Chairman and Founder - Interface, Inc.
The story is now legend; the “spear in the chest” epiphany Ray Anderson experienced when he first read Paul Hawken’s, “The Ecology of Commerce”” seeking inspiration for a speech to an Interface task force on the company’s environmental vision. Fifteen years and a sea change later, Interface, Inc., is approximately half way to it’s target of “Mission Zero,” the journey no one would have imagined for the company, or the petroleum-intensive industry of carpet manufacturing, which has been forever changed by Ray’s vision. His Georgia-based company, Interface, Inc., was recently ranked number one in a GlobeScan survey of sustainability experts. The once captain of industry has eschewed his luxury car for a Prius and built an off-the-grid home, authored a 1998 book chronicling his epiphany, “Mid-Course Correction,” and has a new book chronicling his journey, “Confessions of a Radical Industrialist” coming in September 2009. He has become an unlikely screen hero in the 2004 Canadian documentary, “The Corporation.” He was named one of TIME International’s “Heroes of the Environment” in 2007. He’s a sought after speaker and advisor on all issues eco, including a stint as co-chairman of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development and as an architect of the Presidential Climate Action Plan, a 100 day action plan on climate that was presented to the Obama Administration. |
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 Panelists |
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| Peter Allen |
President, Thermo Dynamics |
| Patricia Bishop |
Owner, Taproot Farms |
| Jenna L. Boon |
Director, Joggins Fossil Institute |
| Raymond Côté |
Professor Emeritus in Environmental Studies and Senior Fellow, Eco-Efficiency Centre, Dalhousie University |
| Jean-Paul Deveau |
President, Acadian Seaplants |
| Tom Heintzman |
Founder and President, Bullfrog Power Inc. |
| Darrell Hiltz |
CAO, Municipality of the District of Chester |
| Guido Kerpel |
Regional Vice President - Canada, New Castle Hotels & Resorts |
| Rob Niven |
President, Carbon Sense Solutions |
| Kevin Pelley |
President, Kohltech International Limited |
| Gary Schmeisser |
Director of Facilities, Saint Mary's University |
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 Moderators |
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| Nadine Gudz |
Manager of Sustainable Strategy, InterfaceFLOR |
| Bruce Hennebury |
Executive Director, Economic Strategies and Initiatives, Department of Economic and Rural Development |
| Dan MacDonald |
President and CEO, InNOVAcorp |
| Bill Turpin |
Executive Director, Sustainable Prosperity Partnerships, Nova Scotia Environment |
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