“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.” Georgia Elliott-Smith carries this line from Thucydides’ Melian Dialogue as both warning and weapon. Growing up with a northern accent in a posh boarding school filled with princesses and tycoons’ children, she learned early what it meant to be on the weaker side of power. But it was watching communities poisoned by waste incinerators in London’s poorest neighborhoods and seeing toxic tire dumps explode in India while UK regulators looked away, that taught her the full weight of that ancient equation. The weak will suffer what they must unless someone with privilege refuses to accept it and fights to change the rules.  

The UNC Sustainability Awards recognize leadership and best practice for three winners: An established and entrepreneurial North Carolina business that shows innovation, initiative and impact in sustainability, as well as a Kenan-Flagler Distinguished Alumnus in Sustainability. For the business awards, our Business Leadership in Sustainability (BLiS) and Student-Athlete Sustainability Initiative (SASI) Associates research businesses and use the frameworks we teach to propose their top choices, and the Kenan-Flagler MBA Net Impact Chapter uses a rigorous selection process to choose the winners from the pool of nominees. For the alumni award, the winner is selected by an internal committee vote. The event provides an opportunity for innovators to share their stories and be recognized by the Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability at this invitation-only gala.