The Kogod School of Business kicked off a new, one-of-a-kind speaker series this February by welcoming the entrepreneur behind a familiar brand—and a new line of fast-growing, sustainable products—to campus.
Dean David Marchick moderated the February 22 discussion with Seth Goldman in front of a sizable in-person and virtual audience.
Once the cofounder of Honest Tea, Goldman now lends his expertise in scaling planet-friendly food and beverage products as chairman of the board of Beyond Meat while rapidly growing his newest company, Eat the Change, known for its innovative and healthy organic carrot and mushroom-based snacks, as well as a new line of sustainable tea sourced through fair trade.
“You are truly a gamechanger in sustainability,” Marchick told Goldman during the hour-long discussion.
It was an accolade fitting for the occasion. Their conversation served as the inaugural edition of Kogod’s new Gamechangers in Sustainability series, which in partnership with AU’s Sine Institute of Policy and Politics, examines how the most innovative leaders work to create a more sustainable world.
Demonstrating how his company so precisely fits the mold of that mission, Goldman first showed the audience a video from his leadership team’s recent visit to the east African country of Mozambique, to a village hundreds of miles away from major pollution sources that are deeply connected to one of Eat the Change’s fastest-growing products: Just Ice Tea.
“We literally will go anywhere in the world to find the world’s best teas,” Goldman says in the video, which depicts how the company's tea from gardens in Mozambique is cultivated using irrigation-free techniques and natural, high-nutrient fertilizer.
“You wanted to be a changemaker,” Marchick pointed out to Goldman as the discussion started. “Why business, and not non-profit? Why not government?”
It came down to Goldman’s hope to impart lasting impact, noting his fear that any legislation he might enact as a politician could easily be undone by a subsequent crop of elected officials.