Interview: JOHN VIERA, Ford Motor Company, director of sustainable business strategies

Image via Wikipedia

By Bob Andelman

Ford Motor Company has a vision of providing sustainable transportation that is affordable in every sense of the word: socially, environmentally and economically.

Joining me in a moment is Ford executive John Viera. Viera is all about sustainability. As director of sustainable business strategies for the American automaker, he lives and breathes sustainability and is extremely passionate about achieving it.

What you’ll also find intriguing about Viera is that he came to sustainability from his last position, in which he was a chief engineer for Ford. That means he knows as well as anyone what is and isn’t possible and where the pressure points may lie for progress.

Ford believes that its sustainability strategy will be a key component of its business going forward. By remaining economically viable, it expects to make positive contributions to society and reduce the environmental impact of its products.

Responsibility for maintaining the Ford Motor Company’s high commitment to sustainability falls in my part to my guest, John Viera.

(Bob Andelman was paid a fee by BlogTalkRadio to host this commercial program.)




Open in your default player
Detach into a separate window

You can LISTEN to this interview with JOHN VIERA, director of sustainable business strategies for FORD MOTOR COMPANY, by clicking the audio player above!

Copyright 2010 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Some stories may appear in this archive in unedited or different versions that are different from their print counterparts.

Interview: SUE CISCHKE, Ford Motor Company, group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering

Image via Wikipedia

By Bob Andelman

Have you driven a Ford lately? Do you need a good reason to come back to America’s automobile company? If you’re making decisions based on a company’s commitment to the environment and a sustainable future, I hope you’ll stay with us for the next 30 minutes.

Joining me in a moment is Ford executive Cischke. She’s the company’s group vice president for sustainability, environment and—no kidding—safety engineering. I’ll have to remember to ask what the connection is!

And fyi, I’m told that Sue is also the highest-ranking woman at Ford.

I first learned of Bill Ford’s commitment to building sustainable automotive products almost a decade ago. A magazine assignment sent me to a corporate conference on sustainability at a time when it was a phrase that few people yet understand. But the names that everyone was buzzing about as early adopters were Nike’s Phil Knight—and Bill Ford.

Ford has made sustainability a major principle of his time in the chairman’s seat at the company his great-grandfather started back in 1903. And today, responsibility for maintaining the Ford Motor Company’s high commitment to sustainability falls to my gust, Sue Cischke, who joins us now.

(Bob Andelman was paid a fee by BlogTalkRadio to host this commercial program.)


Open in your default player
Detach into a separate window

You can LISTEN to this interview with FORD MOTOR COMPANY group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering SUE CISCHKE by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player above!


Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Some stories may appear in unedited versions that are different from their print counterparts.

NAIOP Tampa Bay 2008 Report (Maddux Business Report)

The Greening of Your Workspace

By Bob Andelman
Maddux Business Report
June 2008

Go ahead – be skeptical and suspicious of the “green” building concept. But while you do that, better look over your shoulder because the competition is already cashing in.

“If somebody really doesn’t endorse or embrace it, it’s a hard sell,” says Rod Collman, president of Collman & Karsky Architects in Tampa. “I never try to preach anything to the non-believers. It’s not going to work until they can experience it first-hand.”

Collman says the biggest and best in business are going green – and wonders what more anyone needs to hear than that?

“To me, it’s easy to understand the principles – and the benefits. There have been many studies done about daylighting and productivity. Wal-Mart sees the benefits of bringing in daylight because it causes people to purchase more products. I don’t think Wal-Mart would do it unless they felt it would increase sales.”

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, buildings in the United States account for:

• 65% of electricity consumption,

• 36% of energy use,

• 30% of greenhouse gas emissions,

• 30% of raw materials use,

• 30% of waste output (136 million tons annually), and

• 12% of potable water consumption.

With those figures in hand, advocates of green building practices are emerging from the underground and converting more establishment businesses to their cause every day.

“You have Option A and Option B,” says Dallas Whitaker, president of Greystone Equity, LLC in Tampa and this year’s president of the Tampa Bay chapter of NAIOP. “The difference may be as little as 50 cents a square foot. For an existing building, lighting retrofits represent a huge upfront cost. But the payback is very quantifiable. One to two years is a reasonable payback period.”

Whitaker says he was surprised how rapidly green practices overtook the development industry.

“In 36 months it went from idea to a mainstream function of what we do,” he says. “If we don’t start embracing these things on a global basis, we’re heading for trouble.”

As little as a year ago, green building practices were still being pitched as good primarily for the environment and public relations. But as you’ll see in this annual NAIOP/Tampa Bay special report, area developers, construction-related companies, and businesses of all kinds are adopting green practices because there is money to be made – and saved.

“Even if you don’t see the value in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification,” says Josh Bomstein, vice president business development for Clearwater-based Creative Contractors, “there’s still value in green.”

Simple as that.

Want to read the rest? Call the Maddux Business Report to order a copy now: 1-727-823-4394!






All stories and interviews (c) 2008 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved. Some stories may appear in unedited versions that are different from their print counterparts.