This year's Spring Conference brought together some of Vermont's most innovative business people to share inspiration and ideas! Check out the follow-up article in the Burlington Free Press, creative mindmapped notes of the conference from VBSR member Good Stuff Communications, and the podcasts from the Mark Johnson Show broadcast live from the event. Scroll down to hear interviews with Governor Shumlin, Andrea Cohen, Anya Rader Wallack, keynoter Joe Sibilia, and Sara Newmark of New Chapter.

The evening before, over 100 people gathered to cruise Lake Champlain and celebrate the good works of Don Mayer of Small Dog Electronics. We got to meet Don's family and many of the great people who work at Small Dog, and we were treated to some fantastic drumming from Don's son-in-law, Ismael Bangoura and grandson, Boca, of the Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum Theater. Take a look at our Facebook page for photos from the conference and the awards dinner. Thank you very much to all of our sponsors, workshop panelists, volunteers, VBSR Board and committee members, and everyone who had a hand in making these events a great success!
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The Vermont Legislature's 2011 session wrapped up earlier this month and there were lots of accomplishments this year that VBSR is very proud of.
   Vermont is now poised to become the first state in the country to truly tackle the problem of out-of-control health care costs. H.202 puts the state on the path to a system that will cover all Vermonters, divorce insurance from employment and save us hundreds of millions of dollars in costs each year. Read more...
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Call for Hometown Hero Annual Volunteer Award Nominations

United Way of Chittenden County announced an appeal to the community to submit nominations for their 2011 Hometown Hero Annual Volunteer Awards. Community members, nonprofit organizations, and businesses are invited to nominate outstanding community volunteers for one of five prestigious awards in the categories of:   Adult, Senior Adult, Youth, Group, and Business with the business category focusing on workplaces where company policy encourages and supports employee volunteerism. Read more... 

 

ISO 26000: A Tool for Taking Your Business to its Next Level of CSR

VBSR member ECOLOGIA will choose a few small and medium sized Vermont companies with whom to work on a pro-bono basis to help them use this new global standard on social responsibility. Toward this end, it has created a 30 page step-by-step handbook. "Because ECOLOGIA authored some of the language in the standard and participated in refining many of the critical sections, ECOLOGIA staff are in a good position to help Vermont companies apply this tool in ways that are beneficial and not burdensome," Carolyn Schmidt observes. Read more...   

 

 

Seventh Generation's Martin Wolf receives prestigious EPA award

Martin Wolf of Seventh Generation was honored earlier this month in Boston's Faneuil Hall as part of EPA's annual Environmental Merit Awards for 2011. As director of product sustainability and authenticity at Seventh Generation, Wolf brought lasting change to the cleansing products industry. He developed frameworks for environmental product design, while educating co-workers, customers and consumers about the environmental impacts of such products. Read more... 

 

 

Visit VBSR's News page for all the latest news from members! 

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