DURHAM, N.H. - Gary Hirshberg, co-founder and chairman of Stonyfield Farm, the world's leading organic yogurt producer, and founding partner of a national campaign to label genetically engineered food, has been named the 2015 New Hampshire Social Innovator of the Year.

Hirshberg will be honored during the concluding day of the New Hampshire Social Venture Innovation Challenge Friday, Nov. 20, 2015, at the University of New Hampshire, where he will deliver the keynote address "Inventing the Future: How Social Entrepreneurship Can (and Will) Save Our World." The challenge finals and his speech are free and open to the public but registration is required: https://www.events.unh.edu/RegistrationForm.pm?event_id=18441
  
Following presentations by the finalists beginning at 9 a.m., Hirshberg will speak at 11 a.m. in the Memorial Union Building's Granite State Room about the $40 billion organic industry as an example of how social entrepreneurship can lead to powerful economic results while making positive social and environmental impacts. He will also make the case for why social entrepreneurs need to engage in crafting positive public policy. Following his keynote address, the winners of the 2015 N.H. Social

Venture Innovation Challenge will be announced. Registration for participating in the challenge is still open and materials can be submitted until Nov. 5, at 5 p.m. Learn more about the challenge here: http://www.unh.edu/svic

"Gary is a pioneer and role model for the business community, demonstrating an alternative to business as usual by building a thriving and profitable company that considers the impact of everything it does," said Fiona Wilson, co-director of the Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise at UNH. "His commitment to make lasting systemic change to address some of the world's most pressing social and environmental problems is inspirational."

In addition to serving as chairman of Stonyfield Farm, Hirshberg is a founding partner of Just Label It!, a national campaign to label genetically engineered foods, and co-author of "Label It Now: What You Need to Know About Genetically Engineered Foods." In 2011, he was appointed to serve on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations by President Obama. Hirshberg is also the author of "Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World" and has received numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership including a 2015 Champion for Children Award from Mount Sinai Hospital's Children's Environmental Health Center and a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award by the US EPA.  

The annual SVIC engages aspiring and practicing student and community social entrepreneurs in designing novel, sustainable, business-orientated solutions to some of society's most pressing social and environmental challenges. The SVIC is an idea-stage competition with the goal of inspiring innovative, solution-orientated thinking and providing a forum to shine a light on these ideas. Challenge winners receive awards that help bring needed resources to advance these promising models. The challenge is organized by the Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise, a joint venture of the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics and the Carsey School of Public Policy, in partnership with UNH Sustainability Institute, NH EPSCoR, Net Impact UNH, and UNH Innovation. The SVIC is also made possible in part by the generous support of Timberland, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, PixelMEDIA, and Alpha Loft. The center contributes to the growing field of social innovation by working at the nexus of individual entrepreneurs and business models (traditionally the domain of business schools) with public policy and systemic change (traditionally the domain of policy schools) in its research, teaching, and practice.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 13,000 undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students.  

 
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Caption: Gary Hirshberg, founder and chairman of Stonyfield Farm, has been named the 2015 N.H. Social Innovator of the Year.