Bill Stough

Sustainable Business Advisor

Bill Stough is a Sustainable Business Advisor for the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum where he provides strategic, tactical and technical assistance on key initiatives, and additional support through staff development and executive coaching.

Stough is past founder and CEO of Sustainable Research Group, a vanguard sustainability consultancy that helped organizations throughout North America for 20-years succeed in achieving their sustainability goals. In 2020 Bill sold Sustainable Research Group to Foresight Management. Bill has more than 40 years of experience in pollution prevention, industrial ecology and sustainable business initiatives. He specializes in the design and implementation of sustainable development business strategies, creation of regional sustainable business networks, and developing baseline performance profiles to help establish an organization’s ecological footprint for ESG reporting.

Stough is the founder emeritus of West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum and in 2014 was an inaugural inductee into its Sustainable Business Hall of Fame. He is widely considered one of the most influential sustainable business leaders in West Michigan’s sustainable business movement.

Stough has a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Environmental Planning from William James College and a Master of Management from Aquinas College. He is also a Michigan State University Regional Economic Innovation Fellow, and an independent consultant through Bill Stough, LLC, a company he formed after the sale of SRG to further his interests in promoting sustainable business practices at profit and nonprofit organizations.

Current MiSBF Projects

Circularity Forum
Photovoltaic Module Recycling
Climate Justice
Designing with Recycled Content

Selected Publications and Presentations

“The Business Case for Green Chemistry” Michigan Green Chemistry Conference
“Environmental Sustainability in a Competitive Marketplace”, Keynote presentation, BIFMA
“Using a Baseline Sustainability Footprint Analysis for a Commercial Operation”, International Society for Industrial Ecology
“Integrating Sustainability into an EMS” Waste Reduction & Energy Efficiency Workshop, MDEQ

Honors and Awards

Green Manufacturer Network, Chair of Board of Advisors, Fabricators and Manufacturers Association
Kendall College of Art & Design, Adjunct Instructor, Basic Materials Aquinas College Assistant Professor, Sustainable Business
Michigan State University Natural Resources Fellow
Business Innovator of the Year, Lawrence Technological University
Inaugural Michigan Sustainable Business Award from Clean Water Action