Innovators Help Business Change from Within

3rd Class of Aspen Institute First Movers Fellows Creates Success for Both Companies and Communities

NEW YORK, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aspen Institute Business and Society program today announced the third class of First Mover Fellows, individuals who are working within companies to unite business growth with a sustainable society in the products and services they are developing. The 19 Fellows chosen this year come from a wide variety of industries and a number of countries.

"This remarkable and diverse group of innovators shares a commitment and ability to deliver business and social value. They engage both their brains and their hearts in their work," says Nancy McGaw, director of the First Movers Fellowship Program.

The 12-month Fellowship, which includes three seminars, is built around the core themes of innovation, leadership, reflection and community. The program offers individuals a chance to become part of a growing community of innovators who share a passion about their work and belief in new possibilities for business. It also serves as an innovation lab where Fellows develop the skills to make their innovations real and successful in their organizations.  The program offers both a leadership development opportunity for the Fellows and an organizational development strategy for their companies.

"The Fellowship helps high potential talent in companies think bolder and bigger and develop tools to succeed as changemakers," explains McGaw. "Their companies definitely benefit from their participation. Many Fellows report being more engaged at work and confident as leaders as a result of the Fellowship experience. These rising stars are improving the workplace and the world."

"Companies urgently need to develop 21st century leaders who have a broader perspective on the global economy and who know how to work effectively across business and social sectors to create new sources of value," adds Matthew Breitfelder, Chief Talent Officer at BlackRock and one of the expert Design Team members guiding the Fellowship program development. "In the first two years, the First Movers program has proven its ability to help a remarkable group of intrapreneurs develop the skills and capabilities they need to meet these demands.  This year's group of Fellows is poised to deliver similar results."  

Fred Dust, a partner at IDEO, a global design consultancy and another member of the Fellowship Design Team, concurs. "First Mover Fellows are breaking new ground.  They are champions for exciting innovations that drive financial value for the firm and positive social and environmental impacts for their communities. They are building competitive advantage for their firms and setting the bar higher for others." A list of the other Design Team members can found at www.aspeninstitute.org/firstmoversdesignteam.

The First Movers Fellowship was developed by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, whose mission is to equip business leaders for the 21st century with a new management paradigm—the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value.  Founded in 1950, the Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization that fosters enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless values and ideas, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues.

The First Movers Fellows – 2011

John Buckley ,Managing Director, BNY Mellon. John is responsible for the company's corporate social responsibility practices and performance including strategy development, board of director and management engagement, communications development and reporting. Prior to this role, John spent 25 years serving in numerous leadership positions related to major corporate change initiatives, including eCommerce, re-positioning and selling the retail bank, acquisitions, quality management, re-engineering, credit card and cash management.

Albert Cho, Director of Strategy for Public Sector in the Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems. Albert works with partner organizations to develop innovative pilots and prototypes that could yield new markets for IT in the 3-5 year time frame. He recently led development of a Web-based tool for monitoring deforestation, and is now focusing on technology solutions to increase resilience in the public sector.

Michael Dupee, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.. Michael leads the company's overall corporate social responsibility efforts, including providing strategic direction and reporting publicly on the company's initiatives and programs; managing the company's allocation of 5% pre-tax earnings into socially and environmentally responsible projects; and generating increased understanding of and recognition for the company's socially and environmentally responsible initiatives, both internally and externally.

Nikki Foster, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer, Sunrise Community Banks. Nikki has secured "outstanding" Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) ratings for the three Minnesota-based Sunrise Banks, attracted over $37 million in Community Development Funding to support inner city lending, and led a recent re-organization of the company's corporate governance. Nikki's development experience and triple bottom line leadership have produced immediate results for Sunrise Banks; her impact is particularly impressive in an industry that has traditionally been slow to adopt corporate responsibility and social enterprise principles and practices.

James Inglesby, New Business Unit Project Leader, Unilever. James finds new business opportunities that Unilever can pursue over the next 5-10 years. The businesses opportunities he is tasked to find must be environmental and socially driven. He currently leads a project on the development of a business model to deliver both urban sanitation solutions and market development opportunities for household care products in the BOP.

Annalie Killian, Catalyst for Magic (Director of Innovation, Collaboration and Communication), the Australian financial services company, AMP Services Limited. Annalie nurtures a culture of collaboration, the exploration of new trends, ideas and emerging technologies and the business application thereof. She leads AMP's award-winning corporate intranet and Enterprise 2.0 practices. Annalie was the founder of AMP's crowd-sourcing innovation program for employees and is a sought-out thought leader on corporate innovation, employee engagement and culture transformation.

Ryan Kuder is VP of Marketing at Bizzy, a local business recommendation engine that helps people find the best places to eat, play, and shop in their hometowns. Ryan guides Bizzy's product strategy and marketing efforts and is responsible for new user acquisition, user engagement, and the Bizzy brand.

Seth Marbin, Social Responsibility Business Partner, Google Inc. Seth helps to engage Google employees in service as part of the social responsibility team. He also founded GoogleServe - an initiative to leverage Google's resources to help the community and foster a sense of unity among employees. Started in 2008, GoogleServe now involves over 6000 employees annually from around the world and is a core part of the culture.

Erin Meezan, Vice President of Sustainability, Interface. Erin leads a team that provides technical assistance and support to the company's global business units to achieve Interface's aggressive sustainability vision. She helps the company address sustainability at all levels, including in operations and management, with employees and customers, and in policy forums.

Rahul Raj, Senior Manager of Sustainability, Walmart.com. Rahul focuses on leveraging sustainability as a business driver.  He is helping the organization broaden and accelerate its commitment to sustainability, and leading efforts to enable customers to trade-in and recycle consumer electronics.

Gema Sacristán, Lead Investment Officer and Program Manager in the Financial Markets Division of the Structured and Corporate Finance Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. Gema leads the Division's investments in trade finance and social impact funds. She has also developed and manages the sustainability program called "beyondBanking: banking on global sustainability" which promotes sustainable environmental, social and corporate governance principles in Latin America and the Caribbean's financial sector, as well as the futureBanking Lab, an ideas laboratory and innovation forum focused on developing a new model for sustainable banking.

Regula Schegg is the VP of Finance and Business Development Energy & Industry at the Hilti Corporation, a provider of leading edge technology to the global construction industry. Regula's work in Energy & Industry involves the global business areas of energy, mining, industry and solar. In her capacity she plays an instrumental role in setting up the newly established Hilti Solar EMEA and Asia organizations.

Diana Simmons is the Senior Manager, New Product Commercialization at Clif Bar & Company, a leading maker of nutritious and organic foods and drinks for sport and healthy snacking. Guided by Clif's five bottom lines – Sustaining our Business, our Brands, our People, our Community and the Planet – Simmons built the Company's current new product development and launch process and leads the team that implements that process.

Keshav Sondhi, Chief Engineer, Global Vehicles, FedEx Express. Keshav is responsible for FedEx strategic fleet plans, including the electric vehicles program. His expertise lies in the area of fleet optimization, identifying the right vehicle for each mission type based on the economical and environmental merits of each vehicle.

JoAnn Stonier, SVP, Global Privacy & Data Protection Officer, MasterCard Worldwide. Recognized as an expert in the field of financial privacy, JoAnn is responsible for worldwide privacy compliance for the enterprise; her duties include identifying, evaluating and managing risks associated with privacy and information management on a global basis. She and her team assist business colleagues in understanding the risks and the relevant legal requirements in utilizing personal information in the development of products and services.

John Thompson is President at Advent Financial Services, a Kansas-City based company which aims to deliver affordable banking services to low- and moderate-income families through the use of debit cards and innovative payment tools. A former executive at H&R Block, John co-founded Advent and works with banks to set up accounts tailored to their customers' individual needs.

Arlin Wasserman, VP, Sustainability and CSR, Sodexo, Inc., leads the company's North America sustainability and CSR efforts including sustainable food and agriculture practices, environmental programs, community development and nutrition, health and wellness. His work focuses on improving each of these areas through its supply chain, customers, NGO partners, 120,000 employees and more than 6,000 clients in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Nathan Waterhouse co-leads OpenIDEO at IDEO. OpenIDEO is a web-based platform that enables a growing community of people to create human-centered solutions to problems of a social and environmental nature. Based in Palo Alto, CA, Nathan develops and explores the potential of open innovation as it grows and matures as a business, designing new concepts and offerings for IDEO clientele in the US market.

Jeff Wishnie is the Director of Social Impact at ThoughtWorks, a global software-development consultancy and leader in the Agile software development movement. Jeff co-directs ThoughtWorks' pro bono programs and works to expand ThoughtWorks commercial offerings to better serve mission-driven organizations ranging from NGOs to for-profit social enterprises.

For more information about the First Movers Fellowship, or about the 2011 Fellows, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers.  

The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has an international network of partners.

SOURCE The Aspen Institute