Jonathan Greenblatt, social entrepreneur and president of All for Good, an initiative designed to engage more Americans in community volunteer work, will talk about the future of social entrepreneurship in Obama’s America at a Sydney Ideas lecture copresented by the US Studies Centre on Tuesday 20 April.

As a visitor of the US Studies Centre, Greenblatt will draw upon his personal experiences to assess the future of social entrepreneurship and what it means for executives, policy makers and consumers worldwide.

Greenblatt ‘s extensive history with social entrepreneurship should make for a fascinating lecture, USSC chief executive officer Professor Geoffrey Garrett said.

 “Social entrepreneurship has mushroomed in the past 30 years and Jonathan has been at the forefront of that boom. He has not only seen but helped create the concept that traditional business models can include social benefit alongside financial profits,” Garrett said.

Along with developing the web-based concept behind All for Good, Greenblatt co-founded Ethos Water, the premium bottled water that helps children around the world get clean water and has also served as CEO of GOOD Worldwide and as vice president of global consumer products at Starbucks.

Greenblatt also developed international economic policy as an aide in the Clinton White House and served on the Technology and Innovation working group of the Obama-Biden presidential transition team. He has advised innovative non-profit organisations, including the United Nations Foundation and the X PRIZE Foundation. He is a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a faculty member at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA where he teaches social entrepreneurship.

Sydney Ideas is the University of Sydney’s premier public lecture series program that aims to bring some of Sydney’s, Australia’s and the world’s, leading thinkers to the wider Sydney community.