For Immediate Release

Babson College Hosts 20th Annual Sustainability & Energy Conference: Entrepreneurs for Impact

Milestone event convenes founders, investors, and leading entrepreneurs driving sustainability, social innovation, and energy industry transformation.

WELLESLEY, Mass. — Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Babson College will host the 20th Annual Babson Sustainability & Energy Conference: Entrepreneurs for Impact on Friday, April 24, 2026. This national event brings together founders, investors, and students from many colleges to explore how entrepreneurship is shaping the future of sustainability and energy.

This year's conference marks a milestone two decades in the making, celebrating the evolution of a primarily student-led initiative into a platform for innovation, collaboration, and real-world impact.

Founded in 2006, the Babson Sustainability & Energy Club (BSEC) has played a central role in advancing sustainability on campus and beyond. Over the past 20 years, student leaders have driven initiatives ranging from bringing Babson's first wind turbine to campus in 2008, to installing EV charging stations through a partnership with Toyota in 2012. This year, Babson builds on that legacy with the launch of a solar farm, a campus bee farm, and a Miyawaki biodiverse forest.

The 2026 conference will feature keynote speaker David Evans Shaw, one of America's most successful entrepreneurs and founder of IDEXX Laboratories (Fortune 500). David, who will speak on scaling impact-driven ventures, is the author of Wave Making: Inspired by Impact. Additional featured speakers include Nicole LaChapelle, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, who will address the role of entrepreneurship and public-private collaboration in advancing conservation across Massachusetts, and Mark T. Donohue, a serial entrepreneur in social impact entrepreneurship and in using exponential technologies for good, who graduated from Babson in 1989.

Additional Program Highlights

• Alumni spotlights featuring founders building ventures in areas such as nuclear waste recycling and sustainable infrastructure.
• Panel discussions spanning oceans, energy, venture capital, food and agriculture, and fashion.
• Sustainability & Impact Ventures Showcase.
• The inaugural Entrepreneur for Impact Awards, recognizing leaders including David Evans Shaw, Mark T. Donohue (honorary conference chairman and lead benefactor of this event for 20 years), and John Chaimanis (co-founder of the conference and Babson graduate in 2007).

The event reflects Babson's commitment to educating entrepreneurial leaders who create sustainability and social impact, plus economic ROI. Through its Entrepreneurial Thought & Action methodology, Babson equips students and alumni to turn complex challenges, including those in climate, energy, and sustainability, into opportunities for innovation, profit, and impact.

"This conference reflects what makes Babson distinctive, students who don't just study challenges, but take action to solve them," said Leila Lamoureux, Babson's Director of Sustainability and Campus Utilization. Mark T. Donohue added: "Entrepreneurship is the most powerful tool to manifest a future which fulfills humanity's highest potential."

The conference will take place from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23rd, in Knight Auditorium and Malloy Hall on Babson's campus. The annual VIP Dinner is held on Thursday night, which includes remarks by David Evans Shaw and Cindy Klein-Marmer, Executive Director, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson. All are welcome to request an invite to the VIP Dinner.

For more information or to register, visit bseclub.org or the registration page.

About Babson College

Babson College is a global leader in entrepreneurship education. Through its proven Entrepreneurial Thought & Action methodology, the College prepares entrepreneurial leaders who create, grow, and steward sustainable economic and social value around the world. Founded in 1919 in Wellesley, Massachusetts, Babson has empowered more than 46,000 entrepreneurial leaders to impact communities and industries of all kinds. Babson is recognized as the No. 2 best college in the United States by The Wall Street Journal and has maintained its place as No. 1 atop U.S. News & World Report's entrepreneurship rankings for decades. The College offers an array of undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs and partners with organizations around the world to support global entrepreneurship initiatives.

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