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5-16-06
LEOPOLD CENTER TO HOST JUNE 1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
AMES, Iowa -- The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture will host a June 1
seminar featuring the chief officer from the nation's first commercial bank formed to
support environmentally sustainable development.
The lead speaker will be
John Berdes, president and managing director of ShoreBank Pacific Enterprise.
The FDIC-insured bank was
founded in 1997 as a joint venture of the ShoreBank Corporation of Chicago and
the Portland, Oregon environmental nonprofit, Ecotrust. Based in Ilwaco, Washington,
ShoreBank Pacific has invested more than $30
million in businesses and social ventures throughout the temperate rain forest
region of the Pacific Northwest.
Berdes' sustainable development seminar will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Hughes
Auditorium at Reiman Gardens south of the ISU campus. His topic will be: "Investing for Triple Bottom
Line Returns: Business Practices that Support Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Development."
Refreshments will follow the presentation, which is free and open to the public.
Before joining ShoreBank, Berdes held two positions with the Local Initiative
Support Corporation, the nation's largest community development intermediary. He
also served as executive director of the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement
Program based in Seattle and worked on community development projects in Boston,
Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.
While in Iowa, Berdes also will meet with officials at Iowa State University,
state agencies and farm groups.
For more information, contact Leopold Center Marketing and Food Systems
Initiative leader Rich Pirog, (515) 294-1854, or
rspirog@iastate.edu.
For more information,
contact:
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