Bob Willard

Feature News

Skills - the global currency of 21st century economies
Skills have become the global currency of 21st century economies. Without proper investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global society.
Home Energy Management Market Will Surpass $2 Billion in by 2020
May 16, 2012 - Even as deployments of smart grid infrastructure have accelerated in recent years, the once hyped home energy management (HEM) market has struggled to gain traction.
Rethinking the role of government in cleantech
Is it time for a different tune when it comes to government involvement in cleantech, focusing more on enabling the private sector to deploy capital to assume risk in cleantech?
Is The World Ready For Your Innovation?
Our current retail system is set up to sell new products, which are used and then disposed of – very much a linear (and inefficient) process. The Closed Loop system implies that once products are used they can be reconditioned and brought back into the sales loop
Europe`s future depends on cities resilient to climate change
Around three quarters of Europeans live in cities. Most of Europe's wealth is generated in cities, and urban areas are particularly at risk due to climate change.

Bob Willard

Sustainability Author & Speaker, Sustainability Advantage, Canada

Bob is a leading expert on quantifying and selling the business value of corporate sustainability strategies and has given hundreds of keynote presentations to corporate, government, university, and NGO audiences. Bob applies his business and leadership experience from his 34-year career at IBM Canada to engage the business community in proactively avoiding risks and capturing opportunities associated with environmental and social issues.

He has authored four books: The Sustainability Advantage (2002), The Next Sustainability Wave (2005),The Sustainability Champion's Guidebook (2009), and The New Sustainability Advantage(2012). In addition, his DVDs, spreadsheets, numerous webinars, and extensive slide set provide capacity-building resources for champions of sustainability. They provide quantified business justification for embracing sustainability strategies and proven guidance on how to transform organizations to sustainable enterprises.

Bob's most recent book is "The New Sustainability Advantage" which will launch at GLOBE 2012. This practical guide and accompanying free web-enabled Sustainability Advantage Simulator Dashboard enables executives to enter their own data and quickly identify high-leverage benefit areas for their organization. More detailed free and open source downloadable Sustainability Advantage Simulator Worksheets help to drill down into specific areas of interest and fine-tune the assumptions to their specific situation.

Bob serves on the advisory boards of The Natural Step (TNS) Canada, Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF), and Durham Sustain Ability (DSA). He is on ad hoc advisory committees for sustainable business certificate programs at Seneca College, Algonquin College, and Ryerson University, and is a member of the Durham Region Roundtable on Climate Change (DRRCC) and the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP). Bob is proud to be one of the five inaugural members of the ISSP Hall of Fame in 2011, along with Ray Anderson, Gil Friend, Amory Lovins, and Karl Henrik Robert. As of 2011, he is a certified B Corporation.

He has a BSc from McGill University (1964) and an MEd (2000) and PhD (2005) from the University of Toronto. Residents of Ontario, Bob and his wife are the proud parents of three adult children, the proud grandparents of three grandsons, and the proud owners of two hybrid cars: a Toyota Camry Hybrid and a Honda Civic Hybrid.

More information about Bob and his resources for sustainability champions can be found at www.sustainabilityadvantage.com.

Bob will be signing copies of his new book on Wednesday, March 14 on the conference level at GLOBE 2012.