StartUp Westport Presents: Sustainable Success: Start-up and Investor Perspectives on B Corp and Public Benefit Corporations
Join StartUp Westport on Tuesday, September 24 for a forum on impact-driven leadership presented by Jenifer Gorin founder of Impact Growth Partners and moderated by Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck, founders of Grounded World, both Westport based Certified B Corps.
Event Details:
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 6:30PM - 8:00 PM ET
Location: Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, Westport, CT 06880
Format: Panel discussion followed by Q&A session
Cost: Free admission Register Here
Phil, Heidi and Jen will be joined by other Connecticut-based companies to discuss how they build successful businesses from a purpose, governance and stakeholder-driven perspective and the value of B Corp Certification and Benefit Corporation status for start-ups in transforming their purpose into profit and attracting investors.
The program will include conversations with founders who will share their experiences growing impact driven businesses and how various corporate structures and B Corp certification impacts employee retention, market positioning and fundraising.
Our Panelists
Michael is an experienced tech entrepreneur who has built several commercial software companies - but it was his family's mental health journey that led him to build Halespring, a Public Benefit Corporation focused on improving the space. His career highlights include serving as the Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security where he helped transform a multi-billion dollar IT ecosystem, and his role as Head of Technology Strategy for the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. He holds both a B.S and M.S from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
Michael Hermus, Halespring.com
Felicia Rubenstein, HAYVN
HAYVN Founder Felicia Rubinstein is a true trailblazer, starting her career as an engineer at GE and Apple before “Women in STEM” was a movement. She thrived at the Fortune 500 companies, working there for more than a decade. When Rubinstein wanted a flexible work schedule after her first son was born, she asked Apple for it—and got it—pioneering one of the company’s first-ever job share programs. Eventually she left to start her own business and forge a new path: engineering a better way to work.
She created Maven Marketing and later 341 Studios, a Marketing and Branding Agency, one of the first virtual workspaces for independent contractors and freelancers in Fairfield County, and where she held regular educational roundtable breakfasts for clients and partners. The launch of 341 Studios became an unintentional pilot program for HAYVN, a women-forward coworking space in Darien, CT, and her latest venture.
Rubinstein designed HAYVN to be just that—a “haven” to “connect, create and get stuff done.”
Adam Thatcher, Grace Farms Tea and Coffee
Adam Thatcher is co-founder and CEO of Grace Farms Tea & Coffee, a nonprofit-owned Certified B Corp™ that gives back 100% of profits to support Design For Freedom, a movement to end forced labor in the building materials supply chain. Before his endeavors in tea and coffee, Adam was the Director of Operations and Sustainability at Grace Farms Foundation and Food and Beverage Director for Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort.
More about
B Corps
B Corp Certification is the leading Social and Environmental impact measurement and management framework for better business. Companies must meet exacting standards around social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to earn their certification.
More than 8,100 Certified B Corps from 95 countries in 161 industries work together toward one unifying goal: To use the power of business to do more than seek profit. Companies of all sizes, from start-ups to multinationals, can achieve B Corp Certification. Here in Connecticut, the community of over 30 B Corps includes Athletic Brewing, Earth Animal, Bigelow Tea, Aloha, Saffron Road Foods, Hayvn, CE Floyd and Westport based FoundHer, Grounded World, Impact Growth Partners, Kane Footwear and Westport Family Dental.
As a founding and Board member of B Local CT, Jen played a pivotal role in significantly expanding the CT B Corp community. Prior to founding IGP, Jen directed large multinational mergers and acquisitions at Credit Suisse, and political and corporate market research at Penn, Schoen and Berland. Jen is committed to expanding access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs and continuously supports initiatives that enable women to be investment decision makers.
Jen has her MBA from Harvard, and lives in Westport, CT with her husband and two boys.
They work with global brands, retailers, startups and nonprofits to help them better articulate their purpose, activate their brands and accelerate their impact. They are both expert impact speakers, have been identified as two of the top 100 social impact professionals in the world today by Real Leaders magazine, advise a myriad of start-ups (and own equity!) and are both board members and supporters of B Local Connecticut.
Our Hosts:
Jen Gorin, Impact Growth Partners
Jen founded Impact Growth Partners after identifying a need for businesses to streamline how they measure, improve, and communicate the good they do. Jen leverages her traditional business experience to lead best in class social and environmental impact consulting services.
Phil White and Heidi Schoeneck
Phil & Heidi are Co-founders of Grounded, a boutique B corp certified social innovation and band activation agency, based here in Westport.