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The corporate world may not appear to be fertile ground for a vegan lifestyle, but dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a surprising number of plant-based professionals in high-powered industry positions.

Darina Bockman is one such professional. Having been involved in grassroots vegan advocacy for seven years while simultaneously achieving success in the corporate world, Bockman didn’t fit the typical definition of an animal rights activist, and was often the only vegan in her close circle.

She soon realized that the larger corporate landscape offered an untapped resource for the movement, and came up with a new concept: Vegan Leaders.

The idea of the group, which Bockman started through LinkedIn, is to show the world that hundreds—if not thousands—of accomplished, high-ranking business leaders are vegan.

“I felt very strongly about bridging these two worlds,” she explains to Latest Vegan News. “This is not a ‘fringe’ lifestyle, and in fact, it’s a logical fit for high achievers in business.”

The primary audience for Vegan Leaders is management-level professionals who are working at Fortune 500 companies.

“Most of our members have manager or director titles (however, we also have VPs, CEOs and Managing Partners), and work in finance, legal, marketing, IT, HR, sales and other business functions,” she says.

At only eight-months-old, the organization is represented at major companies including Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Intel, Oracle, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, New York Life, American Airlines, Comcast, Google, Apple, Merck, Yahoo, Boeing, CBRE and Wells Fargo.

Bockman wants to encourage connection between scattered vegans throughout the corporate world, in the U.S. and beyond.

“Geographically, about 80% of members are U.S.-based but we are building a strong presence in Canada, Europe, Australia, and even in countries such as Russia, France and China,” Bockman adds.

“Ultimately, this powerful business community is key to the vegan movement, given the collective social influence, wealth and expertise.”

Bockman is passionate about reaching professionals who previously had no vegan peers within their company, industry or geographic location. In addition to the LinkedIn network, the group has a corresponding website, VeganLeaders.com.

As far as the future is concerned, Bockman plans to continuously improve the site and introduce new tools for members, as well as engage the leaders in various initiatives.

“Our goal is to penetrate all Fortune companies and countries, and eventually spur the creation of company-specific vegan networks,” Bockman adds. She mentions that Microsoft already has a veg employee network that boasts hundreds of members. Its founder, Mark Aggar, is Microsoft’s Senior Director and an esteemed member of Vegan Leaders.

Prospective members can learn more about Bockman’s group at VeganLeaders.com, or search “Vegan Leaders & Corporate Professionals” on LinkedIn.

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