Institute For Business, Sustainability & Society (IBSS)

Earn your certificate in sustainable business!

This exciting 12-credit program will train you to lead stakeholder-driven, sustainable businesses that have a positive impact on the economy, society and the planet.

Designed with the help of experts trained at the Cambridge Centre for Sustainable Leadership and other leading institutions, our flexible curriculum allows any undergraduate junior or senior, graduate student, or working professional to earn a certificate in the exciting field of sustainable business.

Our unique program of teaching, research, pedagogical innovation, hands-on entrepreneurship and experiential learning focuses as much on solutions as it does on problems.

View the Certificate Page View the ibss.world Website

Peruse our brochure:
STUDY SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Read the first issue of the IBSS working paper series, MEETING VIRGINIA’S ENERGY NEEDS SUSTAINABLY.

MEETING VIRGINIA'S ENERGY NEEDS SUSTAINABLY
| IBSS Working Paper Series, Volume 1

Program Leaders

Giles Jackson

Associate Professor of Business, Sustainability and Society

More About Giles

Giles is Director of the Institute for Business, Sustainability & Society and teaches the sustainability curriculum, supported by a global network of subject matter experts. He is an AACSB-designated “Practicing Academic” with significant entrepreneurial, consulting and advisory experience in the wind energy, manufacturing, arts and technology sectors, which he enjoys sharing with his students. He currently works in business development with Wind-to-Energy GmbH, and he has supervised hundreds of MBA consulting projects with organizations as varied as Space for Giants, Quantum Sails, World Sailing, Kraft Heinz, and Sila Health. He earned his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1994 and, inspired by the 1987 Brundtland Report, wrote among the first dissertations on business and sustainable development. He serves as Associate Editor of Energy Nexus, and is Senior Advisor at Selva Vida Sin Fronteras, an Ecuadorian NGO protecting the rainforest and indigenous communities. Recent publications include a global survey of ecotourism, published by Oxford University Press in 2022.

Shenandoah University Trustee, David Baxa

David Baxa

Shenandoah University Trustee

More About David

A trustee of Shenandoah University, David co-taught the course Sustainable Business Strategy with Professor Jackson from 2015-2022 and has been instrumental in the creation of the Institute for Business, Sustainability, through The Baxa Family Foundation. He serves as Chairman of the Board at VISTA Technology Services, Inc. and was previously President & CEO. David has spent more than half his career leading VISTA and its predecessors. He is an accomplished facilities planner, IT and management professional. He has expertise in real property asset analysis, real property asset management, master planning, application development, data warehousing, business intelligence, enterprise information portals, knowledge management and spatial data integration. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science.

Projects

Project: Cofan Women

Working with Selva Vida Sin Fronteras, an Ecuadorian charitable organization, we started a sustainable handicrafts enterprise to generate much-needed cash flow for the Cofan indigenous group, while protecting the rainforest and affirming cultural traditions.

Project: Waste Stream 2

This is an exciting student-run initiative whose objective is to find productive uses for waste materials that would otherwise go to landfill! We have just completed a pilot test with Creative Urethanes, located in Winchester, VA.

Project: ESGF App

Currently in development, our patent-pending ESGF app addresses some of the major blind spots in the ESG rating process, enabling all stakeholders to make better informed decisions.

Project: Teaching in VR

The Galápagos Archipelago is famous for its unusual wildlife and for inspiring Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Our 3D model sets the stage for an exciting learning experience for sustainability students.