The Welsh Wire: Economic & Social Sustainability ft. Carrie Yunker of Bell’s Brewery & Shayna Schupan Barry of Schupan & Sons, Inc.

Bell’s Brewery and Schupan & Sons, Inc. are two West Michigan companies demonstrating how economic and social sustainability play a crucial role in their business strategies.

This month on The Welsh Wire, Sheri gets insights from Carrie Yunker, Executive Vice President at Bell’s Brewery, and Shayna Schupan Barry, Director of Governmental Affairs & Strategic Partnerships at Schupan & Sons, Inc.

“An important focus for leaders to understand is that it’s really about how you care for your community as a whole,” Yunker says. “It’s really important to us that, as we look at the pillars of how we’re building and growing the business, sustainability is an important part of it. We view it through the lens of not just utility intensity but also things like paying a living wage for our folks and providing sustainably to build our communities.”

Barry explains how a broad definition of sustainability is also a vital element of Schupan’s business operations.

“Recycling is our outward piece of the value chain that becomes a huge part of what we do and is what we build our whole business and growth around,” she says. “Connecting the people-profit-planet thing seems simple, and people say it all the time, but how do you look at all those things? I think the employee piece of that and the community piece of that has always been a very core thing at Schupan. We contributed to 250 different organizations last year within the communities our business works in.”

Schupan also permits employees to take a paid day off per year for community volunteering.

“It’s good for your community, but it’s also giving back to your employees to feel the empowerment,” Barry says.

Listen to Sheri’s full interview with Carrie Yunker and Shayna Schupan Barry about economic and social sustainability as key elements in business strategy.

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