Resilient Businesses

Ingrid Bredenberg, M.A. is a strategic coach who works with leaders in government, healthcare, cooperatives and boards of directors.  She helps them work together better with improved communication, decision-making and strategic thinking skills.  Ingrid brings fresh approaches and leading edge tools to build organizational cultures of trust and accountability. She is known for helping clients boost their creativity, performance and EQ (enjoyment quotient).

Kirsten Bonanza is a partner at ALIVE Communities and a sustainability educator, curriculum developer, and community development researcher. A remarkably effective solutions systems thinker and doer, Kirsten has a deeply respected capacity to observe complex situations and efficiently identify simple, creative and adaptable answers delivered through the lens of sustainability and cultural awareness. Her research and curator roles for ALIVE Communities provides her with the frequent opportunity to explore and capture economic anthropology stories from around the world. Kirsten is also the founder of Create Better Impact and the highly regarded blog – Sustainable Bonanza.  Kirsten will be facilitating the discussion on Finding and holding onto the pulse of your many stakeholders

Tim Cohen-Mitchell founded a health clinic in remote Zambia in 1987, which continues to bring basic medical care to the underserved. From 1988 to 1993, Tim founded and managed Ajabu African Arts, a youth handicrafts fair trade co-op in Nairobi, Kenya and Amherst,MA. From 1994-1997, he served as an AmeriCorps*VISTA and project manager at Franklin County Community Development Corporation in Greenfield, MA where he helped 200 local artisans amd specialty food producers launch a retail outlet; organized peer-lending groups; piloted a welfare-to-work co-op business training program, and co-founded the community currency, Valley Dollars, and its issuer, the Valley Trade Connection, a trading network of 450 residents and small businesses. Tim began working in Orange, MA in 1997 as community organizer at Orange Revitalization Partnership, coordinating Memorial Park restoration, volunteer recognition, summer youth festivals, and a teen center. It was at ORP that Tim founded YES in 1998. He is author of numerous articles, including Community Currencies at a Crossroads: New Ways Forward and the book, Journey of Dreams: A Teenager’s Life in Kenya, and co-author, with Tony Savdié, of Currencies in Community Development Center for International Education. Tim will be facilitating the discussion on Bootstrapping your non-profit or social enterprise when cash is scarce: using non-traditional capital to start or grow your venture.

Rick Feldman is the consummate “civic action citizen”, as a leader in not-for-profit and commercial enterprises. He is a regional and business economics analyst, policy analyst; has owned two small companies (software developed for high-end regional economic analysis for use in regional planning and environmental action; and network/systems integration for large-scale collaboration building); was an organization and business development consultant; and currently is a financial services professional with the financial planning and advising firm Ostberg & Associates. Rick sits on many local Boards and is active in civic and social action organizations including Center for the Arts, Support Our Schools, Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.  Rick will be facilitating the discussion on Once you get the capital, what do you do with it?

Dan Finn has been making our local community a better place for years through his tireless volunteer efforts as manager of PV Local First and his paid work with folks with disabilities at Riverside Industries. When he isn’t educating and encouraging folks to support locally owned businesses or start up their own BALLE network, he is educating Congress on climate solutions, hiking through canyons, and actively living all modes of non-violence. In Dan’s words: To all who care about good jobs, good government, a healthy environment, peace, healthcare for all, good affordable schools, family farms, open space, corruption free voting, corporations acting for the betterment of themselves AND the greater society -please do all you can.  Dan will be facilitating the discussion on Fostering collaborations among peers and competitors in order to sustain and grow revenues

Mary Hoyer

Mary Hoyer is a community and cooperative development consultant working out of Amherst, Massachusetts. She works with the Cooperative Fund of New England, a lending organization for cooperatives and community-based nonprofits, as well as with the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, a regional consortium of democratically-owned and managed businesses and their supporters. She has worked in organizational development and governance, anti-racism and anti-apartheid initiatives, public and community education, and union organizing. Mary enjoys reading about and discussing politics, loves animals, and is an avid mystery reader.  Mary will be facilitating the discussion on Debt versus equity; balancing the two and planning ahead

Prakash Laufer is the board president of United for a Fair Economy and for 18 years was the CEO/co-owner of Motherwear. He and his wife Jody grew this home business to 65 employees and 11 Million in sales. For many years he has organized performance art in Northampton, published the New England Prout journal (economic democracy), andhelped found  the Connecticut River Valley Businesses for Social Responsibility which has evolved into Pioneer Valley Local First – PVlocalfirst.org  Prakash is facilitating the discussion on Reinventing yourself when markets change; embracing trends in the new economic era

Terry Mollner is the Chairman of Stakeholders Capital, LLC and is a founder and director of the Calvert Social Investment Funds – the first family of socially responsible mutual funds which today holds over $5 billion under management. He also sits on the board of Ben & Jerry’s, a company he tried to buy in 2000 and ultimately helped become a model of social responsibility while inside a multinational (Unilever). Terry is the author of a book on personal and corporate maturation and, together with his foundation, the Trusteeship Institute and the Aspen Institute, convened the founders of Stonyfield Farms, Ben & Jerry’s, Dagoba Chocolate, Odwalla, Honest Tea, etc. to film interviews about what they learned and wished they’d thought of prior to selling to multinationals.  Terry will be facilitating the discussion on Planning for and attracting investment opportunities

Jan Morgan is President of both CSRwire, a Springfield based international newswire, and Morgan Amadeo LLC, an international consulting group focusing on strategic planning and project implementation for NGO’s, nonprofit organizations, governments, start-up companies and social venture enterprises. She co-founded Zink Communications (now The Zink Group) where she advised various Fortune 100 organizations. Jan’s experience is as vast as her passion for sustainable change which she imparts to organizations including Antioch University, Social Venture Network, Business for Social Responsibility, Women’s Donor Network and more.  Jan will be facilitating the discussion on Making the case for resilience as a strategic focus

Catherine Ratte works on sustainability–focusing most recently on helping Pioneer Valley communities achieve incentives through “Green Community” designation: adopting zoning regulations to facilitate clean energy, inventorying municipal energy use and adopting local plans to reduce energy use by 20% over 5 years, and adopting energy efficient building codes. She is a Principal Planner/Manager of the Land use / Environment division of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and has worked for the United States and Cameroon federal governments.  Catherine will be facilitating the discussion on Local Politics: What works and What Could be Better.

William Spademan As president of Common Good Finance, William leads the project to design and establish a worldwide bank for the common good, as the foundation for a democratic, community-based, sustainable economic system. A former software engineer and theater director, William lives in Ashfield, Massachusetts with his wife and 15-year-old daughter.  William will be facilitating the discussion on Create It! A “money multiplier” simulation game and discussion on creating money locally

John Waite

John Waitte is the Executive Director of the Franklin County Community Development Corporation where he has helped hundreds of small businesses gain traction in their efforts to grow their markets. He has established successful micro-lending operations in various parts of Africa during his time with the Peace Corp.  John will be facilitating the discussion on Taking on debt: how much do you really need?