Sustainable Life Media's SB Seminars Provides Executives With Comprehensive Knowledge, Practical Tools for Business Strategy

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustainable Life Media's new Sustainable Brands Seminar Series provides designers, managers, executives and strategists with a comprehensive study on sustainability theory and practical application, including "Sustainable Product Design." Rooted in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, the October 6th course teaches designers looking to understand a product's environmental impact early in the design phase.  This small classroom experience, taught by design strategist and Stanford lecturer Jeremy Faludi, allows students to bring and then tear apart their company's product, while giving it an LCA.

This course is aimed at lead designers and product managers.  Students will receive a foundation in life-cycle assessment and designing for the life-cycle of a product, using several eco-design strategies such as dematerialization, energy effectiveness, design for longevity, and design for recyclability. Theories reinforced with both conceptual and hands-on exercises are the hallmark of this design seminar. By the end of the day, students will be able to perform their own simple scoping LCA using Sustainable Minds LCA software and understand how to judge the relevance or veracity of published LCAs.

Jeremy Faludi (LEED AP) is a sustainable design strategist and researcher. He is the sustainability expert and research lead for Project Frog, the leader in modular green buildings for schools and commercial applications. He teaches sustainable design at Stanford University, where he created the graduate/undergraduate class ME221: Green Design Tools and Metrics.  He also taught sustainable design at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and California College for the Arts.  

He has worked for Rocky Mountain Institute, The Biomimicry Institute, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, among others, doing everything from designing the prototype for what is now AskNature.org to a Design Intent Tool, to a biomimetic movie soundtrack reader, to electromagnetic finite element analysis of high-power-density electric motors. While working for Applied Materials he was awarded best technical instructor every year for his three years there. A cargo-carrying bicycle for Africa that he helped design appeared in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's exhibition "Design for the Other 90%", and he has been a juror for sustainable design competitions such as Dell's ReGeneration, Greener Gadgets, and IDSA's Digging Deeper.

Limited to just 30 attendees for each daily course in all locations, participants will create a close-knit and invaluable network with brand and corporate sustainability executives, including product, brand and supply chain managers and designers; marketing, communications and PR team members; as well as HR or technology professionals. The five-part series will provide level-the-playing-field business knowledge in key areas of sustainable brand building, marketing, communications, strategy and assessment, product design, supply chain management and impending impact measurement strategies and tools.

SB Seminars Curriculum

The five-part SB Seminar Series is designed to provide attendees a complete grounding in many of the complex principles and practices involved in building business and brand value through sustainable innovation.  Participants can attend one or more days to meet their needs, and the needs of their business. Hosted by SLM community member corporations Williams Sonoma, 3M, Johnson & Johnson and AMD, SB Seminars are scheduled for San Francisco CA in October, Minneapolis MN in November, New Brunswick, NJ in December and Austin, TX in January.

Monday: Building the Credible Sustainable Brand with Jennifer Rice of Fruitful Strategy

Tuesday: Designing Communications that Resonate with John Marshall Roberts of Worldview Learning

Wednesday: Sustainable Product Design: an LCA Approach with Jeremy Faludi, Associate Professor of Design at Stanford University.

Thursday: Making Supply Chains More Sustainable with Phil Berry of Sustainable Product Works

Friday: Managing Your Sustainable Brand Plan: Management Systems & Metrics for Driving Ideas to Reality with Ranier Ochsenkuehn, President, ROC One

About Sustainable Life Media

Sustainable Life Media (SLM) is the leading producer of sustainable business conferences and educational events, with additional products and services designed to inspire and equip businesses to profitably innovate for sustainability.  These include targeted e-newsletters, online learning programs, various community membership levels, the flagship Sustainable Brands conference, SB Seminars and research through SLM Insights.  SLM delivers information on the who, what and how of environmental and social innovation, and helps community members connect with thought leaders, peers, partners and solutions providers who can help them quickly reach their goals. For more information, please visit: http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/about. To subscribe to SLM Newsletters for free, please visit http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/newsletters.

SOURCE Sustainable Life Media