“Jerry” from Ben & Jerry’s visits Bunker Hill Community College
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., addressed a packed audience of students, faculty, staff and guests in the gymnasium at Bunker Hill Community College on April 14, 2016. His talk, accompanied with some tasty ice cream treats, was part of the College’s highly regarded Compelling Conversations speaker series.
“The real power of any business is in how it conducts its operations,” said Greenfield, who told the audience the story of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade from its uncertain start in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont, in 1978 to the $300 million ice cream empire it has become today. Along the way, the company learned how to integrate social and environmental values into its business model, Greenfield explained. The business today is known for its commitment to social responsibility and creative management.
Before his talk Greenfield visited with students from Introduction to Business and Organizational Behavior/Design classes as well as members of the College’s Entrepreneur and Sustainability Clubs. The students peppered him with questions about combining idealism with successful business practices and the effect on a socially responsible company of going public and being absorbed by a large corporation. Greenfield provided straightforward answers and complimented the students on getting quickly to the fundamental questions. Greenfield also enjoyed lunch prepared by BHCC Culinary Arts students.
Greenfield grew up on Long Island and attended Oberlin College. With Ben Cohen, he co-authored the best-seller Ben & Jerry’s Double-Dip: Lead with Your Values and Make Money. The two have won the Council on Economic Priorities Corporate Giving Award and have been honored as U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
For more than a decade, the Compelling Conversations series has brought high-profile speakers to Bunker Hill Community College to discuss their professional experience and provide inspiration for students—from activist Gloria Steinem to boxer Laila Ali, filmmaker Ken Burns, journalist Tavis Smiley and actress America Ferrera. Learn more about the BHCC Compelling Conversations Series at bhcc.edu/cc.
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About Bunker Hill Community College
Celebrating 50 years of excellence, Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is Massachusetts' largest community college, annually welcoming a diverse community of around 16,000 students. With campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, BHCC extends its reach across several locations in Greater Boston. BHCC is celebrated for its diversity, boasting a student body where 65% identify as people of color and more than half are women. The College also embraces a global perspective, with over 600 international students representing 90 countries and conversing in more than 65 languages. Our commitment to diversity is further reflected in BHCC's designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).