Ten years ago, Aspen Medical joined a small but growing group of businesses willing to open their operations up to scrutiny and measure themselves against a rigorous, independent standard. A decade — and several recertifications — later, the healthcare provider is proof of something we at B Lab™ hear often from long-standing Certified B Corporations™: the real value of certification doesn’t show up on day one. It builds, year after year, as the standards evolve and the business does too.
We sat down with Sean Ryan, General Manager of Corporate Services at Aspen Medical, to mark the milestone and hear what a decade of B Corp Certification has actually meant for the organisation, beyond the logo.
Healthcare where it’s needed most
Aspen Medical describes itself as more than a healthcare provider. For more than 20 years, it has partnered with governments, defence forces, humanitarian agencies, intergovernmental organisations, and industry to solve complex healthcare challenges in remote, complex, and under-resourced environments: from Ebola and COVID-19 responses that made global headlines, to almost two decades of sustaining healthcare in rural and remote Australia. Today, the business works alongside communities and governments in more than 30 countries.
It was never about changing direction
For Aspen Medical, becoming a B Corp in 2016 was a chance to formalise what the business already believed.
“Becoming a B Corp wasn’t about changing direction,” Ryan says. “It was about being open to scrutiny and committing to the values that had shaped Aspen Medical from the beginning.”
That first B Impact Assessment didn’t reveal a business that needed reinventing, but it gave an existing one a shared language and a structure to build on. “In many ways, Aspen Medical was already living the principles of a B Corp from the very beginning,” Ryan reflects. “The first B Impact Assessment gave us a structured way to recognise, measure and strengthen those practices.”
“Looking back, certification wasn’t an achievement to tick off,” he adds. “It marked the beginning of a continuous improvement journey that continues today.”
The value isn’t in the logo
Ask Ryan what advice he’d give another healthcare organisation weighing up certification, and his answer cuts straight to the point most businesses get wrong.
“Treat certification as a management framework rather than a marketing opportunity,” he says. “The value isn’t in the logo. The value comes from the conversations it creates.”
Those conversations, he explains, run through every part of the business:
“It encourages organisations to examine how decisions are made, how people are supported, how communities benefit and how success is measured beyond financial performance.”
It’s a distinction that matters for any business considering certification for the first time. Adding the logo to your website is just the beginning. What Aspen Medical describes took ten years to build, and it’s still being built: a set of habits, questions and expectations that shape how the organisation actually operates.
A framework that won’t let you get complacent
Every B Corp Certification comes with an expiry date, and that’s by design. Recertification means re-earning the badge by going through the process again, not simply renewing a membership. The team at Aspen Medical has come to see that rhythm as one of the framework’s biggest upsides.
“One of the strengths of the B Corp framework is that it doesn’t allow you to become complacent,” Ryan says. “Each recertification encourages us to examine how we’re operating today rather than relying on what we’ve achieved previously. It creates regular conversations about governance, workforce wellbeing, environmental performance, community impact and accountability.”
The real payoff isn’t the audit itself, he notes, but what it sets in motion afterwards:
“The assessment itself is valuable, but the real benefit comes in the years ahead when people across the business are continually looking for ways to improve and make an impact. That’s become part of our culture.”
Growing more rigorous, right alongside them
B Lab’s Standards have grown more demanding over the past decade, and Aspen Medical’s business has grown and changed alongside them. “We welcome the increasing rigour of the B Corp standards because it reflects both our growth as a business and the evolving expectations of the global community,” Ryan says.
“We see the shift as an opportunity to test our practices, strengthen accountability and identify where we can do better. It ensures our impact continues to be meaningful, measurable and aligned with the standards expected of responsible global businesses.”
Better questions, better decisions
Perhaps the clearest evidence that certification embeds trust into a business is what happens when the decisions get hard. Working across more than 30 countries, often in fragile or fast-moving environments, Aspen Medical doesn’t get to avoid difficult calls. What’s changed, Ryan says, is the way those calls get made.
“The B Corp framework doesn’t necessarily tell us what decision to make, but it changes the questions we ask,” he explains. “Are we partnering with organisations that share our values? Will this project create lasting benefit? Are we considering the wellbeing of our workforce? Are we strengthening local capability? Will we leave the community better than we found it?”
Those questions, he says, don’t always lead to the fastest or easiest outcome — but they tend to lead to the right one.
“Those questions often lead to better long-term decisions, even if they aren’t always the easiest or quickest ones. Over time we’ve learned that values-based decisions are rarely at odds with good business. More often, they’re the reason good businesses endure.”
Ten years in, still building
Ten years after its first certification, Aspen Medical’s understanding of impact has broadened rather than settled. Having supported communities through Ebola, COVID-19, and health system challenges across Australia, the Pacific, and beyond, the business now measures success less by the care delivered today and more by what they try to leave behind: stronger health systems, deeper local capability, and more resilient communities.
It’s the reason B Lab points to long-standing B Corps like Aspen Medical when we talk about the real value of certification. Becoming a B Corp can help access partnerships, procurement, and investment opportunities, strengthen employee engagement and retention, and present opportunities for collective action in the short-term. The lasting part — the trust, the discipline, the habit of asking better questions — is what a decade of recertification, scrutiny, and continuous improvement builds, and why B Corps are more resilient.
Considering certification for your own business? Explore B Impact to see how your company measures up, or get in touch with the B Lab Australia & Aotearoa New Zealand team to start the conversation.
