Pathways to Responsible Business

Meet Our Presenters

Kristy O'Leary

KEYNOTE SPEAKER—Kristy O'Leary  |  The Business Case for Certified B Corporations

Bio

Kristy O’Leary is a multidisciplinary systems thinker who actively identifies leading edge entrepreneurs and aligns them with untapped opportunities to drive breakthrough change. Raised in an entrepreneurial family, she is educated in both fine arts and political theory, and is a natural facilitator. Her key skill is around empowering entrepreneurs to affect positive social, environmental and economic change. She is a veteran in the impact space and has developed disruptive, future-focused impact plans for companies internationally. She has transformed NIMBY’s into investors, worked with governments to transform public opinion from rejection to acceptance, and performed supply chain impact measurement for disruptive agricultural companies in the jungles of Latin America. As a team, Decade has supported over 150 companies in using the B Corp assessment for impact and shepherd over 50 companies through to B Corp certification.

Riley White

Reilly White  |  The Business Case for ESG

Bio

Reilly White serves as UNM Assoc. Dean of Teaching and Learning, and an Associate Professor of Finance. As a board member of the CFA Society of New Mexico he advises on the $4.7M student-run UNM Regent’s Portfolio. In addition, he leads a series of financial literacy projects in the community. With a banking analyst background Reily is well versed in ethical corporate leadership including how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is used to screen investments based on corporate policies and to encourage companies to act responsibly. In 2022 he received the Paul Bartlett Ré Emerging Promoter of Peace Award and has written widely on finance and financial technology and interviewed over 150 times by local and national media outlets on various economic and finance topics.

Sam Wolf

Sam Wolf  |  The Business Case for Benefit Corporations

Bio

Sam Wolf was born and raised in Northern New Mexico and has lived/worked around the world before returning to Santa Fe. Sam earned an M.A. in International Law and Human Rights from the UN-chartered University for Peace in Costa Rica, and graduated cum laude from the UNM School of Law in 2010. Sam was a partner at law firm of Jones, Snead, Wertheim & Clifford, P.A., where he spent a decade working on a variety of matters including employment discrimination and wage theft, whistleblower, and medical malpractice cases. In 2020, Sam transitioned to working for Falling Colors Corporation, where he is currently Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.

Natalia Vidal, Karen Peterson, and John Williamson  |  Research Overview

Bio

Natalia Vidal is an Associate Professor at the Anderson School of Management, University of New Mexico. She received her PhD in Sustainable Business Management and MSc in Forestry from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and her BSc in Forestry from São Paulo State University, Brazil. Her research focuses on the diffusion of corporate sustainability practices through business collective action for sustainability, socially and environmentally sustainable supply chain practices, and stakeholder engagement. Natalia’s work has been widely published.

Karen Patterson is an Associate Professor of Management in the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico. Her research interests include how stigma and other social evaluations impact organizations, industries, and emerging fields, and how decision makers can manage social evaluations in ways that increase effectiveness. She received her PhD training at Rawls College of Business-Texas Tech University and is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Management Inquiry where her research has appeared. She has also co-edited a special issue on Organizational Stigma at the Journal of Management Studies.

John Williamson is a Program Manager at Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) where his mission is to facilitate the adoption of transportation electrification in an effort to decarbonize the transportation sector in PNM’s service territory.  He received his BA from Texas Christian University with a double-major in Philosophy and Religion, and he received a postgraduate diploma in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester (UK). He began working on his MBA at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management in Fall 2020, and he expected to receive his MBA in Strategic Management & Policy in December 2023.

MemoryWell Student Team

MemoryWell Case Study Team  |  MemoryWell

Bio

Steve Earsom is a third-year law student interested in environmental law and sustainability. Hopelessly infected with the entrepreneurial spirit, Steve hopes to use his education and broad professional experience to consult with like-minded companies wishing to achieve B-Corp certification.

Shelby Morgan is an MBA student with a focus in operations management. After her upcoming graduation, she is looking forward to entering a new phase in her professional career with a renewed passion for sustainable business.

Ryan Christopher Duhigg-Randall is a Broadcast Operator at New Mexico PBS who is seeking an MBA in Strategic Management & Policy from the UNM Anderson school of Management. Ryan is an expert in custom salt & spice blends and an experienced chef, having lived and worked in the kitchens of Sorrento, Italy.

Caleb Swayden is wrapping up a BS in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Sustainability. Caleb would like to engage in areas of large impact moving forward like education, business, and environmental protection.

MemoryWell executive team

Summary

In our increasingly digital and data driven healthcare settings, we’ve lost the ability to have empathic human centered dialog. MemoryWell seeks to address this by creating an ecosystem of tools that help to better connect patients, their loved ones and healthcare teams. They combine the power of storytelling with innovative data insights to help care providers provide more empathetic and personalized care to their patients.

Jay Newton-Small
is CEO and founder of MemoryWell, a national network of more than 800 writers who tell the life stories of seniors to help improve their care.  Previously, Jay was Washington correspondent for TIME Magazine, where she remains a contributor having covered politics, conflicts in the Middle East, natural disasters and the November 2015 Paris terror attacks. She has written nearly a dozen TIME cover stories and interviewed numerous heads of state over her 15 years there, including Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.  Her writing includes the 2016 best-selling book, Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works. Jay received an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in International Relations and Art History from Tufts University.

Adam Bokmeyer is the Head of Finance and Growth at MemoryWell, having led in roles across construction, IT and healthtech startups. In 2016 as a cofounder, Adam launched and successfully merged a bootstrapped R2 certified IT supply chain solution startup. He has served as an executive in finance, operations and sales over the past decade. In addition to entrepreneurship, he has been an Associate Professor for the Business schools of multiple universities teaching courses ranging from Business Technology to Strategic Finance. He holds a BS in Business Management and an MBA in Finance. Attended the United States Military Academy at West Point in the Class of 2008.

TruFit Student Team

TruFit Case Study Team  |  TruFit

Bio

Dunia Barahona is a student in the UNM MBA graduate student and is currently acting as a coordinator at the UNM Center for Development and Disability.

Navneet Macherla is graduating with a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems. He is looking to pursue a career in software engineering or cybersecurity.

Annalisa Miller is a second-year law student. After graduating, she aspires to pursue a career in criminal prosecution or agricultural law.

James Wernicke is currently a R&D Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. His B Corp journey began with a business endeavor to provide indoor recreation in northern New Mexico and later recommended the Business For Good clinic.

TruFit CEO Adam White

Summary

TruFit’s mission is to Encourage, Empower, Equip, and inspire people with disabilities in their pursuit of life-long health and activity. For too long, people with different abilities have been overlooked in traditional fitness and health industries. TruFit has created a wellness community that is accessible to everyone, no matter what their fitness level.

Adam White is the CEO and co-founder of TruFit–Adaptive Fitness.  Adam became involved in working with the disability population while visiting California and volunteering at The Arc of San Diego where his brother John, the other co-founder, was working on developing an adaptive fitness class.  For the last 4 years Adam has dedicated his time to help people with disabilities improve their health and wellness and quality of life with bespoke digital tools built specifically for them versus a general fitness approach.