By Mae Lee Sun, special for Inside Tucson Business
Published on Monday, March 22, 2010

In the early 1960s, Gerry Detty’s dad had an idea. As head athletic trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles, G.E. “Moose” Detty discovered neoprene was the perfect material to help promote healing and prevent injury.

The synthetic rubber had excellent insulating properties and helped to retain heat, which increased circulation.  Moose had his wife sew the prototypes of ankle braces, knee braces, thigh supports in a makeshift shop in their garage.

When one of the players was traded, they took their neoprene support or brace with them, leaving the door wide open for Detty to launch a business in professional orthopedics as the custom-made devices needed to be replaced. Thus was born Pro Orthopedic Devices Inc.

Gerry Detty, chief executive officer of Pro Orthopedic Devices. Patrick McArdle photo ADVERTISEMENT

Gerry Detty has since taken the company over and succeeded his father as chief executive officer. The company has thrived in a south Tucson warehouse for nearly 40 years. For all of his contributions to the health and well-being of professional athletes from the NFL, he was awarded honorary membership into the Professional Football Athletic Trainer’s Society at the NFL Combines last month in Indianapolis.

Success and recognition for Detty and Pro Orthopedics hasn’t been easy. Especially in the past few years, says Detty, who has had to make some major changes in how he does business. Even as the top U.S. supplier of orthopedic neoprene products for professional athletes, the equine industry and retail sales.

“Our competition has been importing product for some time. We were holding out and manufacturing everything in the U.S., which is what we prided ourselves on because of quality. My product engineer, however, said if we did it right, we could create a significant savings by moving manufacturing overseas,” says Detty.

“That was about two years ago and he was right. The duty on mostly assembled products is only 4 or 5 percent compared to 18 percent for sheet goods or raw materials. To have good quality assurance, we had to install a QA Program and convince the Chinese that even if it costs us a little more, the quality of the product would remain at a high level and would equal what we were doing here. The challenge was that they (Chinese) were so used to being asked by everyone (other countries and importers) to cut corners to make things as cheaply as possible,” he said.

Apparently, Detty’s business decisions have paid off. Japan remains one of his company’s biggest markets and has been so for the past 30 years.

Alan Cohen, partner in the Philadelphia-based firm of Isdaner & Company LLC., also Detty’s business accountant for the past 30 years, attributes much of this to managing the company with an open mind and keeping the bar high.

“Pro Orthopedics was always the best at what they did. They’ve maintained their market share over the years because Gerry and his father were continually open to talking to us and getting wisdom from those around them.  We’ve been able to advise them about their options: how to structure their manufacturing Process, tax savings and banking.  It’s also due to Gerry’s leadership over the past seven or eight years that’s really helped them during these challenging times,” Cohen said.

Domestically, Pro Orthopedics continues to dominate the professional sports market by 85 percent as the number one supplier to the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, along with colleges, high schools and Olympic teams around the world. That’s a 3 percent rise from 2008 numbers.

Big 5 Sporting Goods is the company’s largest domestic retail client. Detty is working on expanding to the general public by placing products in drug stores and pharmacies. Even in a recession, Detty feels confidant things can only get better, especially when it comes to the sports industry.

“My dad always told me that during the Great Depression, no matter how hard things got, people would always be able to find a nickel to go to the movies or a dime to go to a game. Sports are an outlet during recessionary times.  Even today, softball teams are on the rise and basketball and volleyball teams are running record numbers across the country. It’s a real opportunity for us to develop new materials and designs. We’ve already got three new products we’re introducing for back, knee and ankle support,” Detty said.

“As long as I’m able to keep cash flow up, inventories reduced and forecasting needs more accurately, we should remain viable.  We’re already seeing the effects of the recession shifting so that’s encouraging,” he said.

Copyright © 2010 Inside Tucson Business

By Mae Lee Sun

To Jared Juan, doubt is “only a temporary state of mind.”  And it was the farthest thing from Juan’s mind when he and 23 other students graduated from San Miguel High School on May 23.

“The real world seems like a daunting place,” Juan said in his speedch to fellow classmates, family, friends and others gathered to celebrate San Miguel’s second graduating class.

But Juan said he and classmates “will definitely be ready for the corporate world upon graduation” from the colleges and universities where all 24 graduates will enroll this fall.

Juan attributed their readiness to San Miguel’s Corporate Internship Program- an innovative program that requires each San Miguel student to work one day a week at entry-level jobs in professional settings around Tucson.

The money each student earns is poured back into San Miguel, on Tucson’s south side, where it covers about half the cost of each student’s $8,500 annual tuition.  Donations cover 30 percent, and parents-most of them low-income, many of whon never graduated from high school-pay the remaining 10 percent.

San Miguel High School, started in 2004, is one of 22 private Catholic high schools in the nationwide Cristo Rey network.

Humberto Stevens of Commerce Bank of Arizona with Elizabeth Goettel, President of San Miguel High School

The Corporate Internship program is Cristo Rey’s cornerstone, providing students with entry-level jobs wtih lawyers, bankers, doctors, engineers, accountants and others.

Juan worked for four years at the Tucson Citizen and will enroll at Northern Arizona University this fall.

Classmate Margarita Quinones will go to Pima Community College for two years, then transfer to Arizona State University or The University of Arizona. She interned this last year with El Rio Community Health Centers, where she helped with filing, called patients to remind them of appointments, and mailed out physician referral slips.

Because of her experience with El Rio children’s clinic, Quinones wants to become a pediatrician or a children’s dentist.

All 37 of San Miguel’s seniors graduated last year, and went onto college.  The same is true of all 24 of this year’s seniors.  “You’re going to be the leaders of the community, once you graduate from the college of your choice,” honorary speaker Jim Click told the students.  Click also was an honorary speaker at last year’s graduation, San Miguel’s first.

He also is one of the community leaders credited with starting San Miguel High School, and he is one of its top donors.

“I thought, ‘My kids had the benefit of a private, college-prep high school-they both went to Salpointe- and I thought, why shouldn’t kids on the south side have the same advantage,” Click told BizTucson.

“We’re changing lives,” he said.  “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done since I’ve been in Tucson.”

Elizabeth Goettel, president of San Miguel High School for the past three years, calls the Corporate Internship Program “a very practical way to serve our population of students who typically could not access a private, college-prepatory education and on-the-job-training.”

During the school’s first two years, it was under-enrolled, Goettel said.  “The families in the neighborhood did no necessarily have the benefit of a secondary or college education themselves,” she said.  “A cultural shift had to happen.  The word had to get out into the community.  This year, we met and exceeded our enrollment goal.”

The school’s Corporate Internship Program draws support from 65 of the city’s business and education leaders, including Commerce Bank of Arizona, Carondelet Health Network, The University of Arizona, Jim Click Automotive Team, Pima Community College, Cox Communications and ABA Architects.

San Miguel is a win-win for students, businesses and ultimately the community, said Humberto Stevens, vice president of business development at Commerce Bank.  He also serves on the board at San Miguel High School and is president of the Hipsanic Alumni Association at the UA.

“It really helps the students learn the skills necessary to be part of a team and blossom into an adult,” Stevens said.

Carlos Ibarra, 17, just finished his junior year at San Miguel while working in the administrative offices at Commerce Bank of Arizona.

“I can do everything except handle money, because of my age,” Ibarra said.  “I’m learning more about the business world and myself.  I feel I can either go on to become a teller or even to owning a bank.  It’s also helping me to narrow the options-what I want and don’t want.”

BizTucson contributing writer Jane Erikson contributed to this story

BizFACTS

San Miguel High School

• A total of 243 students were enrolled this past school year.  The school expects an enrollment of 360 this fall.
• Enrollment is 85 percent Hispanic; 10 percent Native American; and 5 percent African-American, Anglo and Asian.
• The school has 18 teachers and 15 staff members.

To learn more about the Corporate Intership Program, contact program director Mark Neimeyer at (520) 294-6403, ext. 1429.

Back in the day, Eric May, now director of stadium operations for the Tucson Toros, was amazed at how much trash was left behind after every baseball game. There were plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard and cups that all got tossed into dumpsters and taken to the landfill to be buried. May, who has worked the baseball scene for the Toros, Tucson Sidewinders and the Arizona Diamondbacks, says he wants all that to change. He has made it both a personal and professional initiative to turn the Toros operations green.

“We are a throwaway society and I’ve been aware of this ever since I was a kid.  It always bothered me, so in my personal life I’ve made it a point to be conscious of what I’m doing to not create unnecessary trash.  So when I became facilities manager at Tucson Electric Park, which was prior to the Toros coming back, I tried to implement a recycling program. I tried for three years to no avail and was told it was too costly, took too much labor, too much time and there were too many perceived barriers to get a recycling program going.  The push for green wasn’t there like it is now. In coming over to the Toros operation this year, I decided it was that important that I was going to ram it through no matter what anyone else thought.  Because the timing was right, we’ve now got the City of Tucson and Tucson Clean and Beautiful on board,” he says.

Read more…link will go to Inside Tucson Business

The newly formed Green Media Alliance, a partnership of media related firms, will hold its first-ever business-to-business event, “How to Survive in Tough Times” Friday (April 24).

The half-day of events will feature a morning workshop, Green Marketing 101, followed by networking and exhibits and then a luncheon with the aim to bring businesses together to share solutions capitalizing on growing consumer trends demanding a green marketplace.

Jacquelyn Ottman, a Manhattan-based consultant to Fortune 500 companies, is the keynote speaker. She is responsible for the EPA’s Energy Star program that has become a familiar signpost on consumer appliances.The move to green can be a significant financial investment for a business, especially in these recessionary times, but when asked if she sees it paying off, Ottman says, business should be able to more than recoup their initial financial costs.

Read more…link will take you to Inside Tucson Business

Published  March 23, 2009

By Mae Lee Sun

Yes he did and I was there.  In that human sea of two million on a sunny, 20 degree day in D.C. to testify to the fact that indeed, a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens, neighborhood to neighborhood and email to email, can in fact change the world.

Although awe inspiring in it’s historic ramifications, as tiny American flags were waived in the air and babies of all colors were held to the sky in homage to a brighter, more culturally, racially and economically diverse future, and while I cried, my friends cried and the whole darn mass around us cried, the Inauguration of the first black president went far beyond a kumbaya moment.  That would trivialize the power of the people who, one by one, felt they had voted for change, hope and what is in the best interest of humanity over self-interest, fear and planetary destruction.

Photo by Carrie Abels

So now that it seems we’ve picked the right person for the job, who and what is responsible for translating our voted for hopes and values into action? Action that will bring forth the dream of a sustainable future and green economy?  And how long is this plan going to take?  After all, our new president is just one guy, albeit a truly exceptional one.  But he has neither the time nor ability to clone himself into a mass of thousands to execute the task at hand- putting one million hybrid cars on the road that get 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015; to implement cap-and-trade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050; to create five million new (green) jobs by investing 150 billion over the next 10 years into private business to build clean energy; and the list of initiatives he’s committed to goes on.

Bill Snape, senior counsel based in D.C., for the Center for Biological Diversity, remains hopeful that the progressive environmental platform and promises that Obama ran on, will come to fruition.  But he’s also skeptical to what degree it will actually be green vs. green washing due to the other kind of powerful force- business- that he says has and always will be at the forefront of the Washington political scene regardless of whichever party has taken office.

“I’m going to state the obvious.  The last eight years (of the Bush administration) have been a complete environmental disaster and a failure from an energy perspective. A lot of resources were funding Bush and Cheney who were oil men and locked into dinosaur-like thinking but I’m laying this out as a premise.  Now we have this president who really does represent ‘Hope’ because he gets the big picture, he gets that we have to look at creating new jobs and new forms of energy.  He picked a cabinet who understands the issues.  That said, the real significant questions are how the Democrats and moderate Republicans are going to go about making these changes- but at least we aren’t in the state of denial of the last eight years,” says Snape, adding that his major concern is where the money for green technology and jobs is going to go and how it’s going to be tracked.

Photo by Carrie Abels

For example, Snape wonders if the Obama administration’s upcoming CAFE standards and endangered species/global warming rules will be governed by the best available science or by the oil and gas industry who compromise to the lowest common denominator.  The same question holds true with regard to any global warming bill that Congress eventually passes.

With a stimulus package that’s in the billions and a document that approximates 1600      pages, who’s to know what’s really in it?  As a veteran of the Washington political scene, Snape says backroom deals are commonplace, promises with large price tags are made and that in itself makes it impossible to monitor and accurately manage that huge of an undertaking that won’t be complete until several years from now.

“It’s an incomprehensible amount of money.  Some of that money will go to the very industries that caused the problems in the first place, (oil, gas, auto) and not the ones’ who are committed to energy efficiency,” he says, arguing that both Democrats and Republicans are involved in the collusion and that when it comes to down to business, it’s just how D.C. works.

“It’s (D.C.) greased with money and it’s how everyone is kept happy and gets their piece of the pie…even many environmental groups will be happy with any little change because they’re so fond of working with Obama and feel he can do no wrong.  We all feel a sense of hope but he’s not a messiah.  He’s bound by political processes and he needs to be pushed.”

Henning Matthaei, managing director of Wind Power Planners, a cutting edge wind technology firm, based in Hamburg, Germany, prays this isn’t the case.  He says that many Germans and much of Europe have faith in the Obama energy agenda and feel that significant changes can happen through the new administration that would have positive consequences across the global economy.  Matthaei has hopes of bringing a successful German-based system of fixed pricing for power purchasers to the U.S., specifically to the southwest and New Mexico where wind is abundant and other resources, like water, are scarce.  As a successful entrepreneur, with founder and fellow German, Lorenz Berends who has built wind farms in France, Germany and throughout Europe, Matthaei wants to help the U.S. plan, build and maintain wind power utilities.  He says it would be a safe investment and one that would stimulate a sustainable, green economy with the development of a green grid; transmission lines, wind power, solar power and electric cars.

Photo courtesy of Wind Power Planners

“Even before Obama was elected the U.S. planned on developing 20 percent of its power from wind energy by 2030…it’s a multi-billion dollar business all over the world.  We (Germany) are a leading source for sustainable systems but just don’t have a lot of open space in Germany left- but we know the technology and can assist in bringing it to the U.S.  Places like central New Mexico have a lot more wind in relation to the proportion of inhabitants it could serve so there is a much bigger potential here,” he says, adding that wind resources in New Mexico alone are estimated to be around 50 GW.

Even so, PNM, the state of New Mexico’s public utility company, has received requests for interconnection from planners for up to 2000 MW- the equivalent of nearly four nuclear power stations.  According to Matthaei, that is a “kick in the ass for anybody who has environmental concerns” because he feels wind power can be developed decentralized and be in harmony with nature and its inhabitants. “That’s why we (WPP) develop much smaller wind farms and keep in contact with the concerns of people who live around them,” he says.

Matthaei feels one of the biggest power struggles however, is money and politics much in the way Snape asserts.  Even if you’re smart, talented, care about the environmental impact of sustainable energy development and even if you’ve got technological expertise like WPP, breaking into the energy market, green or otherwise, is hard.  The bigger, existing players in U.S. and global energy dominance, like BP (aka Beyond Petroleum and formerly British Petroleum), have been able to lease enormous tracks of land from the U.S. government, like they did with oil drilling, to keep the smaller players like WPP, out.  Since BP is one of the largest energy and oil corporations in the world, operating in over 100 countries with an annual revenue close to 300 billion dollars, is there room for a so called green economy that is truly value-based, to emerge unscathed and separated from politics, big business and profit?  Is that all bad?

Gary Hirsch, chairperson for Vistage International in Tucson, a private, executive think-tank of CEOs from small to medium-sized businesses locally (and much larger worldwide) says that profit doesn’t have to be a four letter word when it comes to implementing energy and environmental policies.  Having worked for an energy company in D.C. prior to moving to Olympia, Washington, and then settling in Tucson over four years ago, Hirsch asserts that profit in and of itself is not bad and the real question is whether it’s obtained in a way that benefits society as a whole, regardless of what size the company is.

“A bumper sticker in an Olympia food coop parking lot said, “Profit is Theft.”  That’s utterly ridiculous.  Profit is reward for risk, for thinking smart and for being ahead of the curve with new ideas for products and services.  We need to remember that 75 percent of the jobs created in the US each year are created by small to medium sized businesses, not by the giants that make the news daily but by the businesses founded, owned and quietly operated day-to-day by your neighbors. These businesses may employ from a handful to more than 500 people who can count on a paycheck and benefits for each day they work. For many, their loyalty and commitment are without question, but we can’t compare that with the concerns of the owner who every single day must be thinking about whether there will be enough cash to make payroll, keep the lights on, pay suppliers and fund benefits. Profit, when it’s there, is the reward they get for juggling this load every single day,” says Hirsch.

From his experience in working within both the public and private sector, Hirsch also feels that this is an enormous responsibility and for the most part, this business population is scared that the current administration will add regulatory and tax burdens that take them past the breaking point—the point at which he says they say “It’s just not worth it any longer,” particularly as they are forced to lay off competent, dedicated workers just to keep the doors open.  “And many of the business people I meet and work with day to day claim they are drawing nearer and nearer to that point.”  So how is it that entrepreneurial green guys like Matthaei realistically become part of the new green economy, one not controlled by huge, corporate profiteers who may overlook environmental and social concerns?  It almost seems a double-edged sword if what Hirsch asserts is true. And what kind of position does that put Matthaei and Snape in as each try to lobby for greater governmental accountability and equitable spending on the development of green energy programs?

Hirsch asserts that lest we err by casting the small business owner as ultraconservatives, they are actually a rather diverse group- as represented by Matthaei and WPP.  Many clearly share the social and environmental agenda of the current administration and share the national pride of electing an African American president. But, as Snape mentioned earlier as well, there is a great deal of concern within the business community at large about the extent and efficacy of planned government spending.  The question essentially comes back to where and to whom is all this money going to go?

“Business owners believe that they will be the ones called on to pay the lion’s share of the costs without necessarily deriving benefits, even as their cost of doing business mounts. They question the wisdom of omitting “buy American” clauses from the stimulus bill and like most Americans, view much of the bailouts paid to date as folly.

Do we paint a picture of the business owner as self-interested? Of course we do. Policy is a balance of represented self interests. But for the small to medium sized business owner who has been called “the engine of American business” they question whether under this administration their interests and the extent of their contribution to society and the economy will be adequately represented,” says Hirsch.

And even with a commitment to transparency in government under the Obama administration, only time will tell if the green economic growth we’ll be referring to is what gets passed from pocket to pocket.

Mae Lee Sun is a local freelance writer

(photos posted online differ from what appears in print)

Just over fifty years ago, in 1957, Robert Norse, a CEO from Milwaukee, was quick to notice that it was ‘lonely at the top’.  Few executives in C-level positions could argue against that notion, making it easy for Norse to gather together and find solace and counsel in the company of others who felt the same.  This group of peers formally became known as the Executive Committee-TEC, and more recently, re-branded itself as, Vistage International, the world’s first and largest executive membership organization.

Based in San Diego, and operating under the original premise that it’s lonely at the top, Vistage now boasts 15,000 members worldwide in 15 countries including China.  Collectively, member companies generate over 300 billion dollars and have direct access to one another via a secured website.  Tucson came on board as one of four new markets Vistage opened in 2008, contributing to a record year for Vistage of 1,800 new members organization-wide—an eight percent increase over 2007.   Gary Hirsch, an executive with an impressive corporate background in consulting and C-level management is Vistage’s first Tucson chairperson and there are more than 12 Vistage groups with over 150 members who meet regularly in Phoenix.

According to Hirsch, who over the past year has presented the quarterly Vistage CEO Confidence Index on KVOAs Inside Arizona Business, which addressed the concerns of CEOs on the state of business and the economy, CEOs need support now more than ever.  And, that those who do seek out Vistage, have on average, over the 50 years the organization has been running, have nearly tripled their growth rates despite changing economic conditions.  These are not the kind of decisions made over a casual game of golf or in professional leads or networking groups says Hirsch.

Rafael Pastor Advertisement

“It doesn’t seem to matter what the sector or type of business it is, the same three issues continually plague CEOs and key decision makers: hiring and retention, strategy, and the bottom line.  These issues typically don’t change, except maybe in order of priority, and can have devastating consequences if you don’t make the right decision.  Meeting in a small group of your peers, in confidence, is a place to have your answers questioned and be asked questions no one you typically interact with is willing to ask.  You can’t come here and rest on your laurels and it’s not the place for sick companies to get well,” says Hirsch, adding that having that sort of commitment is what helps CEOs stay focused on strategic issues verses the things that typically distract.

Membership in the group requires a fairly rigorous screening process however and the dues aren’t cheap.  If you ‘qualify’ it runs about 12,000 per year—inclusive of private, monthly board meetings, world class speaker forums and one-to-one sessions with the group’s chairperson.  Unlike similar sounding executive membership groups, no other services are allowed to be sold and members have to be from non-competing businesses.   And, if many of the INC 500s fastest growing companies are any indicator of ‘type’, then the so-called ‘perfect’ member according to Rafael Pastor, CEO of Vistage International, “is passionate about growing their business, passionate about helping others do the same and are a lifelong learner them self.  This is not just about surviving.  It’s about thriving,” says Pastor.

Locally, Hirsch says the members are not the companies you always hear about.  “Many Vistage members here fly under the radar and they like it that way.   They tend to be modest about their accomplishments and are in it to become better leaders, make better decisions and get better results and they know that that doesn’t happen alone.  A tangible example of how effective our group is, as a direct result of one of the speaker meetings we had in the fourth quarter of 2008, member Mike Popovich, founder and CEO of Scientific Technologies Corporation, actually raised prices for his IT services while everyone else was cutting costs or in a holding pattern.  At five percent, it amounted to over 400,000.  That’s remarkable.  His company won a Copper Cactus Award for corporate growth in 2008. On the other hand, we’ve also had to smack members on the side of the head if they’re about to do something stupid!”

Mark Berman, a long time Tucsonan and owner of Benjamin Supply, a plumbing hardware company, another member of the Tucson Vistage group, says by joining, he’s gotten over professional isolation, become more organized and has made business decisions that have brought positive, long-term benefits to his business and employees.

“Vistage has been instrumental in our Web site and technology improvements, and in evaluating and switching 401k and payroll providers which isn’t necessarily an easy decision when you’ve had a business relationship for a long time.  However, I leave most meetings with something I’ve committed to do which ultimately makes my work easier, more organized or more profitable,” says Berman.

In 2009, Pastor projects an even larger increase in member joins as CEOs face economic conditions the likes of which they haven’t seen before as leaders-conditions which can only add to their anxiety.  However, cash, credit and costs he says can be met with calm, courage and confidence in the midst of the challenge through working comprehensively with an unbiased and committed group of peers found in Vistage.

Mae Lee Sun is a Tucson-based freelance writer.

The Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona will be adding “green” coursework to its MBA curriculm.

Paul Portney, dean of the Eller College, unofficially made that announcement at a presentation he gave recently to the Sunbelt World Trade Association.

Paul Portney, Thomas Venklasen photo Advertisement

MBA programs across the United States have been doing something similar for about the past five years to accommodate students who have an interest in integrating environmentally “green” principles into the way businesses are run.

The UA offering will only be one class – a three-unit elective – to be offered for the first time in the fall 2009 semester.

“It’s enough for now,” Portney said in an interview. “Right now we’re in the process of raising money to support the development of the one class.”

He said he is meeting with faculty to determine who is interested in pursuing the green coursework and how it will be developed.

“If it’s successful, it is conceivable that we’d also offer it at the undergraduate level as well,” Portney said, adding that as long as he is dean, Eller won’t be offering a separate green MBA track as other schools have done although he admits the idea to add the course was driven by student interest.

Pioneering green schools, such as Bainbridge Graduate Institute, on Bainbridge Island across Puget Sound from Seattle, Wash., and Dominican University, in San Rafael, Calif., have pioneered full-on green MBA programs, offering such courses as eco-commerce, environmental accounting and social justice and business.

Portney envisions the one course in the Eller College to have a distinct focus – one which will help use existing projects and prospective projects at the UA as case studies for MBA students to help administrators make difficult financial decisions.

As examples, there may be environmental reasons for the UA to install photovoltaic panels on rooftops, or develop a water conservation plan, or green transportation. The MBA students will be given the opportunity to work in cross-disciplines with like-minded students in other UA programs, such as the school of engineering, Portney said.

Some would argue the one class isn’t much of a step.

Gifford Pinchot, president and co-founder of the Bainbridge Graduate Institute, says traditional MBA programs who offer one or two courses on sustainability will essentially contradict themselves because the core of the curriculum ignores social impact on community and the environment.

Pinchot, whose book “Intraprenuering” has been used in the curriculum of business schools across the country, feels students need to be shown how to integrate social and environmental issues into all of their decisions and make a profit while being applicable to the “real world.” It’s not a matter of either/or, it’s innovation in all respects.

“Students from Bainbridge and places like Presidio are skyrocketing up the career ladder because there is a hunger out there for people who have a firm grasp on how to think clearly about business and sustainability at the same time,” Pinchot said. “This is not solely about being a tree-hugger. It’s about what also makes a company a lot of money.”

A good example he says is when Trillium, an asset management firm, hired three interns for the summer. Two were from Ivy League schools and one was from Bainbridge. The one from Bainbridge was the only one who was hired because Pinchot says “he got it.”

Like the UA’s Portney, Eric Orts, professor and director of Initiative For Global Environmental Leadership at Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, remains a skeptic.

“I think it would be a mistake to say that it doesn’t matter where you go to school. I think you could make more of a difference by having a connection to a school like Harvard, Cornell or Michigan because some of the best people doing the research are at these schools,” Orts said. “There might be a role for students who go in that direction but I am skeptical of the long-term benefit.

“Forget about the green side,” he said. “First you need to understand how a business operates and what the real problems are. We don’t have things like an Ethics MBA even though that is an issue in business, so why a green MBA? I think these programs lack a tough-mindedness.”

And while Pinchot agrees that traditional MBAs have their place if your orientation is “one ahead of all others and ignore social responsibility,” he said green MBA programs will tend to be criticized because other schools haven’t figured out how to do it yet.

What he is finding is that faculty at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Duke and others who come to teach business at his school are taking back the knowledge they are learning from both students and other faculty and beginning to teach differently at their own schools.

Graduates, Pinchot says, also seem to have little problem cashing in on their education and are finding themselves employed in top executive positions in places like mining, the oil industry, engineering and the public sector. And he asserts, “These typically aren’t students who would have applied to business school.”

As of this year, there are a number of MBA programs across the United States offering coursework in sustainability. The Aspen Institute Guide to Socially Responsible MBA Programs 2008-2009 ranks 130 business schools. Among those at the top are Stanford, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of California at San Diego.

By outward appearances Tony Vaccaro’s Brooklyn Pizza is a normal, successful, pizzeria. The storefront, at 534 N. Fourth Ave., is brightly painted lime-green, orange and black. A small group of hip-looking teenagers crowds around a few chrome café tables on the sidewalk, enthusiastically eating wide slices of thin crusty pizza. It’s a Friday night and Brooklyn Pizza is packed.

Inside, behind the counter, two white-aproned guys and a woman with flour-dusted faces are tossing dough, smearing sauce and dealing pepperoni as fast as they can to keep up with incoming orders. Some of those pizzas are about to be delivered by 21-year-old Fred Bohnen in Brooklyn Pizza’s newly purchased Smart car. Acquiring the car was a weighty financial decision for Vaccaro. As were other environmentally conscious changes.

Vacaro says he did it because the timing was right and it’s the right thing to do.

“Why the car? Because I am a very efficient person — I do everything that way — and that car is about as efficient as you can get and it really makes a statement,” Vaccaro said. “The car cost $17,000 and I could have easily spent that on a TV ad where people might see it once and then forget about it. The car is advertising in itself. Businesses can be good role models and people would feel good about supporting a store that supports the environment.”

Vaccaro says he’s been looking to make environmentally conscious changes within his business for years.

Ever since he was a kid, he says he’s dreamed about solar panels, and at the age of 16 attended an energy conference at Delphi University on Long Island where he became even more infatuated after hearing a talk on photovoltaics. The obsession never receded. Because Brooklyn Pizza has enjoyed steady growth over the 12 years Vaccaro has owned it, he says he has been able to save money to invest. In addition to the Smart car, Vaccaro more recently bought a $102,000 – before rebates and incentives – photovoltaic system for solar that will reduce by roughly half Brooklyn Pizza’s reliance on the Tucson Electric Power grid. He says the system should be up and running by the end of this month. Although it would take selling a lot of pizzas to even begin to recoup a return on investment, Vaccaro says it makes sense in so many other ways to make these kinds of investments.

“My passion and enthusiasm come from having a conscience and having a lot of exposure to nature,” Vaccaro said. “I’m also a capitalist. If my business plateaus, I’ll refuse to accept it and I’ll continue to grow it. Some entrepreneurs might laugh at what I’m doing but with a $35,000 rebate from TEP and a state credit of about $10,000 it was a good investment. It’s going to be considered ignorant to not look at green investments. It needs to make economic sense and it does right now.”

The rebates Vaccaro received from installing the photovoltaic system vary depending on the type of system installed. But this is just the beginning for Vaccaro, who hopes to have Brooklyn Pizza be 100 percent solar at some point. He monitors state and federal tax laws as well as city zoning ordinances (Brooklyn Pizza is in the city’s empowerment zone and already receives tax breaks for that). While up to his ear in making pizzas, Vaccaro also has his entrepreneurial eye on the possibility of starting a wind farm and attracting donors through a website where they can donate $100 each to make it a reality.

Brooklyn Pizza Company

www.brooklynpizzacompany.com

534 N 4th Ave

Tucson, AZ 85705

(520) 622-6868