Happy New Year’s to everyone!  May it be filled with prosperity, health, and green visions and actions for your families, communities, and organizations!

Today we have the pleasure to air Ralph Velasquez’s keynote address “CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility – The Who, What, Where, When and How” from our Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit on greenroofs.tv and our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube.

Ralph has been a long standing editorial contributor to Greenroofs.com as The Sustainable Roofing Technologies Editor (2005-2010) and prior to that as “The ASTM Editor.”  As Executive Director of Sustainability with Tremco Incorporated, he couldn’t commit further to a regular column, but agreed last year to remain a guest columnist with “Perspectives from the Green Boardroom,” and more importantly, a great friend of ours.

Tremco Incorporated is a leading supplier of sustainable roofing systems, including vegetative, cool roofing and more.  Ralph also had the vision to bring Tremco on board as our highest level of sponsorship for our inaugural 2011 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit – the Rare Earth Sponsor – for which we are extremely grateful.

Ralph Velasquez has been in the roofing business since 1978, with a focus on vegetative (green) roofs and sustainable focused building technologies over the last decade.  In 2006, Ralph established the Sustainable Technologies Group for the Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance Division, part of the RPM Building Solutions Group in Beachwood, OH.  This group is focused on sustainable, water, energy and carbon solutions in the built environment.  In 2010, Ralph was promoted to the newly created corporate position: Executive Director for Sustainability.  In this role he is responsible for implementing the corporate-wide vision and policies related to sustainability.  He is author of the article “Sustainable Roof Options and Guidelines for Existing Buildings” in the Urban Land Institute book Retrofitting Office Buildings to be Green and Energy Efficient, 2009.

In Ralph’s keynote address he gives the participant an overview on what is Corporate Social Responsibility, who should implement it, where is it appropriate, when should a company launch this approach and how could they go about getting started.  Three case studies are highlighted utilizing these fundamental journalistic principles, with a focus on lessons learned.  Whether the participant is a large corporation or a small business, this presentation will assist you in getting your hands around this rapidly growing aspect of a responsible 21st century business.

And the setting for his keynote video is none other than the newly renovated Tremo Incorporated Headquarters in Beachwood, Ohio, atop the 9,000 sf vegetative roof with living facades and a myriad of other sustainable features – highlighted, by the way, in our 2012 Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ 12 Month Wall Calendar in the month of November:

Enjoy!  Visit greenroofs.tv to see “CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility – The Who, What, Where, When and How” or click below:

Watch earlier videos on our exclusive Virtual Summit greenroofs.tv play list, or see the following Virtual Summit videos now available on our GreenroofsTV channel on YouTube:

If you’re looking for an overview, make sure to see our  2011 Virtual Summit Highlights video (6:18) and our  2011 Virtual Summit Trailer (2:59).

Check back next week on GreenroofsTV for our 5th installment from the Greenroofs & Walls of the World™ Virtual Summit 2011!

~ Linda V.