The Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia Announces Fifth Annual Social Enterprise Conference

Business Wire, Oct 15, 2008

PHILADELPHIA -- The Social Enterprise Initiative of the Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia (HBSCP) has announced it will host its fifth annual conference for nonprofit executives on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at Comcast Center in Philadelphia. Bringing the Harvard Business School experience to Philadelphia, the conference will welcome more than 70 CEOs, Executive Directors, and senior executives from major regional and local nonprofit organizations. Attendees include leaders from Maternity Care Coalition, Philabundance, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, the Free Library of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, Boys & Girls Club of Camden County, the Food Trust and many others.

The program this fall will center on practical steps for implementing strategy in a nonprofit organization, and will be led by Stacey Childress, Lecturer in General Management at the Harvard Business School and a co-founder of the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University. The conference will also include a keynote address from Stephen Burke, Chief Operating Officer of Comcast Corporation. The theme for this year's conference is "Implementation - Translating Strategy into Results."

Since the HBSCP began hosting this conference in 2004, the Social Enterprise Initiative has positively impacted the senior leadership of over 60 regional nonprofits with budgets exceeding $400 million annually, overseeing more than 1,500 employees, and serving over 1.5 million guests, members, and visitors.

Speaking of his organization's experience with the Social Enterprise Initiative, Bruce W. Bonner, Chief Operating Officer & Director of Finance, Operations & Planning of Children's Literacy Initiative remarked, "We found the event so helpful that we already have plans to incorporate the discussions in a Board of Director's work group scheduled for next week." "These sessions are very important if we are going to help the not-for-profit sector evolve," noted Nicholas Torres, CEO, Congreso de Latino Unidos.

The Harvard Business School Club of Philadelphia Social Enterprise Initiative began in 1993. The Social Enterprise Initiative focuses on executive education - finance, operations, marketing and strategy - of the Philadelphia Region's nonprofit leaders.

In addition to HBSCP and alumni funding, support of the Social Enterprise Initiative comes from leading corporations and foundations based in the region, including the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Comcast, Liberty Property Trust, The Philadelphia Foundation, TL Ventures, The William Penn Foundation, SEI Investments, Levenger, Pitney Bowes, and an investment management firm that wishes to remain anonymous.

The HBSCP, one of the oldest alumni organizations in the country, represents more than 1,100 HBS alumni in the greater Philadelphia region.

Harvard Business School is celebrating 100 years of leadership in the classroom, in business and beyond with a year of faculty events, industry colloquia, and alumni activities across the globe. HBS alumni clubs in 30 countries will celebrate the Centennial throughout the year with social enterprise activities, such as this conference, designed to have a beneficial impact on the communities in which HBS alumni live and work.