Liana Bontempo

We talked with Liana Bontempo, Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Hospitality, McMaster University, about how she made sustainability a key part of her role in a large organization.

What inspired me to pitch adding sustainability to my job was my public health background as a registered dietician.  I got into sustainability through food security.  The more I learned about SDGs, the more I saw links between them and my passion for community health and wellness through food.  They go together, hand in hand.  I don’t even think they should be separate.

SDGs became a priority to my employer, and I started building relationships with people outside of my office who were doing forward-thinking SDG work. One of those offices asked me to be a project champion, so I started doing projects related to sustainability.  

Because my role was new, and my boss trusted me, I had wiggle room to explore and bring ideas back to the department. Any persuading I did was mostly around how we’d incorporate sustainability in a way that wouldn’t make things harder for the team, because they were already working hard. Pre-COVID, sustainability was seen as adding work to the pile.  My convincing was around project management: here’s how we’ll do it, mitigate the risks, and make it easier for the team to do their job. People aren’t going to do an initiative if they’re already exhausted. 

Now, because of the economic state, it’s much more about the bottom line.  When I want to convince someone, I start with how it will avoid costing more money, and how it will create efficiencies.  As a woman who is young, short, and jovial, people might see me as down a point. But if you want to pitch a change, you don’t just go in and say, “I want to do this.” Your employer will ask what, why, how, and what’s in it for me, so have those answers.  It’s a pitch.  Always be pitching!

There’s a PR benefit to sustainability, but the benefits have really been around efficiencies.  Take the reusable container program.  First, we tried it as a side-of-the-desk program, and it cost us money.  It was on the chopping block.  I did a pitch about a third party technology with upfront costs and longer term benefits. Now that we have this technology, we have a 99% return rate. From a cost standpoint, we aren’t buying new containers each year. Environmentally, it’s excellent. We benefit labour-wise because we’re no longer chasing containers. Equipment wise, we don’t need an extra dishwasher. This is a niche example, but our sustainability initiatives always have labour and cost benefits.

There are also non-quantitative wins, like with our expanded cultural options in our menus.  We’ve had so many students tell us, multiple times, how much this means to them, how the food reminds them of their grandmothers.  For team happiness, it’s amazing.  

Before, I was one person in one department, doing this work by myself. Now I coach a team in doing good work, which is really motivating. I’m building a squad! One project we’re working on, I’m just the advisor for. It’s the More Than Food Peer Education Team. Students like to learn from one another, so our peer education team does a pop-up each month related to food, wellness, and sustainability, and how it ties into Hospitality. Last month, they did plant-based options, held a sampling event, and showed where students could buy the food. They also ask a question each month, like “How many times a week do you choose plant-based meals?” – things staff couldn’t ask students directly without survey fatigue. For the student peers, the more fun, the better. I love this, because it’s working, and it gives us information we can build off of.  As long as you’re respectful, you can bring in some silliness.  Just because you’re having fun doesn’t mean it’s not serious.

I get to bring my whole personality to work, and I cultivate a team that has that perfect Venn diagram wanting to have fun at work and also wanting to get stuff done.