VCU International Business Forum Examines Global Sustainability

By Tom Gresham

The role of sustainability in the global marketplace will be the focus of the 17^th Annual International Business Forum at Virginia Commonwealth University on April 6.

“Sustainability in the Global Marketplace: The Next Wave of Wealth Creation,” which is presented by the VCU School of Business, will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Student Commons Ballroom, 907 Floyd Ave. Panelists will explore the meaning of sustainability in the evolving world and the opportunities it creates. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the event.

Panelists this year include David Berdish, manager of sustainable business development for the Ford Motor Company; William Godfrey, president of Environic Foundation International (EFI); and James Vonesh, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at VCU. Van Wood, Ph.D., professor and Phillip Morris Chair in International Business at VCU, will moderate the discussion.

“The forum this year will investigate how individuals, organizations and communities can survive and prosper through better insight into sustainability and its global role today,” Wood said. “The program will give us a greater understanding of the environment we live in and suggest ways to improve the human endeavor in which we all have a stake.”

Berdish, who received a master’s degree from VCU, is the lead designer of the Ford Human Rights Code of Working Conditions. He is responsible for the enactment of those conditions, including assessment and compliance, identification of emerging issues and stakeholder engagement. Berdish is the leader of Ford’s sustainable water strategy, and he is the program manager for Ford’s development of mobility solutions for urban populations and for the poor living in remote rural regions. He has worked with cities around the world to integrate information technology, infrastructure and the role of alternative and electric vehicles into sustainable mobility solutions.

Godfrey has expertise in conceptual design and project integration and has project experience in North America, the Middle East, the Pacific Basin, the Pacific Rim, Africa and the Caribbean. He has focused EFI on the challenge of developing a process that brings together social, economic and environmental interests to tackle challenges that threaten their collective sustainability. His physical design projects, such as coastal lagoons and new cities in China and Saudi Arabia, have won awards for planning, programming, architecture and engineering.

Vonesh has authored more than 30 scientific publications and is the past recipient of Thomas Frost and Murray F. Buell Awards for excellence in ecology. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency and the National Geographic Society. He has active research projects in Panama, Tanzania and Virginia. His research focuses on species with complex life cycles and seeks to understand how predator effects on prey behavior, life history and survival scale-up to influence demography, species interactions, food webs and linkages between aquatic and terrestrial systems.

The VCU School of Business established the International Business Forum in conjunction with a number of Richmond organizations in 1994. The purpose of the forum is to raise awareness among students, faculty and the business community of the global nature of commerce and how this links to events both at home and abroad.