B Corp Champions Retreat 2026

This dynamic session explores how purpose-driven transformation happens at every scale—global, national, and organizational. Moderated by Mike Rowlands of Junxion Strategy, the conversation opens with global expert Victoria Hurth sharing insights on systems change and the critical role of international standards, highlighting ISO 37011 and the global definition of organizational purpose. Hurth demonstrates how global alignment is emerging as an enabler of impact and as a core B Corp topic. Rowlands then spotlights the Canadian Purpose Economy Project (CPEP), introducing its innovative, systemic intervention strategy that targets key leverage points—from CEOs to business schools—to accelerate change across Canada. This national movement exemplifies how collective action, another key B Corp impact pillar, can shift the trajectory of an entire economy. 

Finally, two case studies—IQVF and GreenShield—bring the discussion to the organizational level, showing how purpose, stakeholder engagement and collective action show up in practice. These distinct and complementary perspectives offer practical examples and actionable inspiration for leaders seeking to drive ripples-to-waves systems change from the inside out.

Attendees will learn insights about:

• Purpose-driven transformation gains power when global alignment, collective action, and organizational commitment work together, and every scale, from international standards to individual organizations, matters.
• International frameworks like ISO 37011 actively create the shared language that purpose-driven leaders need to accelerate change, and understanding their connection to B Corp principles opens exciting new pathways for deeper impact.T
• he Canadian Purpose Economy Project powerfully demonstrates how targeting the right leverage points, from CEOs to business schools, can build a national movement that transforms how business gets done at every level.

The ripples your organization creates today have the potential to become the waves of global systems change tomorrow—and this session shows you exactly how to start.

Post-Session Message from the Organizers:
Here is the B Corp innovation toolkit we created to accompany this breakout session: https://www.mightybytes.com/bcorp-innovation/
It includes our slides, links to additional resources for more information, plus examples under each impact area and questions to ask your team as you apply these methods to the V2 certification standards. 
You can also learn more and sign up for our upcoming B Corp Innovation Mastermind at this link: https://www.mightybytes.com/bcorp-innovation/#mastermind
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Many small and mid-sized B Corps are feeling the pressure of the new standards. Instead of seeing recertification as a chance to grow, many treat it as a box to check—a necessary headache rather than a strategic opportunity. With ongoing uncertainty in the economy and the rise of AI reshaping how we operate, these businesses often struggle to balance growth goals with compliance demands. The result is costly: some miss out on using purpose-driven innovation to stand out, while others pour time and money into compliance efforts that don’t improve their bottom line or impact.

This interactive workshop flips that narrative. We’ll explore how to turn B Corp recertification into a powerful driver of innovation and growth. Participants will learn a practical framework for finding high-return opportunities hidden within the new standards, and how to test ideas quickly through rapid prototyping—without overextending their resources. You’ll also learn how to build internal support for purpose-led initiatives that spark both business success and positive social impact.

Building on the “Ripples to Waves” theme, we’ll show how even small, strategic actions by individual companies can create ripple effects—fueling innovation that leads to real market differentiation, stronger customer loyalty, and sustainable growth. 

Takeaways: 

• Shifting from a compliance mindset to a growth mindset actively transforms recertification into a powerful engine for innovation, differentiation, and lasting impact.
• This workshop equips participants with concrete, actionable tools for identifying opportunities hidden within the new standards and for testing ideas quickly through rapid prototyping, without overextending time, energy, or resources.
• Doing good and performing well reinforce each other powerfully, and building internal support for purpose-driven initiatives actively fuels stronger customer loyalty, meaningful market differentiation, and sustainable long-term growth.
• Even the most modest, well-targeted moves by individual B Corps can spark momentum that extends far beyond their own walls, contributing to the broader systems change that the movement is working so courageously and joyfully to achieve.

As the B Corp movement enters a new era of heightened standards and global urgency, the call for meaningful advocacy has never been clearer. This session challenges our community to reconnect with the movement’s activist roots by treating advocacy not as an ideal pursuit, but as a core strategy for meeting the 2025 B Lab Standards.

Many of us joined the B Corp community because we were seeking something missing in the traditional business world: a place where impact matters as much as profit. The movement offered a collective of leaders committed to using business as a force for good. But as we face accelerating social and human-rights crises, the question is no longer whether or why we care—it’s how we respond and, most critically, act.

This session will explore how the 2025 B Lab Standards create a framework not just for compliance, but for courageous advocacy—both internal and public-facing. The conversation will share new case studies of local activation, including Raising the Voice of Sustainable Business sessions led by B Local Mid-Atlantic and a B Local Illinois training that mobilized companies to protect immigrant employees and communities in response to raids in Chicago and beyond.

Speakers will share practical examples of how companies and B Locals can translate the new standards into concrete advocacy actions such as developing action-driven policies, engaging and responding to stakeholders, and using collective voice to publicly stand up for and protect communities—while navigating risk and political complexity with integrity—rather than staying silent.

Through candid discussion, panelists will show how advocacy advances all of the seven Impact Topics, and how the new standards turn advocacy into measurable impact.

Three B Corp leaders will discuss how B Corps are building equitable training and employment pipelines that pay young people to learn and to lead in industries where the need is high, but so are the barriers (shown through the example of lobstering and farming, which are two fields that need more new entrants yet have significant cultural, financial, and other barriers to entry).

Each B Corp will briefly describe their youth career development program, explain why they feel it's worth it to look outside the typical recruiting pipelines, and how they ensure it's worth it for students to explore opportunities in their industries.

As we dive deeper into the discussion, we'll cover the difference between typical "workforce development" initiatives, which center employer needs and tend to push people into low-wage work, and career development programs that center the new entrant's needs and help them achieve living wage work and entrepreneurship opportunities in industries that sustain life.

Given that all our programs serve young people from populations that are typically excluded from our industries, we'll specifically discuss how the Principles for Partnership with Frontline Communities are crucial for creating programs that truly fulfill community needs (and stumbles some of us have experienced when not following those principles). Attendees will get practical, actionable tips from real-world experience on how to structure programs that make their workplaces or industries more welcoming to and help new entrants feel a sense of belonging.

In a world where the pursuit of equity and social progress feels more fraught than ever, what does it look like to build the relationships your work actually needs to succeed?
In this session, The Brand Scientist™ N. Chloé Nwangwu explores the science behind building social gravity: the collection of forces that make it easier for the right people to adopt the ideas and behaviors your work calls for.
You’ll learn a practical, instantly applicable framework for building a circle of recognition – a strategically designed network that amplifies your ideas, fuels collaboration, and strengthens relationships with the stakeholders who shape the decisions you’re looking to influence. And you’ll be equipped to try it out at the Champion’s Retreat, right away. 
We all understand the promise of conferences. They can spark partnerships and momentum that build our businesses and advance social change. But all too often the reality of networking falls short–feeling complicated, performative, time-consuming, and draining.
This session will help you replace scattered networking with intentional relationship architecture. You’ll leave with a repeatable system for building networks that move people — not just exchange business cards.
Whether you’re representing your company, leading a team, or simply seeking to contribute more meaningfully to the B Corp movement, you’ll discover how to turn every interaction – here at the Champions Retreat and beyond – into a deliberate act that secures the future you’re working to build.

If you’ve worked hard to build a great place to work, a great work culture, and a great business, how can you ensure long-term stewardship of the business and employees? And how can you do so as you raise capital for growth—or plan an eventual exit and retirement—without compromising quality jobs, mission, or legacy? This panel will offer a candid look at values‑aligned capital for founders, owners and executive teams considering growth, acquisition, or succession.

• Founders, owners, and executive teams will discover that genuine alternative financing and acquisition paths exist, allowing them to honor the mission, culture, and legacy they have worked so hard to build.
• Attendees will leave with a clear, granular map of how growth equity, inorganic or acquisition capital, expansion equity, and exit and succession-stage capital can each be structured to protect workers, their families, and their communities.
• This session equips attendees with a compelling understanding of how values-aligned capital — already reshaping outcomes for businesses and the communities surrounding them — is evolving, and what thoughtful next steps owners and management teams should consider.

Access to affordable childcare is not a perk — it’s foundational to a just economy. For employers with frontline workforces, caregiving directly shapes retention, productivity, equity, and community stability. Yet childcare remains largely absent from how “good jobs” are defined and delivered.

This panel explores how care sits at the intersection of fair work, community wellness, and long-term business performance. By examining childcare as both a community anchor and a workforce strategy, speakers will connect the dots between employment stability, health, facility design, and economic mobility—especially for frontline workers and women of color who have been historically excluded from investment. B Lab’s new Fair Work standards remind us that good jobs go beyond wages. They start with listening to workers and addressing the conditions that shape their lives. For many teams, caregiving is that condition.

This session will highlight how intentional investments in childcare ecosystems can catalyze inclusive growth while strengthening retention, productivity, and resilience across industries. We hope you leave the discussion with fresh data, real-world examples, and a commitment to experiment with care solutions that fit your organization.

Takeaways for attendees:

• Employers who recognize caregiving as a foundational business investment actively build stronger, more resilient organizations and more just economies.B
• Lab's new Fair Work standards remind us that truly good jobs address the full conditions of workers' lives, and for many frontline teams, caregiving is that condition.
• Intentional childcare solutions create meaningful pathways to economic mobility for frontline workers and women of color who have been historically excluded from workplace investment.
• When employers treat childcare as a community anchor rather than an individual benefit, they catalyze inclusive growth that strengthens employment stability, health outcomes, and economic resilience across entire industries and neighborhoods.

How can a game accelerate the climate journey from awareness to action? Action to Zero transforms climate planning from a technical process into a participatory, regenerative experience—blending systems thinking, collaboration, and creativity.

Developed by Planning Communities, a Certified B Corporation, the game equips B-Corps, nonprofits, organizations, municipalities, and other changemakers with an interactive pathway to explore collective actions needed to reach net-zero emissions and build resilient and regenerative organizations and communities.

In this highly interactive session, participants will play a condensed version of the game, forming teams that navigate climate solutions across key climate action areas that align with the B Lab’s New Standards. Through gameplay and reflection, attendees experience how gamification can break down silos, center frontline voices, and inspire tangible commitments toward climate action and justice.
The workshop closes with a collaborative debrief linking individual “ripple actions” to organizational “waves of change,” offering a Climate Action Playbook to bring back to their own B Corps, networks, and communities.

This session embodies the spirit of Ripples to Waves — proving that playful, participatory design can drive deep systems change when grounded in purpose, equity, and collective accountability.