Close Faculty Member Supplies Sustainability Knowledge at the 2026 Impact Summit
From accelerating environmental crises to volatile economic pressures, companies are increasingly being thrust into critical leadership roles, tasked with safeguarding the very communities, societies and ecosystems that make their own success possible in the first place.
It was against this turbulent backdrop that scholars and industry leaders gathered in Philadelphia for the 2026 Impact Summit. Hosted by TRC and the Sustainability Working Group at the Fox School of Business, with the support of B Local Philly, this year’s summit targeted a crucial, timely theme: “Responsible Business: B Corps in the Modern Era.” Representing the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at the center of this conversation was Barrie Litzky, PhD, associate professor of entrepreneurship.
As an academic who teaches and researches social entrepreneurship, sustainable innovation and mindfulness, Litzky’s research deeply explores the role of business in society and how organizations actively respond to social justice issues. This expertise directly mirrors the history of the B Corp movement, which originated in the Philadelphia region 20 years ago. Since then, the movement has scaled globally to encompass more than 10,000 certified companies across 160 industries, all defined by their commitment to verified ESG performance and stakeholder governance.
With B Corp certification standards undergoing their first major evolution since their inception, raising the bar across critical impact topics, the 2026 summit served as a critical platform to explore how academics and business leaders can collaborate to keep driving this momentum forward.
The core mission of the day was to bridge the gap between academic research and live-fire industry practice. Litzky participated in thought-provoking panels that examined why Philadelphia remains the perfect incubator for the social enterprise community, how local B Corps are innovating through modern market shift, and how higher education can fuel these sustainable ecosystems.
Reflecting on the event, Litzky highlighted the profound role universities play in solving modern, real-world problems.
At a time when the value of higher education is being questioned, the Impact Summit was a powerful reminder of what universities do best: convening diverse voices, generating new ideas, and building partnerships that create real-world impact. The B Corp movement did not emerge in isolation. It grew from decades of collaboration among scholars, practitioners, students, and communities who share the belief that business can—and should—be a force for good.
This ethos aligns with Close School’s participation in regional ecosystems like B Local Philly and collaboration with cross-institutional partners, ensuring that Drexel students don’t just learn business mechanics in a vacuum. Instead, they graduate with a proven bias for action and the exact toolkit required to architect a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient economic future.
