Loading…
← Back to schedule
Opening Plenary Session & Keynote Address: We Are the Founders
Wednesday April 22, 2026 9:15am - 11:00am CDT
Baird Center, Ballroom DEFG
Join us for the opening plenary! We’ll start with a Wisconsin Welcome and dive into B Corps’ power, purpose, and our intentions for this event. This plenary highlights leaders and local policymakers and focuses on how companies can mobilize around policy and collective action to drive meaningful change.

This opening gathering serves as a call to drive systemic change, grounding our movement in the collective work of policy advocacy to ensure an equitable and regenerative economy becomes a permanent reality. This session will include:

  • Opening musical performance with Strawberry Moon Singers
  • Welcome & grounding with the Champions Retreat 2026 emcee, Dr. Kimberly McGlonn
  • Wisconsin Welcome, Lisa Geason-Bauer, Founder, Evolution Marketing
  • Welcome to Milwaukee from Mayor Cavalier Johnson
  • Keynote Address: We Are the Founders from Dr. Michael McAfee, CEO of PolicyLink
  • Power, Policy & Purpose: Institutionalizing a Just Economy Through Sustainable Business:
    • Holly Ensign-Barstow, Co-Executive Director, B Lab U.S. & Canada (Moderator)
    • Adam Koepfer, Director of Marketing & ESG Strategy, Quality Bicycle Products
    • Mahlet Getachew, Managing Director, Corporate Program
    • George Chmael, Founder & CEO, CouncilFire
    • Representative Darrin B. Madison, Wisconsin State Legislature
  • Ripple Stories of catalytic moments of change from B Corp Leaders:
    • Asia Dorsey, Regenerate Change
    • Miren Oca, Ocaquatics
Speakers
avatar for Dr. Kimberly McGlonn

Dr. Kimberly McGlonn

Emcee, Author, CEO, Build it Boldly
Dr. Kimberly McGlonn is a social entrepreneur, executive leader, and founder of Build It Boldly, a media and leadership development company equipping principled leaders to practice the work that shapes how they show up: for their lives, their teams, and the world they are responsible... Read More →
avatar for Lisa Geason-Bauer

Lisa Geason-Bauer

President, Evolution Marketing & B Local Wisconsin
Lisa Geason-Bauer is the president of Evolution Marketing, a Wisconsin-based woman-owned Certified B Corporation® specializing in the area of sustainability consulting, impact storytelling, environmentally responsible creative design, and ethical marketing.

Lisa is a sustainabil... Read More →
avatar for Mayor Cavalier Johnson

Mayor Cavalier Johnson

Mayor, City of Milwaukee

avatar for Dr. Michael McAfee

Dr. Michael McAfee

President & CEO, PolicyLink
Dr. Michael McAfee has been President and CEO of PolicyLink since 2018, after previously serving for seven years as the inaugural director of the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink. His results-driven leadership, depth of knowledge about building and sustaining an organization... Read More →
avatar for Holly Ensign-Barstow

Holly Ensign-Barstow

Co-Executive Director, B Lab U.S. & Canada

avatar for Mahlet Getachew

Mahlet Getachew

Managing Director, Corporate Program, PolicyLink
Mahlet Getachew, Managing Director of Corporate Racial Equity, works to ignite new norms in corporate America that value people and our planet just as much as the bottom line. She leads a portfolio of strategic initiatives, including the Corporate Racial Equity Alliance and its groundbreaking new performance standards — the Business Standards fo... Read More →
avatar for Adam Koepfer

Adam Koepfer

Director of Marketing & ESG Strategy, Quality Bicycle Products

avatar for George Chmael II

George Chmael II

CEO + Founder, Council Fire
George Chmael II is the founder and CEO of Council Fire, one of the United States' earliest sustainability-focused consultancies and a certified B Corp since 2010 with multiple "Best For The World" honors from B Lab.

For over 30 years, George has guided leading environmental organizations, philanthropic foundations, government agencies, and corporations of all sizes across climate resilience, clean energy transition, sustainable transportation, ESG strategy, oceans and natural resource stewardship... Read More →
avatar for Asia Dorsey

Asia Dorsey

Organizational Ecologist, Regenerate Change
Asia Dorsey embraces the earth. Ear to the soil, she heeds the instruction of mineral, microbial, and botanical beings. She uses her gift of pattern recognition to embed organizational culture with the ethics of earth care, people care and fair share. She studied Non-Profit Management... Read More →
avatar for Miren Oca

Miren Oca

Founder and CEO, Ocaquatics Swim School
Miren Oca is the founder and CEO of Ocaquatics Swim School, the world’s first B Corp-certified swim school. Since 1994, Ocaquatics has been helping families love swimming and stay safer in the water. Now in its 31st year, the company teaches over 6,500 lessons each week during peak... Read More →
Artists
avatar for Strawberry Moon

Strawberry Moon

Strawberry Moon Singers
The Strawberry Moon Singers (or Strawberry Moon Women Singers) are a Wisconsin-based Indigenous and Indigenous-descendant hand drum group known for performing at community events and water ceremonies, including Milwaukee Water Commons' "We Are Water" events. They promote cultural... Read More →
Wednesday April 22, 2026 9:15am - 11:00am CDT
Baird Center, Ballroom DEFG 400 W. Wisconsin Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53203
  Mainstage

Sign up or log in to save this to your schedule, view media, leave feedback and see who's attending!

Tweet Share

Get help with the event

Contact event planner Event login
View support guides Find upcoming events
Create an event you'd love to attend!
Explore why organizers choose Sched • Success stories
Event App • Event scheduling • Event registration • Event ticketing • Sched forms • Call for papers • Badges • Conferences
© 2026. SCHED LLC - All rights reserved - Helping events since 2008
Conference Scheduling Software • Privacy • Terms
Share Modal

Share this link via

Or copy link