Educational Tracks - Full Details
Educational Track I
Building Energy Performance (Mark Frankel)
Understanding how to Measure, Value, and Improve energy performance of your building or leased space. Buildings represent a sizeable operational cost and carbon impact for most businesses. Yet there is typically very little good information available to building occupants and operators about how to evaluate building performance, and when to take steps to improve performance. This session will educate attendees on the key performance indicators to consider in building performance, how to obtain this data, and how to compare it to other similar buildings. For most buildings, simple steps can lead to energy savings of 5-15%, with deeper savings possible with cost effective upgrades. Learn how to understand your options and opportunities for simple or comprehensive building energy use tracking and reduction.
Energy ¢ents: Activating Efficiency for a New Economy (Alan Durning)
Learn what local businesses can do today to reduce energy use and the benefits for the broader community. Join a panel of energy efficiency professionals to discuss savings tips for small businesses, the Community Energy Challenge, and creating local green jobs. The biggest winners will be the ones willing to make an investment now – while stimulus funding and tax credits are available.
–“Green Jobs” opportunities here in Whatcom County - Alan Durning
–Small Business Saving Tips Ben Rupert - PSE & Martin Selch
–Community Energy Challenge - Alex or Emily Reisman from SC
Thriving on Chaos: Managing Transitions in the Workplace (Janet Ott)
Changes in are external, transitions are internal. Unless transition occurs, change will not work! If you are experiencing downsizing, change of ownership or management, or major policy changes, come to this breakout and:
- Identify and understand the three phases of transition during any change process
- Learn specific strategies to facilitate the transition of employees successfully
- Learn “best practices” from your peers around managing transition and change
Keeping Our Local Businesses Strong: Effective Financial Management (Stephanie Artino)
Wondering How to analyze your business in these changing economic times – if you are like many businesses, you are so immersed in running your business that you simply don’t have the time to get involved in trying to interpret and act upon the financial indicators in your business. Stephanie will share her expertise and illustrate topics like key performance indicators and profit improvement strategies. Our goal is to keep as many locally run businesses as we started with before these tough times and to keep those businesses thriving.
Food Enterprise: the new frontier for local economic opportunities (Tom French and Leslie Schaller)
Hear how creating an authentic food experience is inspiring a new frontier for social enterprise. Learn how exercising and utilizing our creativity when it comes to sustainability can lead to powerful revenue streams and create new employment opportunities.
Leslie Shaller, Director of Programs at the Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), will share success stories with local and regional food enterprise case studies. ACEnet’s efforts to build partnerships, to brand regional food businesses, and shape regional policies in support of this exciting economic development work is one of the leading examples of how investing in the local food economy can make a huge difference. Learn exciting strategies to create new economic opportunity while maximizing the regional assets and the entrepreneurial spirit of our region.
Chef Tom French, Founder and Director of Experience Food Project, looks at economic development through a different lens. Hear how creating an authentic food experience is inspiring a new frontier for social enterprise. Learn how exercising and utilizing our creativity when it comes to sustainability can lead to powerful revenue streams and create new employment opportunities. Tom’s enthusiasm is infectious!
Educational Track II
Approaching Zero Energy in Affordable Housing (John Abrams)
Join our keynote presenter John Abrams as he discusses a variety of Martha's Vineyard affordable housing initiatives, including the nations' first LEED platinum single-family affordable housing, a new zero-energy project, and House Moves, an innovative housing re-use program.
Employee Engagement and Sustainability (Katie Wallace, Dave Brogan and Scott Dohner)
Is employee ownership a good strategy for boosting employee performance and loyalty? 86% of companies have plans to be more sustainable, but only 14% of those companies are actually engaging their coworkers in the effort. Hear from this panel of businesses on how employee ownership came about in their business, how they have structured and the impact employee ownership has had on their business.
As one of the five original managing partners at Superfeet, Scott Dohner has led their very successful insole company into employee ownership as an exit strategy as the partners enter retirement. He asks, what is your exit plan? Have you considered the ramifications of what you have built up if you sell the business? Hear about a company that has built their core values as a single team to include sustainability and transparent financials, and how this has led Superfeet to financial success, a great company culture and fierce employee loyalty.
New Belgium Brewery has integrated sustainability and employee ownership into every aspect of their culture. They have worked to engage their coworkers at every level into the business overall and those efforts have played a large part in the financial and environmental successes of NBB.
Dave Brogan from Bellingham Bay Builders says "Over the last two years we were surprised to see our business grow in the face of the unprecedented shrinking of the construction industry.” Dave will join this session to talk about how their business operates under a workers cooperative business model and their success.
Financing Green when times are blue (Martha Rose and Adrian Willanger)
The rules of the Real Estate market have completely changed, and in this New World you’ll need an effective marketing and financing strategy that will set you apart from your conventional financing peers. While the building industry waits for the market to bounce back, green building heroin Martha Rose is taking the creative initiative to move forward. She’ll explain why taking the right risks and understanding the green economy is keeping her business in a secure place.
You’ll hear about Martha’s newest economy solution: the five-star Built Green, net zero energy, Fish Singer Place. These homes will cost less than previous houses while having more green features. She has cut overhead, received lower prices from some subs and is being smarter and more efficient about building decisions.
Martha Rose has been called the "queen of green" and has a long track record of being on the cutting edge of successful eco-friendly home developments in the Seattle area. Joined by Adrian Willanger, consultant and founder of EcoRedux, learn how Martha's tweaked business and marketing plan that showed Sound Community Bank why this green project was worth investing in.
Getting Money in a Recession (Roger Long, Greg Booth, and Tom Dorr)
There are many rumors about what banks are willing to do. Here about the financial industry from a local bank perspective. What are lenders looking for now? Are they loaning money? What support is out there for businesses who are looking for money?
