Reflecting on Our History: 10 Years in Action w/ B Academics President, Summer Brown

Featuring Ryan Honeyman, founding partner of LIFT Economy and coauthor of The B Corp Handbook!

We’re kicking things off with a mini-keynote that dives right into the heart of the current B Corp Movement, from upcoming trends to relevant community insights. This year’s theme aims to consider how B Corp Movement trends, changes, and growth impact the needs of growing businesses #ForGood. And we couldn’t think of anyone better to lead this conversation than Ryan, who isthe host of Beyond the B and author of The B Corp Handbook!

Ryan is a renowned name in the B Corp community for his work as a committed consultant and a curious advocate for the B Movement. As the host of the Beyond the B podcast, Ryan regularly sits down with B Corp leaders that are making waves and doing what we all aim to do – prove that business can, and should, work for everyone. His expertise will shine a light on the themes that matter most as we navigate the B Corp V2 Standards landscape, and will set the tone for the Teaching Roundtable’s roadmap.

Featuring Erik Kivimäki, Director of Certification Program Development at B Lab!

What do I need to know to teach the new B Lab Standards? What lessons can we take away from the certification standards overhaul? And how can we adapt as academics and practitioners to making the V2 standards work for our organizations? There’s a lot of questions that come up simply at the mention of the B Lab certification standards’ 2025 update, and we’re digging right into them with this mini keynote featuring Erik, a leading mind behind B Lab’s program development.

Erik brings almost twelve years of experience as a trailblazer at B Lab to this talk, but it gets more personal than that – he played a leading role in the development, launch, and continuing management of Version 2 of the B Corporation Certification Program. This keynote will give attendees insight on the new standards from the B Lab lens, and advise upon how to integrate the new standards into lessons, education, and workplace practice, and we can’t wait to hear Erik’s fresh perspective.

For our featured keynote presentation at the Teaching Roundtable 2026, B Academics is thrilled to welcome serial entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup, The Startup Way, and Incorruptible, Eric Ries! Drawing on two decades of work with founders, CEOs, and investors, Eric Ries reveals the forces that make companies vulnerable to destruction from within and without. Then he offers solutions that safeguard against them for the long-term.

As a sought-after business speaker and the originator of the Lean Startup Methodology, Ries is bringing expert insight on the relevance of the B Corp Movement and business for good to our virtual gathering as one of the final stops of the Incorruptible tour. Attendees can expect a dynamic keynote presentation focused on how to balance profit with the uplifting of mankind, and how building a resilient organization goes hand-in-hand with building an ethical organization, followed by a Q&A led by the B Academics Teaching Committee.

Learn more about our featured speaker here, and check out Ries’ newest title wherever you buy books – Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… and How Great Companies Stay Great!

Featuring Charlotte B Corp Collective board member and founder of Fortuna Money Jen Bower as our moderator, and experts on the value of experiential learning from the lens of both academic and practitioner methodologies, including:

• Kelley Ellis, Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Drake University
• Nima Farshchi, Executive Director of the Office of Experiential Learning at the University of Maryland
• Abraham Chen, Executive Director of B Local San Diego
• María Ballesteros-Sola, Associate Professor of Management at California State University Channel Islands

This panel will be a standout for academics or institutions looking for guidance on experiential learning integration in the classroom and beyond. We’re looking forward to highlighting what successes our panelists have seen in their experiential experiences, and dissecting where they may be opportunities for growth as programs expand their impact. Tune in to get real insight on the value of learning through action, and check out B Academics’ experiential learning opportunities here!

Looking to the Future and our Call to Action w/ B Academics Executive Director, Jessica Yinka Thomas