The future of sustainability and entrepreneurship: addressing drivers and challenges

Sustainable entrepreneurship has been a key concept in business focusing on creating value in different economic, environmental, and social aspects. The relationship between sustainability and entrepreneurship has been rapidly changing, leading to debates among academics, practitioners, and policymakers about the drivers, challenges, and the future of sustainable entrepreneurship.

On May 5, join Adriane MacDonald, associate professor in the Department of Management, and two successful entrepreneurs in the area of sustainability, Anie Rouleau and Jean Paquin, as they discuss different aspects of the relationship between sustainability and entrepreneurship. This is the second event in the Researcher-Practitioners Exchange series, hosted by the National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business.

Speakers

• Adriane MacDonald, PhD
  Associate Professor, Department of Management, John Molson School of Business
• Anie Rouleau
  Founder and CEO, The Unscented Company
• Jean Paquin
  President and CEO of SAF+ and President and Co-Founder of CCG

Moderator

Ehsan Derayati, PhD
Director, National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business

Adriane MacDonald, PhD is a passionate researcher and educator in the areas of sustainability, cross-sector social partnerships, strategy, and corporate social responsibility.

She is a multi-disciplinary scholar who focuses on understanding why business, government, and non-profit organizations partner to address sustainability issues; how partners communicate and collaborate; and how partnerships can be structured and managed to achieve tangible sustainability and corporate social responsibility outcomes. Her work has been published in academic journals and she has given several presentations on the topics of sustainable communities and partnerships.

Adriane holds a Ph.D. in Social and Ecological Sustainability and Master’s in Local Economic Development. Outside of academia, Adriane has worked as a consultant in the private sector and as a business analyst for the Government of Canada.

Anie Rouleau is a well-known entrepreneur based in Montreal and the founder of The Unscented Company. As a successful sustainability-based enterprise, the Unscented Company was founded in 2016, redefining the notion of “clean” by offering a line of natural and exclusively unscented home and body-care products.

Transparency, inclusivity, and social and environmental responsibility are fundamental values by which Anie drives her personal and professional life. For Anie, only ethical and responsible governance will prevail. Today, as a BCorp certified business, she wants to rewrite some key success factors of tomorrow's businesses.

Anie is also the entrepreneur-in-residence at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business as a part of the National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business.

Co-founder of SAF+ Consortium Inc. ("SAF+") and the Carbon Consult Group Inc. ("CCG"), Jean has over 25 years of experience in carbon management, climate change expertise, and development of renewable energy projects worldwide. He was previously Senior Director of Business Development and Director of the Hydro Generation Department for one of Canada's largest independent power producers. In addition, Jean was Business Development Director for one of the world's leading wind and solar energy consultants. Prior to that, Jean founded a Canadian home construction project in Europe and directed a management company in Spain. He was a wide range of expertise with various organizations in areas such as engineering, management, project finance and the environment.

Jean has a master's degree in business and administration (EMBA) from the John Molson School of Business and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Concordia University. Jean is a member of the Order of Engineers of Quebec.

Ehsan Derayati. PhD, has been teaching strategy and consulting courses at the John Molson School of Business for eight years.

He is currently Senior Advisor of Innovation and Strategic Research Initiatives at John Molson School of Business and Director of National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business. Ehsan is also active in the consulting and startup scene in Montreal.

He also has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.