Tag Archives: Danforth Pewter

Business for good: Bram Kleppner of Danforth Pewter on being a change agent

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Bram Kleppner, CEO at Danforth Pewter since 2011, has been a forceful advocate for progressive change while turning around his company from losses to growth and profitability. Under his leadership, Danforth has become the world’s first 100% solar-powered pewter workshop, implemented company-wide profit-sharing, paid parental leave, paid time off for community service and given employees a seat on the Board of Directors. Danforth is now striving for zero fossil fuel use and raising its lowest wage to $15/hour a year before Vermont does. He is the recipient the 2019 Terry Ehrich Award for Lifetime Achievement from Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He is also the great nephew of feminist pioneer and aviator Amelia Earhardt, who vanished in 1937 while flying around the world. Kleppner discusses how business can be a change agent, as well as his view on what happened to Earhardt (September 18, 2019 broadcast)

Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter

 

Business leaders demand action on clean water & carbon

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Five Vermont CEOs recently wrote an open letter to Vermont Gov. Phil Scott urging him to support studies for clean water and decarbonization. “We, as leaders of companies that employ more than 800 Vermonters and account for over $1 billion in sales each year, are concerned by your refusal to seek new information and analysis to address threats facing our state,” wrote CEOs Joey Bergstein of Seventh Generation, Jostein Solheim of Ben & Jerry’s, Jen Kimmich of The Alchemist, Bram Kleppner of Danforth Pewter and Mark Curran of Black River Produce. “Two critical studies which will address threats to Vermont’s economy and environment – one to identify funding to improve water quality, and one to study the economic costs and benefits of decarbonization – have received broad bipartisan support in the General Assembly. Yet you’ve declared that neither study should be funded,” the letter stated. “Hope is not a strategy.” Shortly after meeting with the CEOs, Scott issued a letter to the Legislature restating his opposition to the studies. We talk with CEO Bram Klappner about what is at stake and why businesses are speaking out. (April 11, 2018 broadcast)

Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter

Taking the lead: Women & families in the workplace in Vermont

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According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 70 percent of women with children under age 18 are in the U.S. workforce, and working mothers are the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of households. Is Vermont a leader or laggard when it comes to providing opportunities for women and families in the workplace? We talk with people who have taken the lead in making workplaces women and family friendly.

Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter

Cary Brown, Executive Director, Vermont Commission on Women

Russ Elek, Communication and Membership Manager, VBSR

Sarah Lord, Seventh Generation

Sascha Mayer, CEO and Co-founder, Mamava,

Gwen Pokalo, Director of the Women’s Small Business Program at Mercy Connections

Staying alive in avalanche country; The future of health care reform in Vermont

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Surviving in Avalanche Country: In the aftermath of the death of two US Ski Team members in an avalanche in Austria this week (including 20 year old Burke Mountain Academy graduate Ronnie Berlack), there is renewed interest in the science and art of staying alive in avalanche country. We speak with the journalists behind The Human Factor, Powder Magazine’s new groundbreaking 5-part series on surviving avalanches:

John Stifter, editor, Powder Magazine, who survived an avalanche in 2012 that killed three friends

David Page, author, The Human Factor, Powder Magazine

Health Care Reform in Vermont After Single Payer: What’s next for health care reform in Vermont now that single payer has been abandoned? Four experts weigh in:

Rep. Bill Lippert, chair, House Health Care Committe

Neal Goswami, Vermont News Bureau Chief

Dan Barlow, VBSR public policy manager

Bram Kleppner, CEO, Danforth Pewter, and supporter of single payer

Under the golden dome: Perspectives on Gov. Shumlin’s initiatives, 1-14-2014

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Mark Johnson of WDEV previews Gov. Peter Shumlin’s 2014 budget address. Advocates discuss their legislative priorities: Avram Patt, energy consultant and former general manager of Washington Electric Co-op, talks about net metering; Chris Miller, activism manager of Ben & Jerry’s speaks about GMO labeling; and … Continue reading →