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JUDY WICKS Director
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Judy Wicks is founder and CEO of Philadelphia’s 21-year-old White Dog Cafe, and is a national leader in the local, living economies movement. She is co-founder and co-chair of both the national Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), and the local Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN). She is also president of the White Dog Cafe Foundation, dedicated to building a local living economy in the Philadelphia region. Judy has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Business Enterprise Trust award, founded by Norman Lear, for creative leadership in combining sound business management with social vision. More recently, she received Business Ethics Magazine’s first “Living Economy Award.” Other accolades include American Benefactor’s “ America’s 25 Most Generous Companies” award, Conde Nast Traveler’s list of top 50 American restaurants, and Inc. Magazine's 25 favorite entrepreneurs in the country. Judy co-authored The White Dog Cafe Cookbook: Multicultural Recipes and Tales of Adventure from Philadelphia’s Revolutionary Restaurant. With a four-part mission of serving customers, community, employees, and the natural environment, the White Dog Cafe has created numerous educational and community-building programs which focus on topics such as economic & social justice, peace & non-violence, drug policy reform and community arts. White Dog Enterprises employs over 100 people and grosses approximately $5 million annually, demonstrating the concept of “doing well by doing good.” The Cafe sources all produce in season from local organic family farms. All meat and poultry is humanely raised, and most fish and seafood sourced from sustainable fisheries. The Cafe has helped lead campaigns to ban the sale of endangered fish and the use of GMO products. One hundred percent of electricity is generated by wind power, the first business in Pennsylvania to do so. Entry-level employees make a minimum “living wage.” Twenty percent of profits are contributed to the White Dog Cafe Foundation and other non-profits. Foundation projects include Fair Food, which connects local family farms with urban markets; the PIG Alliance, which supports pastured pig farming as an alternative to confinement pork production; and the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, which supports independent local businesses committed to building a local living economy. Judy has appeared on Nightline, MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, CNN, and numerous local TV and radio shows. She and the Cafe have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Forturne Small Business, Washington Post, Whole Earth Magazine, Utne Reader, Yes Magazine, Fast Company, Healthy Living Magazine, Business Ethics Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Hope Magazine, Sojourner Magazine, In Business, Orion Magazine, The Other Side, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine and the Philadelphia Business Journal. Judy’s business career is featured in several books including Making a Life, Making a Living: Reclaiming Your Purpose and Passion in Business and Life by Mark Albion, and Aiming Higher: 25 Stories of How Companies Prosper by Combining Sound Management and Social Vision by David Bollier.
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