innovation and The Babson Social Innovation Lab ( www.babson.edu/Academics/centers/the-lewis-institute ), Cheryl is responsible for promoting Babson’s work in integrating social innovation and social entrepreneurship into its curriculum and co-curricular activities. Before coming to Babson, Cheryl was the Managing Director of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. She is one of the leading voices in the U.S. on the role of business in society, and has won awards for her public affairs campaigns. For over a decade she managed the content and delivery of the largest annual conference in the world on corporate citizenship, the International Corporate Citizenship Conference which drew representatives from over one third of the Fortune 500 and from 24 countries around the globe. Prior to Boston College, Cheryl was the Director of Marketing for Work Family Directions, the leading provider of work life programs. Cheryl also has a passion for healthy living. She is co-creator of Food Sol an “action tank” at Babson’s Social Innovation Lab dedicated to using entrepreneurship to redesign the food system.
Speaker: Rebecca Hamilton, Co-Owner/VP of Research and Development, WS Badger Company (www.badgerbalm.com). Staff profiles also list her as “VP of Innovation and Social Impact”. In her role, Rebecca directs project-based teams of highly skilled researchers and chemists both at Badger and at external laboratories. She oversees all internal Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Research, and Product Development teams for a company that makes healing balms, lip balms, safe mineral sunscreens and other personal care products, mainly from an environmentally-friendly facility in Gilsum, New Hampshire. Family owned, the company prides itself on maintaining a healthy community-minded business with ethical and charitable social principles. Rebecca worked directly with NH State Senator Molly Kelly to help pass the NH Benefit Corp Legislation. WS Badger was one of the first certified B corporations in New Hampshire. Rebecca is author of 5 Reasons Why the Safe Cosmetics Act Makes Sense for Small Business (GreenBiz 2011). In college at University of Massachusetts, Rebecca was Co-Chair of the Amherst Fair Trade Town committee, and recipient of both the school’s humanitarian award and 2009 Award for Outstanding Community Service and Engagement. Rebecca has also been a Wilderness expedition leader in Vermont and professional sailor in the Caribbean.
Moderator: Robert Adelson, business and tax attorney, partner at Boston law firm of Engel & Schultz LLP (www.ExecutiveEmploymentAttorney.com), and Chairman of The Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network. Rob has been an attorney for over 30 years specialized in business, tax, stock and options, employment, contracts, financings, trademarks and intellectual property. Rob began as an associate at major New York City law firms before returning home to Boston in 1985 where he has since been a partner in small and medium sized firms before joining his present firm in 2004. Rob represents entrepreneurs, start-ups and small companies, independent contractors and employees and executives, and family businesses. Rob is a frequent speaker on business law topics and author of numerous articles published in Boston Business Journal, Mass High Tech and other publications. He has been named among the “Top 20 Boston Startup Lawyers” by ChubbyBrain.com, a website that provides tools for entrepreneurs. Rob has been on the ENET Board since 2002 and Chairman since 2009 and is also a Co-Founder and Board member of the 128 Innovation Capital Group. In January 2016, he received the professional achievement award from IEEE-USA for “extreme dedication and contributions to the IEEE entrepreneurship community.” He holds degrees from Boston University, B.A., summa cum laude, Northwestern University (Chicago), J.D., Law Review, and New York University, LL.M. in Taxation.
E-Minute Presentations will be given at the start of the meeting. These very short presentations enable young startup entrepreneurs to gain experience in presenting their summary business plans to expert panels and audiences.
Where: Microsoft Technology Center, 255 Main Street /One Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA. 02142 Phone: (781) 487-6400 The One Cambridge Center GENERAL ENTRANCE is on 255 Main Street, Cambridge, across from the Kendall Square Post Office. Exit Kendall Square T Station to Main Street. Once you exit the station, head down the Marriott side of Main Street going in the direction of Boston/the Longfellow Bridge. The One Cambridge Center entrance is located next to the Boston Properties entrance. Enter through the glass revolving door and proceed to the Microsoft facilities on the second floor. Note: There is also a direct Microsoft entrance across from the rotary at the confluence of Main Street and Broadway. See also: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mtc/locations/boston_directions.aspx
Note: There is also a direct Microsoft entrance across from the rotary at the confluence of Main Street and Broadway.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Travel Mass RT 2 East from RT 128 Exit 29A directly to the Alewife MBTA garage. Park at the Alewife Garage ($7.00) on the MBTA subway Red Line. Take the inbound train (the only one available there) for 15 minutes to Kendall / MIT. The entrance to the Microsoft Technology Center is directly across the street from the station.
Check for Updates at: Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network Website at ( http://www.boston-enet.org )
Admission: General admission is $10. Free to ENET members. Free pizza and soft drinks will be served. Advanced registration is requested but not required.