B Local Illinois

Last week we kicked off this year with a fantastic event! Employee Ownership for B Corps: A More Sustainable Future.? ? We could not have been happier with?our joint collaboration between Project Equity and bluedog. The discussion between Emily Bergstrom and Mark Koenig provided great insight on employee ownership structures and what this looks like at Bluedog. We learned about Worker Co-Ops and Employee Ownership Trusts which are types of employee ownership models, as well as Bluedog’s own experience with having an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and their ESOP transition process. Hearing about the business case and the “personal case” that employee ownership provides to employees was inspiring, and led to an enthusiastic Q&A with the audience to close out the night. If you’re a business owner interested in learning more or receiving early feedback on the viability of selling your business to your employees, check out Project Equity’s website and their?Employee Ownership in 15 minutes highlight video here. https://lnkd.in/gRPZNKG6 Stay tuned for our next event in Q2!

Looking forward to seeing everyone tonight! There are a few hours left to buy tickets: https://lnkd.in/gV4uWiTi Introducing our final speaker- Emily Bergstrom For over a decade, Emily worked at McMaster-Carr Supply Co, a privately held industrial supplies distributor much loved and respected by makers worldwide. That work developed her passion for the domestic manufacturing industry. At McMaster, Emily experienced first-hand the incredible power of company profit sharing to engage, retain, and benefit employees. At Project Equity, Emily advises owners on the benefits of transitioning their company to an employee-owned structure. Emily has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with a focus on operations and economics. She received a Fulbright scholarship and spent two years abroad in Latin America, becoming fluent in Spanish. She earned her undergraduate degree at Michigan State University and comes from a long line of hard-working Detroiters. Emily lives in Chicago with her family and is usually found outside in the garden, on a hike, or biking.

It's tomorrow! There are still tickets available: https://lnkd.in/gV4uWiTi We are very excited to introduce one of our speakers, Mark Koenig. As a cross functional leader, Mark powers Bluedog's evergreen growth through his unique combined leadership of Finance, Operations, and Technology. Through this multi-faceted lens, Mark confidently empowers teams to make “decisions at the edge,” driving Bluedog’s competitively advantaged growth strategy flywheel. ? His passion for business and community roots runs deep. With a lifetime invested under the hood of very different businesses—from helping define pricing strategies at his father’s machining company from the kitchen table, to leading proprietary trading teams across the Nasdaq option markets—Mark has always seen business as a platform for empowerment and shared success. ? Since joining Bluedog in 2006, Mark has overseen continuous growth and development at Bluedog, including facilitating a transition to 100% employee ownership in 2022. A fierce proponent of the principles and maintenance of Bluedog’s B Corp status, Mark believes world class business can only start with an unyielding support and empowerment of its employees and the people it serves.?

Rounding out our rockstar partners is Project Equity! Get your tickers today: https://lnkd.in/gV4uWiTi

Introducing our host and inspiration for our upcoming event, bluedog! Get your tickets today: https://lnkd.in/gV4uWiTi

B Corps take pride in creating a work environment that fosters inspiration and community. Explore another way of engagement, Employee Ownership with our partners bluedog and Project Equity. Register at: https://lnkd.in/gmCsTBxK

Swipe through ?? to learn how UIC College of Business students have teamed up with eight companies as consultants to assist them in maintaining B Corp Certification, a sustainability seal attesting they meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. Read the full story on UIC today here https://lnkd.in/gSanUR6g #Sustainability #BusinessMajor #BImpactClinic #UIC #Chicago #ThisIsUIC

UIC teamed up with B Local Illinois and eight B Corp companies for our very first B Impact Clinic. Together, 70 students in Professor Shahnaz Ibrahim's class learned about stakeholder theory and sustainability in the real world. Working with their companies, students were able to put their learnings to use right away. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/gPZr8DkU Huge thanks to Melissa Krchma, Alexis Mordawski, Kristi Porter, Julia Bincik, Caitlyn Meyers, CPA, Melissa Mazzeo, Kelsey Moses, and Xavier Alexander for making this happen! Thanks to Carlos Sadovi and Jenny Fontaine for telling the story! Photo: Jenny Fontaine/UIC #BCorp #sustainability

Check out Shilpa Gadhok's article with B The Change Media on how to operationalize purpose so that you maximize your brand's amplification effect!

This Holiday Season, we are thankful for so much - at the top of our list is you, our amazing community who keeps us going. As we head into the next few years, our work is ever important to grow and scale the impact of stakeholder-based business models. If you or your organization would like to contribute to the development and growth of the B Corp movement in Illinois or if you found value from our organization this year and would like to help us grow, please consider donating to https://lnkd.in/gsU_cPyE Due to your incredible support, this year, we: ?? Secured a full roster of 7 Board Members, added 4 members to our Advisory Board and premiered our Deputy Board program with the welcome of 2 members. ?? Clarified and formalized our purpose, vision, mission, and core activation pillars to support our B Corp community in meaningful ways. ?? Streamlined our events strategy to deliver incremental value to our community. Through quarterly events in collaboration with B-Corp partners (thank you Armanino, Arabella Advisors, Pariveda, and Jill Pollack of StoryStudio Chicago for hosting) we organized panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities that furthered the education, community-building, and collaboration opportunity of our member B Corps and B Curious Companies. ?? Launched the first-ever B Impact Clinic in Chicago with our partner University of Illinois Chicago giving students an inside look at how B Corps work, and the needs & challenges they face. This gave students the opportunity to develop innovative ideas to help our B Corps, while fostering awareness & collaboration opportunities between students and impact-focused companies. ?? Re-vamped internal operations to build a solidified and cohesive marketing presence to amplify the incredible work our B Corps do everyday. But we're not done! Next year - our goals are EVEN BIGGER. We aim to: ?? Grow our offerings with more networking events, workshops, panels, and opportunity for community building. ???? Develop a women's series focused on the growth and development of women leaders across our community. ???? Expand the influence and presence of the B Impact Clinic. ??? Partner with community-based organizations for volunteering activities. ?? Proactively support the B Corp process with B Curious organizations. ?? Build a long-term operational model to scale our influence & advocacy of the B Corp movement. ??? Partner with members of local government to advocate for the interests of our B Corp organizations. ?? Continue to build a robust marketing presence to amplify, support, and deliver value to our B Corps. If you can help, any little bit goes a long way. Please consider donating to https://lnkd.in/gsU_cPyE