Biography of Jeffrey Hollender

Key Accomplishments Include . . .

Jeffrey Hollender is President and CEO of Seventh Generation, the 15 year old leading brand company of natural household products, based in Burlington, Vermont. The company’s brand name products are made from 100% recycled fiber and manufactured without the use of chlorine bleach; are renewable resource based, phosphate free, and biodegradable. Seventh Generation markets and distributes to natural food stores, supermarkets, and mail-order catalogs in the United States and Canada.
Jeffrey’s book, How to Make the World a Better Place: A Guide for Doing Good, has sold over 110,000 copies. He recently contributed a chapter to the book Sustainable Planet: Roadmaps for the 21st Century entitled “Changing the Nature of Commerce.”

His new book “What Matters Most; How a Small Group of Pioneers are Teaching Social Responsibility to Big Business - and Why Big Business is Listening,” was released December 2003 and won the Fast Company April book of the month competition. 

Hollender is a member and former Director of the Social Venture Network, a group of socially-conscious business executives.  He co-founded and was a Director of Community Capital Bank, a New York financial institution that invests in affordable housing and community development.  He was also an Advisor to The Council on Economic Priorities' best-selling guide book, Shopping for a Better World.  Hollender served as President of The Rainforest Foundation USA from 1992 to 1996, an organization created to protect the rainforest and the human rights of its indigenous peoples. He also served as Co-Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility helping the organization grow from 300 to 450 members.

More About Jeffrey . . .

In 1977, inspired by Ivan Illich's book Deschooling Society, Hollender set up a non-profit learning exchange called the Skills Exchange of Toronto, which offered classes from the practical and professional to the political.  In 1979, he returned to his native New York City where he found financial success by starting Network for Learning, another adult education program and audio publishing company, which he sold to Warner Publishing, a division of Warner Communications, in 1985.  In 1989, Hollender founded Seventh Generation.

Currently Hollender serves on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group; the Board of Directors of the  The Green Guide Institute; and the Advisory Board of the Chlorine Free Products Association.

Jeffrey frequently addresses social and environmental responsibility at regional, national and international venues.  Speaking engagements have included such varied groups as the Harvard Environmental Forum, the Green Festival, the World Resources Institute Sustainable Enterprise Summit, Nike Apparel Group, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Waste Conference, the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Growth, the Businesses for Social Responsibility national conference and many others.

Jeffrey Hollender is married to Sheila. They have three children, Meika 16, Alexander 14 and Chiara 9. The Hollenders live in Charlotte, Vermont.

Suggested Programs  

-What Matters Most: The Next Generation of Responsible, Values Based Business Leadership
-Growing an Environmental Business from the Ground Up