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About Us
Our Story
Our Audience
Our Awards
Our Core Values
Our Team
Our Story
On a sunny morning in the summer of 2002, a rogue-but-seasoned business journalist and the president of a small publishing company met in a Portland coffee shop. There was no specific agenda for the meeting, but the two quickly realized they both harbored the idea and spied the opportunity to launch a high-caliber regional business publication focused on the rise of sustainable industries. Within about 30 minutes of brainstorming the two had pretty much agreed to launch that publication in a matter of months.
The business journalist was Brian Back, and the publisher was Nik Blosser, president of Celilo Group Media. It was a few years before words such as “green” and “eco” would become ubiquitous and embraced by mainstream opportunism, but both Brian and Nik believed sustainable business practices held vast profit potential for business and industry in the region, and that in fact sustainability would be a necessary evolution for business in the years ahead.
By the winter of 2002, Brian was holed up in his house working every rainy day and dank night, producing most of the content for the inaugural issues. Nik, meanwhile, negotiated with printers and designers and secured founding sponsorships from the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment and Office of Economic Development, Washington Department of Ecology and Oregon Economic and Community Development Department. The first two years of monthly issues, which carried the masthead Sustainable Industries Journal Northwest (that’s 11 syllables, mind you), were produced in a newsletter style, 16 pages long, with both color and black-and-white pages. The intros to three feature stories and a list of sector-by-sector news headlines were jammed on to the front cover. At one point, Sustainable Industries spotlighted at least nine different industries, in our perhaps naïve attempt to be everything to everyone.
In some ways, the lack of industry specificity was a reflection of the relative newness of sustainable industries. As the business grew and fine-tuned its focus over the past several years, our stakeholders have regarded the publication as offering a working definition of sustainable industries in the region and a forum for business leaders and economic trends to challenge and shape that definition. In 2006, recognizing increasing opportunities for cross-collaboration throughout the West Coast, we welcomed San Francisco into our regional focus by establishing an editorial and business presence there.
In the spring of 2007, Brian took over the role of full-time publisher of Sustainable Industries, and Nik shifted his focus on growing the EcoMetro arm of Celilo Group Media. In a deal that closed at the end of 2007, Brian purchased full ownership of Sustainable Industries, including its flagship magazine, Web site, email newsletters and annual Sustainable Industries Economic Forums. As Sustainable Industries rolls out a suite of dynamic new media products, our print and digital magazine still serves as our flagship publication. In early 2008, Sustainable Industries opened a new headquarters office on California Street in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. Simultaneously, we increased editorial resources and coverage in both Portland and Puget Sound to provide more high-quality Northwest content than ever before.
When Brian and Nik launched Sustainable Industries several years ago, the gameplan was to focus strictly on the environmental and economic aspects of sustainable industries. At the time, few others were doing it. Today, while the entire spectrum of media scramble to seize the “green” opportunity, Sustainable Industries is in a unique position to take the conversation further and to connect the dots between the environmental and social components of the region’s economy, just as we connect the dots between various West Coast industries, in a way that no other business-to-business media company can. As always, we are working closely with our community of West Coast business leaders to raise the stakes in a working definition of sustainable industries.
Our Audience
Sustainable Industries caters to “green business leaders” on the West Coast, the most dynamic region of the world for sustainable business innovation, and beyond. Our growing community of thought leaders has been fostering the innovations chronicled in Sustainable Industries for many years, and as such we are able to offer a more sophisticated dialogue and higher level of analysis than can be found in other media outlets covering similar topics. It is not the goal of Sustainable Industries to trawl the media ocean for eyeballs, nor to pander to lurid curiosity. We serve a very focused audience that includes “top of the pyramid” business executives, entrepreneurs, MBA students and thought leaders with truly independent analysis, indispensable tools, and a refreshingly authentic voice. These are the senior-level business leaders making decisions that are changing the course of history. Some facts and figures:
- More than 1/3 are President/Owner or Senior Management in their organization.
- 96% report a strong level of trust in Sustainable Industries.
- Most rate Sustainable Industries as their No. 1 source for green business news and analysis.
- A large number say they read Sustainable Industries “cover to cover.”
- 4 out of 5 say they have influence in the direction of their organization.
- Top categories for audience purchasing include marketing and PR services, clean energy, green building products and services, office supplies, real estate, financial services and legal services.
Our Awards
Our Core Values
Independence
Sustainable Industries is not secretly owned by one of the major media conglomerates that control the majority of media messaging channels in your local or regional market, nor is the company beholden to investor interests that filter its focus. Independent media are increasingly in the minority, and we thrive on the support of an audience hungry for more diverse voices they can trust.
Authenticity
Amidst all of the noise and hype surrounding green business, we continue to cut through the fluff and provide useful information, tools and concise analysis of where the region’s sustainable industries are really headed. Our events create an unparalleled informative and inspirational experience that others try to imitate. And unlike most media properties in our space, Sustainable Industries bucks the dirty little industry practice of “pay to play,” where a client buys an ad and the publication either overtly or more sneakily “places” a nice article about client in the publication. Some competitors may think we are foolish, but we believe the practice doesn’t serve our readers – nor our clients – well over time. This dedication has paid off with our audience reporting an unprecedented level of trust in Sustainable Industries.
Innovation
On a very basic level, innovation at Sustainable Industries amounts to constantly evolving, growing, learning and adapting to our community of readers and to the world around us. We are embracing and investing in more efficient systems and technology throughout our entire operations, and we are constantly evaluating new opportunities, but we’ve also been around long enough to be mindful of what matters most and to not get sucked in to the “next big thing.”
Customer Service
Sustainable Industries’ customer service mantra revolves around humility and personalized attention. On the editorial side, this means listening and responding to our audience, as well as owning up to our mistakes and doing all we can to correct them. On the business side, this means meeting our client’s marketing needs by offering a custom-tailored, high-impact package, not just filling in holes to make a quick buck. Our aim is to offer everyone we deal with the highest level of personalized customer service.
Collaboration
Every member of the Sustainable Industries team is a key stakeholder with a resonant voice in the direction of the company. We foster a culture to recruit and retain the best employees, team members who are skilled, dedicated, mission-driven and able to balance hard work with a balanced and fulfilling quality of life outside of work.
Industry Leadership & Transparency
Media and publishing companies, even many of those covering the emerging green economy, are laggards when it comes to internal environmental practices. Sustainable Industries strives to move the industry forward by maintaining industry-leading printing and recycled paper procurement practices, introducing environmentally innovative products to suppliers, constantly improving energy and resource efficiency throughout all areas of our business, choosing and improving our green office space, encouraging the lowest-impact transportation practices, and hosting the most sustainable events in the business. We don’t brag about it, but we do it, and we are transparent throughout the process.
Our Team
Business Staff
Brian Back, Founding Editor & Publisher
As one of the first business journalists in the United States to pioneer a beat in “sustainability,” Brian has been a leading expert in topics such as clean energy, green building, environmental technology and other green business sectors. He has researched, written and spoken extensively on economic impacts and trends -- including the role of media -- in these intersecting and rapidly evolving industries. Brian began his career as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he covered growth and sprawl trends in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. While working as a reporter and columnist for The Business Journal in Portland, Brian pushed his editors to develop a new beat in sustainable industries, which was then an emerging concept among a handful of innovators on the West Coast. His work has appeared in leading magazines, web sites, newspapers and trade journals. Today Brian serves as President and Owner of Sustainable Industries, and he is a new member of the Social Venture Network. Outside of work, Brian is an avid runner, mountaineer, paddler and traveler. He lives in San Francisco with his dog Mick and travels frequently to Portland and Puget Sound.
Aaron Berg, Financial Manager & Sales Representative
Prior to assuming the role of Financial Manager, Aaron was Sustainable Industries' punchy and irreverent Book Reviewer Extraordinaire. And before joining our business team, he worked as a lender for Shorebank Enterprise Cascadia, and as an analyst and entrepreneur with Ecosa Capital. Aaron's background preceding commercial lending and finance was primarily in tax accounting, including work as a Senior Tax Accountant with Portland's largest local CPA firm, Perkins & Co. A passion and hope for a more sustainable economy drives Aaron to continually collaborate on new business models. Outside of crunching numbers, jawboning and trying to break the rules, Aaron enjoys athletics, ideas and beers with good friends.
Amy Hillman, Account Executive, Portland
Amy began her sustainability path in 1990 while attending college in Maryland. Before finishing school with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy in 1995, she "took time off" to work for Greenpeace, where she held a variety of positions from 1990-1995. In 1996 she moved to Portland and applied her fundraising skills to sales positions for small- to medium-sized businesses, including working as an account executive for a trade show company. Amy is an MBA candidate at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, graduating in June 2008. Thrilled to be combining her business development skills and passion for sustainability, Amy found herself instantly at home with Sustainable Industries. For fun Amy enjoys time in the outdoors, travelling to the "warm ocean," hikes, yoga, dancing and most of all spending time with her son Owen in her Southeast Portland neighborhood.
Christina Weber, Account Executive, Bay Area
Christina was thrilled to hear that her favorite magazine, Sustainable Industries, was relocating its headquarters to San Francisco in 2007, and she welcomed the chance to represent the sustainable B2B marketplace in California. Christina’s enthusiasm for sustainable business began with her volunteer involvement with both Net Impact and Social Venture Network, where she connected with a network of socially responsible CEOs, angel investors and nonprofit professionals. In 2007, Christina joined SustainLane, a San Francisco-based interactive media company, where she worked to grow the largest online advertising network covering the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumer space. She was responsible for securing partnerships with leading green publishers and educating clients on best practices for reaching the green consumer. Before joining the green business sector, Christina spent four years with an international nonprofit focused on economic development in Russia and three years working in international education. Christina holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from The Australian National University, and she is an avid globe trotter and a pretend wine connoisseur. As a proud Midwesterner, she enjoys any opportunity to talk about her home state of Iowa, her three nieces and nephew, Big 12 sports and her fascination with pumpkins.
Michael O’Brien, Account Executive, Puget Sound
Michael represents the Puget Sound and the State of Washington with a passion for sustainable business practices, local living economies, and a keen interest in cultivating lasting relationships invigorated with optimism for the future. While working for Sustainable Industries, Michael attends the Bainbridge Graduate Institute – home of the nation’s first sustainable MBA program. Since 1995, he has developed strong relationship-based business practices in business development for a real estate appraisal firm; managed over 50 partnerships in a fast-paced software company; and steeled his nerves working in a trauma center as an EMT. Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Sacramento and Seattle have been places he has called home. Outside of work, Michael spends a good deal of time crushing volleyballs, hosting neighborhood events, and sometimes riding aloft in his trusted paraglider. With a large immediate family in Ireland, Michael must often fight the urge to swing his shillelagh and break out in song.
Laura Christiansen, Event Manager
Laura spearheads all aspects of the company's Sustainable Industries Economic Forums in each market. She has well over 10 years of project management experience that includes event logistics management, account management, sales and business administration. Laura is known to her colleagues, peers and clients for her organized, nuts-and-bolts approach. She also happens to be the sister (and "Irish twin") of company President Brian Back. Outside of business, Laura is an adoring mother of twin girls and a fly fishing fanatic who loves the outdoors, travel and a good book.
Kristina Päster, Publisher's Assistant
Kristina's love for sustainability grew out of her passion for social justice and commitment to environmental conservation. She earned her her MBA in Sustainable Business from Presidio School of Management in San Francisco and a B.S. in sociology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. In addition to attending as a student, Kristina also worked for Presidio as a marketing coordinator to help spread the message that business and sustainability go hand in hand. More recently, Kristina worked for a financial planning and investment management firm where she managed client accounts and business operations. A native to the Bay Area, Kristina enjoys spending time with her husband Pablo and her dog Che, getting exercise and fresh air in the beautiful Marin hills, and obsessing over the entire holiday season, from running the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving to getting up at 6 a.m. on Christmas morning (much to Pablo's annoyance).
Editorial Staff
Becky Brun, Managing Editor
Sustainable Industries' Portland anchor, Becky covers the burgeoning green building and energy beats, as well as sustainable businesses in Oregon. Former managing editor of nwcurrent, a regional online clean energy news magazine, Becky is entrenched in the ever-changing West Coast energy scene. She helped launch both nwcurrent's and Sustainable Industries' Webinar series, which allows audiences to gain insight and knowledge about specific topics from their own desks. The interactive online Web conferences have been met with enthusiasm by a national audience. With a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a B.A. in Writing, Becky's role as Managing Editor of Sustainable Industries is a perfect match. Prior to joining Sustainable Industries, she served as the editor of Outdoors NW magazine, a Seattle-based outdoor sports magazine. Becky has written for many regional publications, including YES! Magazine, the Portland Tribune and
Willamette
Week.
Charles Redell, Puget Sound Correspondent
Charles Redell started as Puget Sound Correspondent for Sustainable Industries in February 2008. Although he graduated from Adelphi University with a BFA in Design/Tech Theater, during his 10 years of journalism he's pounded a number of beats including local music, arts and news for Seattle alternative newspapers Seattle Weekly, The Stranger and TABLET; and public housing for a community newspaper called The Voice. He fell into the sustainable business world after covering electric transmission and alternative energy efforts in the western United States and Canada for the trade journals Clearing Up, California Energy Markets and Energy Prospects West. While his expertise is in Clean Energy, Charles is interested in all things sustainable. He lives in Seattle with his wonderful wife Alexis and his also wonderful but too fat cat Jake.
Amy Westervelt, Bay Area Correspondent
Amy has been contributing her talents to Sustainable Industries since February 2006. A former travel, arts and design writer, Amy discovered sustainability while cooling her heels as a communications consultant for Arup, an architectural engineering firm that has incorporated green building principals into its designs for decades. When the firm launched its corporate sustainability consulting arm, it needed a wordsmith to communicate its vision, and Amy finished the project intent on finding a way to combine her love of writing with a newfound interest in sustainable business. After more than two years covering the Technology and Food & Farms beats, as well as Bay Area-based sustainable businesses, Amy is still every bit as excited as she was at the beginning.
Ben Stoddard, Web Editor & Graphic Designer
Ben joined Sustainable Industries in August 2008 after moving to Portland from the great Southwest. As a dedicated environmentalist among the dusty urban sprawl, he was more than happy to trek up north and start contributing to a conscious and informative publication. After hours he spends his time helping to run shows at various music venues around town, campaigning for local nonprofit theater companies and screen printing monsters onto every available surface.
Regular Contributors
Bryan Potter Design, Jennifer Brinkman, Tyson Mangelsdorf, Mary Ruf, Adam Stiles, Alec Wagner, T.S. Walen, Francis Zera
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