About SBN
SBN was founded in 1988 as the nation’s first business trade association with a mission of making business a vehicle for social, environmental, and economic change. Since then, SBN and our allies have raised the bar for what’s expected from the business community. During this time, we’ve witnessed the immense potential that local entrepreneurs have for doing good.
SBN envisions a resilient world economy composed of thousands of inter-connected local economies that benefit the lives of all people and all living things. SBN endeavors to build a successful model in Massachusetts and New England that inspires others to join with us in growing the sustainable economy movement.
SBN is an organization that values diversity, equity, and inclusion as essential to our mission. Only with a diverse and inclusive team that feels a sense of belonging every day will we reach our vision of co-creating local economies that are equitable and sustainable. While we have more work to do to advance these values within our organization, we are investing in doing the work to move our organizational culture forward. We believe in a top-down DEI approach, with an active and engaged leadership that is majority BIPOC and/or women, leading the organization in recruitment, training, promotion, retention, and inclusion. This provides a leadership that can support a diverse staff in bringing their full-self to the table.
The Movement
There is a movement growing in communities across the nation. Building strong local, green and fair economies is really just a return to something that has worked for people in the past. By supporting locally owned and independent businesses with our dollars, these businesses support us with their community partnership.
The Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts is a local non-profit organization focused on building a local economy that is green and fair. By developing a network of local, independent, environmentally and socially conscious businesses we aim to build a stronger local economy and a more vibrant community.
To learn more about this growing movement, browse through
The American Independent Business Alliance’s resources.
SBN Staff
Laury Hammel
Executive Director
Laury founded the Sustainable Business Network (SBN was originally New England Business Association for Social Responsibility (NEBASR) in 1988, and has been leading the sustainable business movement in Massachusetts ever since. He is the owner and president of Longfellow Health Clubs – a group of health and recreation clubs in the Greater Boston area- considered to be among the greenest health clubs in the U.S.
Laury has been the Executive Director of SBN since 2008 and provides overall leadership and visioning for the organization and its programs. Laury has been instrumental in founding numerous additional regional and national networks including Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). Laury was also named one of the three people leading the Green Movement in Boston by CBS Boston!
Kerry Kokkinogenis
Local Food Program Director
Since graduating with a Master’s degree in Health Communication in 2008, Kerry has sought to address health disparities in a variety of ways, including studying and addressing the bigger-picture factors that impact health and wellness, including food, strong local communities, and economic opportunities. In 2016, Kerry opened a local-focused, brick and mortar food store selling only food grown or produced in the Northeast Region, and more recently, pivoted to a farm-to-home delivery model. In joining the SBN team in April, 2023, Kerry has been employing the skills and experiences gathered over those varied endeavors to supporting local food businesses, farmers and fisheries with SBN.
Karuna Salve
Local Food Program Manager
Karuna graduated with a Master’s of Science from Tufts University focussing on Food Policy and Nutrition Interventions. Karuna has more than three years of global experience of working extensively with the community, by working towards empowering the women’s self-help group by providing them with livelihood activities. With her association with SBN, she’s looking forward to promoting eating local to boost the local economy and promote local producers which will eventually help improve our carbon footprints and also supporting our local food systems. This also goes very well with our organization’s tagline of building local, green, and fair economies. Karuna also has a Master’s of Arts degree in Social Entrepreneurship which really motivated her to join our organization.
Monica Raffo
CSBBN, Business Support Coordinator
Monica graduated from Esan University, Lima, Peru, with a degree in Business and Finance. She came to SBN with a strong background in commercial development in low-income communities to promote financial inclusion of the impacted neighborhood, supporting small- and mid-sized businesses, and analyzing financial statement and credit proposals for small businesses. In addition to her experience, Monica brings to CSBBN her deep compassion and collaboration for the businesses supported by the program.
SBN Board
Edward Dugger III,
President
Reinventure Capital
Laury Hammel,
Founder & President
The Longfellow Clubs
Robert Keener,
Principal
Keener Solutions
Karen Spiller,
Principal
Kas Consulting
Nicola Williams,
Founder & President
The Williams Agency
Teresa Dillon, Director of Customer Success, New Project Media