Zipcar and Method are known for their radical approaches to redesigning consumer products and services for the next generation. As the largest car-sharing company in the world, Zipcar has transformed the way we get from here to there. Method, one of the fastest-growing companies in America, has challenged the consumer packaged goods industry with a home care product line that offers consumers the greener option. In this audio interview, host Jerry Michalski of the EDF speaks with founders Robin Chase (Zipcar) and Adam Lowry (Method) on how they brought newer, greener ideas to market with successful return for their businesses. The Future of Green open call series is an initiative of EDF in collaboration with the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Robin Chase is founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She also founded and leads Meadow Networks, a consulting firm that advises city, state, and federal government agencies about wireless applications in the transportation sector and their impacts on innovation and economic development. She is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car-sharing company in the world.
Chase is on the board of the World Resources Institute, and the World Economic Forum's Future of Transportation Council. She served on the Massachusetts Governor’s transportation transition team and the Boston Mayor’s Wireless Task Force. In 2009, she was included in the Time's 100 Most Influential People. A Harvard University Loeb Fellow, she graduated from Wellesley College and MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Adam Lowry is the co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc., the leading innovator in hip, healthy home care products. As Chief Greenskeeper at Method, his focus is bringing sustainable innovations to the Method business. He also directs the sustainability aspects of product design, sourcing, production, and marketing.
Prior to founding Method, Lowry worked as a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution, developing software products for the modeling of climate change. That public sector experience, combined with his earlier experience designing environmentally-preferred automotive products, formed the nucleus of his unique approach of commercial environmentalism.
He has been honored as one of Vanity Fair’s Global Citizens and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) Man of the Year for his pioneering work on sustainable business and product design. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and lives in San Francisco with his wife Mara and daughter Kenning.
Resources:
This free podcast is from our The Future of Green: Defining the Next Generation of Sustainable Business series.
For The Conversations Network: