SJF Summit on the New Green Economy Highlights People Practices that Yield Profitable Returns During Any Economic Climate

SJF Summit on the New Green Economy Highlights People Practices that Yield Profitable Returns During Any Economic Climate

Event to Highlight Strategies that Help Companies Weather Economic Downturns from New “Employees Matter” Report During Keynote, Followed by Plenary Session on “People, Planet, Profit”

DURHAM, N.C. – Sept. 8, 2010 –Next week’s  SJF Summit on the New Green Economy, a gathering of leaders from business, government, and the community sharing strategies  for growing the green economy under all economic conditions, will feature a keynote highlighting results from conference organizer SJF Institutes’ new “Employees Matter: Maximizing Company Value Through Workforce Engagement” report, delivered by Anne Claire Broughton, SJFI Senior Director, on Sept. 15, 2010.

An organization that connects, inspires and accelerates sustainable entrepreneurs, SJF Institute saw a need to define the impact people have on the success of organizations – to view employees not as costs, but as valuable assets to the bottom-line.  SJFAS conducted more than 20 interviews with fast-growth companies that could correlate their high-road labor practices with improved business performance.  The resulting Employees Matter report profiles companies that turned their HR practices into increased business performance and the ability to weather economic downturns. 

Following Broughton’s keynote, executives from three green economy companies profiled in the report will participate in a roundtable discussion moderated by social entrepreneurship professor Cathy Clark titled, “People, Planet, Profit.”  Clark will be joined by Maria Kingery, Southern Energy Management, Stephen Irvin, Namaste Solar and David Murphy, Better World Books to debate whether treating employees well is merely a nicety or a necessity for healthy business.

Additional SJF Summit keynote speakers include Bruce Kahn, Deutsche Bank Climate Change AdvisorsDr. Robert Wallace, BITHENERGYBruce Usher, former CEO of EcoSecurities, and David Orr, Oberlin Zero Carbon Initiative.

SJF Summit sponsors include Articulate Communications, Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt, Acorn Energy, Grant Thornton, SRI in the Rockies, Cleantech Group, Hutchison Law Group, iContact, Investors’ Circle, Duke Edge, The Redwoods Group Foundation, Internet Securities, The Institute of Minority Economic Development, and Sustainable Industries. 

Registration closes Monday at noon, so please register now! For more information and to register, visit www.sjfsummit.org.

About SJF Institute

SJF Institute (SJFAS) connects, inspires and accelerates sustainable entrepreneurs and the fields that support them.  SJFAS empowers companies that provide green solutions and build workplaces where employees can grow and thrive.