Many organizations focus on the environmental aspect of sustainability. And while reducing carbon emissions is critical there is much more to managing a truly sustainable business. Organizations must also take into account the social and economic dimensions of sustainability. And to be effective, sustainability needs to be embedded into every step of a company's value chain and integrated into strategic decision making. Even with a detailed sustainability plan and a well thought out execution, what lies after is just as critical because tracking and measuring performance is the only way to determine a program’s success.

Join us for this session to learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing those trying to manage a sustainable business and learn why there is a growing need for project managers of all skill levels in this area. This presentation will go beyond reusable mugs and double-sided printing to address the real management issues facing organizations that want to become more sustainable.

Steve Williams - Director, Corporate Social Responsibility

As part of the global SAP Corporate Social Responsibility team, Steve is responsible for managing the worldwide Technology Donation program that provides free reporting and data visualization tools to over 900 non-profits each year. These donations help non-profits solve challenges like Board of Directors reporting, optimizing fundraising systems and analyzing marketing campaign effectiveness. Steve also facilitates the process of connecting SAP volunteers with non-profits to contribute their project management, strategic planning, IT and development expertise to community organizations around the world as part of our global employee engagement strategy.

Over his career, Steve has been involved in all aspects of technology from hand-building servers to coding Perl database applications to acting as product manager for data analysis software projects and running product marketing for the software-as-a-service group at Business Objects. Steve holds a BA is in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA in Management of Technology from Simon Fraser University.

In his spare time, Steve has completed the SFU Certificate Program in Community Economic Development, acts as a pro-bono Organizational Consultant with Volunteer Vancouver, is a founding Ambassador for the David Suzuki Foundation, answers the phones for a drug and alcohol crisis line, researches accountability and transparency issues, and advises non-profits, social enterprises and socially responsible businesses on business planning, management and strategic use of information.