Meet Zoe zeerip

Meet
zoe zeerip

Great Lakes Business Network Coordinator

zoe@groundworkcenter.org | (231) 941-6584 x704

To help guide the Great Lakes Business Network into the next chapter, Zoe will pull from her master’s degree in corporate sustainability and draw upon her time practicing the profession in the corporate world. “I’ll focus on expanding membership, retaining existing members, managing external communications, and tracking climate issues,” Zoe says. GLBN is still in its early years, but the legitimacy of its pro-environment, pro-business message has already given the group a strong voice in Michigan’s policy conversation.

Zoe’s commitment to environmental protection and climate in particular has roots in her earliest days. “I grew up with climate change being discussed at our dinner table,” she says. “I’ve been concerned about it since I was a little girl.” As an outdoors-focused person (she also gives credit to her parents for that interest), Zoe snowboards, and she’s keenly aware that the ski hills in Michigan are struggling with warmer winters. “I want to help with local policy and education and provide ways to engage and be part of the solution,” she says.

What’s a main lesson she brings in from the corporate world to her position with GLBN? “Always work to achieve common ground,” Zoe says. “We all have different perspectives, and we need to keep that in mind when we are talking to people who don’t understand our problems or our vision.”

Good to know

Education

Bachelor's degree in environmental studies, with a minor in economics from Westminster College, Salt Lake City. Completed a six-week intensive at the School for the Environment, Middlebury College. Master’s in Corporate Sustainability and Environmental Management, University of York, England.

In her spare time ...

Zoe likes to mountain bike the local trails and occasionally wraps in a bike-camping expedition. She also recently added sailing to her mix of interests.

Favorite spots in northern Michigan

“The Island Trail at Ludington State Park. It’s so beautiful. The trail has a boardwalk connecting many little islands in Hamlin Lake. You can island hop, and it feels like a little fairyland."

WhAT'S ALWAYS IN YOUR FRIDGE?

Pickles. Zoe loves pickles. And when the pickles are gone, she saves the jar of juice and drops hard-boiled eggs into the liquid for a few days to pickle them too.

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