VOIS is delighted to introduce the winners of the 2011 Champions of Change Leadership Awards.
The Sustainability Leadership Award recognizes an outstanding leader in sustainability whose work in Oregon impacts the sustainable business community. And the winner is…
Mia Birk - Alta Planning & Design
The Social Equity Leadership Award recognizes an outstanding leader in social equity–someone who is leading the way to a more equitable future for Oregon. And the winner is…
Alan Hipolito - Verde
Congrats to all nominees and finalists (*) for the Social Equity Leadership Award:
Alan Hipolito – Executive Director, Verde (Portland, OR)* | Can you imagine a green economy that provides jobs for people from all economic and ethnic backgrounds, shifting low-income communities into the middle class? That’s the vision of Alan Hipolito, who leads Verde as its Executive Director and is also a dedicated civic advocate. Alan has helped build three enterprises within Verde, a landscaping business, a nursery providing plants for environmental restoration, and Verde Energy, a weatherization business. All three provide jobs and skills to people who are often left out of the green economy. Alan has also tirelessly educated non-profit, for-profit and government staff and elected officials on the importance of incorporating social equity into sustainability efforts such as the Grey-to-Green Initiative.
Bob Moore – Founder, Bob’s Red Mill (Milwaukie, OR)* | Here’s how Inc. Magazine summed up Bob’s career trajectory: Bob Moore started Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods in Milwaukie over 30 years ago, and nurtured it into a $70 million natural foods business. Then he gave it all away to his employees. That was last year. This year he and his wife Charlene gave $25 million to Oregon Health Sciences University to improve nutrition and health. Bob has shown that kindness and care can be central to business and personal success.
Paige Coleman – Executive Director, Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (Portland, OR)* | People, Planet, Profit: that’s the mantra of sustainability. As executive director of the NE Coalition of Neighborhoods, Paige Coleman has focused on involving all people in the area served by the Coalition. She has deliberately made social equity a strong point of NECN, and helped develop community initiatives, which include the King Farmers Market, Solarize Northeast, Food Share Fund and a community youth hotline. Her advocacy for the underserved communities through the coalition has been unparalleled.
Chandra Brown - Oregon Iron Works/United Streetcar (Clackamas, OR)
Mark Stella - Green Mountain Woodworks (Talent, OR)
Congrats to all nominees and finalists (*) for the Sustainability Leadership Award:
Aubrey Baldwin – Lead Attorney, Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (Portland, OR)* | Remember Erin Brockovich, who took on a California utility giant and polluter…and won? As lead attorney at the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center, Aubrey Baldwin took on PGE, the largest utility in Oregon and operator of Oregon’s only coal fired power plant. Her team’s recent victory benefits all Oregonians. The settlement that she and her team of attorneys and students just won will lead PGE to close down the Boardman coal plant by 2020. Plus, PGE will pay $2.5 million into a charitable fund for air and habitat protection as well as restoration and clean energy projects. Aubrey’s work is sure to be regarded as a turning point and pivotal moment in Oregon’s clean energy future.
Carsten Henningsen – Founder, Portfolio 21 (Portland, OR)* | How do you use your dollar to change the world? As co-founder of Portfolio 21, Carsten directs investor dollars to support and grow companies that recognize the risk in our ecological crisis and the opportunity in sustainability. Locally, Carsten has also founded Upstream 21, which invests exclusively in local communities and goes one step further: seeks to reinvent the corporate mandate by including social and environmental stewardship in their articles of incorporation.
Mia Birk – President, Alta Planning & Design (Portland, OR)* | Bicycles have the power to transform communities and empower people. Plus they’re fun. Mia Birk is doing both as a visionary leader, author and principal of Alta Planning and Design. She helped turn Portland into a bicycling mecca when she worked at the city, and now as President of Alta, is spreading the gospel and the tools throughout America and beyond. Plus, her firm just won a huge New York City contract to install bike sharing throughout the city, a truly transformational opportunity. If that’s not enough, she’s also author of a memoir and toolkit: Joyride: Pedaling Toward a Healthier Planet.
Nik Blosser – Co-Founder, Celilo Group (Portland, OR)* | Nik has been changing the world, one coupon at a time. He is co-founder of Celilo Group Media, publisher of the Chinook Book, which reaches thousands of citizens and shoppers each year in Portland and now, five other metropolitan areas as well. The book and coupons connect small and large businesses with customers and together they grow a marketplace for sustainable ideas and products. Nik also co-founded the Oregon Business Association, an alliance of businesses committed to the wellbeing of Oregon’s economy as a whole, including our people and environmental health, and he is chairman of the family business, Sokol-Blosser Winery, one of Oregon’s sustainability pioneers. Nik’s vision is big and his leadership and creative skills formidable.
James Meyer – Opsis Architecture (Portland, OR)
Jim Desmond – Metro Sustainability Center (Portland, OR)
Kat West – Multnomah County Office of Sustainability (Portland, OR)
Mark Stell – Portland Roasting (Portland, OR)
Regina Hauser – The Natural Step (Portland, OR)
Richard Halpern – EcoApprentice (Portland, OR)
Ryan Temple – Sustainable Northwest Wood (Portland, OR)
Sarah Severn – Nike (Beaverton, OR)
Stephanie Frisch & Michael O’Loughlin – Blue Ocean Events (Portland, OR)
Taylor & Alicia Jones – Afton Field Farm (Corvallis, OR)
