Purpose and Profit with Kathy Varol

Sarah Bratton Hughes is the Head of ESG & Sustainable Investing for American Century Investments. American Century is not your standard investment firm. They have embedded purpose into their core, with a focus on supporting breakthrough medical research. In the 1990s, the founder of American Century and his wife, Jim and Virginia Stowers, established and endowed the Stowers Institute for Medical R...

Alex Budak is a social entrepreneur, author, and faculty member at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. His new book is called Becoming a Changemaker: An Actionable, Inclusive Guide to Leading Positive Change at Any Level, and is based on the transformative course (of the same name) Alex created and teaches. Previously, Alex co-founded the social impact platform StartSomeGood, ran Sweden’s leading...

Steve Preston is the President and CEO at Goodwill Industries International. Many people are familiar with Goodwill as a place to donate clothing and home goods or go thrift shopping. But most people don’t realize that a significant part of what Goodwill does is help people overcome challenges to find jobs and grow their careers. Goodwill transforms donations into job opportunities by using the re...

David Reynolds is the Chief Executive of the Department for Trade and Investment for South Australia (an Australian state twice the size of France). The Department enables economic growth in South Australia by attracting investment, increasing exports, and removing barriers to business. South Australia has built a global reputation as a leader in sustainability. The state, a leader in renewable en...

Simon Mulcahy is the founder and lead of C02, a company created to help businesses of all sizes become net-zero—the point at which the greenhouse gasses we put into the atmosphere are equal to the amount we remove from it—and nature-positive. CO2 offers climate-action portfolios that support high-quality carbon dioxide removal and reduction, as well as the protection of important carbon sinks, all...

Rania Hoteit is a multi-award-winning serial entrepreneur and global impact leader. As Founder and former CEO of ID4A Technologies, Rania built a global company that is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. ID4A Technologies has been revolutionizing the manufacturing processes while creating significant environmental, economic and social impact. Under Rania’s leadership, ID4A was reco...

Lisa Gevelber is the founder and head of Grow with Google, Google’s tech-skilling workforce development initiative. Grow with Google is the company's $1 Billion initiative to drive economic opportunity for all. Grow with Google offers certification programs that provide job training for in-demand, high-paying careers for people without college degrees; and free digital skills training to middle an...

Ruth Hartnoll is the CEO and Co-Founder of Matchstick Creative, a purpose-driven creative agency based in Liverpool, England. Matchstick Creative is a certified B-Corp. Since its founding in 2018, the company exists to create a more equal world through well-told stories and shared experiences. Matchstick Creative only partners with businesses that are trying to do good in the world. The Matchstick...

Orlando Ferreira is the Chief Finance and Administration Officer of IDB Invest, a multilateral development finance institution owned by 47 member countries. 26 members are in the Latin American and Caribbean region where IDB Invest finances projects to advance clean energy, modernize agriculture, strengthen transportation systems, and expand access to financing. In 2021 the multilateral bank issue...

Ken Banks is the Head of Social Purpose at the digital identity startup Yoti. The Yoti app was built with security and privacy as a priority, ensuring a safer way for people to prove who they are, both online and off. The company believes in using tech for good, and is a certified B Corp. Ken is an award-winning founder, technologist, anthropologist, and author committed to supporting positive soc...

Katie Tyson Higdon is a co-founder of Hive Brands, the first online marketplace dedicated to helping people shop their values. Hive Brands sells household goods, groceries, and beauty products that are high quality, good for people, and good for the planet.   Katie is an innovative and strategic marketer with a deep passion for mission-driven brands. She spent 11 years working at start-ups (C...

Named three times to FORTUNE ’s list of the most influential women leaders in business, Lois Quam joined Pathfinder in 2017 as CEO. Pathfinder’s vision is a world where everyone has access to contraception, where there are zero new HIV infections, where no woman dies from preventable pregnancy-related complications, and where everyone leads a healthy sexual and reproductive life. Prior to leading...

Joan Steinberg is the Global Head of Philanthropy and President of the Morgan Stanley Foundation. She also serves as the CEO of the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health, which was established in February 2020. To date, the Alliance has benefited over 11 million youth, families, and educators globally. Joan is an expert on the impact the pandemic and social inequity have had on yout...

Nicole Anderson is the President of the AT&T Foundation and the Assistant Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at AT&T.   AT&T’s purpose is to “create connection—with each other, with what people need to thrive in their everyday lives and with the stories and experiences that matter” and their company ambition is to become the best broadband provider. In this episode, we dive int...

Peter ter Weeme is the Chief Social Purpose Officer & Vice President of Player Experience for BCLC, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. Peter is responsible for the corporation’s social purpose commitment, overall reputation management, end-to-end player experience, and marketing strategies. His mandate is to transition BCLC to a purpose-driven organization.   Peter is a 25-year veteran...

Rob Sobhani is the founder of Sparo, a technology company on a mission to democratize charitable giving. With Sparo’s patented e-commerce plug-in, retailers can offer an easy way for their consumers to donate a part of their purchase to a charity. The retailer covers the donation cost, not the shopper. What’s in it for the retailer? Sparo increases conversion while reducing abandoned online shoppi...

Daniel Epstein is one of the most impactful leaders of our generation. He is the Founder and CEO of Unreasonable Group, a company that takes a unique approach to accelerating the scaling of growth-stage companies solving the world’s biggest problems. Unreasonable Group does a lot of things, as Daniel says, “ It's hard to describe exactly what Unreasonable Group is. It's a company. A portfolio of i...

Bobbi Silten is the Managing Director of the Shared Value Initiative, a global community of leaders who find business solutions for societal challenges, and who build smarter models to address the changing needs of our communities, the environment, and business. Bobbi has been a long-time practitioner of leading social change through business. Previously, Bobbi was the Executive Vice President of...

Life is Good® is an apparel brand dedicated to spreading the power of optimism. Launched in 1989 from the back of a van, the Boston-based business has grown through word of mouth and customer engagement to become a $150 million company. 10% of their annual net profits go to their partner organization Life is Good Kids Foundation, which provides underserved communities with the tools to help childr...

Judy Adler is the VP of Global Sustainability & ESG at Gap Inc. Founded in San Francisco in 1969, Gap Inc. is a collection of purpose-led lifestyle brands: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Each of their brands has made strong commitments to help achieve the Gap Inc purpose, which is to be inclusive by design.   Judy is a thought leader with 25 years of experience developing and im...

In this episode, I sit down to chat with Alan Murray about his latest book, Tomorrow’s Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business, which reveals, according to the book description, how corporate CEOs—the ultimate pragmatists—realized that they could lose their “operating license” unless they tackle the fundamental issues of our time: climate, diversity and inclusion, and inequality and workfor...

Interface is a modular flooring company with one of the most forward-thinking sustainability visions. In 1994, company founder and CEO Ray Anderson committed to becoming the world's first environmentally sustainable and restorative company after reading Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce . Since then, Interface has achieved impressive milestones including being the first flooring company to hav...

Nick O’Flaherty is the director of UNSTUCK, a nonprofit that partners with businesses, harnessing the power of the market and leveraging global supply chains to create sustainable change.   UNSTUCK is the Tent Partnership for Refugees’ first consumer-facing initiative. UNSTUCK generates job opportunities for refugees by working with brands to develop products made with ingredients that are so...

Christopher Gavigan is Founder + Co-CEO of Prima. Christopher is a seasoned champion for environmental and human health, an acclaimed author, speaker, and social entrepreneur. His ‘commitment to better’ has spanned his entire career, including his earlier roles as CEO and Executive Director of Healthy Child Healthy World and Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of The Honest Company.   Christ...

Adrian Gore is the founder and CEO of Discovery Limited, which is revolutionizing insurance from a standardized transaction to a personalized consumer experience. Discovery combines behavioral economics and clinical science to encourage and reward members for exercising more, eating healthier, managing stress, and improving their health.   Discovery Limited is South Africa’s largest private h...