Speed Networking with Social Entrepreneurs

Jacquie Bergland of Finnegan's Beer talks with Speed Networking Event attendees 12/6/11

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A diverse slate of local entrepreneurs joined a lively group of networkers to discuss Socially Conscious Business from across the Twin Cities to discuss what it means to be engaged in sustainability and social responsibility and how they have put their social entrepreneurial business skills to work for good.

Participants joined six rounds of small group sessions for dynamic conversations with each expert, and shared their own experiences and professions to further enrich the discussion. To read more, check out our newsletter.

Special thanks to our featured guests:

• Jody Treter, Sales Director for Peace Coffee 
  

  Jody Treter is the Director of Sales for Peace Coffee, after launching her social entrepreneurial career as cofounder of Michigan’s first coffee company offering exclusively fair trade and organic coffees. Today she supports Peace Coffee’s mission, which is to make exceptional-tasting, organic fair-trade coffee that sustains the livelihoods of the people who grow, roast, and sell it; preserves and protects the environment that produces it; and delights the taste buds of those who drink it.

• Chuck Sween, Environmental Coordinator for Quality Bike Products 
  

  Chuck Sween comes to us from Quality Bicycle Products in Bloomington, where he serves as the Environmental Coordinator while also working on his M.S. in Sustainable Community Development. QBC is committed to growing the bicycle industry through advocacy and environmental engagemen. They help secure federal funds for bike and pedestrian-related projects that benefit every state in the union, and their employees regularly devote time, money and sweat to local trail-building organizations. And QBP’s modern distribution center uses state-of-the-art design and materials to save energy and significantly reduce the impact on the environment.

• Jacquie Berglund, founder of Finnegans Beer 
  

  Finnegans Beer founder Jacquie Berglund will tell how she created Finnegans with a conscious plan to be a leader in social entrepreneurism with multiple revenue-generating streams that fund FINNEGANS branded projects aimed at eliminating hunger and serving as a catalyst for social entrepreneurs. To achieve their mission of “Turning beer into Food,” Finnegans creates awareness of community issues, partners with local businesses, raises funds and volunteers, and shares the lessons learned to continually drive change and participation in the communities they serve.

• Rachel Maloney, founder of The Natural Built Home  
  

  Rachel Maloney is the founder of Natural Built Home, a one-stop shop for the safest and most sustainable building and finishing materials. Their mission is to make sustainability accessible to everyone: homeowners, contractors, architects, and designers.

• Rod Johnson, founder of Midwest Mountaineering 
  

  Cedar-Riverside’s Midwest Mountaineering will recount 40+ years of business and their “Green and Local” efforts that balance contributions to “people, planet and profit” by conserving resources and promoting the well-being of all. Some of their novel activities include buying wind offsets from local wind-energy producers, offer locally made products where possible, sell products from the most eco-conscious companies, and repairing old gear to sell in Thrifty Outfitters, which sustains its useful life while saving resources.

• Bryan Ukena and Miriam Holsinger of Eureka Recycling 
  

  Locally based Eureka Recycling joins us to share how their business supports their mission, which is to demonstrate that waste is preventable, not inevitable. All of their efforts are designed to help individuals, organizations, and communities understand the significance of zero waste and to achieve their own zero-waste goals. Eureka’s services, programs, and policy work present solutions to the social, environmental, and health problems caused by wasting.