Last week, CITI attended the Green Business Summit and awards event at the Omni Shoreham Hotel hosted by the Washington Business Journal. Thanks to the efforts of Brian McIntee, our CFO, and Katherine Mowers, Senior Project Manager, CITI was a 2009 finalist for an award in the Innovation category for implementing green IT practices and significantly reducing energy consumption at our office. George Washington University took home the award for innovation, but they clearly deserved it for their efforts in reducing the amount of waste left behind by students at the end of each term, so it made the disappointment of not receiving the award a little bit easier to take.
At the green business summit, there were panels of experts addressing a wide range of sustainability efforts, from HR best practices like telecommuting and recycling, to videoconferencing and remote monitoring, to less painful financial audits. While these may sound like a bunch of unrelated topics, the underlying narrative for most of their discussions involved sharing their customers’ interest in making the world a better place or attracting the best talent by being the kind of business that values sustainability just as much as everything else.
Among the panelist were John Friedman, representing the Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SBNOW), and Scott Pomeroy of the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, who gave SBNOW and CITI a shout-out for the green business certification process where we earned the highest Green Pillar level certification.
Susan Cunningham, Director of Sustainability Consulting and LEED AP at Gensler, presented a compelling argument for a green development framework for any businesses that focuses on:
- Operating Savings
- Stewardship of resource (or asset value)
- Brand
- Productivity
Susan, as well others, talked about people-driven businesses, knowing the full extent of the expertise you have in the room, and establishing a good measurement practice as keys to a successful green development framework.
Tom Russo, Chief Technology Officer at Akridge, talked about how he practiced his “green pitch” on his elementary school kids under the assumption that if his kids could understand the value of taking something old and combining it with something new, than the average CEO shouldn’t have too much trouble embracing the concept of sustainability within their organization.
With all of the different ways that folks are becoming greener, from the zero waste movement, to climate legislation battling through a maze of opposition, to new green EPEAT rankings for IT equipment, where does a green IT solution fit it? Give us a call. We’d be happy to talk with you about it!
Tags: awards, events, green, green IT, social entrepreneurship