W&L Hosts Third Annual Social Impact Summit This year’s event focuses on Exploring Careers and Issues in Social Innovation and Responsible Leadership.

By Erica Turman
October 16, 2018

The third annual Social Impact Summit at Washington and Lee University is Oct. 26–27. This year’s event focuses on Exploring Careers and Issues in Social Innovation and Responsible Leadership, targeting direct service positions in human rights, criminal justice and child advocacy, and policy positions in food justice, benefits and international trade and design thinking. There is no charge to attend, but registration is required.

For a full schedule of the summit and to register, members of the W&L community can visit the summit website.

Lewis Perkins ’93 and Victoria Kumpuris Brown ’98 will deliver keynote addresses at this year’s event. Their talks are free and open to the public.

Perkins will speak on Oct. 26 at 6:10 p.m. in Northen Auditorium. A passionate advocate for “doing the right thing,” Perkins is president of the Apparel Impact Institute. He was previously president of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, where he led the institute’s Fashion Positive initiative, which engages fashion designers, manufacturers, brands and influencers in creating Cradle to Cradle Certified materials and products with the circular economy in mind.

Prior to joining the Institute, Perkins consulted with corporations and organizations on their social and environmental program development. He also served as director of sustainable strategies for The Mohawk Group, a carpet manufacturer and the commercial division of Mohawk Industries.

Brown will speak on Oct. 27 at noon in Evans Dining Hall. Brown, a senior program officer, joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation staff in 2015, bringing her experience in connecting business and health care to the battle against childhood obesity. She believes that the foundation will raise the bar on engaging businesses and activating the private sector in building a culture of health. Brown is a Shepherd program graduate and current Shepherd Advisory Board member.

There will be three panel discussions during the two-day event, and they will include alumni and entrepreneurs.

The first alumni panel will feature Lacy McAlister ’14, strategic partnerships coordinator at International Justice Mission; Maisie Osteen ’14L, a public defender in Richland County, South Carolina; and Erin Coltrera ’09, program manager at the Support Center for Child Advocates.

The second panel will include alumni Malcolm Burke ’96, ’01L, Indo-Pacific regional manager at the Advocacy Center for International Trade Administration; Melissa Medeiros ’09, a program examiner for Medicare Branch at the Office of Management and Budget; and Madeline Morcelle ’15L, an attorney at the Mississippi Center for Justice.

The Designing Thinking Panel will include Elgin Cleckley, U.Va. professor of architecture; Emmanuel Abebrese ’15, founder and executive director of the Citadel Foundation for Kids Inc.; and Kevin Green ’07, senior director at the Center for Behavior and Environment at Rare.

The summit is a collaborative program sponsored by the Shepherd Program, Career and Professional Development, the College and the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics.