For Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), sustainability is no longer a "nice-to-have"—it is a business imperative driven by customer survey requests, shifting regulations, investor demands, and consumer expectations. However, many SMEs may not need a chief sustainability officer or can’t justify the $200k–$300k+ annual salary of a full-time executive. But relegating sustainability to a “side job” of employees without the background and expertise doesn’t meet stakeholder demands, nor does it position a business to capitalize on what sustainability truly is -- an engine of growth, risk mitigation, and competitive advantage. How can companies add sustainability expertise without the headcount? Enter, fractional sustainability roles. 

Photo that leads to an article by Devry Boughner Vorwerk on the importance of businesses and brand outwardly expressing support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Stewardverse Strategies founder Devry Boughner Vorwerk was recently a guest on the Curious Builder Podcast to discuss sustainability in the homebuilding and remodeling industry. Interviewed by podcast host Mark Williams, founder of Mark D. Williams Custom Homes, the conversation spanned topics such as construction waste and building materials, stewardship as a leadership principle, and their shared belief that home serves as the foundation for health and wellness.

DevryBV Sustinable Strategies is now doing business as Stewardverse Strategies.

As we close out 2025, most executives feel and are constrained and are looking for ways to lead more effectively. I don’t believe it’s because leadership capacity has diminished, but because the business environment has drastically changed shape this year.

Disinformation is not just a political problem—it’s a growing threat to businesses. For communications professionals, actively addressing the ethical and financial challenges posed by disinformation (deliberately misleading information) and misinformation (inaccurate information spread unintentionally) has become a core focus. In the age of AI, false narratives can spread with unprecedented speed, capable of inflicting severe, lasting damage on a brand’s reputation.

A call for more capital in global food and agriculture. Graphic depicts harvesting investments.

Building Human Capacity to Lead in An Age of AI.

Devry shares her thoughts from this week’s Biomimetics International conference held at the University of Minnesota. Looking to nature for business solutions is the way forward.

In today's interconnected global economy, policy change can have a profound impact on the daily lives of workers across the supply chain. The artisan sector, composed largely of women, micro-entrepreneurs, and home-based workers, illustrates how trade wars strain the workers of the world. This Q&A with Nest CEO and Founder, Rebecca van Bergan, investigates the challenges women have in the artisan sector.

Trade wars aren’t just fought in Washington or Beijing—they’re felt in the homes and businesses of women worldwide. In When Trade Wars Turn Personal, Devry Boughner Vorwerk, Founder & CEO of DevryBV Sustainable Strategies, argues how “Pink Tariffs” — gender-biased import duties — drive inequality from the Salinas Valley to supply chains across Asia, Africa, and beyond. These tariffs raise prices on women’s goods, curb wages, and weaken communities. Drawing on data from the World Bank, WTO, and UNFAO, the article calls for gender-inclusive trade reform to empower women, strengthen local economies, and build a more sustainable global trading system.

Minnetonka High School launched the 2025 VANTAGE Mentor Kickoff in spirited fashion this week, with keynote speaker Devry Boughner Vorwerk, founder and CEO of DevryBV Sustainable Strategies, delivering a message that challenged students and mentors alike to embrace getting out of their comfort zone as the starting point for growth.

Amid the confusion surrounding what is truly sustainable, one thing is clear: whenever possible, we need to do more good by finding ways to reduce the amount of waste we produce rather than settling for “less bad” alternatives. James Diebel, a Sustainability Analyst at DevryBV, looked into a range of options for a common source of plastic waste: cups at major events.

From chatbots to predictive tools, artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly woven itself into the fabric of our daily lives. With around 8% of Americans already using a tool like ChatGPT as their go-to search engine, the pace of AI adoption is surging. But as we embrace the convenience and productivity gains, many experts are pausing to ask a critical question: Is our pursuit of AI innovation coming at too high a price for our planet and society?

Devry Boughner Vorwerk’s latest op-ed, “The Real Trade Emergency—Why the Business Community Must Lead Again,” was published August 18, 2025, in Newsweek. Why does trade matter? Many reasons. But for one, it’s because there’s arguably no better way to achieve business and sustainability goals than enabling the most efficient flow of goods, services, capital, and innovation across borders.

Summer Intern Emily Nicholson shares her experience working on the Main Street Strategy in Minnesota and New York this summer working to build community and relations in preparation for brand expansion. Read to hear directly from Emily and the valuable insight she brought and gained through her Main Street project.

How can interns and students add value to our firm and transform fresh perspectives into action? Time and again young minds have proven to be a vital force in our business development and expansion. Read to learn about how our Summer Interns tackled this question.

My roles in and around food are many. I’m a former executive in Big Food and experienced in international agriculture and food policy. I am also a mother and a board member of the Caux Round Table. From the vantage point of all those roles, I am witnessing a rapidly growing, food-related health crisis in the U.S. and worldwide. I have dedicated my career to food, and it’s time for essential changes to meet the nutritional needs of a growing global population.

How do companies manage their brand when they do not control the message or how and where consumers get their information? This is not a new business issue by any means, but managing brands is much more complicated in the age of AI. Handing the keys to a company’s brand to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unsettling and dangerous, yet what I have come to understand is that it is too late. Your company’s brand and even an executive’s personal leadership brand are already in the hands of the algorithms that power the AI, and every LLM has its unique algorithms for sourcing information and spitting that back to the requestor. How do we get to the TRUTH ALGORITHM, not just the Truth Discovery algorithm for a company’s sustainable brand? Read further for recommendations.

The global drive for sustainable supply chains is at a crossroads. New, ambitious regulations are clashing with rising political pushback, creating uncertainty for businesses worldwide. At the heart of this tension is double materiality, a concept that urges companies to look beyond just profits and deeply consider their environmental and social impact.