Jonathan Greenblatt
Jonathan Greenblatt is the co-founder of Ethos Water, a former vice president of Starbucks Coffee Company and an ex-member of the board of directors of the Starbucks Foundation. Greenblatt is an acknowledged thought leader on ethical branding and social entrepreneurship and currently serves as a member of the faculty at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA where he teaches social entrepreneurship. A frequent speaker and writer, Greenblatt advises corporations and non-governmental organizations on the intersection between business and sustainability.
A former staffer in the Clinton White House, Greenblatt has advised the United Nations on global water and sanitation issues. He recently assisted the United Nations Foundation with the creation and launch of the Global Water Challenge, a coalition of Fortune 500 businesses, foundations and non-governmental organizations created to develop a global action plan to alleviate the world water crisis. He also serves as Senior Advisor to the X-PRIZE Foundation, currently leading the design of a $50 million prize competition focused on breaking the cycle of global poverty.
Greenblatt founded Ethos Water in 2002 with his longtime friend, Peter Thum, to achieve a specific mission: create a brand of bottled water to help children around the world get clean water. Ethos was launched in the bedroom of Greenblatt's son and soon became one of the fastest growing bottled water brands in the U.S. In 2005, Starbucks acquired Ethos Water, making it one of only a handful of non-coffee ventures the company has purchased in its 30-plus year history. Today, Ethos Water is sold in more than 6,000 Starbucks stores across North America where the brand has achieved record performance in bottled water sales. As a result of a strategic partnership with Pepsico announced in 2006, Ethos is expected to increase its distribution beyond Starbucks to more than 100,000 retail locations by the end of 2008.
As a member of the board of the Starbucks Foundation, Greenblatt was responsible for developing the global investment strategy for Ethos' philanthropic efforts. Ethos currently is projected to invest more than $10 million through 2010 to bring clean water to communities in need throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America and already is helping almost 400,000 people across the world get clean water. Ethos also reaches the nearly 40 million consumers visiting Starbucks stores each week, educating them about the world water crisis and thereby planting the seeds for widespread activism and social change.
Before founding Ethos Water, Greenblatt was an executive at REALTOR.com. He joined the company in 1999 during its startup phase and served as a member of the core team through its successful public offering and ascent to the dominant position in the online real estate market. Before his departure, Greenblatt served as vice president and general manager of the company's primary consumer products group, managing a $30 million division.
Prior to REALTOR.com, Greenblatt spent more than five years in the Clinton Administration where he served in the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce. As a government official, Greenblatt developed international economic policy with a focus on emerging markets in Asia and Latin America and post-conflict economies. This work took him around the world, where he witnessed the economic and social challenges facing a majority of the world's population, including the global scarcity of clean water. Before joining the administration, Greenblatt worked in Little Rock, Arkansas on Gov. Bill Clinton's first successful presidential campaign in 1992.
Greenblatt serves on numerous corporate and non-profit advisory boards and is a director of the African Leadership Foundation and RESTORE Products. He is a member of the 2007 Class of Henry Crown Fellows of the Aspen Institute and was named a Next Generation Fellow by the American Assembly. Greenblatt was appointed to the UNICEF Global Water and Sanitation Task Force and serves as a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.
A frequent writer, Greenblatt is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, Worldchanging.com and has written for The Huffington Post, GOOD Magazine, and SocialEdge.org, among others. He also has been interviewed and profiled in diverse media such as The New York Times, Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Investors Business Daily, and National Public Radio.
A sought-after speaker at conferences, corporate events and non-profit gatherings, Greenblatt delivered keynote remarks at many high-profile events including the 2006 Ideas Festival held in Aspen, Colorado and sponsored by the Aspen Institute and Atlantic Monthly magazine; the 2007 Social Entrepreneur Summit held at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland; the 2007 TED Conference in Monterey, California; the 2007 Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Symposium in New York City; the 2007 CEO Summit in Santiago, Chile; and the 2007 Opportunity Green conference in Los Angeles, California.
Greenblatt earned a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Tufts University.
He lives with his wife, Marjan, and their two sons in Los Angeles, California. He is a proud member of Red Sox Nation (West) and considers his greatest professional achievement to be his work as an umpire for the 1989 Little League World Champions from his hometown of Trumbull, Connecticut.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
The Ethos Water Story
Every Bottle Makes a Difference
Jonathan shares his personal experiences as a successful social entrepreneur and offers lessons on how he and his business partner started a company while breaking all the rules of business. Greenblatt explains how Ethos partnered with Starbucks Coffee Company to create a global impact that is helping millions of people around the world and igniting a social movement that will last for generations Greenblatt delivers a message that will inspire entrepreneurs and dreamers and provide them with the frameworks and tools to chart their own path to success.
From Rockefeller to RED
The Changing Face of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extraordinary Opportunity of Ethical Brands
With an important and timely message, Greenblatt addresses conventional wisdom about the role of business and challenges audiences to rethink the concept of responsible corporate behavior. He describes the evolution of corporate social responsibility and the advent of a new wave of ‘ethical brands’ that promise to generate financial return and social good. His message will resonate with individuals seeking to create their own social ventures or for those in a corporate world who want to inject greater meaning in the work and transition from success to significance.
Saving the World through Social Entrepreneurship
Greenblatt draws on his experience in the realms of business, government and the non-governmental sector to examine the latest trends in global development and social entrepreneurship. He outlines a coherent vision already underway in many countries wherein entrepreneurs and innovators utilize market-based approaches to help impoverished communities escape the constraints of global poverty. Importantly, Greenblatt explains why the living conditions of billions of people in the developing world are more relevant to the West than at any time in human history.
Jonathan Greenblatt is the co-founder of Ethos Water, a former vice president of Starbucks Coffee Company and an ex-member of the board of directors of the Starbucks Foundation. Greenblatt is an acknowledged thought leader on ethical branding and social entrepreneurship and currently serves as a member of the faculty at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA where he teaches social entrepreneurship. A frequent speaker and writer, Greenblatt advises corporations and non-governmental organizations on the intersection between business and sustainability.
A former staffer in the Clinton White House, Greenblatt has advised the United Nations on global water and sanitation issues. He recently assisted the United Nations Foundation with the creation and launch of the Global Water Challenge, a coalition of Fortune 500 businesses, foundations and non-governmental organizations created to develop a global action plan to alleviate the world water crisis. He also serves as Senior Advisor to the X-PRIZE Foundation, currently leading the design of a $50 million prize competition focused on breaking the cycle of global poverty.
Greenblatt founded Ethos Water in 2002 with his longtime friend, Peter Thum, to achieve a specific mission: create a brand of bottled water to help children around the world get clean water. Ethos was launched in the bedroom of Greenblatt's son and soon became one of the fastest growing bottled water brands in the U.S. In 2005, Starbucks acquired Ethos Water, making it one of only a handful of non-coffee ventures the company has purchased in its 30-plus year history. Today, Ethos Water is sold in more than 6,000 Starbucks stores across North America where the brand has achieved record performance in bottled water sales. As a result of a strategic partnership with Pepsico announced in 2006, Ethos is expected to increase its distribution beyond Starbucks to more than 100,000 retail locations by the end of 2008.
As a member of the board of the Starbucks Foundation, Greenblatt was responsible for developing the global investment strategy for Ethos' philanthropic efforts. Ethos currently is projected to invest more than $10 million through 2010 to bring clean water to communities in need throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America and already is helping almost 400,000 people across the world get clean water. Ethos also reaches the nearly 40 million consumers visiting Starbucks stores each week, educating them about the world water crisis and thereby planting the seeds for widespread activism and social change.
Before founding Ethos Water, Greenblatt was an executive at REALTOR.com. He joined the company in 1999 during its startup phase and served as a member of the core team through its successful public offering and ascent to the dominant position in the online real estate market. Before his departure, Greenblatt served as vice president and general manager of the company's primary consumer products group, managing a $30 million division.
Prior to REALTOR.com, Greenblatt spent more than five years in the Clinton Administration where he served in the White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce. As a government official, Greenblatt developed international economic policy with a focus on emerging markets in Asia and Latin America and post-conflict economies. This work took him around the world, where he witnessed the economic and social challenges facing a majority of the world's population, including the global scarcity of clean water. Before joining the administration, Greenblatt worked in Little Rock, Arkansas on Gov. Bill Clinton's first successful presidential campaign in 1992.
Greenblatt serves on numerous corporate and non-profit advisory boards and is a director of the African Leadership Foundation and RESTORE Products. He is a member of the 2007 Class of Henry Crown Fellows of the Aspen Institute and was named a Next Generation Fellow by the American Assembly. Greenblatt was appointed to the UNICEF Global Water and Sanitation Task Force and serves as a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University and the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University.
A frequent writer, Greenblatt is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, Worldchanging.com and has written for The Huffington Post, GOOD Magazine, and SocialEdge.org, among others. He also has been interviewed and profiled in diverse media such as The New York Times, Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Investors Business Daily, and National Public Radio.
A sought-after speaker at conferences, corporate events and non-profit gatherings, Greenblatt delivered keynote remarks at many high-profile events including the 2006 Ideas Festival held in Aspen, Colorado and sponsored by the Aspen Institute and Atlantic Monthly magazine; the 2007 Social Entrepreneur Summit held at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland; the 2007 TED Conference in Monterey, California; the 2007 Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Symposium in New York City; the 2007 CEO Summit in Santiago, Chile; and the 2007 Opportunity Green conference in Los Angeles, California.
Greenblatt earned a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Tufts University.
He lives with his wife, Marjan, and their two sons in Los Angeles, California. He is a proud member of Red Sox Nation (West) and considers his greatest professional achievement to be his work as an umpire for the 1989 Little League World Champions from his hometown of Trumbull, Connecticut.
MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
The Ethos Water Story
Every Bottle Makes a Difference
Jonathan shares his personal experiences as a successful social entrepreneur and offers lessons on how he and his business partner started a company while breaking all the rules of business. Greenblatt explains how Ethos partnered with Starbucks Coffee Company to create a global impact that is helping millions of people around the world and igniting a social movement that will last for generations Greenblatt delivers a message that will inspire entrepreneurs and dreamers and provide them with the frameworks and tools to chart their own path to success.
From Rockefeller to RED
The Changing Face of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extraordinary Opportunity of Ethical Brands
With an important and timely message, Greenblatt addresses conventional wisdom about the role of business and challenges audiences to rethink the concept of responsible corporate behavior. He describes the evolution of corporate social responsibility and the advent of a new wave of ‘ethical brands’ that promise to generate financial return and social good. His message will resonate with individuals seeking to create their own social ventures or for those in a corporate world who want to inject greater meaning in the work and transition from success to significance.
Saving the World through Social Entrepreneurship
Greenblatt draws on his experience in the realms of business, government and the non-governmental sector to examine the latest trends in global development and social entrepreneurship. He outlines a coherent vision already underway in many countries wherein entrepreneurs and innovators utilize market-based approaches to help impoverished communities escape the constraints of global poverty. Importantly, Greenblatt explains why the living conditions of billions of people in the developing world are more relevant to the West than at any time in human history.
