 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(June 2019) |
 | |
| Formation | October 2012 |
|---|---|
| Type | 501(c)(3) organization |
| 46-1860634 | |
| Location | |
Founders | Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz [1] |
Key people | Jesper Brodin (Chair) Ester Baiget (Vice-Chair) Leah Seligmann (Interim CEO) |
| Website | www |
The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. [2]
In 2013, a group of leaders came together following a series of workshops that included civil society leaders, systems experts, sustainability pioneers, economists and entrepreneurs. Inspired by the work of Lester Brown and the B Corporation movement, they labeled their vision for a better way of doing business 'Plan B,' and 'The B Team' emerged. The B Team intends to achieve this vision by starting at home, working to advance Challenges in their own companies that get right to the heart of the issues that cause companies to remain rooted in 'Plan A' - business as usual, and to empower business leaders around the world to join them. [3] [4] [5]
The B Team was incubated by Virgin Unite, the charitable arm of the Virgin Group, [3] which had previously incubated such organizations the Elders and the Carbon War Room. In October 2012, Branson and Zeitz announced the formation of The B Team. Its first CEO was Derek Handley, co-founder of The Hyperfactory. [6] It has since grown to include over 32 leaders and is currently chaired by Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group (IKEA).
Leah Seligmann was appointed Chief Change Catalyst and Interim CEO in March 2024, after Halla Tomasdottir, who led the organization since August 2018, took a leave of absence to run in the 2024 Icelandic Presidential Election.
The founding B Team leaders include: Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group and Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the B Team, Kathy Calvin, President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Deputy Chair of The Elders, Christiana Figueres, Convener of Mission 2020, Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA, Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO of Thrive Global, Mo Ibrahim, Founder of Celtel, Guilherme Leal, Founder and Co-Chairman of Natura, Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Chairman of Econet Wireless, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance of Nigeria, François-Henri Pinault, CEO and Chairman of Kering, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders and President of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group, Zhang Yue, Chairman and Founder of Broad Group China, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chairman of Yunus Centre, Jochen Zeitz, Founder of The Zeitz Foundation, Co-Founder and Co-Chair of The B Team. [7]
In 2015, Marc Benioff, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom [8] and David Crane, ex-CEO of NRG [9] joined as B Team Leaders.
In July, 2016 Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz Group, Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Company and Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group CEO of Abraaj Group joined as B Team Leaders. [10]
In 2018, Emmanuel Faber, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Danone, Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Former CEO of PepsiCo, Isabelle Kocher, CEO of Engie, and Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Chobani joined The B Team. [11] [12] [13]
In 2020, The B Team welcomed Hiro Mizuno, CIO of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), Torben Möger Pedersen, CEO of PensionDanmark, Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group, and Jean Oelwang, Founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite to the group. [14] [15] [16]
In 2021, Ester Baiget, President and CEO of Novozymes, Ilham Kadri, CEO and President of Solvay, Joseph Kenner, President and CEO of Greyston, and Van Jones, a CNN contributor and founder of the Dream Corps joined as B Team Leaders. [17] [18]
In 2023, Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen, and Juan Carlos Mora, CEO of Bancolombia joined as B Team Leaders. [19]
In 2024, Ryan Gellert, CEO of Patagonia joined The B Team. [20]
In 2015 The B Team leaders advocated for a climate agreement at the COP21 meeting. They supported a long-term goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, to preserve oceans and save low-lying island nations from rising sea levels. [21] Ten companies associated with The B Team set aspirations for their own organisations to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including the French apparel and accessories group Kering; the US electricity company NRG Energy; the Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom; the global enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.com; the internationally renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co; the Chinese construction company BROAD Group, the African telecommunications group Econet, the Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer Natura, the consumer goods company Unilever, and the international investment group Virgin Management. [22] The B Team leaders called on governments around the world to adopt Net-Zero by 2050 as a long-term goal in the COP21 agreement. [23] The B Team worked as part of the We Mean Business Coalition, alongside partners like Ceres and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, to drive bold climate action by business in 2015. [24]
In 2014 The B Team, along with Unilever, Natura, Transparency International, Global Witness, Global Financial Integrity and OpenCorporates formed a working group to support and increase the number of companies implementing beneficial ownership transparency and worked to articulate a business case for doing so. [25] B Team leader's advocated to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative board in favour of adopting a beneficial ownership transparency standard for its 51 members, which they did in March 2016. [26] Following the release of the Panama Papers in April 2016 The B Team announced, along with its partners Global Witness, ONE, Open Contracting Partnership, OpenCorporates, The Web Foundation, and Transparency International, the creation of a Global Beneficial Ownership Register for businesses to share their company structures, and eliminate the use of shell companies like those used to obfuscate the owners of assets in the Panama Papers. [27]
In 2015 The B Team launched the 100% Human at Work initiative and network as they believed it was "time for businesses to stop looking at people as resources and to start seeing them as human beings". [28] The B Team have built the People Innovation Network, to bring companies together to share and learn from one another about how to help their employees thrive at work. [29]
Working as part of the Natural Capital Coalition The B Team supported the development of the first global, standard Natural Capital Protocol - a set of tools for companies to measure their impacts and dependencies on nature. The protocol was launched July 2016, following pilots by more than 40 companies, including Kering and Dow Chemical. [30] Kering Group also published its pioneering group-wide environmental profit and loss accounts in 2015. [31]
In 2016, as part of their work for The B Team Sir Richard Branson and Marc Benioff launched a movement of entrepreneurs and business leaders building their companies with people and planet alongside profit as part of their DNA from the outset, called "Born B'". [32]
In 2017 The B Team launched The B Team Africa, its first regional B Team. Its initial leadership included Bob Collymore, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr. Mo Ibrahim, and Jochen Zeitz. [33] Subsequently, it added The B Team Australia Network as a regional team. [34]
In 2018, The B Team partnered with Ceres to launch 'Getting Climate Smart - A Primer for Corporate Directors in a Changing Environment'. The project sought to make corporate directors aware that climate change is a board-relevant issue and teach them how to manage the risks and opportunities related to climate. Sponsoring the project was the Ikea Foundation and the We Mean Business Coalition. [35]
In 2021, The B Team launched The New Leadership Playbook, a collection of stories, insights and resources on 21st-century business leadership. [36] This included 10x Bolder, a conversation-based podcast series exploring how leaders align values with influence. [37]
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate. In the 1970s, he co-founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within countries. This branding may involve unified aircraft liveries of member aircraft.
Virgin Group is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970.
Virgin Cola was a carbonated cola soft drink, launched in 1994. In 2009, it was discontinued in the United Kingdom, and in 2014 it was stopped being made by its final licensee, in Bangladesh.
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company develops commercial spacecraft and provides suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship. Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010, but the date was delayed for several years, after some time then was delayed again, primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.
This is a list of Richard Branson's business ventures from the 1960s to today.
François-Henri Pinault is a French businessman, the chairman and CEO of Kering since 2005, and president of Groupe Artémis since 2003. Under his leadership, the retail conglomerate PPR was transformed into the luxury fashion group Kering.
Jochen Zeitz is a businessman serving as the president, CEO and chairman of the board of Harley-Davidson, Inc. He is also Chairman of LiveWire Inc. Before that, he served as the chairman and CEO of Puma for 18 years. He also served as board member of Kering, the luxury goods company and chaired their Sustainability Committee, for whom he developed its global sustainability strategy. Zeitz is currently a board member of Harley Davidson, The B Team and Cranemere. In addition to this, Zeitz previously served on the board of Wilderness Safaris. Jochen Zeitz is also the co-founder of The B Team with Richard Branson, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa and Founder of the Zeitz Foundation to support sustainable solutions that balance conservation, community, culture and commerce, and The Long Run.
David Baxby is the former CEO of Global Blue and former Co-CEO of the Virgin Group. He was born on 12 September 1973 in Sydney, Australia. Baxby is currently based in Sydney. As Co-CEO of the Virgin Group, Baxby was responsible for the branded investing activities of the Virgin Group globally.
Scott Jon Freidheim is an American businessman. He is the managing partner of Freidheim Capital.
Rachid Mohamed Rachid or Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed is an Egyptian born entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder and chairman of Alsara Investment Group, an international investment group focused on the luxury and well being industry and including its subsidiary Bidayat, a company focused on investing and nurturing young brands in jewelry, fashion and accessories and take them globally. He is also the chairman of the international fashion houses of Valentino and Balmain. His foray into the creative and fashion industries led Business of Fashion magazine to name him as one of 500 most influential people shaping the global fashion industry. Rachid is also on the supervisory board of Lipton Teas and Infusions. Prior to that Rachid held a cabinet position in Egypt as Minister of Trade and Industry between 2004 and 2011. Prior to his cabinet position Rachid was the founder and chairman of a JV with Unilever in Egypt and was named as President of Unilever MENA and Turkey.
Global Music Group is a United States-based record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. The company also has divisions in Canada, Asia and Europe.
Sustainia, formerly the Copenhagen Climate Council, is a global collaboration between international business and science founded by Erik Rasmussen founder of the leading independent think tank in Scandinavia, Monday Morning, based in Copenhagen, and today directed by Rasmus Schjødt Larsen, a Harvard graduate. The councilors of the Copenhagen Climate Council have come together to create global awareness of the importance of the UN Climate Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen, December 2009, and to ensure technical and public support and assistance to global decision makers when agreeing on a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 1997.
Michael Neuman is a Canadian-born executive who has managed telecommunications and broadcast television companies in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He is the founder and CEO of WorldLinx Telecommunications Inc., and founder of MediaLinx which formed the ISP Sympatico. He was CEO of satellite TV provider Bell ExpressVu and acted as President of Bell Mobility where he joined forces with Sir Richard Branson to launch Virgin Mobile Canada. He was President of Fortune 300 company EchoStar, which operates DISH Network in the U.S., and CEO of British telecom outfit iaxis prior to its sale to Dynegy Inc., in 2000.
Ros Simmons is a British businesswoman. She was the CEO of Vie at Home, a company for which she worked since it was launched in 1997, starting out as Marketing Director. In late 2008, Simmons successfully led a management buyout of the company, formerly known as Virgin Vie at Home, from Virgin Group. In December 2010, the company was sold to Helmut Spikker.
The Earth Awards is an aspirational platform for consumer-driven ideas that challenge designers and innovators to build a new economy. It is an annual competition since 2007, aiming to "transform visionary ideas into market-ready solutions by offering finalists the unique opportunities to pitch their project to world business leaders". The Awards are open to students, graduates and industry professionals - the public is invited to submit innovations to be judged.
An environmental profit and loss account is a company's monetary valuation and analysis of its environmental impacts including its business operations and its supply chain from cradle-to-gate. An E P&L internalizes externalities and monetizes the cost of business to nature by accounting for the ecosystem services a business depends on to operate in addition to the cost of direct and indirect negative impacts on the environment. The primary purpose of an E P&L is to allow managers and stakeholders to see the magnitude of these impacts and where in the supply chain they occur.
Brett Godfrey is an Australian businessman and co-founder of Virgin Australia. Godfrey was awarded the Centenary Medal for his service to Tourism and Aviation in 2003 and inducted into the HM Awards' ‘Hall of Fame' in 2015.
Ryan Roslansky is an American entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of LinkedIn, a business-related social networking website, since June 2020 stepping up from his previous position as Senior Vice President. He started with LinkedIn in 2009 and was instrumental in the $1.5 billion acquisition of Lynda.com in 2015, the largest acquisition in LinkedIn's history at that time. In 2021, he was named to Forbes CEO Next list.
Jesper Brodin is a Swedish business leader and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Ingka Group. During his career at IKEA, Brodin has held a number of different roles including assistant to Ingvar Kamprad, Business Area Manager Kitchen and Dining, as well as managing director for Range & Supply, Inter IKEA Group.