SUMMIT LAUNCHES SOCIAL IMPACT LAB
The official launch of the Social Impact Lab begins today by hosting the “Business for Good” panel, held on the third floor of the Christine E. Lynn University Center.
The area serves as the home to the Social Impact Lab, the Student Impact Leaders Organization (SILO) and the Watson Institute. With each being key parts of Lynn’s social mindset, rigorous planning was needed to ensure today’s event would run smoothly.
Madison Slate, director of special projects, assumed a major role in preparing for an event as large as this one.
“I envisioned the day of and I walked through every minute of the event through the perspective of the user,” said Slate. “I try to anticipate needs that they are going to have, communicating with everyone who is participating just to make sure they know about the entire agenda for the day – not only the agenda that you see on the event, but the behind-the-scenes events.”
The day begins at 9:45 a.m. with the council of stakeholders’ introduction to the university, the board of directors for the Social Impact Lab. Not only will their first meeting take place in the facility today, but these individuals will also be part of the panels throughout the day.
“We want to connect our students here at Lynn with the leaders, the movers and the shakers of social impact and impact investing across the country. This is a good way to do it – one-on-one,” said Jerry Hildebrand, director.
At 11 a.m., keynote speaker Paul Rice, founder and CEO of Fair Trade USA, will deliver the speech that sets the central theme of the conference in the Amarnick-Goldstein Theater in the de Hoernle International Center. After the speech, there will be a lunch presentation at noon on Impact Investing with Ron and Marty Cordes, co-founders of the Cordes Foundation.
Shortly thereafter, there will be a series of Impact Investing panels including Impact Investing in South Florida, financing one’s social impact idea and investing in business as a force for good. Various speakers will moderate these programs.
At 2:15 p.m., there will be Education for Impact panels including bold vision and strategic partnerships, creating opportunities in global education and building a social impact ecosystem at Lynn. For this segment of the day, both social impact organization leaders and faculty members will serve as speakers.
“The panel that is led by Dr. [Gregg] Cox is a really interesting one,” said Hildebrand. “He will be discussing how Lynn is building a social impact ecosystem and how it will be integrated into the university. Dr. Antonella Regueiro and [instructor} Timea Varga have started up a task force and are working to get all the colleges to integrate social impact into their course work.”
Not long after, there will be a business for good panel that includes building the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the power at the intersection of tech and social entrepreneurship and environmental entrepreneurship.
At 4 p.m., Chris Boniforti, Lynn’s chief strategy and technology officer, will discuss the collaborative workspaces on the third floor of the University Center and their relation to the impact initiative. Afterward, Hildebrand and Eric Glustrom, Watson Institute CEO and founder, will discuss how they are preparing the next generation of changemakers.
Later, there will be breakout sessions on the third floor, organized and led by Leigh-Ann Buchanan, executive director, Venture Café Miami. At 6:45 p.m., Emmy-nominated singer and songwriter Alexander Star will perform a capella in the University Center, followed by a day-closing private council stakeholder’s dinner hosted by the Cordes Foundation.
With a full day planned, the Social Impact Summit looks to deepen the philanthropic mindset across campus and further the movement of Lynn’s own Social Impact Lab in the coming years. For more information about the facility or its functions, visit the third floor of the University Center.
