Wharton Journal

Issue date: 11/12/07 Section: News

Last weekend 46 Wharton students descended on the Vanderbilt University campus along with over 1,800 other MBA students and professionals to attend the 15th Annual Net Impact Conference. Wharton was the fifth largest school to be represented behind Vanderbilt, Yale and Berkeley among others. But year over year, attendance from Wharton students was up over 400%.

The conference - entitled "Building a Sustainable Future: Whart Will You Do Next?" - placed special emphasis on corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, international development, and nonprofit and environmental management. With over 300 speakers and 90 panels, the three day event included key note speeches from Charles O. Holliday, Chairman and CEO of DuPont and Tensie Whelan, Executive Director of the Rainforest Alliance. Of particular interest to many Wharton students was the opening speech by Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia. Supplementing the speech given at Wharton by former Patagonia CEO Kris Tompkins, Chouinard spoke about the role of business in promoting the common good. Specifically, he spoke about Patagonia's attempt to be responsible for products "from birth to birth" by 2010. The company is initiating a recycling program where consumers can return products to Patagonia to recycle. All products will eventually be made from recyclable and recycled fibers.

Other panels throughout the day included several Wharton alum, including R. Paul Herman, CEO and founder of HIP (Human Impact and Profit) Investor, and Anne Marie Burgoyne, Portfolio Director of the Draper Richards Foundation. Herman discussed the value of sustainability and advocated a different view on business models focusing on human need with a connection to financial value. He advocated the creation of a balanced scorecard which included accountability towards genuine concern for the individual as well as the greater good.

Wharton alum, Anne Marie Burgoyne, discussed the creation and management of high-impact nonprofits. She discussed her experiences investing in social entrepreneurs and the keys to their success which generally stemmed from inspired leaders with contagious passion. Her firm, Draper Fisher, was noted in the recently released book "Forces of Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits" as an example of a highly powerful nonprofit.

This year's conference also named six Wharton students finalists in the first-ever Project Pyramid Case Competition. The team, consisting of Lauren Clark, Ann Kim, Linda Lu, Anna Mohrman, Saket Saurabh, and Ruby Suga competed among 12 other finalist teams charged with producing tangible solutions to poverty-related conditions in society. The team's solution focused on how technology can bring about change and increase income in the poorest of regions through opening computer kiosks in community centers containing local "Craigslists" for local skilled/semiskilled jobs.

However, like true Wharton students, this year's conference was not all about work. In addition to conference wide socials, a Wharton/Stern mixer was held at the famous "Stage" bar, with cowboys and "honky tonk" music - a true Nashville experience! More details could not be printed in the Wharton Journal.

During this year's conference, the national Net Impact organization formally announced Wharton as the host school for next year's Net Impact Conference. This is Wharton's first time hosting the esteemed annual conference which challenges attendees to analyze current business issues to create action-oriented plans for a positive impact on the global community. The school must now focus on accommodating nearly 2,000 people, and the team is in early stages of outlining the content and speakers to fill the intense three day itinerary.

This year the Wharton Social Impact Club has doubled its membership base and over 100 first years attended each of four Social Impact Salons during pre-term. This growth in student participation and conference attendees reflects Wharton's position in hosting the conference next year as well as a growing interest in issues related to social impact among students. In addition, an ever growing number of prospective students are voicing their interest in social impact activities at Wharton, and a growing number of current students are raising their interest in pursuing careers within the field. Social impact career chats and Wharton Social Impact Recruiting Events are met with extraordinarily high attendance. In response, social impact related student clubs are improving coordination and recently launched the Wharton Alliance for Social Responsibility (www.whartonsocialresponsibility.org).

Organizing the national conference will be an enormous undertaking and plans are already underway. If you are interested in helping to shape the 16th annual conference please contact either Patti Debow (pdebow@wharton.upenn.edu) or Susana Medina (nsusana@wharton.upenn.edu).

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools