Symposium

Promoting Sustainability Through Business and Legal Frameworks

The Green Business Initiative Student Association (GBISA) is one of the first student organizations of its kind. Comprised of graduate students from the University of Oregon School of Law and the Lundquist College of Business, GBISA members are interested in and dedicated to the intersection of law, business, and the environment. GBISA's mission is to promote awareness of sustainable business practices and the legal framework and policies that support green business. GBISA's leading activity each year is to organize its annual Green Business Symposium at the White Stag Block in Portland, Oregon. The Symposium aims to be the premier student-organized green business conference in the Pacific Northwest. The Symposium brings together hundreds of regional and national business leaders, policymakers, legal practitioners, academics, and students to engage in discussions on how we as a society can achieve a more sustainable economy and living environment.

6th Annual Green Business Symposium

Raining Green: Practical Innovations for Northwest Technologies

Friday, February 15, 2013,  9:00am to 3:30pm

REGISTRATION

PROGRAM

Keynote:

The Green Industrial Revolution: the Economics of Business Creation

All Revolutions are caused by people who ask questions – How can states, communities, and countries attract “green” industry? What roles do lawyers play in creating, changing, enforcing and monitoring energy and emissions regulations? Can the green industry build jobs and businesses? In what ways will international decisions affect Northwest green businesses? Join us in an interactive conversation anchored in these questions. Leave with practical tools that the Northwest can use to ethically, economically and sustainably revolutionize the entire region and set a strategic plan for the rest of the nation.

Dr. Woodrow Clark II, MA3 PhD 
Qualitative Economist

Dr. Clark, a long-time advocate for the environment and renewable energy, is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, public speaker and advisor specializing in sustainable communities. Dr. Clark was one of the contributing scientists to the work of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) which as an organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2007.

In 2004, he founded, and now manages, Clark Strategic Partners (CSP), an environmental and renewable energy consulting firm using his political-economic expertise in order to guide, advice and implements public and private clients worldwide – specifically on sustainable smart green communities of all kinds ranging from colleges and universities to shopping malls, office buildings and film studios.

Dr. Clarks' five books and 50+ peer-reviewed articles reflect that concern for global sustainable communities. His last book is Global Energy Innovations (Praeger Press, November 2011) that concerns the "green industrial revolution" (GIR). He explains his work as being the solutions to climate change through public policy, science and technologies, economics and finance. Clark also teaches graduate courses in these areas throughout the USA and internationally. Currently, Clark is Academic Specialist, UCLA Provost Office and Cross-Disciplinary Scholars in Science and Technology.

Prior to launching CSP, Dr. Clark was Senior Advisor on Renewable Energy, Emerging Technologies, and Finance to California Governor Gray Davis from 2000-2003. Before that from 1999-2000, he was a Visiting Professor of Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship at Aalborg University, Denmark, where he was a Fulbright Fellow in 1994. Dr. Clark was the Manager of Strategic Planning for Technology Transfer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for the University of California and U.S. Department of Energy, during the 1990s. In 1980, he founded a mass media company in San Francisco, CA, Clark Communications, specializing in the production and distribution of documentary and educational films focused on "social issues" such as "sexual harassment", "health issues" and older workers along with other topics including books from dramatic current events.

Dr. Clark earned three masters degrees from different universities in Illinois and his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. He lives with his wife, and their 4 year-old son in Southern California.

Boards & Associations

• Nularis, Los Angeles, CA
• American Lung Association of California, Oakland, CA
• Solar Program for City of Santa Monica
• Fulbright Academy of Science and Technology (FAST), Cape Elizabeth, ME
• National Building Museum, Washington, DC.
• Research Associate, Minetta Institute, San Jose State University, California
• Altergy Corporation, Folsom, CA
• Green Advisor, Producers Guild of America
• Green Advisor, California Workforce Investment Board
• Vice Chair, Citizens Oversight Committee, Beverly Hills School Bond, $334 million (2008-present)

Major Recent Affiliations

• Senior Fellow, Milken Institute, Santa Monica, CA
• Alumni Board Member, University of California, Berkeley
• Association of Strategic Planners, LA Chapter
• Hybrid Electric Transportation Program, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
• Advisory Board Member, Net Impact, San Francisco, CA
• Co-Director, "Six Country Reports on Environmentally Sound Technologies from Developed to Developing Countries", Framework Convention for Climate Change, UN,
• California Defense Conversion Council / Base Closure Commission, Sacramento, CA

Academic Journals

• Associate Editor. Utility Policy Journal. Elsevier Press, London, UK.
• Associate Editor. Energy Policy Journal. Elsevier Press, Paris, FR
• Recent Honors & Awards Nobel Peace Prize, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Oslo, Norway, (Dec 2007)
• Certification of Appreciation, WINMEC, UCLA (November 2009)
• Dolores Huerta Labor Institute, Pierce College, Los Angeles, CA (April 2009)
• Sagan National Colloquium Award and Speaker, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware (November 2008)
• Beverly Hills Green Team, Beverly Hills, CA (July 2008)
• ATHGO, UCLA (February, 2008)
• Certificate from Los Angeles City Council, Co-Winner of Nobel Peace Prize (February, 2008)
• California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Certificate, Co-Winner of Nobel Peace Prize (February, 2008)
• Todah Rabah, Hasdassah Southern California, Speaker, "Israel: the tiny green giant", Los Angeles, CA (January 2008)

WELCOME ADDRESS

PROFESSOR DAVE FROHNMAYER
University President Emeritus

Dave Frohnmayer was appointed president of the University of Oregon, the state's Association of American Universities flagship institution, on July 1, 1994. He retired from the post on June 30, 2009.

He formerly served as dean of the University of Oregon School of Law, as Oregon's attorney general, as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, and as a law professor and legal counsel to the president of the University of Oregon. As attorney general, he argued and won six of seven cases before the United States Supreme Court, the most cases and best record of any contemporary state attorney general.

During his first decade as president, the university increased its enrollment to a record 20,200 in 2004; finished its largest ever fund-raising campaign raising $255 million; and began Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives with a goal of $600 million. The university became a founding member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities; hosted the annual meeting of the Association of American Universities; and completed construction projects totaling nearly $307,000,000, including three new student housing projects, the William W. Knight Law Center, a renovation and addition to the Knight Library, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Autzen Stadium, and the Lillis Business Complex, and the construction of a new Student Recreation Center and of a Zebrafish Stock Center.

The university also added a host of new centers and institutes, including the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging, the Oregon Center for Optics, the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior, and the Center on Diversity and Community; doubled the federal grants awarded annually; and added nineteen new degree programs, including bachelor's degrees in biochemistry and ethnic studies and a master of fine arts degree in dance.

Frohnmayer is the first native Oregonian to be president of any large research university in the state. He and his wife Lynn are founders of the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Inc. He is a founding director of the National Marrow Donor Program, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a magna cum laude graduate from Harvard, and a Rhodes Scholar. He received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

PANEL ONE

Panel Description:

Title:  Buying into the Northwest’s Green Future

The green business industry continues to experience substantial growth, especially in the field of green technology. However, green technology startups in the Northwest still face a variety of issues and challenges ranging from financing to taxes and regulations. The Green Business Initiative Student Association has compiled a panel of members from both the legal and business communities to discuss the issues, particularly the ever-present challenge of acquiring venture capital for green technology startups. 

KEVIN DEWHITT       

Mr. DeWhitt is the Chief Technology Officer of Agilyx Corporation. Prior to founding Agilyx, he worked for 20 years in the analytical chemistry industry for a number of independent laboratories. Having worked in the field of thermolytic/pyrolytic science for the past 10 years, he has been able to leverage his education and experience to invent and further develop the (now patented) Anaerobic Thermal Reclamation (ATR) process. He has been working exclusively on perfecting the ATR process for the past four years.

Mr. DeWhitt holds two Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Physics from Oregon State University, spent an additional year studying Physics at the University of Stuttgart in Germany and returned from Germany to study Chemistry in Oregon State University's graduate degree program for one year before beginning his professional career.

For more information please contact Jacquie Quarre and Marie Phillips.

 

PANEL TWO

Panel Description:

Title: Sweeteners for Business Sustainability

Learn from industry leaders and attorneys about the unique set of advantages that Oregon and Washington have for business sustainability.  Natural resources provide low-cost energy, accessible water resources, and advantageous climate factors.  Local culture is remarkably supportive of green building and sustainability initiatives.  State and local governments offer green tax incentives.  This panel will discuss the complex interaction of environmental, social, and financial incentives that provide for increased profitability and environmental stewardship.

Moderator

MITCHELL ROFSKY

Mitch Rofsky has devoted his entire career to socially responsible business.

Mr. Rofsky has been present at the creation of a number of important progressive business institutions: the National Cooperative Bank (over $1 billion in assets), the Working Assets Mutual Funds (sold in the early 1990s, its successor maintains over $1 billion in assets; it also spun off the popular Working Assets/Credo Long Distance), Business for Social Responsibility (over 2,000 business members), and Better World Club (25,000+ members).

Mitch is President and CEO of Better World Club (www.betterworldclub.com), the only contemporary alternative to AAA and other auto clubs. Better World not only advocates for the consumer and stands apart from AAA’s “highway lobby” policy agenda, but also offers distinctive services such as the first travel company Carbon Offset program to fight Global Warming, discounts on membership fees for hybrid car drivers and mass transit pass holders, and the only nationwide bicycle roadside assistance, to name a few, along with nationwide 24/7 roadside assistance. It’s eNewsletter, Kicking Asphalt, was named “The Onion” of corporate newsletters by Eco Talk Radio.

Mitch’s writing on business and politics has been published by The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Examiner, and many other publications and online at Common Dreams, Real Clear Politics, and many other sites.

Mitch started his career as an attorney for Ralph Nader, where he lobbied Congress for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch. (This was well before Nader became a politician.)

He then became the Executive Vice President of the National Cooperative Bank and President of its risk capital arm, the NCB Development Corporation, where he provided the funding that started Working Assets in 1983. Working Assets is now known as the progressive phone company, but Working Assets started out as a socially responsible money market fund. In 1991, Mitch became President of Working Assets Capital Management. Mitch was President as Working Assets expanded from a “stand alone” money market fund to a family of funds, including equity, balanced, and bond funds. Working Assets Capital Management was later sold to the Citizens Funds.

In 1992, Mitch became the first Chair of Business for Social Responsibility. There he served on the Board of Directors with such prominent business leaders as Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s, Arnold Hiatt, former Chair of Stride Rite Shoes, as well as representatives of Reebok, Hasbro, and many other national companies.

After Working Assets was sold, Mitch started the American Consumer Insurance Agency, Inc. (ACI) to determine what “social responsibility” could mean in the auto insurance market. ACI later merged with several other companies to become Better World Club.

Mitch also serves on the Board of Directors of the New Voice of Business (www.nvob.org) the alternative “Chamber of Commerce” and serves as that organization’s representative to the American Council for Sustainable Business (www.asbcouncil.org), which is the coalition of responsible business organizations.

He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce of the University of Pennsylvania and the Law School of the University of California.

If you would like to contact Mitch, his email is mrofsky@betterworldclub.com.

Panelist

PROFESSOR MICHAEL RUSSO

Michael V. Russo is the Lundquist Professor of Sustainable Management at the University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business.  Mike’s current research projects include a study of the impact of social and environmental issues on global supply chains, and analyses of geographic clustering of mission-driven companies and of wind and solar energy firms.  His articles have appeared in Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Management Science, Organization Science, Production and Operations Management, and Strategic Management Journal, and he serves on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal and Strategic Management Journal.  Mike has won a number of research and teaching awards, including the Moskowitz Prize in Social Investing, the oikos Sustainability Case Writing Competition Grand Prize, and most recently a Silver Nautilus Book Award for his 2010 book, Companies on a Mission: Entrepreneurial Strategies for Growing Sustainably, Responsibly, and Profitably.  He has received funding from the National Science Foundation to study international voluntary environmental regulation under the ISO 14000 standards and from the Dreyfus Foundation to write business cases that incorporate green chemistry issues.

Panelist

VALERIE SASAKI

Ms. Sasaki specializes in jurisdictional tax consulting, working closely with Fortune 50 companies involved in audits before the Oregon or Washington Departments of Revenue. She also works with business owners on tax and planning issues in Oregon or Southwest Washington.

Ms. Sasaki has represented clients in federal and state tax settlement negotiations, voluntary disclosure agreements, tax due diligence and tax controversy. She has also reviewed private equity funds for legal sufficiency as part of due diligence for foundation investments.  A “Big-4” accounting alumna who worked as a State and Local Tax Manager for KPMG LLP, Ms. Sasaki is also the Portland Tax Forum chair-elect, an IRS Liaison Committee member, and a non-member participant on the Oregon Certified Public Accountants’ committee on state and local tax legislation.

Prior to joining Samuels Yoelin Kantor LLP, Ms. Sasaki was an associate attorney with Portland-based Miller Nash LLP, working in their Tax and Business Practice Groups. She earned a B.A. from Tulane University; a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law; and a Master of Laws from the University of Washington School of Law.  She has earned Oregon Super Lawyers Rising Star recognition for the last four years, and was named a 2011 Up and Coming Lawyer in the Daily Journal of Commerce.

Panelist

CLIFF MCDONALD

In his role as a Senior Project Manager and Preconstruction Manager at Hoffman Construction, Cliff has introduced a number of new corporate clients to our Oregon environment and also worked with existing companies in maximizing their energy efficiency and profitability.

Recently, Cliff has worked on developing ever more efficient Data Centers capitalizing on the best available technology and the unique physical and economic environments available as well as meeting the criteria of reliability, energy performance, and cost. Cliff is known for his skills as an innovator in construction processes, materials, and methods and specializes in projects that are both mission critical and contain highly complex Mechanical, Electrical, or Process Systems.

Cliff graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon in 1983 and worked as an Architect for ten years. In 1992 he worked as a Project Engineer on a Microprocessor Factory project where he discovered his true passion as a builder. In almost 20 years with Hoffman he has supervised over three billion dollars in construction on projects of up to 1.2 Billion in value and has taken them from Site Selection and Preliminary Design through Project Close-out. Cliff has performed numerous roles including Project Engineer, Superintendent, Operations Manager, and Preconstruction/Design Manager.

Working with Owners in a CM/GC or Design Build environment he helps integrate the most current construction processes with the project design to reduce both cost and schedule for mission critical projects. Focusing on schedule integration between Construction and Owner operation and occupancy has reduced project durations by half.

In addition to Mission Critical Data Centers and Microprocessor factories, his projects include the Genentech Biopharmaceutical project in Hillsboro, the Oregon State Police Crime Lab, and VA Cancer Research Center, the PSU Science II building Renovation, PDX Concourse C, and numerous other projects.

Cliff has experienced the building environments offered in other locations having planned or built projects in several other Western States as well as internationally in Ireland and Israel.

Cliff maintains his Oregon Architects License and is a member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and the ISPE (International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering).