Business Social Responsibility

SmartGirls Way is the vision of entrepreneur Jean Brittingham, who believes that women-owned businesses are the key to our future economic growth and a thriving world. Prior to starting SmartGirls Way, Jean founded Brittingham Partners and worked with a diverse client group that included Fortune 100 companies; innovative start-ups; local and national governments; and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Jean has served on the Consumer Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum; as a strategic advisor and faculty member for the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership; and as an expert on gender equity for the Katerva Challenge; and sits on numerous business and nonprofit boards. Her career in sustainable business has spanned more than 20 years, ranging from the design of strategic collaborations to the implementation of programs across multiple sectors to promote and empower a sustainable future.

While working as a consultant to some of the world’s largest brands, Jean saw a need for the unique views and attributes that women can bring to conversations, businesses, and economies. Fueled by her creativity, intuition, and passion, Jean established the SmartGirls Way and created the content— including a book focused on women’s entrepreneurial strengths—to help rapidly scale the women’s entrepreneurial movement that will form the critical base for the next economy. She is an expert in sustainable development; communication; leadership and culture; economic and cultural innovation; women’s equality; and the future of entrepreneurship.

Clovia Hamilton founded Lemongrass Consulting, Inc. with 20 years of experience in government.  Lemongrass provides professional strategic planning services related to organizational assessments, business process improvements, intellectual property strategy, community outreach, and government contracting strategy.  

Clovia has a multi-disciplinary background in law, engineering, planning, and management, which enables the firm to offer clients a broad range of services that optimize their return on investment and their end results.  

In addition to consulting, Clovia teaches government contracting at Georgia Tech’s Procurement Assistance Center and helps manage small business programs for local governments in Georgia.

Laura Jacob is the President of Pro Way Development based in Stamford, CT. Pro Way helps businesses develop human resource strategies, a plan to hire, manage, and motivate employees. Organizations can maximize their human capital by establishing sound human resource practices that include recruiting, on-boarding, employee relations and retention, and employee development.

Laura has worked in the U.S. and Canada as well as virtually across the globe. She serves as adjunct faculty at local colleges and teaches communication and management skills courses at the American Management Association.

In May 2009 she was named as one of Fairfield County's Top 40 executives under 40 for her work as the President of Pro Way Development.

As CEO of MyCorporation Business Services, Inc., Deborah Sweeney advocates to protect personal and business assets for all consumers. With her extensive experience in the field of corporate and intellectual property law, Deborah can provide insightful commentary on the benefits, barriers, and who should consider incorporation and trademark registration. She also has extensive experience in the start-up and entrepreneurial sector as she has been involved in the formation of hundreds of thousands of MyCorporation’s customers.

Deborah joined MyCorporation in 2003 after serving as outside general counsel for 5 years. She received her Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration degrees from Pepperdine University and is a member of the American Bar Association. She also serves on the Board of Regents at California Lutheran University.

Deborah has served as an adjunct professor at the University of West Los Angeles and San Fernando School of Law in the area of corporate and intellectual property law. Because of her extensive knowledge, Sweeney has long served as a speaker and panelist on legal issues affecting new-to-the-world and growing businesses.

Ms. Sweeney is also well-recognized for her written work online as a contributing writer with some of the top business and entrepreneurial blogging sites. Her account with Forbes has featured articles with upward to 25,000 views. She also regularly contributes to American Express, She Takes on the World, YFS Magazine, Empower Me! Magazine, and Business Insider, among others.

Beth Goldstein, president of Marketing Edge Consulting Group and adjunct professor, Boston University School of Management.

Author, consultant, trainer, and founder of Marketing Edge Consulting Group, Beth Goldstein has empowered hundreds of entrepreneurs to successfully grow their companies. She helps companies understand how their customers think, what they value, and what influences their purchasing decisions, and then uses this knowledge to create targeted business-development programs that drive revenue and fundamental growth while increasing profitability and customer loyalty.

Her first book, The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Toolkit (McGraw-Hill) is used in 30+ cities around the U.S. to teach business owners the critical skills they need to accelerate growth. In addition to running her consulting practice, Beth conducts small-business growth workshops around the U.S. and abroad, teaches entrepreneurial marketing at the Boston University School of Management where she is the faculty director for the school's Online Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship Program (recognized by Fortune Small Business Magazine/CNN Money as one of the top 5 e-learning entrepreneurship programs in the US).

International speaker Shel Horowitz's eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson, published in 2010 by Wiley) was on Amazon's environmental bestseller list for 18 months. The book documents how businesses can be green, ethical AND profitable. Using examples from Fortune 100 companies to solo-preneurs, the book lays out how ethics and green principles are not just about doing the right thing but also about profitability. Surprising principles are demonstrated that show why most businesses shouldn't even worry about market share. The book shows business owners how to form powerful partnerships, even with competitors; how to get your green message out without green-washing; and how to become a much deeper shade of green. Shel also writes the internationally syndicated monthly column, Green And Profitable.

Antony Bugg-Levine is the CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Prior to taking up this position in October, 2011, he was a Managing Director at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he designed and led the Rockefeller Foundation's Impact Investing initiative. He convened the 2007 meeting that coined the phrase "impact investing" and is the Board chair of the Global Impact Investing Network. A former consultant with McKinsey & Co., he also teaches at Columbia Business School. A native of South Africa, he served in the late 1990s as the acting communications director at the South African Human Rights Commission.

Jed Emerson is executive vice-president for Strategic Development with ImpactAssets, a nonprofit financial services firm that provides information about impact investing to interested asset owners and creates impact investing products to the asset owner/impact fund market.

He is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Social Investing at Heidelberg University (Germany) and Senior Advisor to The Sterling Group (a multi-family office based in Hong Kong, which pursues a sustainable/impact investing strategy for its clients). He was a founding board member of Pacific Community Ventures, founding director of REDF and has been affiliated with various leading investment firms, such as Generation Investment Management (London).

Jed is also an adjunct professor with NYU-Abu Dhabi, in addition to having held faculty appointments at the Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford business schools. He is internationally recognized as a thought leader, having originated the concept of Blended Value and produced numerous articles on investing capital and managing firms for multiple returns. Jed has presented his work at the World Economic Forum, CGI and other events around the world. His various papers/research may be found at www.blendedvalue.org.