Joel Makower
Trellis Group
For more than 30 years, through his writing, speaking and leadership, Joel has helped companies align pressing environmental and social issues with business success.
A former nationally syndicated columnist, Joel is author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including The New Grand Strategy, about a business plan for America, born at the Pentagon, that embeds sustainability as a national strategic imperative. Previous books include Strategies for the Green Economy, Beyond the Bottom Line: Putting Social Responsibility to Work for Your Business and the World, The E-Factor: The Bottom-Line Approach to Environmentally Responsible Business, and The Green Consumer.
In 2012, he was awarded the Hutchens Medal by the American Society for Quality, which cited “his ability to tell compelling stories that both inform and inspire business leaders toward profitable action.” In 2014, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals.
Joel has spoken at hundreds of events and is a frequent keynote speaker at industry and company events around the world. His audiences and venues vary widely — including senior executives, corporate supply chains, customer groups, trade associations, marketing professionals, award ceremonies, and regional economic development bodies — from small roundtable discussions to large and diverse gatherings.
He is also a skilled moderator, called upon by companies and conferences around the world to conduct on-stage or on-camera one-on-one interviews, or to host lively and intelligent panel discussions with executives and thought leaders, for in-person, video, and online events, and has served as the emcee of dozens of events, including multi-day conferences, harnessing his talents as an engaging host, a nimble thinker, and a quick wit to ensure events rise above “conference as usual.”
The Associated Press has called him “The guru of green business practices.”
More about Joel here.
The Green Consumer, 1990-2010
The author of the 1990 book "The Green Consumer" (and the founder of GreenBiz.com) looks back at 20 years of green consumerism and ponders whether the whole exercise is a distraction. Read More
Toyota and the Future of Green Marketing
What does Toyota's travails mean to green marketing? That's a question that seems ripe these days, as the leading Japanese auto maker gets a comeuppance for its allegedly serious safety defects. Here are four possible scenarios. Read More
The Green Business Decade in Review
As we view the whatever-it's-called decade in the rearview mirror, it's tempting to assess what's transpired since the good old days of Y2K to see how far we've come — and how far we haven't. Read More
A Night at Hamlet's Castle: Much Ado About … What?
Will a climate agreement by any other name smell as sweet? Read More
Introducing … the Green Confidence Index
Today marks the launch of the first comprehensive monthly poll aimed at tracking Americans' attitudes about and confidence in their leaders and institutions, nationally and locally, on the subject of environmental responsibility, as well as in their own understanding of issues and their willingness to make green purchasing choices. Read More
A Look Inside Good Housekeeping's Green Seal
With 100 years of credibility under its belt, the Good Housekeeping seal of approval has reached the pinnacle of consumer confidence. But will its green stamp be a game-changer for the green marketplace? Read More
Sky Vegetables: Taking Green Roofs to New Heights
The vision: green rooftops, not just as gardens, but as urban agriculture hubs for herbs and edible greens, grown in renewable energy-powered greenhouses, allowing city dwellers to grow and sell food locally. Read More
Who's Invested in Newsweek's Least-Green Companies? (Maybe You)
One aspect of Newsweek's just-released rankings of 500 leading companies' environmental policies and performance is to view the list from an investor perspective. Specifically: Who are investors in the worst-ranked companies? Read More
Inside Newsweek's New Green Corporate Rankings
A near-Herculean effort, Newsweek's new list of the greenest companies in the S&P 500 Index may be imperfect -- and are sure to be debated -- but they may also be the best effort to date to assess the mainstream corporate marketplace in the U.S. Read More
Inside Walmart's Sustainability Consortium
The co-directors of Walmart's Sustainability Consortium, one key plank of the company's larger Sustainability Index, explain how the group will work -- and what companies get for the six-figure price of admission. Read More