From our very beginning (over 30 years ago!), Seventh Generation has been a mission-driven company out to prove that business can be a force for good in the world. Every day we’re inspired knowing that we’re part of something that’s transforming an industry, fostering the health of our environment, and inspiring a consumer revolution to nurture the health of the next seven generations. Our mission is truly what drives us, and its importance is why we recently created a Social Mission Board tasked with keeping that mission burning bright and challenging us to expand its reach.
So, you may be wondering, what exactly is a Social Mission Board? How does it work and who are the people on it? Good questions. Let’s back up for a moment.
In 2017, Seventh Generation made the biggest transition in our company’s history when we went from being a private business to joining the Unilever family—a family that also includes our friends and neighbors over at Ben & Jerrys. A change in ownership can be nerve-wracking, especially when you’ve built your business around values you want to protect. The good news is, our mission is what made us so attractive to Unilever in the first place. As former Seventh Generation CEO Joey Bergstein puts it, Unilever is “not only committed to boosting our shared social and environmental mission, they’re giving us new power to achieve it [1].” To that end, the Social Mission Board was created to make sure that our mission and core values stay at the center of everything we do now, and far into the future.
Our Social Mission Board (SMB) includes a range of dynamic sustainability leaders who meet twice a year (plus two annual conference calls with Seventh Generation leadership), and who push us to take our social mission initiatives even further. For instance, one way Seventh Generation works to reduce our carbon footprint as a company is through an internal carbon tax. Our Social Mission Board recently urged us to double that tax, from $6 to $12 per ton of carbon to really hold ourselves accountable. This increase will help us expand our use of renewable energy, both during manufacturing and in our headquarters, and fund programs focused on sustainability.
Looking ahead to our 2025 goals, the SMB has also pushed us to…
- Protect waterways by ensuring no water is contaminated during a product’s lifecycle.
- Consider consumer use when weighing our carbon footprint and our goal to be a company run by 100% renewable energy.
- Build an employee community that is more diverse with regards to both racial and gender diversity, (including the Social Mission Board itself).
Moving forward, the SMB is focused on both climate justice and on addressing our exposure to toxic chemicals. Current Social Mission Board Member Lila Preston is excited that the board can “push the company to take bigger and bolder steps to tackle issues that Seventh Generation is uniquely positioned to address [2].” Our board members bring a wealth of experience, creativity, and insight to the table so they can address the issues our brand, and our consumers, care about the most.
Let’s meet them:
- Alison Whritenour: CEO at Seventh Generation
- Joey Bergstein: CEO at Sabra
- Lorna Davis: B Corp Ambassador, Board Member, Speaker and Coach, Lorna is dedicated to supporting Danone and other companies to achieve BCorp certification and be a part of the BCorp movement.
- Danielle Deane-Ryan: Director of Equitable Climate Solutions Bezos Earth Fund, Danielle is a climate & clean energy leader committed to achieving equity, diversity, inclusion and economic wealth in the development of policies and solutions at scale. A bridge builder with a 20-year success record of passionately advancing a clean energy and equity agenda, Danielle brings a unique blend of experience spanning federal government, strategy consulting, philanthropy, think tank and finance sectors.
- Ellen Dorsey: Executive Director Wallace Global Fund, a private foundation focused on progressive social change in the fields of environment, democracy, human rights and corporate accountability. Ellen is also a founder of Shine, a global campaign committed to ending energy poverty by scaling access to distributed, renewable, and affordable energy for over a billion people who lack it today.
- Jeffrey Hollender: Co-founder, former CEO, and the original “chief provocateur” at Seventh Generation, Jeffrey is an acclaimed author, speaker and consultant who is a go-to authority on corporate responsibility, sustainability, social equity, global health care, and population issues.
- Nili Gilbert: Investment Committee Chair, David Rockefeller Fund, Nili has spent two decades building a highly successful career as a Qualified Financial Expert and Corporate Responsibility/ESG Leader. Nili excels in the field of corporate social responsibility, where she is an industry leader in the sustainable and impact investing space. In 2017, she was honored as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for her work in this area.
- Peter Ter Kulve: Current president of Unilever Home Care, Peter has been with Unilever since 1988 and has held various senior roles across Asia and Europe. Prior to his current role, he had dual responsibility as Chief Digital and Growth Officer, in which he led the end-to-end digitalization of the company.
- Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: Hip Hop artist and Activist, Xiuhtezcatl has felt called to change the narrative on what it means to be an activist since an early age. Balancing activism and music, Xiuhtezcatl's work has ranged from leading the Youth v. Gov. lawsuit against the Federal Government, to performing before the U.N. General Assembly.
- Jeanne Rizzo: Chair State of California Board of Environmental Safety, where she believes "the work that DTSC does is critical to health and safety, and I am eager to work with the department to meet the immediate goals of its mission and ultimately its vision of all Californians thriving in a healthy environment."
We look forward to meeting the challenges set out by our Social Mission Board as we move boldly into the future. Seventh Generation’s Director of Mission Advocacy and Outreach, Ashley Orgain, believes the SMB will play an essential role on the path ahead, “challenging us and continuing to ask us: are we going far enough?”
We can’t wait for what’s next, and we’re excited to have YOU be part of our journey.
[1] https://www.seventhgeneration.com/sites/default/files/2018-07/SVG_CC-Report_LOWRES-PREVIEW.pdf
[2] https://www.seventhgeneration.com/sites/default/files/2018-07/SVG_CC-Report_LOWRES-PREVIEW.pdf