CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg to Stir It Up at Wi3 Lunch

Gary Hirshberg

Gary Hirshberg, the president and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farms and the author of Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (Hyperion, January 2008), will be the featured speaker at the Friday, January 25, lunch at the American Booksellers Association's Third Annual Winter Institute.

For the past 25 years, Hirshberg has overseen the growth of Stonyfield Farm from a seven-cow start-up to the world's largest organic yogurt company while remaining true to the business' founding ideals of sustainability and a commitment to protecting the environment. The recipient of five honorary doctorates and numerous other awards, Hirshberg will share the unconventional wisdom that has made Stonyfield Farm an extremely successful business and placed it at the forefront of the movement to save the planet.

In Stirring it Up, Hirshberg demonstrates how everyone has the power to effect change in the marketplace. He also uses companies including Stonyfield Farm, Patagonia, Newman's Own, and Timberland as examples to prove environmental commitment can add up to a healthier bottom line for businesses. Hirshberg offers insight regarding the creative solutions that have helped these companies become nationally recognized for great product, superior profits, and a leadership role in the greening of their industries.

Among Stonyfield Farm's initiatives is a grassroots marketing strategy that has included everything from printing yogurt lids with provocative, politically charged messages, to handing out thousands of free samples to subway commuters to thank them for using public transit, and to devising the country's first organic vending machine -- innovative approaches that have made a more powerful impact on consumers than traditional advertising.

With a style that intersperses practical information and advice with engaging anecdotes, Hirshberg will inspire bookstore owners, managers, and staff to institute practices to help save the environment.

The Friday lunch is free and open to all Winter Institute registrants.