Bart Houlahan of B Lab Accepts Skoll Award
Speakers
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Co-Founder and Advisor,
B LabJay Coen Gilbert is founding CEO of Imperative 21, a global network building narrative power for a just economy. I21 believes the imperative of the 21st century is to reimagine and redesign our economic system so that its purpose is to maximize wellbeing, not profit. I21 builds on Jay’s experience as cofounder of B Lab, the nonprofit behind the B Corporation movement, with 6,000 companies across 80 countries. Along with his B Lab cofounders, Jay received the UMKC Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the McNulty Prize at the Aspen Institute. Since 2016, Jay has been called into antiracism work, recently co-founding an antiracist community of practice called White Men for Racial Justice. Prior, Jay co-founded AND 1, a $250M basketball footwear, apparel, and entertainment company, and subject of documentaries on Netflix and ESPN. Jay grew up in NYC and graduated from Stanford University.
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Bart Houlahan co-founded B Lab in 2006. B Lab is a non-profit organization with offices in 33 countries, driving economic systems change to build a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. Its mission is to serve a movement of people using business as a force for good by shining a light on leaders through a corporate certification (6000+ Certified B Corporations in 70+ countries), and then providing easy pathways for others to follow. B Lab encourages all companies to manage their social and environmental impact using the B Impact Assessment (250,000+ companies engaged). The organization also advances policy initiatives to upend shareholder primacy and advance stakeholder governance (Benefit Corporation legislation passed in 43 states and 10 countries). Prior to B Lab, Bart was President of AND 1, a $250 MM basketball footwear and apparel company. Bart is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a recipient of the 2014 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.
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Andrew Kassoy is co-founder and CEO of B Lab. B Lab is the nonprofit organization behind the B Corp Movement. B Lab’s vision is an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all. B Lab drives systemic change through interrelated initiatives that change the culture, behavior, and structure of business and the capital markets. The movement is led by the example of over 3,600 Certified B Corporations in 70 countries who meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, legal accountability, and transparency, creating a stakeholder economy that benefits workers, communities, and the environment, not just shareholders. Their example has inspired over 100,000 other companies to measure and manage their impact with the same rigor as their profits, 10,000 companies to adopt benefit corporation statutes in 43 states and 5 countries that make them accountable to balance the interests of their stakeholders with their shareholders, and millions of consumers to support them.
Before leaving the private sector to form B Lab with two college mates, Bart Houlahan and Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew spent 16 years in the private equity industry - as a Partner at MSD Real Estate Capital, an investment vehicle for Michael Dell; Managing Director in Credit Suisse First Boston’s Private Equity Department; and a founding partner of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners.
With his partners, Andrew received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and was featured as a New York Times Visionary. He is a Board Member of Echoing Green, was a member of the U.S. working group of the G8 Social Impact Task Force, and on the Forbes Impact 30 list of leading social entrepreneurs.
Andrew was raised in Boulder, Colorado and graduated with Distinction from Stanford University where he was a Truman Scholar and President’s Award winner. In 2001, he was named a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and 4 children.
