Campus Life

Expert’s presentation to address corporate credibility, sustainability

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A respected voice on corporate sustainability, clean technology and green marketing, will present a free public lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in Carnegie Cinema.

Joel Makower’s presentation, “Can Companies Ever Be Credible on Sustainability?” will focus on how and why companies market themselves as green and sustainable and what companies are doing to balance sustainability with innovation to attract clients, customers and employees.

The Associated Press has called Makower “the guru of green business practices.” He is the chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group. Inc. and creator of GreenBiz.com. The GreenBiz Group seeks to help businesses maintain environmental responsibility while maximizing profitability.

Makower is the lead author of the annual State of Green Business, a publication by GreenBiz that discusses and assesses trends and metrics in corporate sustainability. The publication covers more than 1,600 companies worldwide as well as the U.S.-based S&P 500 companies.

In 2014, Makower was inducted into the International Society of Sustainability Professionals Hall of Fame, which recognizes honorees based on their “experience, education, innovation, reach, publication and service to the industry.”

A prolific writer and blogger, Makower wrote some of the earliest books on the sustainable business and has co-authored more than a dozen books. His latest book, "Strategies for the Green Economy" has been published in Korean and Chinese. Makower was also a nationally syndicated columnist. His weekly column “The Green Consumer” appeared in numerous publications in the 1990s such as Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington Post.

A skilled public speaker, Makower has also spoken at hundreds of industry and company events throughout the world. As he tailors his speeches to his audience, Makower has covered a broad range of topics from assessments of trends to technologies that create new opportunities for business and sustainability.

Makower has been a commentator on environmental topics for public radio’s “Marketplace” and appears frequently in both broadcast and print media. He serves as a board member or adviser to both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

To read more of Makower’s works, visit his blog, Two Steps Forward, at http://makower.com/.

Makower’s presentation is sponsored by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, a research center housed in the College of Communications at Penn State dedicated to the study and advancement of ethics and responsibility in corporate communication and other forms of public communication.

Last Updated April 2, 2015