Umberto Torresan, Global Marketing Manager, The Dow Chemical Company

Umberto Torresan is responsible for leading Dow's global and regional marketing activities related to  natural oil polyols, a building block for mattresses, furniture upholsterng, coatings, adhesives and sealants produced from agricultural renewable resources rather than from petroleum.

Umberto was born in Italy. He began his career working in Germany in 1992, prior to accepting a Fulbright scholarship in 1993. In 1995 he joined the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Indiana and later spent six years in New York as a business journalist for various publications including The

Cindy graduated with her BA from the University of Northern Colorado.  She began her career at Starbucks as a barista in 1999 and quickly moved to a position in media relations and international communications.  Cindy merged her passion for Corporate Social Responsibility and coffee in 2004 when she joined the CSR Department.  She spends her time engaging stakeholders on sustainability issues regarding coffee sourcing; and environmental and community impact.  Before joining Starbucks, Cindy worked in media relations for the Seattle International Film Festival.

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Wall Street Journal. In 2000, he became an entrepreneur and co-founded a web-based financial advisory company for Italian investors. He then joined Dow in August 2004 in the Commercial Assignment Program where he worked on a series of projects for several businesses including Dow Ventures, Dow Polyurethanes and Low-Density Polyethylene. In 2006 Umberto joined Performance Business Development where he led the exploration team for the Oil & Gas Market Facing Unit.

In 1993, Umberto graduated from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy with a bachelor degree in Philosophy and Linguistics.  He also received a Master’s degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University in Washington, D.C. in 1994 and Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business in 2004.

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Paula Ivey, President, The CSR Group, LLC and Lecturer, McCombs

Paula is a member of the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin where she teaches a course in the McCombs School of Business on Global Issues in CSR, and a course on Integrated Communication for Non-profits in the Communications School. She was an official delegate to the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) - the World Summit on Sustainable Development  -in Johannesburg, South Africa, August-September 2002. She is a frequent speaker and consulted expert on CSR. Paula was the Director of Corporate Ethics with Compaq Computer Corporation. She came to Compaq from Holt Consulting Services, Inc., a values-based leadership and ethics consulting firm, where she was a Senior

Thomas Kemper, Founder & CEO,  DolphinBlue.com CEO

In 1973 the valley in which Kemper was raised was sprayed with dioxin-contaminated waste-oil by county contractors to reduce road dust. Resultant illness and environmental degradation played a role in development of Kemper’s environmental awareness.

Conducting a 1992 recycling event in Dallas, he collected and bagged 350 containers of recyclables. Having no success finding a place to accept the materials, he learned RECYCLING Economics 101: when we purchase products made from materials we place in bins, recycling WORKS! Dolphin Blue began in 1994. Fiscal 2006 produced revenues of $1.5 million in recycled-content office supplies.

Kemper proposes we begin in our communities valuing “natural capital” (clean air, water, organic foods, human health and capital, and strength of local economies). Small business returns accountability and sustainability, creating strong, vibrant economies in local communities.

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Professor Gilbert holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in Management from the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T. 

Professor Gilbert's research interests include supply chain management, and procurement and distribution strategies for uncertain environments.  He has consulted or worked in a diverse set of industries, including: automobiles, steel distribution, tool making, consumer electronics, and civil service.  Recent projects include those at Dell, Applied Materials, Texas Instruments, Halliburton, and Chevron.  These projects have involved a variety of supply chain and operations issues, including inventory and production planning, procurement, and outsourcing.  His publications have appeared in Management Science, Operations Research, The Journal of Operations Management, IIE Transactions, European Journal of Operations Research, and Naval Research Logistics. 

Professor Gilbert currently serves as a department editor for IIE Transactions and as an associate editor for both Management Science and  Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.

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Moderator: Steve Gilbert, Associate Professor, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin

Stephen M. Gilbert is an Associate Professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in operations management and supply chain management and serves as the coordinator of the operations management group. Prior to joining the University of Texas, he was a member of the faculty at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. 

Consultant. Paula is the founder of The CSR Group (www.thecsrgroup.com)  – a consulting firm specializing in CSR strategy and communications. Her work at The CSR Group includes working with Fortune 500 companies on CSR Strategy, Ethics, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability Reporting, and CSR Communications.  Clients have included Dell, Brown Forman,The Coca Cola Africa Foundation, Devon Energy, The McGraw Hill Companies, AMD and others. 

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