Jay Coen Gilbert Jay Coen Gilbert is the co-founder of B Lab, the nonprofit serving a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Lab supports a new type of corporation called “B Corporations”, which, unlike traditional businesses, meet the most rigorous standards of social and environmental performance and transparency and legally expand their fiduciary duties to include consideration of stakeholder interests.
Prior to B Lab, Jay was the Co-Founder and CEO of AND 1, a $250 million footwear and apparel business. Believing in the urgent need and potential for business to address society’s most pressing challenges, Jay, along with partners Bart Houlahan and Andrew Kassoy, left their 15-year private sector careers to create B Lab. B Lab’s vision is that one day all companies will compete to be best for the world — best for workers, best for communities, and best for the environment. As a result, society will build an inclusive economy that creates a more shared and durable prosperity for all.
Prior to AND 1, Jay worked for McKinsey & Co and several organizations in NYC’s public and non-profit world. Jay is President of the Board of the Philadelphia chapter of KIPP Philadelphia Schools, a growing cluster of high performing public charter schools, and a former Board member of Investors’ Circle, a national angel network dedicated to “Patient Capital for a Sustainable Future”, and Social Venture Network, leading national networks of social entrepreneurs and early stage social investors. Jay graduated from Stanford University with a degree in East Asian Studies in 1989. He is a 2005 Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.