History

Since our founding in 2016, B Academics has been working to advance the state of academic study into business as a force for good. Started by three passionate academicians, Jessica Yinka-Thomas, Rosanna Garcia, and Joel Gehman who identified an opportunity to bring business as a force for good into the classroom to groom the movement’s leaders of tomorrow.

Since then we’ve attained nonprofit status and have grown into a global membership organization.

History

Timeline

Our inaugural Global B Corp Academic Roundtable was held at The Wharton School on October 20th, 2016 and hosted by the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, in conjunction with the B Corp Champions Retreat. The event was led by B Academics co-founders, Jessica Yinka Thomas, Rosanna Garcia and Joel Gehman.
At the 2016 B Corp Champions Retreat, B Academics co-founder Jessica Yinka Thomas was awarded the Bill Clark B the Change award, which goes to the person who has done the most to support the B Corp movement, outside of a certified B Corp.

2016

2017

Our 2nd annual Global B Corp Academic Roundtable was held at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto on October 4th, 2017, in conjunction with the B Corp Champions Retreat.

Our 3rd annual Global B Corp Academic Roundtable focused on “Collaboration to Advance Innovation and Action” in New Orleans, Louisiana. The B Corp Academic Community Roundtable was held in parallel with the B Corp Champions Retreat and the B Local Communities Summit.

2018

2019

Our fourth annual Global B Corp Academic Roundtable focused on “Seeing the Full Picture: Drivers, Processes and Outcomes of the B Corp Movement” on September 16th, 2019 in Echo Park at the Loews Hotel- Hollywood, CA. The B Corp Academic Community Roundtable was held in parallel with the B Corp Champions Retreat and the B Local Communities Summit.

At the 2019 B Corp Champions Retreat, B Academics was awarded the Collective Action Award which recognize the people, companies and organizations that have gone above and beyond to make a positive difference in the B Corp Movement.

In 2019, B Academics became a formal 501(c)3 nonprofit incorporated in the District of Columbia, USA.

On August 5, 2020, B Academics hosted a Global B Academics Paper Development Workshop: “Nuts and Bolts of Research on B Corps: Empirical Methods and Research Design.”

2020

2021

The January 2021 membership launch represents an important milestone in the development of our organization. We hope you consider joining our global network of educators, researchers, students and practitioners studying business as a force for good.