Jay Coen Gilbert

Co-Founder, B-Lab and CEO of Imperative21

Jay Coen Gilbert is CEO of Imperative 21, a global network that believes the imperative of the 21st century is to reimagine a new economic system whose purpose is to create shared wellbeing on a healthy planet. To achieve that purpose, we must design for interdependence, invest for justice, and account for all stakeholders. Imperative 21 bridges the energies and interests of business leaders, movements, and culture shifters to tell a new story about the purpose of business and to meet this moment with bold action to build a more just economy. Network steward organizations include B Lab, The B Team, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP), Common Future, Conscious Capitalism, Inc., Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), JUST Capital, and Participant. Imperative 21 builds on Jay’s experience as cofounder of B Lab, the nonprofit behind the global B Corporation movement. Along with his B Lab cofounders, Jay is the recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the McNulty Prize at the Aspen Institute, where he is a Henry Crown Fellow. Since 2016, Jay has been called into antiracism work, prioritizing his own learning and UNlearning journey while co-convening multiracial and white caucus spaces and formats including WMRJ (White Men for Racial Justice) and AWARE (Allies Whites Against Racism for Equity), both designed to help white people come together in peer-led communities of learning and practice to develop racial literacy, stamina, and communication skills, and a commitment to dismantle racism in ourselves, our organizations, our communities, and our country. Prior to co-founding B Lab (and despite having no game), Jay co-founded and sold AND1, a $250M basketball footwear, apparel, and entertainment company. He has also worked for McKinsey & Co, as well as organizations in the public and nonprofit sectors. Jay grew up in New York City and while he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in East Asian Studies, his most rewarding educational experience was co-teaching a class for the last ten years about the role of business in society at Westtown School, a 200-year-old Quaker institution. Between AND1 and B Lab, Jay enjoyed a sabbatical in Australia, New Zealand, and Monteverde, Costa Rica with his yogini wife Randi and two children, Dex and Ria, now 23 and 21. Jay and Randi live in Berwyn, PA.