Meet the team that saved the company against all odds and learn how they did it. Hear about how this team is transforming an industry battered by...
[link removed]
John,
Join Social Venture Circle and the American Sustainable Business Council January 13, 1-2:30pm ET for a special edition of NEXT Economy LIVE ([link removed]) featuring Matt McLean (Uncle Matt's Organic ([link removed]) ), Paul Richardson (Renewal Funds ([link removed]) ), and Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm ([link removed]) , Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute ([link removed]) ) in conversation with Nancy Rosenzweig (ValuesAligned Capital).
In March of 2020 with the pandemic looming and the financial markets in free fall, Matt McLean learned he had 30 days to buy his business back from the Dean Foods bankruptcy. The business his family built was the largest organic, citrus brand in the US. Allowing it go under or fall into the wrong hands could have caused irreparable damage to the organic citrus supply chain.
Meet the team that saved the company against all odds and learn how they did it. Hear about how this team is transforming an industry battered by citrus greening ( a by product of of non sustainable farming practices, over using pesticides) and low sugar trends into an innovative powerhouse in organic immunity products.
Register Now: The Superheroes That Saved Orange Juice ([link removed])
Matt McLean, founder and CEO of Uncle Matt's Organic, is a wealth of knowledge in regard to a healthy, organic lifestyle, organic farming and regenerative agriculture. Matt ventured into the organic juice business in 1999 with a passion for healthy living as well as a long family history of growing citrus in Florida. Matt’s goal was, and still is, to produce the highest quality juice, using only premium 100% organically-grown fruit that is free from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Natural pesticides (i.e. ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and botanical oils such as neem) are used to keep harmful insect populations down and to fight disease. Farming organically also means healthier products. Research has proven that organically-produced foods are higher in antioxidants and nutrient density than their conventional counterparts.
Uncle Matt's Organic, the nation’s #1 selling brand of organic orange and grapefruit juices, has seen a steady increase in orange juice sales since March, as consumers turn to what they associate with health: a good measure of OJ. It seems like a very relevant moment to discuss this commodity that was struggling before the pandemic and to revisit the benefits of this original super-fruit juice now making a big comeback.
Gary Hirshberg is CEO of the Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institutes and Co-Founder and Chief Organic Optimist of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer. The author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (Hyperion, 2008), Gary frequently speaks on topics including sustainability, organic agriculture and the profitability of green business. Gary serves on several corporate and non-profit boards, including AtLast (plant-based meats), Beyond Broth (organic broths), Blue Apron (meal kits), Hälsa (plant based dairy alternatives), Orgain (organic nutrition), Organic Voices (organic messaging and education), Peak Organic Brewing (craft beer), and Wildgood (plant-based ice cream), as well as an Advisory Board member for Applegate (organic and natural meats) and Handsome Brook Farms (organic pasture raised eggs). He has received 12 honorary doctorates and numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership including a 2015 Champion for Children Award
from Mount Sinai Hospital’s Children’s Environmental Health Center and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the US EPA. He is an Edmund Hillary Fellow in NZ where among his current projects, he is establishing an Organic Entrepreneurship Centre on a farm that he and his wife own in Motueka.
Paul Richardson is managing partner and co-founder of Renewal Funds, a mission venture capital firm focused on organics and environmental technology. Paul serves, or has served, as a director on the boards of many Renewal investee companies including Alter Eco, Horizon Distributors, Lotek, Mama Earth Organics, Prana Biovegan, Spud, Sweet Earth Natural Foods and Uncle Matt’s Organics. Paul has also worked extensively in the not-for-profit sector with board participation including terms as President of Ecojustice Canada and Vice Chair of the Coast Opportunities Funds. He also negotiated on behalf of an international consortium of philanthropic foundations to help structure a financing deal that supported the conservation of the Great Bear Rainforest, the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest left in the world.
Nancy Rosenzweig is the Founder and Principal of ValuesAligned Capital, a financial consulting firm which helps socially and environmentally responsible companies with their M&A and growth capital needs while prioritizing retaining mission. Her practice is focused on the food and agriculture sector with particular interest in food and beverage companies with transparent, vertically integrated, agricultural supply chains that yield positive environmental and social benefit. Companies include: Uncle Matt’s Organics, Sambazon, Vital, Farms, SunFed Ranch, Traditional Medicinals, Runa, and Taza Chocolate. VA Capital also works with family offices to help with impact investing strategy and implementation of direct investing priorities. Most recently with Big Path Capital as an investment banker, convener and thought leader in the Impact investing space, she has decades of leadership experience in values driven, consumer-facing companies. Among her many social enterprise engagements, Nancy has
held C level and or governance positions at Tom’s of Maine, Bright Horizons, ZipCar, Mama Chia, Root Capital and Trillium Asset Management. Nancy has an impressive track record of creating business value by identifying consumer trends ahead of the curve, strategic marketing, team building and raising capital. Nancy is the producer of the seminal work in impacting investing Total Portfolio Activation in collaboration with Trillium Asset Management and the Tides foundation, she is a Springboard alum and was a distinguished teaching fellow with Dr. Robert Coles at Harvard University. She holds a BA from Hamilton College and an MBA from Northeastern University. Nancy lives in Somerville, MA with her two middle school aged daughters who keep her focused every day on improving the word they will inherit.
Upcoming Events
January 13 - The Superheroes That Saved Orange ([link removed])
Matt McLean (Uncle Matt's Organic)
Paul Richardson (Renewal Funds)
Gary Hirshberg (Stonyfield Farm, Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute)
Nancy Rosenzweig (ValuesAligned Capital)
January 21 - The Art of Activating Money For Good ([link removed])
Amy Hartzler (Do Good Better)
Deb Nelson (RSF Social Finance)
Kristin Hull (Nia Impact Capital)
January 28 - Housing is Healthcare - A Conversation with Two Black Luminaries ([link removed])
Joshua Pollard (Omicelo)
Andre M. Perry (Fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings; Author, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities).
April 20-22 - ASBC-SVC 2021 Spring Conference ([link removed]) (register now for Early Bird Pricing)
A virtual convening for business leaders, impact investors, policy makers, and more.
In partnership with
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed] [link removed]
[link removed] [link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
============================================================
** Social Venture Circle (SVC) ([link removed])
is a membership network that equips entrepreneurs, impact investors, and capacity-builders with connections, money, and expertise in order to build businesses that drive the NEXT economy: one that is regenerative, equitable and prosperous for all.
Copyright © 2020, SVC, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
