Laura Bishop wins Women in Sustainability Leadership Award

Laura Bishop, a member of the City of Eden Prairie’s Sustainability Commission, was recently awarded the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award.

The awards are presented annually to 10 women from around the globe during the GreenBiz sustainability conference for business leaders. They recognize influential women trailblazers who have become a powerful force in creating a more sustainable world.

Bishop, an Eden Prairie resident, has over 20 years of experience working in sustainability in both the private and public sectors.

Currently, she is a corporate board director with EcoVadis, a privately held company that provides businesses with sustainability ratings and supply chain assessments. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs and leads her own consulting firm, Purpose Strategies, which helps guide companies and organizations in sustainability.

Bishop, who was the commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency from 2019 to 2021, was part of Gov. Tim Walz’s cabinet and led the administration’s climate strategies.

Before that, she was the chief responsibility and sustainability officer at Best Buy, where she helped establish the company’s initial climate reduction goals and facilitated the growth of the company’s consumer electronics recycling program.

Bishop says her executive experience and insights, having served both on the regulated and regulator sides, help shape her unique perspective in formulating strategies that drive growth, reduce risk, and protect the planet.

She accepted the award in person, along with nine other women, all recognized at the event in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In accepting the award, Bishop said, “As a builder of programs as an early advocate for business sustainability, this can be a lonely track. You have to bring people along every step of the way. Not just your CEO or CFO but also your family. Our daughters were born in my first two years of working for Best Buy, and they joined me, along with my husband, Chuck Weber, and my mom, Mary Bishop, for many late nights, business trips, and even a few team meetings.

“I am honored by this award and committed to continuing this work in sustainability. My focus today is largely on serving on corporate boards of directors, focusing on leadership strategy and potential growth opportunities sustainability can bring to an organization.”