Business Alliance for Local Living Economies

Business Alliance for Local Living Economies

"Judy Wicks is a woman who loves to build local living economies – she formed the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia as an outgrowth of her work building a sustainable local food economy around her restaurant, Philadelphia's White Dog Café. Laury Hammel is a man who loves to start socially responsible business organizations – he founded New England Businesses for Social Responsibility in 1988 and co-founded the national organization Business for Social Responsibility in 1991.

"After meeting through the Social Venture Network (SVN), a national community of company founders, investors, and social entrepreneurs, Judy and Laury realized that merging their interests in organizing businesses and building local economies could build a strong movement for grassroots economic change in North America and beyond.

"BALLE began as a project of SVN, where Judy and Laury were serving on the board. After introducing the SVN Local Network Initiative to spread her work in building local economies, Judy convened a group of twenty SVN members to explore the concept at her Pocono Mountain retreat in the summer of 2001. The group invited author and economist Michael Shuman to add his expertise on the benefits of local business ownership. At the retreat, plans were made to integrate the theme of local economies into the SVN fall conference, and Judy nominated author David Korten as an SVN “visionary advisor” to share his vision for a more democratic, community-based alternative to corporate globalization. "


 * Doug Hammond, Executive Director

Board
Accessed June 2013:
 * Sandy Wiggins, chair
 * Matt Bauer, vice chair
 * Judy Wicks
 * Paul Saginaw
 * Don Shaffer
 * Ellen Shepard
 * Leslie Christian
 * Alfa Demmellash
 * Kimber Lanning
 * Jamila Payne

Directors (2009)
Accessed February 2009:


 * Judy Wicks, Chair, founder, White Dog Cafe
 * Baye Adofo-Wilson, founder, Lincoln Park/Coast Cultural District
 * Matt Bauer, founder, Lowcountry Local First
 * Merrian Fuller, at large
 * David Korten, founder, People Centered Development Forum
 * Michelle Long, co-founder, Sustainable Connections
 * Chris Morrow, co-founder, Local First Vermont
 * Derrell Ness, Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair, CEO, Ready Distribution
 * Jamila Payne, Milla by Mail
 * Guillermo (Bill) Quiroga, director of rural and tribal entrepreneurship initiatives, McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship
 * Paul Saginaw, Vice-Chair, co-founder, Zingermans' Family of Businesses
 * Don Shaffer, Development Committee Chair, CEO, RSF Social Finance
 * Ellen Shepard, Secretary and Governance Committee Chair, Local First Chicago
 * Sandy Wiggins, Consilience LLC

Trustees
 * Cathy Berry, Sandy River Charitable Foundation
 * William Shutkin, chair, sustainable development and director of the Initiative for Development and Sustainability, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder

Contact

 * Web: http://www.livingeconomies.org

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Mark A. Finser - advisor