ISTC Director Kevin C. O’Brien served on the keynote panel for ActGreen’s 3rd Annual Green Business Summit Saturday at the ACES Library.
ActGreen is a student leadership group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which prepares future business leaders to take environmental and sustainable values into their careers.
O’Brien told the summit participants that regardless of changes in political regimes, the importance of sustainable business ethics is here to stay.
“That train has left the station,” he said. “A sustainable business is more profitable and their products carry added value.”
Overwhelmingly the public has embraced the importance of sustainable business practices so that a successful brand must include sustainability at the core of their business planning, O’Brien said.
Other panelists during the summit were: Steven Rosenberg, founder and president of Green Purpose; Dave Wilms, owner of Advance Renewables, LLC, and moderator Cassie Carroll, program director at The Land Connection.