Noted social entrepreneur Kim Anderson is a role model who demonstrates the impact of scalable market-based solutions on combating global issues such as climate change.

Ms. Anderson has been a successful retailer and business leader for more than 35 years. In 2019, she created and co-founded PLANT CITY, the world’s first and largest plant-based food hall with celebrity chef Matthew Kenney, as an impact investment to show that food systems can be sustainable and delicious. In 2021, she opened two PLANT CITY X’s, the Northeast’s first plant-based drive-thrus in Middletown and Warwick, RI, and 345 by Plant City, a new Providence speakeasy, opened in 2022. With a focus on sustainability, the Plant City model calls for adaptive reuse of existing buildings- often in stark contrast to what was there before.

Anderson has been recognized by Inc. Magazine, Fortune and Entrepreneur, and honored as “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Small Business Association and “Citizen of the Year” by the Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce. With her family, she is an impact investor against climate crisis, specifically with an interest in alternative proteins. She is a member of the Advisory Board for PlantPure Companies and a co-founder of EverHope Capital, a venture capital fund providing Seed, Bridge and Series A capital to firms creating innovative food technologies and alternatives to animal-based products. She also serves on the board of So- cial Enterprise Greenhouse, Lincoln School, and the Collis Family Foundation, and as a judge for Rhode Island Business Competition. She was recently selected to be fifth Rhode Islander to be entered into RI Entrepreneur Hall of Fame by the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (MET) School.

Ms. Anderson’s honorary degree is the fourth Bryant degree in her family. Her parents, the late Robert Sprague ’56 and Audrey (Perreault) Sprague ‘56, were both graduates of Bryant College and her late father-in-law, Charlie Collis, was a former Bryant trustee and received an honorary degree from Bryant College in 1983.