Introduction to Social Enterprise and Public Benefit Corporations

When	Tuesday, March 3, 2015 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location	Wolf Law Room 204
For	Public; Faculty; Students
Cost	Free!

We are witnessing a resurgent movement of private-sector enterprises that are striving to address, and in some cases solve, social and environmental problems while generating profit; so called “doing good and doing well.” We will discuss how these multi-stakeholder business entities are being structured, governed, managed, and capitalized. Come learn about social enterprise structures generally and the relatively new Public Benefit Corporations entity form in particular. We will discuss intersections with corporate law, M&A, securities and overlap with B-Corp certification. About the Presenter: Jason is the Principal at Jason Wiener, P.C., a boutique law and business consulting practice providing expertise to social enterprises and mission-driven business models of all sizes and in all phases. Jason’s specialty is in sharing economy law, social and regenerative enterprise, public benefit corporations, employee-ownership and cooperatives. Jason has been the in house General Counsel with Namaste Solar (an employee-owned cooperative and certified B-Corp), following a previous life at a large litigation firm in New York City, and before that, with a small labor law firm in Boston. Jason advises Boards of Directors, executive strategy teams, HR professionals, business development teams, CFO’s and finance teams, and leads government affairs and policy efforts on behalf of clients. He has drafted, negotiated and helped close residential, commercial, operations and maintenance, and consulting contracts for over 15 megawatts of DG solar PV systems. Jason has been chief architect and has incorporated several social enterprises and cooperatives and has advised numerous clients through socially responsible recapitalizations and conversions to cooperatively owned business models. Jason is a past Board President of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association. Jason is the 2014 winner of the COSEIA President’s Award, the 2013 winner of the Denver Business Journal’s “Best Corporate Counsel” award and has been profiled in the Suffolk Alumni Magazine and Colorado Law Weekly. Jason holds a B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School, where he received honors with a concentration in international law. Jason has published more than 6 scholarly law review articles on international, human rights and renewable energy topics and speaks regularly about employee-owned and cooperative business model, as well as DG solar PV policy and “sharing economy” legal issues. Jason is an adjunct professor in CSU’s Global Sustainability and Social Enterprise program, where he teaches an MBA course on business law and ethics. He is also a guest lecturer at C.U. Law’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic. Brought to you by the Silicon Flatirons Student Group. Lunch will be provided.

More Information

Contact	Otto Hanson ottohanson@gmail.com
Sponsored By	Silicon Flatirons Student Group
Speakers	Jason Wiener