Justmeans Announces 2012 Social Innovation Awards Judges

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(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) Northampton, MA - October 20, 2011 - Innovation is at the heart of progress, especially with regard to environmental and social movements. Across the globe, more and more companies and nonprofits are developing news tools and creative tactics to deliver the largest or most meaningful social impact. Despite this general awareness of innovation, there is no single unifying metric for it. And this begs the question: how do we measure the most innovative organizations and initiatives out there? Is it by of dollars generated for a cause or the number lives impacted? Is something more innovative if it happens only once, or if it is continual? Can a local effort be more innovative than a global one? Which matters more to innovation: what people are doing or the technology or tools they are using to do it?

And while these questions are daunting, there are brilliant minds that have dedicated their careers to understanding them.

Justmeans is proud to announce that some of these leading minds will be present at 2012 Social Innovation Awards, a forum for companies to highlight their latest practical applications for advancing social and environmental responsibility and innovation throughout their organizations.

The Judges who will help recognize those leaders who are doing the most and the best within the field of social innovation for the 2012 Awards are:

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Ken Banks: is founder of kiwanja.net, devotes himself to the application of mobile technology for positive social and environmental change in the developing world, and has spent the last 19 years working on projects in Africa. His early research resulted in the development of FrontlineSMS, an award-winning text messaging-based field communication system aimed at grassroots non-profit organisations. In 2009 he was named a Laureate of the Tech Awards, an international awards program which honours innovators from around the world who are applying technology to benefit humanity. He was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in May 2010 and an Ashoka Fellow in 2011, and is the recipient of the 2011 Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest. His work was initially supported by the MacArthur Foundation, and he is the current recipient of grants from the Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Foundation, HIVOS, the Omidyar Network and the Hewlett Foundation. @Kiwanja

David Connor: Has over 13 years experience across the CSR agenda and is the Founder of Coethica, a UK based consultancy with particular expertise in engaging smaller businesses and communications. Prior to Coethica, David was responsible for establishing the multi-award winning charitable foundation at Everton Football Club and also managed the England Amputee Football Team. David’s commitment to community impact has, and continues to include, Board level positions for numerous social organisations supporting regeneration, youth sport, affordable housing, financial services, dyslexia support and small business support. David also represents 3BL Media across Europe. @Davidcoethica

James Epstein-Reeves: James Epstein-Reeves is a Chicago-based expert on corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, and cause-marketing. As president of Do Well Do Good, LLC, he and his company guide leaders in for-profit and non-profit organizations to focus their initiatives in social responsibility,  management, fundraising, communication, and social media. He is also a writer for the Forbes.com Corporate Social Responsibility blog and a video commentator for CSR Unscripted through 3BL Media. @Jepsteinreeves

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James Farrar: James has more than 15 years of experience working on corporate sustainability issues from both the corporate and NGO campaigning perspective. He has worked directly within the banking (Farm Credit System), aviation (British Airways) and IT (SAP) sectors in the USA and Europe. His campaigning experience includes work at Amnesty International's business engagement programme and at Global Witness, a leading NGO campaigning on the issue of resource revenue transparency especially relating to so called 'conflict resources'.

James's day job is at SAP working within the Sustainability team. @Jamesfarrar

Zach Frechette: Zach Frechette is an new media entrepreneur focusing on the intersection of creativity and impact. He was a co-founder of and editor in chief of GOOD, a print and digital publication dedicated to living well and doing good. His most recently project is Quarterly Co., a subscription service for wonderful things. He is also a venture advisor to Collaborative Fund, a mission driven venture fund investing in values-based business, especially those that facilitate collaborative consumption. @ZTF

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Justin Goldbach: Justin is a founding member of the Aspen Institute's Center for Business Education, wherein he worked to integrate social, environmental, and ethical thinking into business school curriculum and business practice. Managing relationships with over 150 schools in 24 countries, Justin led innovative programs such as the Beyond Grey Pinstripes b-school ranking, requiring analysis of over 80,000 pages of submitted data, and the Faculty Pioneer Awards, called the “Oscars of the business school world” by the Financial Times. Developing relationships with a wide range of corporate partners is central to the success of the Institute's annual Business & Society International MBA Case Competition, a program Justin created and still directs as an Advisor. @AspenCaseComp

Adriana Pentz: Adriana Pentz became the CEO of StartingBloc in June of 2009. Since then, she has focused on the strategic direction of the organization. She successfully led the expansion of the StartingBloc brand to Los Angeles and builds relationships with values aligned companies and graduate schools. For over seven years, StartingBloc has helped social innovators address the most pressing global challenges of our time by giving them the skills and the tools they need to create lasting change. @StartingBloc

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Ryan Scott: Donations are fantastic, but a system that empowers charities to grow and be self-sustaining would be priceless. Combining his experience with web technology, his fervor for media, and his passion for positive change, Ryan dreamed up Causecast, a project that would change the world through the effective application of web technologies and social networks. Applying the levers of capitalism, Causecast helps people support causes and charities, endorsed by brands and leaders they admire, by providing them knowledge, tools, and social connections on the world's largest platforms and publishers. @ryan_scott

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Aman Singh: Aman Singh is a CSR journalist and communications strategist. A contributory writer for Forbes amongst other CSR publications, she is the author of In Good Company: Singh on CSR, a blog on CSR communications and strategy, and an IEMA-certified CSR Practitioner, trained in GRI reporting standards. She is also the founder of Singh Solutions, a research and advisory firm that helps entrepreneurs, marketers and sustainability professionals with CSR, communication and social media strategies. @AmanSinghCSR

Diane Solinger: Diane Solinger joined the Entrepreneurs Foundation (EF) in 1999 and serves as the organization’s Executive Director. EF is a US based nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging, empowering and enhancing corporate social responsibility by making it easy for companies to design and implement their corporate philanthropy, community involvement and community investment programs. @DianeatEF

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Wayne Visser: Wayne Visser is Founder and Director of the think-tank CSR International and the author of twelve books, including The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business (2011), The World Guide to CSR (2010) and The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility (2010). In 2011, Wayne was listed in the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Europe & the Middle East 2011 (ranking by Centre for Sustainability & Excellence and Trust Across America). He was also winner of the Outstanding Author Contribution Award at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2011 and recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award of The Warwick MBA 2010/11.@WayneVisser

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To learn more about the Judges for the 2012 Social Innovation Awards or to apply (application deadline is November 30, 2011) click here or visit http://www.socialinnovationawards.com.

About Justmeans
Justmeans, a subsidiary of 3BLMedia, provides content consulting and online news distribution for companies committed to social and environmental performance. Founded in 2008, the company rapidly grew its online community of practitioners, investors, journalists, activists, and students to 250,000 registered users. A wide variety of companies rely on Justmeans news distribution services to create, distribute, and analyze performance on media releases related to social and environmental performance.  Justmeans is also the publisher of the Social Innovation Awards.

Henry M. Frechette III
Social Innovation Awards Coordinator
Henry@justmeans.com / Innovation@justmeans.com
866.508.0993 x. 189

www.socialinnovationawards.com