The Greening of Business

An unusual small-business movement took root in Philadelphia 10 years ago, created by a woman known more at the time for her inventiveness in the kitchen.

Restaurateur Judy Wicks, then owner of White Dog Cafe, an organic eatery in West Philadelphia, wanted to inspire a new economy - one centered on businesses like hers that valued social and environmental impact as well as profit.

What was Wicks' ambition a decade ago is now not only a reality, but also a growing business sector and an increasingly influential economic force in the region.

And playing a leading role in that empowerment is a nonprofit organization Wicks formed in 2001, the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. In this, SBN's 10th year, Wicks has left its board of directors, in part to "allow new leadership and new ideas."

"I think it's healthy to do that," the 64-year-old Fitler Square resident, now also retired from the restaurant business, said of her decision to step away from SBN as anything other than an informal adviser. "There are too many situations where we founders keep hanging around, and people keep looking to the founders for their opinion."

What SBN evolves into will depend, at least in the immediate future, on another woman with vision and determination, who has already made quite an imprint on the advocacy group, Leanne Krueger-Braneky.

She was 27 when she accepted the job as SBN executive director in 2004, becoming its first, and only, paid staff member. Her predecessor was on White Dog's payroll - SBN then was part of Wicks' White Dog Foundation.

SBN is now financially independent and has not stopped expanding, in staff or membership, since Krueger-Braneky arrived. Its employees total nine; its fee-paying member companies, 500; its annual budget, just under $900,000, up from $100,000 when she was hired.

There has been progress, too, on erasing the misconception Krueger-Braneky routinely encountered in the early days: "that we were a hippie-business network." That has been replaced by recognition that this woman, who makes it a point to wear professional attire, is part of a dead-serious business initiative.