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The Social Enterprise Alliance’s Summit 14 will take place on April 13-16 in Nashville, Tenn. The conference will feature four days of panels, two dozen training sessions and more than 60 speakers.

SEA is the leading membership organization in North America for enterprising nonprofits, social purpose businesses, and educators who come together to promote financially sustainable social innovation through networking opportunities, educational forums, strategic partnerships, and impact legislation. Since 2000, SEA’s Summit has been the signature event for learning, collaborating and creating a social enterprise movement through”¨collective inspiration and action.

“Social enterprise is the missing middle sector between the traditional worlds of government, nonprofits and business,” said Kevin Lynch, President and CEO of Social Enterprise Alliance. “As social needs continue to spike, this new way of doing businesses is emerging as a self-sustaining, market-based method of meeting social needs.”

This year’s Summit includes a line of inspiring keynote speakers:

• The Revolutionary Idea of Medicine for All- Dr. Victoria Hale  is Founder of Medicines 360 and Founder & Chair Emeritus of One World Health, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company in the US.

• Mission in a Bottle- Seth Goldman is President and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea, the company he co-founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management.

• Building an Economy on Love — Featuring Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms, which employs women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction. She will be joined by Tolulope Ilesanmi, a Nigerian immigrant to Montreal who started Zenith Cleaners as a spiritual practice.  “Cleaning is the process of removing dirt from any space, surface, object or subject thereby exposing beauty, potential, truth and sacredness,” he says. 

• Lessons From Across the Pond – Featuring Peter Holbrook, CEO of the Social Enterprise Coalition, the UK’s national body for social enterprise; and Gerry Higgins Chief Executive Officer of Community Enterprise in Scotland.  The social enterprise economy is much more advanced in the UK than the US.  They will offer observations and lessons on what the US can do to advance more quickly.

• The Solution Revolution- Bill Eggers, a leading authority on public-private partnerships and government reform, is responsible for research and thought leadership for Deloitte’s Public Sector industry practice.

Go Deep on the Big Opportunities- Offering 3-hour intensives including:

• Recycling and Deconstruction:  What it takes to get in the game
• Leveling the Playing Field Through Public Policy
• Connecting with Capital:  A kaleidoscopic conversation about money
• State of the Art of Employment Social Enterprises
• Leaning the Sector: Fast track approaches for business planning and growth
• Have Faith:  The challenges and opportunities of faith-based social enterprises
• Leaning the Sector: Fast track approaches for business planning and growth
• Staffing Up:  A deep dive on Alternative Staffing Businesses
• Social Enterprises from Conception to Operation:  The legal issues

Join the (new) wave –  Meet 50 emerging young social enterprises selected for the 50 Under 40 training program.   Collectively, they’re changing the face of SEA.

See social enterprise from the inside out – Tour a dozen of Nashville’s coolest social enterprises in four different sectors:

• Health and Nutrition Social Enterprise Tour – featuring Dispensary of Hope, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and Conexión Américas at Casa Azafrán
• Social Enterprise Around the World Tour – featuring Nisolo, Soles4Souls, and fashionABLE
• Youth Social Enterprises – featuring Rocketown of Middle Tennessee, Humphreys Street Coffee Company and WOW! Soap
• Workforce Social Enterprise Tour – featuring OutSOURCE ReSOURCE, Spring Back and Thistle Farms

For more information regarding Summit 14’s program, registration and lodging, visit http://summit14.org/.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE ALLIANCE (SEA) is the champion for social enterprise in the United States. Our aim is for social enterprise to reach its full potential as a force for positive social change, in service to the common good. To achieve this purpose, we provide social enterprises with the tools and resources they need to succeed, and work on building an optimal environment in which they can thrive.