The iconic Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s has one other claim to fame besides its hippie origins and ridiculously delicious and rich products. It is also one of the country’s first triple bottom line businesses. From the start, the company developed a social mission that reached every aspect of its operations, from where sourced its ingredients to how it treated its employees to how it encouraged activism in its customers.
Around 2013, Ben & Jerry’s created a new executive position: corporate activism manager. The company now engages with grassroots efforts around the world and international movements to encourage activism around climate change, race, and poverty. Recently the magazine Fast Company caught up with Chris Miller, the company’s current corporate activism manager.