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BGI was born five years ago when Co-Founder and President, Gifford Pinchot, a renowned business consultant, realized that the nation's graduate business schools were churning out one-dimensional MBA graduates with solid short-term profit-maximization skills, but lacking a deep understanding of how to integrate social and environmental issues into business decisions. "As business leaders become more dominant in shaping our society and as business has increasing impact on climate and planetary life support systems, it is deeply important that business leaders take a broader view of their responsibilities," Pinchot says. The Institute's pioneering MBA in Sustainable Business prepares a diverse group of leaders to build enterprises that are economically successful, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. The innovative curriculum preserves the rigor of a traditional MBA program, while infusing sustainability-including both environmental and social responsibility-throughout every course. Enrollments in BGI's programs have increased more than twelve-fold from 14 students in 2002 to over 175 in the fall of 2007. The MBA in Sustainable Business is a hybrid program combining 4-day weekend, once per month, residentials with long distance web-based learning. Most BGI students work full time. MBA classes are held at Islandwood on Bainbridge Island, Washington, just outside of Seattle. BGI's certificate classes in Sustainable Business and in Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship are held weeknights in downtown Seattle and on weekends at Islandwood, respectively. The programs attract students from across the US and Canada.