Acumen Founder Speaks At Net Impact Forum
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The videotaped keynote address by Acumen founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz from the Jan. 18 Ross Net Impact Forum is now available for viewing. Novogratz talked about Acumen's business model, plans for the future and took questions from the audience. Click here to watch the speech.
The
Net Impact chapter at the Ross School of Business hosted the two-day forum on the positive role that business can play in society.
Net Impact is an international organization of more than 10,000 students and professionals committed to serving the social and environmental good through business. WDI was a forum sponsor.
The forum, “Leading in Thoughtful Action,” explored how corporations around the world are beginning to see the value of incorporating social and environmental issues into their core strategies, and how civil society organizations are partnering more often with the private sector to achieve public benefits.
A number of panels, organized by career and industry, allowed forum attendees to network with representatives from the private, non-profit, and public sectors and to learn more about the significance of these issues for future leaders.
The forum also featured three keynote speakers. Net Impact co-founder Mark Albion opened the event on Jan. 17. The next morning, Andy Lock, vice president and chief administrative officer at Herman Miller, spoke about the benefits of involving the company’s employees in community projects.
Novogratz delivered the luncheon keynote speech. She lauded the Ross students for trying to make a difference in society.
“It’s extraordinary to see the sea change that I really believe is happening in your generation that’s refusing to accept the status quo and yet is blending a really wonderful mix of idealism and pragmatism,” she said.
For the past two years, the Ross School of Business has bested more than 150 other chapters from around the world to win the “Chapter of the Year” award. The Ross chapter was cited for its “continued growth, its high level of activity and engagement, its influence on the Ross community and its efforts to assist the development of other Net Impact chapters.”
