Dalai Lama honors students

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After his lecture, His Holiness presided over a two-part ceremony: the awarding of the first Compassion in Action Awards and the presentation of a book of poetry from K-12 students across Washtenaw County. He presented the awards to three University of Michigan students, giving each a Kata (a white silk scarf that honors the work of the recipient and signals the good intentions of those offering it).

Arie Jongejan, a dual degree Erb MBA/ MS student in business and natural resources was honored for his work developing solar systems in refugee camps in Thailand and Burma. Arie has lived in South America and Southeast Asia and speaks Spanish and Thai. Julie Maslowsky a psychology student from Oxford, Michigan and Danielle Bober, a master's degree student in urban planning from West Bloomfield, were presented with the Health and Poverty awards respectively. Funding for the $5,000 awards was provided by Jewel Heart, a local Buddhist learning center that helped sponsor the Dalai Lama's visit.

Wal-Mart's Better Living Business Plan Challenge

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The company, Mozergy, will develop and propagate Jatropha crops in Mozambique and other developing countries. Jatropha is a sustainable, low-cost, high-yield plant that produces oil-rich seeds. These seeds can be extracted and refined to produce biodiesel. Because jatropha is not edible and can grow on marginal land, it is not expected to impact food production.

After narrowing the finalists down to the University of Michigan and Stanford University, Mozergy was selected the winner. "It's been a surreal experience to start with an idea more than a year and a half ago, take it to Mozambique and now build it into something with great potential," LeBrun continued. "We will use our winnings to help fund our return trip to Mozambique this summer to work with experts in jatropha cultivation and local agriculture to improve yields and determine the best crop varieties for our location."

The entire Mozergy team consisted of Jeff LeBrun, Tony Gross, Mike Hartley, Amir Satvat, Josh Katz and Ali Moazed. They received support from the Erb Institute, the Zell / Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, the Center for Sustainable Systems and the William Davidson Institute.

Bart Van Hoof

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Bart is currently working on his PhD thesis in the Industrial Ecology Program at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. His research explores the “greening” of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the relevancy of these companies to sustainability in developing countries. As the largest employers, these companies are a cornerstone of economic growth in the developing world, but are also the largest polluters. Bart's research explores strategies for fostering cleaner production.

Coincidentally Bart, who had previously discovered the Erb Institute through its website, met Erb Director Tom Lyon in Bogota last summer while Tom was there doing field research on Voluntary Agreements. Upon Professor Lyon’s invitation, Bart came to U of M both to further his research, and to use the Erb Institute’s acclaimed dual-degree program as a benchmark for development of a comparable program funded by the Moore Foundation.

Bart is very grateful to the Erb community, and especially to its director Tom Lyon, for the opportunity to be part of the Institute this past year. “The interaction with all the different members, participation in the variety of activities such as colloquiums, seminars, social events as well as the feedback of numerous experts, made a cold winter in Ann Arbor into a warm, unforgettable experience.” Scheduled to launch this summer, Bart warmly invites all interested Erb community members to visit the “little sister program” at Los Andes University.

Joint Internship

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“In recent years, Coca-Cola has strengthened its relationships with leading non-governmental organizations (NGO) such as World Wildlife Fund because we recognize that working toward a sustainable future makes not just good eco-sense but good business sense,” said Daniel Vermeer, director of sustainable value chain for The Coca-Cola Company. “Through this internship program with the Erb Institute, we are helping to shape businesses’ environmental practices by fostering new thinking about how to ensure the health and beauty of our most precious natural resource: water.” “Ten years ago, corporate-NGO partnerships like this were in their infancy. Now, we realize the importance of influencing not just world leaders who make policies, but the business leaders that make an impact on peoples’ daily lives,” said Shaun Martin, director of conservation leadership at the World Wildlife Fund. “We are delighted to work with Coca-Cola to enable our future business leaders, through the Erb Institute, to explore ways to preserve the world’s natural wealth while ensuring sustainable economic growth.”

Building on the success of a joint internship Erb launched last summer with the Dow Chemical Company and Environmental Defense Fund, the Coca-Cola/WWF program reflects a growing urgency for corporations to work in concert with environmental organizations to create innovative approaches to reducing the environmental footprint of their businesses. During the 12-week summer internships, two Erb students will work closely with leaders at both organizations to assess and analyze the ecological impact of the global commodity supply chain. Liz Abbett and Matthew McMurtry, MBA/MS candidates at the Erb Institute, were selected for the inaugural Coca-Cola/World Wildlife Fund joint internship program. They will analyze past, current, and future trends in global commodity production and subsequent impacts on the environment, commodity prices, and business procurement practices. The interns will then help construct business cases for sourcing supply chain products from producers who employ best-in-class management practices. "In the early days of the environmental movement, environmental NGOs fought to regulate corporations or bring lawsuits against them," remarked Thomas P. Lyon, U-M professor and director of the Erb Institute. "Today, they are more likely to work directly with companies to create markets that demand environmental quality. This internship gives our students a remarkable opportunity to learn about this new form of collaboration directly, by playing an active role in it."

Scholarship Gift

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When asked about their decision to make this generous gift, Lee said: “We had already decided to set up the CRT to benefit the University, and we were researching how to designate the funds to best align with our values. We have always supported the Ross School of Business, but also have a longstanding and growing interest in the environment and sustainability. When we investigated the mission of the Erb Institute, we realized that it was just the kind of work we want to support, both financially and through personal involvement.”

Mark explains: “The sustainable business paradigm expands the historically one-dimensional view of the goal of business. It integrates profitability with the additional attributes of a business’s effect on society and the environment to form a more complex, three dimensional model. We believe the work of the Erb Institute will continue to have a profound, pervasive and positive impact on changing the perception of what constitutes ‘good’ business going forward. We’re proud to join this community of like-minded people in support of this effort.”

Mark has spent his career in the automotive industry and is presently Vice President, Business Development with Lear Corporation of Southfield, MI. After 25 years in the automotive industry, Lee founded Barton Consulting Services, LLC, where she works primarily with not-for-profit organizations and start-ups. She also serves on the Ann Arbor Township Planning Commission and is a volunteer literacy tutor.

Mark and Lee reside in Ann Arbor with their two dogs. They generate over half of their own electricity needs with a photovoltaic system they installed in 2006. They enjoy spending time planting and nurturing trees and gardens on their 15 acre property.