Marjorie Kelly speaks and occasionally teaches classes on emerging social architectures for a new economy. She speaks to the general public, progressive audiences, business audiences, and at business schools. Topics have included: “Creating an Economy That Works For All,” “Can the Earth Survive Capitalism?”, “Designing the Living Company: Principles of Generative Design,” and “Finding Your Calling in a Transforming World.”
Selected Videos, Transcripts and Radio Interviews
Good Scout Capital Panel, How Can Policy Advance Worker Ownership (Winter 2022).
In this roundtable discussion, Marjorie joins Isaiah Poole, Kate LaTour, and Mo Manklang to discuss policy proposals to scale democratic ownership.
The Democracy Collaborative produced this short video, in which Marjorie explains how the State Small Business Initiative (SSBCI) could be a game changer for employee ownership.
SVC/ASBN Panel, Transforming Ownership for Social Equity (April 20, 2021)
Marjorie along with Deputy Mayor of New York City Phil Thompson and Hilary Abell of Project Equity discuss how employee ownership can advance social equity.
The ESOP Podcast (June 15, 2021)
Episodes 155: Interview with Marjorie Kelly,
Part I
In this interview, Kelly makes the case for creating a robust investment ecosystem to catalyze more employee ownership conversions. To hear Part II of this interview, go to Episode 156.
The ESOP Podcast (April 12, 2021)
Episode 146: Social Capital Partners & Taylor Guitars Financing
On January 11, 2021, in a video for employees, Taylor Guitars announced that it had transitioned to 100 percent employee ownership. An agreement that could be called the NAFTA of employee ownership, it is majority funded by Canada’s Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, with additional capital from Social Capital Partners, and establishes the first US-based Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for Mexican workers. In this episode of the ESOP podcast Marjorie and Jon Shell of Social Capital Partners talk with host Bret Keisling.
SVC/ASBN Webinar: Transforming Ownership for Social Justice (March 3, 2021)
This webinar featured Marjorie, along with Rebecca Kemble (three-term alder, Madison, WI) and Todd Leverrette (principal, Apis & Heritage Capital Partners). The webinar for impact investors spotlighted employee ownership as a strategy to increase racial equity; the ways in which municipal governments can advance employee ownership; and the key role of investment capital in transitioning businesses to employee ownership.
R3.0 Conference, Keynote Speaker (September 2020) Marjorie provided the keynote address for the 7th International 3.0 Conference: Redesign for a Regenerative & Distributive Economy: Closing Systemic Gaps.
Laura Flanders Show: How to Make a Democratic Economy (October 16, 2019)
On this episode of the Laura Flanders Show, Marjorie and Ted Howard discuss their newly released book, The Making of a Democratic Economy.
EcoCiv Dialogues: The Next Economy (April 30, 2020) The coronavirus pandemic revealed the deep failures of our global economic order are being revealed. Is this the end of the neoliberal era? What will the economy look like after COVID-19? Marjorie joins Kate Raworth (Doughnut Economics), Stewart Wallis (Wellbeing Economy Alliance), David Korten (Living Economies Forum), Gunna Jung (Economic Advisor to Seoul Metropolitan Government) to discuss these weighty questions.
Next Economy Now: Democratizing the Economy from the Ground Up (August 2018)
In this interview with Lift Economy partner Ryan Honeyman, Marjorie discusses the election of Trump and its correlation with the economic challenges faced in Appalachia and rust belt states as well as The Democracy Collaborative’s work supporting Native American businesses and what listeners can do to support rural economic development.
Aspen Institute (November 2016)
How do you design an economy for broad-based prosperity, for good jobs, for family financial security? That’s an economy with broad-based ownership and community control, says Marjorie Kelly.
Building an Economy that Works for All (October 11, 2012)
In a conversation hosted by the University Temple United Methodist Church in Seattle, David Korten and Marjorie discuss what a fundamentally different kind of economy–one that is broadly owned and community controlled-might look like. Read Marjorie’s comments here.
- Creating a Bold New Economy
(Greenfield, MA, November 15, 2014) From Kelly was the keynote speaker at “Greening Greenfields” Economic Forum at Greenfield Community College. You can also view the Powerpoint presentation from Marjorie’s keynote address.
Changing the World, One Dinner Party at a Time
October 31, 2014
As part of the 2014 Operation Bon Appetit project, a dinner table talk by Marjorie Kelly was videotaped by Jan Roberts. Her project is a culinary-driven movement designed to help people effect positive change while enjoying great food, drink and conversation in a convivial atmosphere. Marjorie’s talk on ownership design is one of several dozen stories. View an introductory story here and view Marjorie’s talk here.
Who Owns Vermont?, Keynote Address, New Economy Week, October 15, 2014, Montpelier, VT
In her keynote address for New Economy Week, Kelly explained that there are two primary kinds of ownership: EXTRACTIVE, which seeks to extract maximum profits, and GENERATIVE, which is life serving. Generative ownership models are profit-making but not profit-maximizing. You can read about Kelly’s address and the discussion that followed in notes from the event and this story from Vermont Digger. Also, you can watch this video of a panel discussion moderated by Kelly.
From the Fringe to the Leading Edge: Generative Design Goes to Scale May 2012, Grand Rapids, MI
Read the transcript of her opening keynote for the conference of Business Alliance for Local Living Economies in 2012, or view a video.
From the Fringe to the Leading Edge: Generative Design Goes to Scale May 17, 2012, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Keynotes Delivered
Kelly has delivered keynote addresses for Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE); the New Economics Foundation in London; the Annual FEASTA Lecture in Dublin, Ireland, for the Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability; and the Green Party of Sweden. Other keynotes have included the University of Wisconsin Business and Human Rights Series, the Net Impact Annual Spring Forum at the University of Washington, the Alliance for Democracy Convention, the Hope in Action Conference, the Society for Business Ethics, the Sustainable Business Symposium at the University of Oregon, the Hamline Dialogues at Hamline University, the Association for Moral Education, the Midwest Progressive Elected Officials Network, and others.
Classes and Lectures
Kelly has delivered presentations at universities, including Cornell University, the University of North Carolina, Harvard, Macalester College, Scripps College, Boston College, Colorado State University, Hawaii Pacific University, and many others. With Peter Barnes she taught a course at Schumacher College in England entitled “Can the Earth Survive Capitalism? Exploring Sustainable Economic Models.” With Fritjof Capra she taught a four-day residential program at Schumacher called “Business and Sustainability: From Complexity to Responsibility,” looking at systems thinking and its lessons for creating organizations that mirror life’s adaptability and creativity.
Kelly served as Visiting Scholar at Ohio Wesleyan University and was the Jean Kohr Visiting Lecturer at Hood College. At Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis, Kelly taught classes on “A Zen Approach to Building a Just Economy” and “Dogen and Right Livelihood.”
If you need a headshot of Marjorie Kelly to publicize a speaking event, please download the photo to the left.