Bob Willard: Riding the Sustainability Wave

There’s good reason why Bob Willard is one of the world’s leading experts on the role of sustainability in business. After spending 34 years with IBM, he’s developed unique ways to engage the business community in proactively avoiding risks and capturing opportunities associated with sustainability issues.

For the past five years, Bob has given hundreds of keynote presentations to corporations, governments, academics, and NGOs, helping them find ways to make the most of opportunities around sustainability.

On November 12th, he’ll be bringing that expertise to Calgary. Bob will share his ideas on ways to merge sustainability and business principles at the imagineCALGARY 2008 Partners Symposium. He’ll also be speaking to the general public general public at an event hosted by imagineCALGARY Partners REAP and the Calgary Public Library later that night.

“Bob Willard is one of the most respected experts in sustainability today,” says John Lewis, Coordinator of the imagineCALGARY Partnership’s Communications and Awareness Committee. “One of the biggest challenges facing most of our Partners is finding ways to make sustainability relevant within a business context. Bob’s presentation will help show us ways sustainability activities can contribute positively not only to the corporate bottom-line, but to the community at large.”

Bob is the author of The Sustainability Advantage, a book that quantifies potential bottom-line benefits from using sustainability strategies. His second book, The Next Sustainability Wave, was published in 2005 and shows readers how to convince senior executives to commit to sustainability strategies.

In an effort to reflect his personal commitment to sustainability, Bob has developed a DVD presentation of The Business Case for Sustainability. It is used in webinars and videoconferences and helps reduce his carbon footprint from global speaking trips.

Bob is on the faculties of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy and the Education and Sustainability Academy; serves on the advisory boards of The Natural Step Canada, Durham Sustain Ability, Learning for a Sustainable Future, and eQuilibrium; and is a member of the Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario, the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP), and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS).

You can learn more about Bob and his work at www.sustainabilityadvantage.com.