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On February 18, 2020, I was fortunate to attend the ‘In Good Company‘ kick-off event, a Lancaster, PA initiative championed by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lancaster County Community Foundation and Assets. In Good Company brings together Lancaster’s business leaders to discuss and engage in strategies that build mutual prosperity across our community and in our business.
I walked away from the event heartened by the dynamic conversation helmed by keynote speaker Bart Houlahan, Co-Founder of B Lab. Insightful commentary was provided by Jan Bergen, President and CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health; Joseph Byorick, Senior Vice President and CFO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health; and Crystal Weaver, Co-Founder and COO of Commons Company. The entire event was masterfully coordinated and hosted by Sam Bressi, President and CEO to the Lancaster County Community Foundation; Tom Baldrige, President of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Craig Dalen, Assets Chief Strategy Officer.
I was struck by how Jan Bergen, expressed that supporting healthy communities to address social determinants of health (SDoH) is a way of doing business for good. This speaks volumes to how we, at Advanced Metrics conduct business every day. Since our customer base is mainly nonprofit or government entities that address a host of SDoH, Ms. Bergen’s commentary on doing business for good deeply resonates with our work. A good example of this is a local initiative we have undertaken in partnership with LOHF and the United Way of the Capital Region (UWCR). Our software system, NavWell, serves as a web-based hub for a community health worker program which screens for SDoH and provides targeted interventions and care coordination. The NavWell hub provides an innovative way to deliberately organize and facilitate the delivery of health care services and additional services that address SDoH. This is just one example of the mission driven software development we do and the local community agencies we partner with.
Within the software and technology industry this type of mission driven work and ethical decision-making is in opposition to many big tech companies whose business is often driven by the bottom line.
However, as a Certified BCorp we continually consider, “Are the decisions we make doing business for good?” For the good of our community, environment, employees, customers and suppliers.
How businesses choose to invest in the community does matter and it shows what we value—is it building up our community or is it merely striving for a profit? When looking to increase equity in the community where we live, play and work, we need to make a conscience effort to invest in local partnerships and our community. This can address social, economic and geographic disparities that directly impact our community.
Choosing to invest and develop partnerships in our community is good business and will ultimately impact profit in a positive way. When businesses focus on the triple bottom line, the downstream impact is fairly compensated workers who live, work and patronize businesses within the communities they live. Which directly impacts economic sustainability and the health, education and generational upward mobility of our community.
We do business for good not just because it’s good for business but because it’s the right thing to do. That is why we are so excited to see the In Good Company initiative launch in Lancaster. We are enthusiastic about its potential to change business in Lancaster. We are glad to be in your company.
Kate Gallagher, MNM
Chief Operating Officer
Advanced Metrics