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Sustainable
Systems, Inc was founded in 1993 as a for-profit corporation addressing
business development, economic development, sustainable development, and social
entrepreneurship. Sustainable Systems offers market-based strategies for the
achievement of a prosperous Economy, a quality Environment, and social Equity
(the "three Es of sustainable development).
Headquartered
in the historic Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland, California, Sustainable
Systems undertakes projects locally, regionally, nationally, and
internationally – often in the form of collaborative private, public, and
community partnerships.
Business
Development
In the
area of business development, Sustainable Systems is best known as the
co-developer and manager of the Communications Technology Cluster (CTC) – a
business center/incubator. CTC is an acceleration center housing businesses
that offer:
Founded in
1996, CTC is a public-private partnership between Sustainable Systems, Inc.,
the Oakland Business Development Corporation, a nonprofit community development
finance institution, and the City of Oakland.
CTC has
graduated 25 companies that have raised more than $250 million in venture and
angel investment and created more than 700 jobs within the City of Oakland.
Inc. Magazine has ranked Tucker Technologies, a CTC graduate company, in the
top ten for the last four years, in the Inner-city 100 list of the fastest
growing companies with urban core locations.
Other
graduates from the Communication Technology Cluster include Digital Fountain,
Q-Space (acquired by iPlace), TurboLinux, Volterra, Vitalz, Xpede (acquired by
Alltel), and Zimba (acquired by Informatica).
CTC hosts
the annual ComTech Summit, which, in 2002, attracted 500 entrepreneurs and
angel and venture investors, with more than $1 billion in investment capital
represented.
Additional
Sustainable Systems business development projects include:
Economic
Development
In
relation to economic development, Sustainable Systems is most widely recognized
for its role in the Community Capital investment Initiative (CCII) and the Bay
Area Family of Funds. Sustainable Systems is under contract to the Bay Area
Council – the regional, business-sponsored, CEO-led public policy organization
– serving as Initiative Building Consultant for CCII and the Family of Funds.
CCII is
mobilizing Bay Area business leadership, in partnership with community,
environmental, and government leaders, to facilitate investment in Bay Area
neighborhoods with persistently high levels of poverty.
The Bay
Area Family of Funds includes three funds: the Community Equity Fund to make
equity investments in businesses; the Smart Growth Fund to invest in mixed use,
mixed income, transit oriented real estate developments; and the California
Environmental Redevelopment Fund (CERF) to invest in the restoration of
environmentally problematic brownfield sites. To date, the three funds in the
Family of Funds have raised more than $160 million in private equity capital.
Sustainable
Systems produced The Double Bottom Line: An Exploration of the Strategy for the
Bay Area Council. This paper assesses the national evidence that a double
bottom line strategy – market rate financial returns combined with substantial
social and environmental returns – can effectively reduce poverty, build
community wealth, and encourage smart growth.
Sustainable
Development
Sustainable
Systems has recently established a Sustainable Development Division in
association with Indigo Development. Indigo applies industrial ecology
principles to the design and development of ecologically sound industrial parks
and community economic developments.
Sustainable
development projects include:
Social
Entrepreneurship
Sustainable
Systems has made a strong commitment to social entrepreneurship and, in special
circumstances, constitutes the entrepreneurial team to launch businesses that
combine a powerful business model with significant social and environmental
benefits.
Sustainable
Systems social entrepreneurship ventures include:
Capabilities
Sustainable
Systems and its associates and strategic allies have the capability to design
and develop:
Sustainable
Systems Principals
Joseph J.
Gross: Joseph Gross is President and CEO of Sustainable Systems, Inc
and Co-Founder and President of Communications Technology Cluster, LLC.
Mr. Gross
is also President of the Board of Directors of the American Venture Resource
Association, a newly formed national, non-profit 501 (c) 6 membership
association established with the mission of promoting innovation, supporting
entrepreneurship, encouraging successful investment transactions, and
furthering economic development.
Mr. Gross
serves as co-leader of Sustainable Systems entrepreneurial team developing
socially responsible businesses and enterprises including Aquillian Investment
Technologies and Thinking Advantage.
Prior to
Sustainable Systems, Mr. Gross was Co-Founder and Principal of the Double
Bottom Line Team, a socially responsible business consultation group, General
Manager of the Berkeley Distribution Cooperative, a regional trucking firm
serving the natural foods market, and Board President, Berkeley Unified School
District.
In
addition to serving as President of the American Venture Resource Association,
Mr. Gross is Board member and Co-Chair of Investment Screening Committee,
Alliance for Community Development – co sponsor of the Bay Area Community
Equity Fund, Board member of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, Aquillian
Investment Technologies, Natural Logic, and the California Foundation for the
Economy and the Environment. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Oakland
Advisors, and EastBayTech.net, as well as serving as a member of the Economic
Development Alliance for Business and the City of Oakland Socially Responsible
Business Task Force.
James Nixon: James Nixon is Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of Sustainable Systems, Inc., a business and economic development corporation, located in Oakland, CA, that provides market-based strategies for the achievement of sustainable development and smart growth. Current Sustainable Systems is also the Lead Consultant to the Bay Area Council for the Bay Area Family of Funds, a $200 million + Double Bottom Line Initiative that includes: Double Bottom Line funds, business ventures, and developments pursue a market rate of financial return (the First Bottom Line) and substantial economic, social, and environmental returns (the Second Bottom Line). Sustainable Systems has served as the acting Managing Director for the Strategic Action Council of the Northwest Louisiana, which is undertaking a suite of economic and social innovations, including Northwest Louisiana Community Development Fund I. Now Sustainable Systems is serving as a Development Consultant for different Double Bottom Line developments in Shreveport, Louisiana. Sustainable Systems is also a consultant to the Mayor’s Office in the City of San Antonio to explore development of a Multi-Tech Double Bottom Line Venture Fund and a Green Residential Retrofit Intermediary. Mr. Nixon is the organizer of the Oakland Green Finance Network, made up of 40+ investors interested in investing in Green Businesses in Oakland. He holds a Series 7 Securities Registration and a Series 24 Principal's Registration with Growth Capital Services. Mr. Nixon is co-author of The Double Bottom Line Handbook: A Practitioner’s Guide to Regional Double Bottom Line Investment Initiatives and Funds, the first comprehensive study of the $12 billion + asset class of Double Bottom Line private equity investment funds. Previous Prior to assuming these roles, Mr. Nixon served as Senior Vice President for Social Research and Network Services for 12 years with Progressive Asset Management, Inc., the first socially responsible investment broker/dealer. Mr. Nixon co-coordinated three international “Building the Sustainable Economy” conferences and drafted Building the Sustainable Economy: An Opportunity for Oakland, a policy framework unanimously adopted by the Oakland City Council. He also chaired the Task Force that led to Oakland’s Sustainable Community Development Initiative. Mr. Nixon is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Community Development. He also is a member of the Advisory Committee of Inner City Advisors, a participant in the Innovation Network for Communities, and co-founder of Café de la Paz, a restaurant and community center in Berkeley, California. Ernest A.
Lowe: Ernest Lowe is Director of Indigo Development (now a center in
the Sustainable Development Division of Sustainable Systems Inc.) Mr. Lowe has
played a key role in partnering with the Dalian University of Technology in a
number of Chinese eco-industrial projects, including working with the Dalian
Development Zone in an eco-planning process for a 430-km2 economic and
technological development zone in Northeast China. He has consulted on
eco-industrial park and broader eco-industrial development projects in South
Africa, the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam as well as the US.
Mr. Lowe
has also served as:
Publications
include:
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