AREA BUSINESSES GONE GREEN SHARE THEIR STORIES AT MPOWER BUSINESS SHOWCASE

Sustain Dane's MPower Business Showcase welcomes area business leaders to share real-world successes and challenges of becoming more sustainable

December 21, 2012, Madison, WI - At the Johnson Health Tech North America (JHTNA) campus in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, it's not uncommon to see employees organize community events, play a lunchtime basketball game, or pick up their weekly CSA share onsite. For the global fitness equipment manufacturer, sustainability and wellness are cornerstones of its corporate vision. As a 2012 MPower Business Champion, JHTNA is calling on its 270+ employees to make that vision a reality. "We want to make sustainability personal for our employees," said Jocelyn Vande Velde, Director of Education and Sales Training at JHTNA. Vande Velde is one of the company's MPower Green Team leaders, which engages JHTNA employees on sustainability initiatives at the office as well as at home and in the community. In July, the team facilitated a "Sustainability Week," during which employees demoed B-cycles, competed in recycling challenges, and dissected their own utility bills at a luncheon on the topic of home energy efficiency. And employees responded. "When you engage your colleagues in fun and educational projects around sustainability, you begin to see how deeply they care about it," said Vande Velde. She added, "It has helped us to enrich our sense of community and commonality at Johnson Health Tech North America." In addition to employee-centric sustainability initiatives, JHTNA's participation in the MPower Business Champion program has spurred internal discussions and analysis of its sustainability practices enterprise-wide. From the building's energy efficiency to the manufacturing process to the energy consumption of a finished treadmill or elliptical machine in use, JHTNA is in the early stages of materializing a long-term vision for sustainability. Johnson Health Tech shares in its successes and lessons learned with 16 other local businesses that have spent the past year working to improve their environmental impact as part of Sustain Dane's MPower Business ChaMpion Program. Working in collaboration with Sustain Dane, these champions have successfully conserved energy, lowered waste, and gone green in their business processes and office culture. The 2012 MPower Business Champions will share their stories of success and lessons learned during the annual MPower Business Showcase on January 15, 2013 at the Madison Concourse Hotel in Madison. The interactive event serves to educate other area businesses, civic and governmental leaders on the opportunities and challenges of becoming a more sustainable business. "MPower Business Showcase is an important and engaging public forum on what the region's foremost business leaders can do and have done to make the Madison region thrive - environmentally, socially, and economically," said Kristen Joiner, Executive Director of Sustain Dane. Sustain Dane's MPower Business Showcase will be held on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 7:30 - 9:30AM at the Madison Concourse Hotel in Downtown Madison. The Madison Concourse Hotel sponsors the event. It is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required. To register and to learn more, please visit www.sustaindane.org. About the MPower Business ChaMpion Program Sustain Dane's MPower Business ChaMpion Program is a one year, fully-customizable way to take advantage of dozens of sustainability resources and experts in an effort to reduce waste and energy use, increase employee engagement, and create a healthy, vibrant workplace. Sustain Dane works with participating businesses to help them develop and roll out a sustainability strategy that will enable them to achieve measurable results. The program is made possible by the Environmental Protection Agency and Madison Gas & Electric, as well as the City of Madison. The MPower Business Champions represent Madison's diverse and vibrant local business community, ranging in size, industry, and type. For more information about the program, and to apply to be a 2013 MPower Business Champion, please visit www.sustaindane.org. The 2012 MPower Business Champions are: • American Family Insurance, Madison, WI • Boys and Girls Club, Madison, WI • CUNA Mutual Group, Madison, WI • Delta Properties, Madison, WI • EZ Office Products, Madison, WI • City of Fitchburg (City Hall), Fitchburg, WI • First Weber (Middleton Office), Middleton, WI • Full Spectrum Solar, Madison, WI • Group Health Cooperative (Hatchery Hill Clinic), Fitchburg, WI • Hallman Lindsay Paints (Factory & Offices), Sun Prairie, WI • Ian's Pizza on State Street, Madison, WI • Isthmus Engineering & Manufacturing Coop, Madison, WI • Johnson Health Tech, NA, Cottage Grove, WI • MSA Professional Services, Madison, WI • UW-Health (West Clinic), Madison, WI • UW-Health (East Clinic), Madison, WI • ZDA, Inc., Middleton, WI About Sustain Dane: Sustain Dane is a non-profit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin, committed to creating a community that deeply enjoys, cares for and is sustained by its unique environment. Sustain Dane works toward this vision by staying in touch with what is happening locally and globally, identifying opportunities, building networks and relationships and acting as a catalyst for big ideas and partnerships

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