Gil Friend

Friend helps companies design, implement and measure profitable sustainability strategies. He is widely considered one of the founders of the sustainable business movement, and was recently named an inaugural member of the ISSP Sustainability Hall of Fame. A systems ecologist and business strategist with nearly 40 years experience in business, communications, and environmental innovation, his clients have included Arizona Public Service, Coca Cola, Dean Foods, eBay, General Mills, Gilead Sciences, Granite Construction, Green Mountain Energy, Hewlett Packard, Levi Straus & Co, Nike, Odwalla, Pacific Gas & Electric, Steelcase, Sun Microsystems, SunPower, US General Services Administration and many others. Friend served in the California Governor’s Office, developing early sustainability policies and programs. He was a founding board member of Internet pioneer Institute for Global Communications, founder and Executive Director of Foundation for the Arts of Peace, and cofounder and codirector of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a leading urban ecology and economic development “think-and-do tank,” where he pioneered the current “green roof” trend more than 35 years ago. Friend has served as Adjunct Faculty at Presidio Graduate School, and visiting faculty at California College of the Arts. He lectures widely on business strategy and sustainability issues and writes The New Bottom Line, offering strategic perspectives on business and environment. He is the author of The Truth About Green Business (FT Press) and the forthcoming Profit on Purpose: Risk, Fiduciary Duty and the Laws of Nature; was coauthor of Biofuels Development and Soil Productivity (1982); and has contributed chapters to several other books. He holds an M.S. degree in systems ecology from Antioch University, has a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of “The Natural Step” environmental management system.

Program Session
Workshop: Measuring What Matters
Everyone knows that what gets measured gets done. But how do you make sense of the growing universe of sustainability indicators, metrics, and KPIs that are such an essential part of sustainability reporting? How do you select powerful measures and compelling goals -- that help track and drive better decisions, and better performance? And how do you actually put those measures to work for your organization: supporting strategy, enabling implementation, and driving results? Join Levi Strauss & Co. Sustainability Director Colleen Kohlsaat and Natural Logic CEO Gil Friend for this WORKshop about how to answer these questions for your organization.