April 06, 2006

Ben & Jerry's co-founder to speak at SIUC

by Tom Woolf

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., will present a free lecture next week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

"An Evening of Entrepreneurial Spirit, Social Responsibility and Radical Business Philosophy with Jerry Greenfield" is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, in the Student Center Ballrooms. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Greenfield and Ben Cohen built a storefront venture into a $200 million publicly held ice cream empire while emphasizing social responsibility and creative management. The Council on Economic Priorities and U.S. Small Business Administration both honored Greenfield and Cohen in 1988 for their company's commitment to social responsibility. They also received the James Beard Humanitarians of the Year award in 1993 and the Peace Museum's Community Peacemakers of the Year award in 1997.

They are active in the Social Venture Network and in Businesses for Social Responsibility.

The co-founders are the authors of "Ben & Jerry's Double-Dip: Lead with Your Values and Make Money, Too."

The Student Programming Council is sponsoring Greenfield's appearance. For more information, call SPC at 618/536-3393 or visit www.spc4fun.com.

Developing citizen-leaders with global perspectives is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University is following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019.