CESR Blog

Investing in Social Impact

Julie Waggoner — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 01:28:16 +0000

Investing in Social Impact Julie Waggoner Thu, 11/14/2024 - 18:28

Julie Waggoner

For Carlos Peña (MBA ’19), the education he received at Leeds and the ecosystem of entrepreneurship, venture capital, and social impact he found in Boulder and Denver transformed the trajectory of his career.

Carlos grew up in Ecuador and came to the U.S. for college where he studied babyֱ��apps at Notre Dame, drawn by the school’s focus on social responsibility. He used the Leeds MBA program to move into impact investing from a background in management consulting, as well as involvement in the Chicago entrepreneurial ecosystem and work in microfinance serving mostly Latino and African American entrepreneurs. The MBA program helped him learn about the intersection of venture capital and impacting investing, and enabled him to get a role at a mission-driven family office after graduation.

Currently Carlos serves as Director of Investments at ImpactAssets Capital Partners where he makes impact investments across asset classes and creates portfolios that move the needle on racial equity – all while generating a market rate of return for his clients. His work involves the same due diligence and financial analysis that any “traditional” investor would do, plus the additional layer of measuring social impact outcomes.

We recently sat down with Carlos to talk about why he sees finance as the way to solve social challenges, his journey into impact investing, and his advice for students looking to follow in his footsteps. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

CESR: What big challenges are you motivated to solve using finance and business?

Carlos Peña: The world is broken. The world is unfair. Unless we actively try to fix it, it’s not going to get better. We live and operate in a capitalist society. Every business requires capital, whether it is a nonprofit with grant capital or a for-profit with investment capital. That’s why for me it was impact investing. In terms of how, I built a skillset that allows me to identify the drivers of risk and value for a company, and if you can overlay impact inherently in that business model, then you can really drive change at scale in terms of social justice. When impact is truly integrated into the business model, it’s not a “nice-to-have,” it’s not an additional benefit. In true impactful companies the product or the service is the impact, so as you scale the company, the impact grows.

Folks like us won the lottery of life. Not being born in a war-torn country. Not growing up in a violent environment. Having a roof over our heads and three meals a day. I owe it to the world to pay it back, to make it better and give other people chances to improve themselves and live better lives.

CESR: What keeps you motivated working in the impact space where you spend a lot of time thinking about big challenges?

Carlos Peña: I continuously see the inequalities and the disparities that certain populations and communities experience. These issues are multidimensional – health, education, housing, access to capital, or even basic needs – and pervasive both within the U.S. and across the world. What keeps me motivated is knowing that I can make a change through my work. Also, the fact that my role is very intellectually engaging keeps me motivated. I’m constantly seeing different businesses, different models, different capitalization strategies, different risk-return profiles. It’s always changing, so I don’t get bored!

I also have more of a philosophical answer: we only have one life, so we should use it to make the world better, to reduce suffering for others. This is in line with the Jesuit concept of “ser más para servir mejor” – which is the idea of constantly improving oneself in order to be of (better) service to others.

CESR: You landed an incredible role as Investment Principal at The Beacon Fund in Denver right out of the MBA program. How did you do it?

Carlos Peña: Going into the MBA, I did not expect in my wildest dreams that I would get a role like that. CU Boulder was critical in me being able to do that. I think it’s immensely important while you’re doing the MBA to visualize where you want to go, so that when you’re applying for a job it’s not about wanting to do what you’re applying for, it’s about how you want to continue in that space.

The classes at CU were great. I crafted my New Venture Finance emphasis, which is what I called it. I focused on early-stage entrepreneurship, anything related to tech and took the Venture Capital Law class. That class was awesome! It really opened my eyes and gave me a skillset that very few people in the industry have. Taking that class was transformational.

Also, I got super involved locally. I mentored at Watson Institute, I interned at BIGR Ventures. I did a lot of internships, some paid and some unpaid, just to get the experience and the exposure. I was super active with networking by going to conferences like SOCAP and Opportunity Finance Network. Pro tip: if you volunteer at a conference, especially at the front desk, you get to meet a lot of folks working in the industry! Then you can follow up, have conversations and learn.

Through networking and at those conferences, I met people from the social enterprise and impact ecosystems, including individuals from The Beacon Fund. Also, I applied to a ton of jobs, not just the one that I got. A big piece of my success was my summer internship at Avivar Capital in LA. When you are seeking an internship, focus on the skillset and the experience, not the geography.

CESR: How did your education at Leeds prepare you for your career now?

Carlos Peña: First of all, the academics for my path were excellent from the get-go. Leeds is in one of the most important tech hubs in the country, if not the world, and that brought in great professors. Having access to classes like Early-Stage Entrepreneurship, VC Law and Entrepreneurial Finance was huge. Those topics are the building blocks of any early-stage investor’s skillset.

In terms of extra-curriculars, DCVF (the Deming Center Venture Fund) was pivotal for me. It’s what allowed me to get that first experience in venture capital in a real way. Doing it in a multi-disciplinary team with law students, engineers, business students, that was awesome and unique. Having babyֱ��app and investors involved on the board, and eventually co-leading it was an amazing experience. On the impact side, I also ran the Social Impact Prize in the New Venture Challenge, which allowed me to overlay the social piece over the top of the tech-enabled start-up models, so that I could say I had done early-stage impact investing during the program.

Finally, having access to Techstars, Start-Up Weekend, Watson, all the accelerators and venture capital funds in the area – that’s a rich ecosystem that very few other universities have in the U.S. We compete with the biggest brand names in terms of that. We are unique. No one looks down on us at CU Boulder. We’re awesome. I’m proud to be a Buff, always. It transformed my career and my life.

You must be humble and be kind. Be willing to wear all hats. Be open to doing things outside of your role as needed. You must be passionate about the work. If you’re smart and you’re passionate and I can see that you care about the space, we’ll give you a shot.

CESR: What are some of the skills and knowledge that you look for in hiring new associates?

Carlos Peña: Impact investing requires all skillsets and all roles, not just investors. You can be a marketing specialist, an accounting or operations specialist. For my team in research and due diligence, I want to see finance experience. Ideally investing, but not necessarily. Banking, valuation, advisory, consulting. I also want to see experience with being involved in different projects simultaneously where you manage your time and juggle different timelines and requirements.

Then, are you a team player? You must be humble and be kind. Be willing to wear all hats. Be open to doing things outside of your role as needed. You must be passionate about the work. If you’re smart and you’re passionate and I can see that you care about the space, we’ll give you a shot. I want to see that you know who’s who in the space, that you know the trends, you know about things like full continuum of capital investing, pay-for-success models, family offices, foundations. Show your interest in the space.

CESR: What advice do you have for students interested in the intersection of finance, sustainability and social impact?

Carlos Peña: Be very proactive all throughout the program, from the first semester. Your time is precious throughout the MBA. It’s limited. Be very thoughtful about your extracurriculars. Volunteer, but volunteer for things that are going to give you the skills or connections that are going to help you get where you want to go.

Aggressively pursue your internship. That will be the defining tool you will have to talk about yourself. Be able to craft a cohesive narrative to talk about your prior work, why the MBA, what you’re doing in the MBA, and where you want to go. Always connect your experiences with the academics. That’s key. Read a lot. Network. Keep an Excel sheet of all the folks you’ve connected with. Reach out to people and learn what they do. Message them on LinkedIn, share some of your interests, acknowledge how busy they are and ask if they might have 30 minutes to talk to you in the next few months. Don’t expect them to squeeze you in next week.

Be able to be specific about the kind of role you want. Be willing to relocate. You can get to the geography where you want to go later, now focus on the skillset. Be open to more junior or entry-level roles. Once you get a foot into the space it’s easier to rise, rather than trying to aim at the senior level right off the bat. There’s a lot to learn about impact investing, even if you’re experienced in finance, so be willing to put your ego aside and then grow in the field.

Always submit a cover letter with your applications. Always reach out to the hiring manager before you submit an application, or at least look at everyone’s profile on LinkedIn so they see that you are looking at them.

Learn more about Leeds MBAs working at the intersection of business and impact, and explore CESR’s sustainability opportunities for graduate students.

Carlos shared a list of media outlets and books he’s used over the years to keep up on trends in impact investing and learn. Check out the list below to learn more about this space.

Follow media outlets like Impact Alpha, Conscious Capitalism, Stanford Social Innovation Review and Nonprofit Quarterly.

Big foundations like Ford, Kellogg, Blue Haven Initiative, etc. all regularly publish reports on their work and emerging models.

What’s Possible: Investing Now for Prosperous, Sustainable Neighborhoods by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Real Impact: The New Economics of Social Change by Morgan Simon

Investing With Impact: Why Finance is a Force for Good by Jeremy Balkin

Out Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs--From Delhi to Detroit--Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley by Alexandre Alex Lazarow

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas

The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society's Toughest Problems by William D. Eggers and Paul MacMillan

The Innovation Blindspot: Why We Back the Wrong Ideas and What to Do babyֱ��app It by Ross Baird

The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows, and Natural Being by Jed Emerson

From Poverty to Power by James Allen

Lean Startup : How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert B. Reich

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MBA Student Supports LGBTQ+ Inclusion in babyֱ��app Climate Sector

Coco Goldman — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 17:59:14 +0000

MBA Student Supports LGBTQ+ Inclusion in babyֱ��app Climate Sector Coco Goldman Fri, 11/01/2024 - 11:59

Julie Waggoner

Olivia Kefauver (MBA ’25) has spent their career working in impactful positions in a variety of industries. Now, they are pursuing an MBA to drive impact at a larger scale and become a changemaker in the decarbonization space. Olivia has not shied from bridging clean energy connections in babyֱ��app, having been selected as a Clean Energy Fellow for the babyֱ��app Cleantech Industries Association and kickstarting the launch of Out in Climate’s babyֱ��app chapter.

CESR recently reached out to Olivia to gain insight on their experience as a Hybrid MBA student, the Clean Energy Pathway, and their advice for individuals with an interest in clean energy.

CESR: What inspired you to pursue a career in clean energy?

Olivia Kefauver: After getting my B.A. in environmental policy I worked in a variety of regional nonprofits and B2C companies that operated in different capacities at the intersection of people and their environment, spanning agriculture and food & beverages to think tanks and the outdoor industry. I loved each of these roles because they allowed me to better understand the broader environmental, social, and political systems within which they operated and the levers with which people have made widespread change.

Soon after moving to babyֱ��app, I began working at a Mountain West law firm with deep roots in domestic energy policy doing marketing and communications. I found myself working with colleagues who not only had an acute understanding of the history of energy policy in this country but were also helping major companies understand the evolving issues and, in some cases, contributing to the trajectory of our national energy transition. Seeing the scale of impact that was possible through clean energy development and policy regulation energized me to go back to school to better understand the current clean energy landscape and how I could contribute to moving levers at a larger scale to accelerate the clean energy transition.

"Learning from the experience and perspectives of my cohort - who have worked in commercial real estate, wealth management and finance, the armed forces, to being entrepreneurs to being new parents or making major career pivots - has been the most enriching part of my program so far, and has influenced how I think about issues within the clean energy space"

CESR: How has your background in environmental studies meshed with your business education at Leeds?

OK: I strongly believe it has enriched my experience and business education thus far at Leeds. I hope to some extent sharing my experience with my cohort has been additive to them as their diverse experiences have been to my own education and how I approach business and broader social questions.

I sought out Leeds for its academic strength and industry network in the climate and clean energy space and since beginning my program, I’ve found that these strengths have enhanced my education in the ways I had hoped. My coursework and extracurricular opportunities have given me a whole new suite of tools and frameworks to approach the same environmental issues that my undergraduate degree had approached from a different angle.

I will say, for all of Leeds’ strength in clean energy, learning from the experience and perspectives of my cohort - who have worked in commercial real estate, wealth management and finance, the armed forces, to being entrepreneurs to being new parents or making major career pivots - has been the most enriching part of my program so far, and has influenced how I think about issues within the clean energy space.

CESR: What has been the impact of CESR and the Clean Energy Pathway on your MBA experience?

OK: Pursuing my MBA degree through a Hybrid schedule has necessitated that I am acutely intentional with my time and energy as I, alongside my peers, balance full-time jobs, community and professional engagement, and our personal lives with the responsibilities of our MBA program.

CESR and the Clean Energy Pathway’s extensive programming and resources - from carbon accounting bootcamps to coursework like Commercializing Sustainable Energy Projects - have fast-tracked my ability to connect directly with the professionals and evolving issues within the clean energy sector in babyֱ��app and beyond.

To be frank, pursuing these opportunities has also been a haul - adding the Pathway requirements on top of my existing commitments has challenged me, but I ultimately am grateful I’ve pursued this path for how it has added to my educational experience. This process has felt very much like “Type 2 fun” (not fun while you're doing it, but retrospectively rewarding) - a concept that I think many Coloradans embrace and often seek out.

CESR: Tell me about your experience with Out in Climate.

OK: In October 2023 Leeds had supported me to attend the Reaching Out MBA conference, a conference which organizes programming to educate and connect LGBTQ+ MBA students and alumni. It was the first time I had seen so many LGBTQ+ professionals in one place and importantly, the first time I had seen so many queer C-Suite and senior-level business leaders sharing their experiences. It was incredibly impactful for me, and when I returned home to babyֱ��app, I was eager to find both LGBTQ+ peers and mentors in the climate sector in babyֱ��app.

Not long after, the organization Out in Climate (OIC) popped up in my LinkedIn feed and I reached out to the leadership team to see if OIC had a presence in babyֱ��app, and offered to help start one if they hadn’t. I was soon connected with one of OIC’s founding members, Johnny Daugherty, who helped build out the now-bustling New York City chapter under the same motivation I had - to cultivate the professional climate community he sought. He and I are currently planning out our 2025 events, which will touch on a wide range of exciting local climate initiatives with big reach. Today, the babyֱ��app chapter joins several new OIC chapters across the United States planning clean energy treks, panels, and social events to gather and support LGBTQ+ climate professionals.

"Underrepresented groups have been revisioning what the world can be - regardless of current constraints - since the beginning of recorded history. I can’t think of an effort in more need of that drive and vision than the race to address the climate crisis and global clean energy transition."

CESR: What advice do you have for LGBTQ+ individuals and individuals of other underrepresented communities interested in pursuing clean energy?

OK: Acknowledging that I can only speak from my own experience - which by nature can’t and won’t be applicable to everyone’s identity or experience, what I’d say to folks in the LGBTQ+ community and other underrepresented communities pursuing clean energy as a career would be:

Find your people. Being connected to professional and community networks where you can see your identity and shared experience reflected can be foundational in the trajectory of your career and ability to see yourself in leadership positions. These networks will be both a springboard for opportunities as well as a salve for challenging points throughout your career.

While there are certainly identity- and experience-based MBA organizations, you may well find that your networks may not be formally established or geographically close and may take some time to find. “Your people” also includes committed allies - Leeds has a wealth of resources and highly qualified folks to help you succeed - be proactive in reaching out to them and articulating what you want to do and what support you need in order to get it done.

If what you want doesn’t exist, consider building it. With the caveat that underrepresented groups are often juggling a lot while pursuing graduate degrees, if you have the bandwidth and the professional network you want or need doesn’t yet exist in a way that’s accessible to you, make it happen.

Each time that I have steeled myself for what felt like it would be an inevitably awkward or cringey process of putting myself out there to organize events or build a network, I’ve been floored by the positive reception I was met with, and how - in the best way - completely unoriginal my desire for community and mentorship had been.

Your experience and skills are critical to the clean energy transition. Underrepresented groups have been revisioning what the world can be - regardless of current constraints - since the beginning of recorded history. I can’t think of an effort in more need of that drive and vision than the race to address the climate crisis and global clean energy transition. This is an effort so awesome and consequential that it necessitates the lived experience and perspective of many diverse communities in order to have a hope at being successful. I can’t think of any better group to vision and deliver a just, equitable, and lasting solution to our climate crisis.

CESR: Where do you see yourself after wrapping up your MBA?

OK: I’m planning to work in babyֱ��app in strategic partnerships and negotiations or communications for a clean energy developer or organization supporting the decarbonization of traditionally heavy industry. I am driven by the immense opportunities inherent in these paths to accelerate the clean energy transition in a lasting way and am excited by the prospect of joining others across babyֱ��app who have been doing this critical work.

Interested in learning more about the Clean Energy Pathway? Visit our page and subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated on upcoming events throughout the semester.

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Executive Education Brings Sustainability to the Forefront

Justin Michael Forbis — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:13:03 +0000

Executive Education Brings Sustainability to the Forefront Justin Michael… Mon, 10/28/2024 - 14:13

Introducing the Sustainability and Social Impact Certificate

Leeds is committed to shaping future business leaders for sustainable and impactful careers. In that spirit, the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR) has updated its executive education program with a new name but the same vision: preparing tomorrow’s decision-makers to drive solutions to corporate environmental and social challenges. The Sustainability and Social Impact Certificate aligns with the values and passions of our professional community, covering areas like environmental sustainability; ESG reporting; diversity, equity and inclusion; ethical AI; impact finance; policy advocacy and corporate philanthropy.

“It’s our responsibility to help develop leaders with business expertise complemented by an understanding of sustainability and social impact issues and opportunities.” - Kathryn Wendell, executive director of CESR

Sustainability is important to Leeds, CU Boulder and the broader community. Chancellor Justin Schwartz recently launched an initiative to establish CU Boulder as a national and global leader in sustainability. This includes hiring a vice chancellor for sustainability, implementing an ambitious decarbonization and clean energy plan, and augmenting expertise in climate science research.

“Aligning our program with Chancellor Schwartz’s vision of our university as a global leader in sustainability is important to our mission at CESR and at Leeds as a whole,” said Kathryn Wendell, executive director of CESR. “Leeds, CU Boulder and our Boulder partners are all committed to driving innovative solutions to the tough environmental and social challenges facing our world today. It’s our responsibility to help develop leaders with business expertise complemented by an understanding of sustainability and social impact issues and opportunities.”

Environmental sustainability is a critical concern for business, whether in the form of adapting to climate change, managing carbon emissions, complying with regulatory requirements, risk management or addressing community concerns. Social impact is also an opportunity to strengthen companies and organizations by leveraging diverse perspectives and investing in the communities where employees live and work. Leeds and CESR will continue to empower business and nonprofit leaders to catalyze positive change in these areas.

The certificate program is offered during spring and fall semesters, with 14 live, 2.25-hour online sessions. The course features both an afternoon and evening cohort, allowing students to choose the option that best fits their schedule. The curriculum is refreshed every semester based on the latest trends, information, news and scientific research.

Over the past seven years, this program has educated more than 600 professionals to become environmental sustainability, social responsibility and impact business leaders. Previously known as the Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility and the Certificate in ESG Strategy, the Sustainability and Social Impact Certificate reflects the most current curriculum and aligns our program with important industry trends.

The Center's for Ethics and Social Responsibility launches a new name for its longstanding successful executive education program. The new name of Sustainability and Social Impact Certificate better reflects current trends within the industry.

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Transferrable Skills Opened the Door to Leeds Alum’s Sustainability Career

Coco Goldman — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 17:44:15 +0000

Transferrable Skills Opened the Door to Leeds Alum’s Sustainability Career Coco Goldman Thu, 10/17/2024 - 11:44

Julie Waggoner

Amy Halvorson (MGMT, ’10) has worked on sustainability for large companies like Cargill and Starbucks for almost a decade. She credits her education from Leeds, including classes like Leadership Challenges (CESR 4000), and the skills she learned in her first job (that was not in sustainability) for laying the foundation for her career.

We recently sat down with Amy to talk about why she’s excited to serve on the CESR Advisory Board, values-based decision-making, and lessons she’s learned along the way.

CESR: How has your education at Leeds shaped your career trajectory so far?

Amy Halvorson: When I think back to my time at Leeds, and in particular because of the CESR courses I took, my main takeaway was around the importance of ethics in business. My experience in Leadership Challenges helped me to more easily identify ethical dilemmas that arise in the babyֱ��app and how to use a values-based approach to solve them. Tough situations do come up in my day-to-day work, like they do in anyone’s, and there’s not always a black and white answer. There’s rarely a perfect solution. It’s most important to understand the tradeoffs and how you are going to weigh them. I walked away from Leeds and CESR having a clear sense of this business reality. It’s not straightforward, and there is a role for values in making decisions.

CESR: How have you seen this kind of values-based decision making show up at work?

AH: Everywhere I’ve worked, there have been people I could compare notes and work together with on finding a solution to the ethical dilemma. Not necessarily in a formal setting, but there are some very explicit ways that a company can do this. I’ve worked for values-based organizations where values come up in team meetings and leaders model talking through values in conflict. The leaders that are the most authentic are the ones who are willing to express when they are not 100% sure if a decision was the right one. You still come together and move forward to support the organization, but you can do so being clear eyed about what you will and won’t do. Seeing that from the leader allows everyone to have those conversations more openly.

CESR: What are you most excited about regarding your work with the CESR Advisory Board and your upcoming talk at the Sustainability Bootcamp?

AH: It’s such an honor to be a member of the CESR Advisory Board, especially as a mid-career professional. Preparing the next generation of leaders is a huge priority for me, both personally, because it was not super long ago that I was in school and I remember what it was like, but also to make sure that our organizations have a strong pipeline of talent that can come in and look at situations critically and holistically. One of the things that CESR does really well is to create that holistic, systems thinking about business challenges that bring different perspectives into decision-making. The board is a great opportunity to collaborate with babyֱ��app, staff, other business leaders, and ultimately students to move forward that mission.

In terms of the bootcamp, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m planning to share an overview of what’s happening in the environmental sustainability space, which is ever-changing, but always comes back to the core issues of protecting the climate, nature and people. I love these types of events because I learn a lot from the students, from their questions and perspectives. It helps me to check my own biases, which is critical in this type of work.

"When I look back, most of the best decisions I’ve made both personally and professionally came with a little bit of risk. You have to believe that you will figure it out; you are your own best advocate."

CESR: Tell me about how you got into sustainability, and some of the most important things you learned along that journey.

AH: I’ll be honest; I really lucked out. When I graduated from CU, I didn’t really know how to break into the sustainability field. It was a passion of mine, but I didn’t really know that those careers existed. Sustainability as a job function was just being stood up. My first job out of undergrad was working in workforce and babyֱ��app development for the State of babyֱ��app. That job taught me two critical skillsets that helped me land my first sustainability job: project management and stakeholder engagement.

After I got my master’s in international business from CU Denver, I wanted to move into the private sector. I was applying all over the country to jobs with any company that aligned with my values. I got a project management job with a big company, and I was fortunate that the projects I was managing and the relationships I was developing were related to sustainability. From there I learned the issues by working on them. I listened to the experts in the room, asked a lot of questions, read up on things later to learn more, sought out mentors, and asked for stretch assignments to help me learn and grow in sustainability.

So that’s how I got here, but in terms of what I learned along the way, there are a few things.

Any job can be a sustainability job. When I started there wasn’t a sustainability job function at my company. We were more of a center of expertise where we had different functions working on sustainability. While I was there it matured, and a global sustainability team was set up. What I learned was sustainability needs people in all disciplines. Any job function that you can think of, there is a need for people from those job functions and those perspectives to work on sustainability.

Your first job likely will not be your dream job, and that’s OK. My first job was not my dream job, but I came away learning so much. I set goals to pick up certain skillsets that benefitted me down the road. I made connections and embraced the different opportunities that job was offering me. Now I see that organizations most want to see that you are making connections and working to transfer skills. They don’t expect you to have the exact same job that’s posted in the job description, but they want you to be able to make those connections.

Taking some calculated risks is important. When I look back, most of the best decisions I’ve made both personally and professionally came with a little bit of risk. You have to believe that you will figure it out; you are your own best advocate. If it feels a little bit uncomfortable, that might be the right decision. You have to lean into that discomfort.

"In terms of values-aligned careers, recognize that wherever you end up, there will be trade-offs. The existence of trade-offs doesn’t make it a bad fit. It just gives you the opportunity to apply your values-based lens."

CESR: What advice do you have for students who want to pursue values-aligned careers?

AH: Do your research but be open to the possibility that you might be biased. In my experience most companies, not all, but most, are trying to do the right thing. Even the ones in “Big XYZ Industry,” be that “Big Oil,” “Big Food,” “Big Ag,” etc. There are good people in those companies trying to help their company do the right thing.

Try to find at least one person in the company outside of the interview panel to have an informal chat with to get a feel for what it’s like to work there. The interview panel is trying to sell you on the company just as much as you are trying to sell yourself, so you’ll get their corporate talking points. If you can find someone outside of that through LinkedIn, a referral or a connection, that informal chat is really valuable.

In terms of values-aligned careers, recognize that wherever you end up, there will be trade-offs. The existence of trade-offs doesn’t make it a bad fit. It just gives you the opportunity to apply your values-based lens. I don’t want students to end up at a company and the first dilemma that pops up they see it as a red flag and try to leave. There are trade-offs no matter where you are and it’s just a question of figuring out how to navigate them.

CESR: Anything you would like to add?

AH: I’m fortunate that I’m a sustainability professional, but it’s important that students don’t limit themselves to one job title and keep an open mind as they’re applying. For your first job, it’s just important to get a good job. It’s important to start working in a professional environment, building your resume, networking, building skillsets. It might not be what you thought you wanted to do. The competition is high for any job. Be really open to learning from any experience that you’re afforded.

Meet experts and alumni like Amy at CESR’s Upcoming Events, including the Sustainability Bootcamp where Amy will be speaking on Nov. 8th.

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Sustainability Comes Full Circle for SRE Certificate Alum

Srishti Sharma — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 18:10:59 +0000

Sustainability Comes Full Circle for SRE Certificate Alum Srishti Sharma Fri, 10/11/2024 - 12:10

Sarah Reice (Fin, SRE'18) is the Sustainability Manager for Anthropologie and was named to the 2024 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 list. We recently spoke with her about how the Social Responsibility and Ethics (SRE) Certificate shaped her career, what qualities make sustainability professionals successful, and how her proudest achievement so far links back to her learnings from Leeds.

CESR: How did your time at Leeds help in establishing the foundations for your career?

Sarah Reice: As I look back at how I ended up in this field, I can attribute all my ambition, success and trajectory to my time at Leeds. I’m in a unique position where I’m working in a science-oriented field, but I don’t have a science background.

Through my education at Leeds, I was able to get creative when it came to a finance career. My professors gave me confidence in the fact that I didn’t need to stick to a banking or financial institutions pathway. With the SRE Certificate I was challenged to envision a career that created value and aligned with my own, and approach business in a way that could be beneficial to the world. That’s kind of the Boulder way. That love and engagement with the environment was something I felt outside the classroom, too. So many of my fellow alumni are taking a similarly forward-thinking approach to business, and I don’t think that is a coincidence. I feel a lot of pride that not only myself, but my peers are challenging businesses to operate differently, and I really believe we owe that mindset to our time at Leeds.

"With the SRE Certificate I was challenged to envision a career that created value and aligned with my own, and approach business in a way that could be beneficial to the world."

- says Sarah Reice

CESR: Could you speak a bit more about the 2024 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 honor that you recently received? What does it mean for you and your career?

SR: I connected with Lauren Kotze (Fin, SRE ’16) (who was in the 2023 GreenBiz 30 Under 30) last year after she was a recipient, and our conversation left me feeling eager to pursue the recognition too. Having this encouragement to engage with the designation from another woman in the industry was important, because this work is often referred to as the “wild wild west”. The landscape is vast, there isn’t a clear direction, and the opportunities are endless. That’s why networking is especially valuable in this industry, and I’ve been lucky to connect with a ton of women doing similar work who are always ready to uplift you and help you find your footing.

After completing my first year with Anthropologie and looking back at what we were able to bring to life, I felt like I was ready to showcase my work outside of my existing network, like I really had something I could stand behind and be proud of. That’s why this recognition has a lot of personal value to me. It affirms that the impact we’re creating is there, and we are taking steps forward. Creating long-lasting change is hard, and to do so in an authentic way takes a lot of time. This designation gives me confidence that even though our change may not be viewed as flashy as or as quick to action as other companies, it is there, it’s meaningful, and it’s rooted in authenticity. That authenticity piece is critical to achieving success in this sphere.

CESR: What are some of your favorite projects in your job at Anthropologie? How do they relate to big trends in the fashion industry related to sustainability?

SR: My favorite project has been launching our regenerative agriculture work. This year, we really leaned into regenerative agriculture, and regenerative cotton to be more specific, as a key innovation in our sustainable fiber mix. What has been great is seeing the 360-degree way we approach the topic.

We started off in April of this year by launching our first line of regenerative cotton basics, and we did this in tandem with a new partnership with Kiss the Ground, a non-profit committed to regenerative agriculture, who we donated 100K too as well.

Our regenerative cotton line was done with basics because we wanted to make sure we were creating sustainable innovation in pieces that would outlive trend cycles, styles that would stay in your closet for years to come. This was really important to us as a team.

Partnership was equally as important, because we wanted to be sure we were also uplifting the leading voices in this area. Kiss the Ground stood out to us because they approach regenerative agriculture in a creative way, and creativity really resonates with our customers. Once we saw their work, we knew they were the right fit for our new journey towards regeneration.

Beyond product and partnership, we also recognized that there is a huge gap in knowledge across our organization, our customers, and the population in general related to regenerative agriculture. To address this, we also created custom experiences geared towards education. For customers, this was in-store workshops, and for employees this was volunteer opportunities. It’s been inspiring to bring these experiences to life and introduce our community to something new. Education is so important!

What adds a more special layer to all of this is that I learned about regenerative agriculture at Leeds, and I’ve always been amazed by it. It’s a sustainability topic that I would come back to time and time again as something I hope to be involved in one day. Being able to bring it to life at Anthropologie almost a decade later has felt so full circle.

CESR: Could you speak a bit more about the 2024 GreenBiz 30 Under 30 honor that you recently received? What does it mean for you and your career?

CESR: What are some of your favorite projects in your job at Anthropologie? How do they relate to big trends in the fashion industry related to sustainability?

"Credibility is everything in this industry and being willing to say, 'I don’t know. Let me get back to you,' builds that trust and shows you have a growth mindset. In a field where change is constant, this skill is underrated."

- says Sarah Reice

CESR: What are some of the attributes of a successful sustainability professional?

SR: A few qualities come to mind. There is a real need to build trust internally and externally when you work in sustainability, so the first quality is the ability and confidence to say, “I don’t know.” Credibility is everything in this industry and being willing to say, “I don’t know. Let me get back to you,” builds that trust and shows you have a growth mindset. In a field where change is constant, this skill is underrated.

There’s also a ton of power in flexibility and resilience. Those two go hand-in-hand. You have to be resilient to challenges that will inevitably come your way, and flexible in your approach to solving them. It isn’t unheard of to be faced with data or budget challenges, but if you approach these with resiliency and flexibility in mind, you’ll find more wins than you expect.

The third thing is the ability to have boundaries with your work and take care of yourself. We are trying to solve complex problems often with limited resources. The people who have success are the people who can take breaks and make sure they’re still filling up their cup. It’s easy to make this work your identity, too, because it often aligns closely with our values, who we are as people. That’s another reason why boundaries and self-care are critical in this space.

CESR: What advice do you have for students who want to work in sustainability?

SR: I’m lucky to have a position that is fully dedicated to sustainability, though it took a few years to get here. I can feel for students who aren’t seeing the perfect job opening right at graduation.

But sustainability is a highly collaborative field. This work requires internal expertise within functions that may not have “sustainability” in their job title. When applying to jobs, think about the areas of the business that may work directly with the sustainability leads. This is how you can start to integrate this work into a more traditional function and gain the expertise necessary to make the pivot one day. Chances are that sustainability is showing up in these more traditional roles more often than you think!

CESR: Is there anything you would like to add?

SR: I have to use this time to give the Leeds babyֱ��app a huge shout out, especially Birdie! She’s a big reason why I landed my first gig in the ESG space when I joined B Lab way back when.

I want to encourage the students at Leeds to find ways to connect with the professors that inspire them. Whether it be attending office hours, staying after class to chat, or joining a club that their favorite babyֱ��app member sponsors. I’ve seen time and time again how my connections from Leeds have positively influenced my career, and it’s not everyday you are surrounded by staff who are equally as capable as they are willing to help you navigate this space.

Learn more about the SRE Certificate and Sustainable Business Club (formerly CESR Fellows). Revisit our past conversation with Sarah Reice about her work in sustainability standards at B Lab.

Sarah will be talking with current SRE and SRS students about careers in sustainability on Oct. 9th. Email cesr@colorado.edu for more information.

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babyֱ��app is on Track to Becoming the Nation’s Climate Tech Hub

Coco Goldman — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 18:11:08 +0000

babyֱ��app is on Track to Becoming the Nation’s Climate Tech Hub Coco Goldman Fri, 10/04/2024 - 12:11

Katherine Ratledge

In late September it felt like the world descended on New York City. In some ways it did—the UN General Assembly was in town for their annual meeting. But there were also more than 6,000 people in town to participate in Climate Week, an annual gathering of investors, innovators, NGOs, academics, and politicians tackling the climate crisis.

Because it’s New York, and because there was $1.3 trillion invested in the climate economy last year, Climate Week felt more Wall Street than Greenpeace. The DOE’s Loan Program Office shared that for every public dollar spent on the energy transition there were $5-6 dollars put in by the private sector. Professors from NYU and Columbia discussed innovations in the financial markets to derisk the energy transition and first of a kind (FOAK) investments. Top executives from the beauty industry considered the merits of aluminum versus plastic packaging. Deloitte hosted a two-hour workshop on the integrity of carbon markets. And new technologies with promising results were being discussed everywhere. Lines for some tech demos were like getting into the hottest club in Manhattan. The climate tech excitement was palpable.

Climate tech, an amorphous term, usually refers to any technology that mitigates greenhouse gases or helps society adapt to a changing climate. Think electric vehicles, renewable energy, and low carbon materials. However, climate tech can also refer to efficiencies in mining, the digitization of buildings, regenerative agriculture, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). It is a massive sector with a growing influence in the marketplace. Almost all Fortune 500 companies have investments in climate tech and estimates suggest it will be a nearly $9 trillion economy by 2030.

Is babyֱ��app Ground Zero for Climate Tech?

It’s common to think climate tech is synonymous with the Bay Area, however, babyֱ��app is rapidly becoming a new hot spot. There are more than 80 climate tech start-ups with headquarters in the Front Range. Denver-based Koloma, a natural hydrogen company, just raised a quarter billion dollars in its Series A. Electra, a green steel company, is building its first pilot plant in Boulder. Another babyֱ��app company, Solid Power, was just awarded $50 million from the DOE to expand its development of solid-state batteries for EVs.

Why babyֱ��app? One investor dubbed the Front Range the ‘Goldilocks’ of clean tech-- not too built out or too expensive, and with just the right amount of talent, funding, and government support. babyֱ��app has a unique set of amenities that makes the state attractive to founders and investors. Home to 24 federally funded scientific labs, like NOAA, NREL and NCAR, and major research institutions like CU, CSU and babyֱ��app School of Mines, babyֱ��app is a ‘hub of climate research and technical expertise.’ Its traditional strengths in aerospace research and the pharmaceutical industry give it an additional competitive edge.

With so much research happening, there are plenty of opportunities to commercialize big ideas. CU, for example, is among the top five universities for startup creation. Co-founders Greg Reiker and Caroline Alden are examples of this ecosystem at work. Their company, LongPath Technologies, came from quantum technology developed in a CU lab and is now playing a crucial role in monitoring methane emissions around the state. Another startup, Prometheus Materials, producer of low carbon cement, licensed IP from CU’s biotech and engineering departments. Eat Meati, a mushroom based meat, was originally developed by Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley as PhD students at CU. Capitalizing on this momentum, Venture Partners launched the Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator program in 2023 to pair university technologies with seasoned entrepreneurs.

(Interested in learning more? CESR is hosting LongPath Technologies on October 15th with the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship. Register here.)

Additionally, babyֱ��app has a suite of policies in place to support climate companies. babyֱ��app has been at the forefront of energy efficiency and clean energy for some time, approving a renewable energy portfolio standard back in 2004 and being an early adopter of PACE (property assessed clean energy), an innovative program that helped expand rooftop solar. Money from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is speeding things along, as well. Vestas, the wind turbine manufacturer, invested $40 million to expand their operations in Brighton and Windsor. babyֱ��app is using money from the IRA to meet emission goals in the state’s Climate Action Plan, through initiatives in transportation, land use and regulation of the oil and gas industry. The state was recently designated a Quantum Tech Hub by the Biden-Harris administration and received $41 million to strengthen its quantum computing capacities. Finally, NSF awarded $160 million to fund the babyֱ��app-Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine, which will support the development of new technologies for drought and wildfire resilience.

Finding a Shared Vision

In some ways, what’s happening in climate tech could not be more exciting. There is definitely a revolution to remake and reorder the world to respond to climate change. When I started working in climate nearly 20 years ago, the community was mostly made up of NGOs, government partners, educators, journalists and scientists. But now the business community is involved, and the rooms are full of accountants, financiers, analysts, strategists, entrepreneurs, and it's great! We need all of these people and more.

And yet the excitement is masking some hard truths. To start, we are not meeting our climate goals. The world has warmed 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the Industrial Revolution and though the results are not yet apocalyptic, they are certainly getting there. Last week, Hurricane Helene became a category 4 storm overnight dumping 40 trillion gallons of water across the Southeast and killing nearly 200 people. In 2023, the United States had 28 weather disasters costing a billion or more in damage. (For context, there were three such disasters in 1980.) I heard little at Climate Week about adaptation—in other words how can we not just mitigate greenhouse gases but also build resilience to withstand the impacts of climate change? Should we have a massive government program like the Civilian Conservation Corps to shore up defenses against extreme heat or sea level rise? Do we need new financial tools to help homeowners move away from climate danger zones? Can we create better building materials to withstand heat, wildfire and floods? Weather disasters are leaving communities with crippling consequences, and we need a massive infusion of talent and capital to solve these problems now.

Second, we need to be honest about how the digitization of everything is actually going to affect the planet (and people). Data centers are gobbling up farmland, using millions of gallons of water daily and generating an energy crisis in America. In Virginia, which is already the data center capital of the world, big Tech has proposed 180 million square feet of data centers—the equivalent of 1,000 new Walmart Super Centers. The IEA predicts artificial intelligence will double data center electricity use in the next few years. It caught my attention at Climate Week when developers were touting CCS as an offset to the data center emissions issue. Emissions are just a small fraction of the environmental impact of AI and yet enthusiasts seem to always cite clean energy as a panacea to the industry's problems. What if instead of seeing climate goals as an emissions math problem we took a more comprehensive look at environmental impact? What then would 'net zero’ look like?

Lastly, and most importantly, nature needs a spot at the table. Discussions of biodiversity and the millions of other species on Earth were eerily absent from Climate Week. In all the hustle and bustle and techno excitement few people mentioned the reason all this matters — the necessity of ecosystem services for survival and a general awe at the power of nature. In fact, it was a conversation between Jane Goodall, the famed primatologist, and Craig Foster, the director of My Octopus Teacher, that brought a room full of business leaders to a grounding halt. Craig showed a video of an octopus stealing his camera and filming him, the 1001st species in the kelp forest. Jane performed a ‘hello’ in chimpanzee and talked about the first time David Greybeard, her beloved primate friend, touched her hand. And then they both waxed poetic about how Mother Nature needs a spot at the Board Room table, leaving much of the audience in tears.

Accomplishing the insurmountable is a favorite pastime of the human race. The Pyramids? The Manhattan Project? The Moon Landing? These are all moments in history that happened due to extraordinary orchestration, precision, technical prowess, money, leadership . . . all things we have in multitudes if only we have a shared vision. I have my fair share of anxieties about the planet, but I am a climate optimist. I am a strong believer in the power of collective action and in the role of business to create meaningful change. Here at the Leeds School of Business we have the opportunity to lead and train our business students to be a part of the solution. I am hopeful we can do just that.

Want to be a part of the solution? Check out CESR’s programs and the SRE certificate for undergraduates in business.

Katherine Ratledge is the Program Manager at CESR and attended Climate Week in NYC earlier this month. She manages the Clean Energy Pathway for MBAs and the SRE certificate program for undergrads at Leeds.

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Clean Energy Transition Continues Purposeful Work for MBA Army Veteran

Sarah Arney — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:37:01 +0000

Clean Energy Transition Continues Purposeful Work for MBA Army Veteran Sarah Arney Thu, 10/03/2024 - 13:37 Julie Waggoner

After a ten-year career serving in the Army, Ethan Subra (MBA’25) came to Leeds last fall to pursue work in the clean energy transition, an area that would let him continue to focus on creating a positive impact through his work. He was attracted to Leeds by the program’s Pathways in Clean Energy and Sustainability, alongside the location in Boulder.

We recently sat down with Ethan to discuss how the skills he learned in his military career serve him as a rising business leader, what excites him about working on the Clean Energy Transition, and his summer internship with Scout Clean Energy.

CESR: First of all, thank you for your service in the Army. Can you tell our readers more about that experience, and how the skills you learned translate into the business world?

Ethan Subra: Serving in the Army was very formative in terms of shaping my leadership style and helping me learn how to be professional in any environment. At the age of 23 being put in charge of a group of 40 people from a wide range of backgrounds forces you to grow up fast. That helped me to learn about some personal weaknesses and humbled me early on. Learning how to manage people from diverse backgrounds and orient them to pursue a common goal, particularly in times of high stress and challenge, was a significant learning experience for me as a leader.

In the Army, you change jobs every year or two as you grow in rank, so that constant change helped me to become adaptive and willing to tackle things head-on, to accept failure and learn from it, then eventually succeed. Over the course of 10 years in the Army, I had to do that over and over in different environments.

Another skill I developed relates to handling risk. The experience of assessing threats and adversaries in the Army helped me understand how to view, accept, and mitigate risk. That has paid off in my experience in the business world so far. It relates to the due diligence process, which was my focus in my internship this summer.

CESR: Tell me about your experience as a veteran at Leeds, and the community of other veterans in the MBA program.

ES: The Veterans Club has added a solid core of individuals with shared experiences of serving in the military, which has been helpful now that I am very far away from that environment. Leaving the Army feels like quitting something cold turkey after 10 years. School is very different; the internship was very different. It has been good to be a vet here because there is a high percentage of other vets, and there’s a strong support system in the Leeds School. Doug Bennett supported the veterans club and is a well-respected businessman. Heather Adams has taken over now sponsoring the club. Both are veterans as well. There’s a lot of appreciation and community that’s fostered between vets through that babyֱ��app and student connection. I appreciate the diversity in my personal community at Leeds of both veterans and non-veterans.

"I don’t want to just add more money to a company’s balance sheet with my time, energy and skills. I want to leave a better planet for the next generation and generations beyond, and through that work generate value for a company."

CESR: What makes you excited about the clean energy transition?

ES: What gets me excited is two-fold. Number one is the intrinsic value I derive from pushing the clean energy transition forward. I got a lot of intrinsic value out of serving in the Army, so I knew that I needed to find that same value in the work I did next. I’ve found that to be the case in the renewable energy transition writ large. Finding an MBA program that had a strong curriculum and opportunities for renewable energy and climate tech was a priority for me. CESR and the Clean Energy and Sustainability Pathways were some of the biggest things that drew me to Leeds.

I don’t want to just add more money to a company’s balance sheet with my time, energy and skills. I want to leave a better planet for the next generation and generations beyond, and through that work generate value for a company.

The second piece is that it’s a growing industry. Every week you read a new article about how there’s a looming shortage of energy period, and how there’s a lot of work to be done to meet our climate goals but also to grow the grid and the capacity enough to meet the demands of the growing economy and technology. I see job security there, opportunities for growth, and a demand for skills that I am developing here through the program, and through my internship. Looking ahead building skills for the clean energy transition seems like a sound investment.

CESR: What has been the impact of the Clean Energy Pathway (and other programs from CESR)?

ES: The impact has been huge so far, because the first year of the program is so dense on fundamental MBA courses. To not just work on the skills, but also the network and my industry awareness, the Clean Energy Pathway has added specificity that I wouldn’t have gotten if I had just gone to class. The CESR Newsletter and opportunities that come out of that, the networking events, and the Clean Energy Finance Bootcamp provided phenomenal exposure and helped me get the internship I wanted. I was able to market those things to employers in my interviews, and that helped me to gain traction and set myself apart.

"I see job security there, opportunities for growth, and a demand for skills that I am developing here through the program, and through my internship. Looking ahead building skills for the clean energy transition seems like a sound investment."

CESR: What did you do this summer for Scout Clean Energy? What did you learn?

ES: I worked on their Mergers & Acquisitions team as an intern. I helped my manager, Dan Witt (MBA ’20), one of the senior managers on the team, on an acquisition proposal for an energy project that ultimately got approved. It consisted of building on a brownfield site on top of a closed coal mine. I helped to prepare Dan on some very niche parts of that deal that were unique to Kentucky, where the brownfield site was. I was responsible for understanding the tax implications, how much money we would save over time, and the siting approval process.

I also got to work on developing a financial model, which is what I wanted to do this summer. I was exposed to it through some finance classes and the Clean Energy Finance Bootcamp. I got to get deep in a very complex financial model that will help us look at aging wind farms and how we could turn a profit on acquiring those over time. It’s part of Scout’s long-term strategy of growing the wind pipeline, and it opens a whole new category of acquisition projects, vs. acquiring empty land. I led meetings with wind manufacturers like GE, Vestas and others to begin the due diligence and fact-finding process in support of the broader project valuation I was developing.

I’ll be working part time with Scout in the fall as well. My goal is to stay on with them and keep that initiative moving.

"So, say “yes” to as many things as you can within the healthy boundaries you set for yourself. The more you put yourself out there, the greater your chances of finding that thing you’ve been looking for."

CESR: What advice do you have for students just starting the program?

ES: If you don’t know the industry that you want to go into, cast a wide net early on and give yourself many opportunities to discover what intrigues you and what your strengths are. Give yourself the opportunity to say no to many things on your way to finding something you really want to commit to.

Also, realize you never know where that special connection that leads to an opportunity is going to come from. It could be a connection from a lunch n learn, or an alumni happy hour, or from a professor. You might think that the connections happen at official “networking” events, but it can happen anywhere. So, say “yes” to as many things as you can within the healthy boundaries you set for yourself. The more you put yourself out there, the greater your chances of finding that thing you’ve been looking for. That’s the approach I took, and it paid off for me with my internship, but it’s also for paid off for my classmates in other ways. Don’t discount any events.

Learn more about upcoming sustainability and social impact events, as well as the Clean Energy and Sustainability MBA Pathways.

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SRE Certificate Alum Uses Video Games to Create Social Impact

Erik William Jeffries — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 19:20:02 +0000

SRE Certificate Alum Uses Video Games to Create Social Impact Erik William J… Thu, 10/03/2024 - 13:20

Julie Waggoner

Zhenghua “Z” Yang (Fin, SRE ’14) is the Founder and CEO of Serenity Forge, a values-driven video game development company based in Boulder. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2020. His games have saved lives, helped kids learn rocket science, and inspired gamers to turn enemies into friends.

We recently sat down with Z to talk about how Leeds and the SRE Certificate (Social Responsibility and Ethics Certificate) have impacted his career, the power of video games to create positive change, and advice for college students figuring out their next step. This interview has been edited for clarity. This article mentions depression, suicide and severe illness.

CESR: How did your time at Leeds, and particularly the SRE Certificate, help in establishing the trajectory of your career so far?

Z Yang: Serenity Forge would not have happened without Leeds. The professors and programs like the SRE Certificate made me think outside the box. That is how I got all of this started.

The most impactful classes for me talked about responsible accounting, communication and leadership. We learned about how companies greenwash and that’s bad, but there are ethical ways to talk about your work in sustainability. We learned how to tell what is being done just for marketing purposes or to drive up share price, versus what is truly giving back.

The Leadership Challenges class really helped me. I remember talking to leaders like Michael Leeds (former President and CEO of CMP Media, Inc.) and Larissa Herda (former CEO of TW Telecom). Being able to speak with these business leaders, learn from their insights, learn from the traumatizing experiences that they’ve had and how they’ve had to deal with them, was very eye-opening for me.

These experiences are the things that have stuck with me over time and now fuel what I do. Very often I think back to what I learned then when I’m making decisions about how to drive the company forward, and how to do the right thing by the stakeholders within the company and outside the company.

"Very often I think back to what I learned [from the SRE Certificate] when I'm making decisions about how to drive the company forward."

says Yang.

CESR: What excites you about video games? What does being a values-driven company mean in this space?

ZY: I am a first-generation immigrant from China. I moved to the U.S. when I was 10 years old, and I’ve lived in Boulder since then. When I was in middle school and high school, I was a big gamer. I didn’t really have a lot of friends. I didn’t really speak English. It was pretty difficult for me to get into American culture. Video games caused a lot of detriment to my life at that time because I was so addicted to them and playing them in an unhealthy way.

At 18 years old I was diagnosed with a severe illness that caused me to be hospitalized for two years. During my first semester of college, I had to go to the ER one night and wound up having to drop out of school and come home. It was a very difficult time. I was going through chemo. Doctors didn’t really know what I had. I was in and out of the hospital. I didn’t really have anyone there for me. I don’t have siblings, my parents were really stressed all the time, and the few friends that I had disappeared. I had to turn to video games again.

I was playing all sorts of games. I was playing single-player games that made me feel like a hero, going out there saving the world, and that made me feel good. I was playing multi-player games where I was able to connect with people from all around the world. I was able to build these friendships where they would check in with me. They would ask how I was doing that day, had I taken my meds, was I getting proper rest, because they cared about my wellbeing. Eventually I was able to meet medical researchers who connected me with some of the world’s best hematologists who gave me crucial advice and treatment that was vital to keeping me alive.

"I started thinking, games like League of Legends, they aren’t designed to help me, but in the end, they saved my life. What if I created video games with the intention to help people, what kind of power could I unlock?"

says Yang.

Two years into this I was able to go back to school, and I came to Leeds. I started thinking, games like League of Legends, they aren’t designed to help me, but in the end, they saved my life. What if I created video games with the intention to help people, what kind of power could I unlock?

I come from a low-income background, so I didn’t have the money to take extra classes. My first year at CU I used the course catalog to find out when the programming classes were taking place, and I would sit in the back and just listen, take notes, and borrow the textbooks from the libraries. That’s how I learned programming. I have always done art, so I just started making my own video games.

The summer after my first year of college, I created a non-fictional game that was based on the trauma that I had been through with my illness. I put it out there online for free just to see who was going to resonate with it. babyֱ��app a month after I put the game out there, I got an email from a kid in Spain who had been struggling with depression. He had been planning to take his own life, but he found my game online and after playing it he felt so inspired that he decided to stop his plans and enroll in video game design school so that he could share his story in the same way.

That was my first year at CU. I didn’t make a million dollars over night, but I saved someone’s life, so I thought that maybe I was onto something. I kept working on the company. By the time I graduated from college I already had six full-time employees working out of a basement. This is our 10-year anniversary. Now we have 40 employees, mostly in babyֱ��app, some remote, and a new office that we just opened in Budapest, Hungary.

CESR: How do you think about social impact and sustainability as they relate to your business?

ZY: There was a quote that I learned from John Mackey, the Whole Foods founder, that really stuck with me. “Just as people cannot live without eating, so a business cannot live without profits. But most people don’t live to eat, and neither must businesses live just to make profits.”

That quote is so simple, but also so easily forgotten in the corporate world we live in today. Probably 99% of companies out there don’t have any concept of the fact that we’re out here to do something more than make money. At Leeds, we learned about the Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet and Profit. That’s the kind of mindset that permeates Serenity Forge.

The game industry is very much a money-driven space. It is a gigantic industry with big players out there designing games for your phone that will trick you into spending more and more money for another turn or whatever it is. However, we came out of the gate saying that’s not how we do things. We’re going to do things very differently. We think about sustainability and social impact. We think about games that are going to be able to change people and make the world a better place.

As a result over the past 10 years, people have wondered about this philosophy and that distinct approach has created a ton of fans around the world. We’ve created games that are raising awareness for mental health, war, and trauma. Games that make social commentary on family abuse or child abuse. These are topics that we’re talking about constantly, and our games are showing people through real and fictional stories how the world can be bad, but also how it can be better. A lot of the things I learned in school really resonate through Serenity Forge.

Our company mission is that we create meaningful and emotionally impactful experiences that challenge what we think. Anything we do has to be meaningful. It has to make the world a better place. It has to do something that pushes the world forward. And if it’s not that, then we won’t look at it no matter how much money it might make.

"Why not take some of the things that you learn from the SRE Certificate about values-driven decision making and apply them to yourself? What are the things that you care about, that really define who you are? And then think about what you are doing every day to achieve those goals."

says Yang.

CESR: What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered as a founder, particularly of a company that’s so focused on values?

ZY: Now that we’re 10 years into the business, one of the things I’m noticing is really difficult is sticking with your values. The world is changing so fast nowadays. In this industry, you see technology pop up left and right and with each new technology you have to decide if you want to capitalize on it or not. Every step of the way it’s almost like the forces of the universe are testing you to see, “Are you sticking by your guns, or are you just here to make a quick buck?” All the time you see companies that are throwing money at new technologies, which can have big upsides and big downsides.

The founding fathers of Wells Fargo had a unique perspective relative to company values and technology, and that is that technology should never be the goal of what you do, rather technology should be a tool that helps you to achieve your goals. And that’s why we take our company mission statement so seriously. We look at whether any new technology fits with our goals of creating meaningful, emotionally impactful experiences and making the world a better place, and that’s how we decide whether or not to invest.

CESR: What advice do you have for current students looking for the right path for them after graduation?

ZY: I have two stories I share when asked about this topic.

The first story is about Shigeru Miyamoto, who was the creator of Mario. He met Hiroshi Yamauchi, the president of Nintendo, when he was 32 years old, and Yamauchi was 50. Yamauchi was owning the company from when he was 18 until he was 50 years old before he even met the creator of Mario. The way that I think about it is that someone like Miyamoto essentially messed around doing whatever for 10 years after graduating college before becoming the grandfather of a multi-billion industry that generated so much difference in our society.

When I was in college and when I talk to college students now, one of the common themes that I see is that there’s all this focus on a roadmap to a specific kind of job seeking stability, a Big 4 firm or something like that. But very commonly what I’ve found in my friend groups from Leeds, is that once you actually get into those positions, many people realize it’s not a good fit for them, and then they go through a huge revelation in their mid-to-late twenties where they’re directionless before they’re able to find their real calling again.

A lot of times, I wonder what is the right way to approach your own career. I’m not trying to say that working for a Big 4 firm is bad. I have friends who work for those companies and love it. What I’m saying is, why not take some of the things that you learn from the SRE Certificate about values-driven decision making and apply them to yourself? What are the things that you care about, that really define who you are? And then think about what you are doing every day to achieve those goals. Are you doing what you’re doing because your mom told you to do it, or because it’s on your roadmap to achieve your ultimate goal in life? I think that taking some time to examine those choices for yourself is going to yield better, healthier, happier results for you to go out there and achieve something great.

"Don’t be afraid to think big. Don’t be afraid to think about doing good for society, because you are already in the position to be able to do it."

says Yang.

The second story is about when I interned with the Federal Reserve in Kansas City. That was my dream job at the time. I realized that the Fed made all the babyֱ��app decisions, and I wanted to understand how it worked. My time at the Fed was great. It had great benefits, and I really liked the work, too. For me, even if Serenity Forge didn’t exist and I had just stayed there, I would probably be happy. However, what changed my life was at one point we were invited to have lunch with then Chairman of the Fed, Dr. Ben Bernanke. That was very interesting because during the time I asked him what advice he had for kids like us coming out of college.

What he said was, if you think about it, a lot of people in the world are really unfortunate. People in rural Africa and China, these are people who have to spend hours every day just trying to get water and food for their families to survive. If you are one of the few people in the world who is able to choose what you want to do with your time, rather than be forced to do what you have to do to survive, then you have the ability to make a difference. That freedom of choice is what you need to find true happiness, and to change the world.

That moment is when I recognized my privilege as someone who is speaking English and living in America. I realized that if I wanted to create something that I wanted to see in the world, I was in the position to do that. That’s when I made the decision to leave the Fed and start Serenity Forge.

That is probably one of those things that college kids need to hear more. Life is not just about all the stuff that’s in front of you. You really can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. Anyone who is attending school at CU Boulder is already in the top 1-2% of human civilization in terms of luck and privilege. So why not use that position and privilege to go out and do something good for the world?

So that’s my closing advice to college students: Don’t be afraid to think big. Don’t be afraid to think about doing good for society, because you are already in the position to be able to do it, way more than 99% of the people out there in the world.

_______________________

Learn more about upcoming sustainability and social impact events, as well as the SRE Certificate.

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One Semester to Career-Long Networking

Justin Michael Forbis — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 19:44:23 +0000

One Semester to Career-Long Networking Justin Michael… Tue, 08/20/2024 - 13:44

Learning doesn’t have to be linear, and it isn’t always on a time clock.

Program alumni assembled for a sustainability tour of the Denver Botanic Gardens

Sometimes our biggest lessons in life and business come quickly and leave a deep, lasting impact. It’s one of the reasons people choose the Leeds Certificate in ESG Strategy Program: it’s a thoughtful, intentional and single semester course that offers relevant and immediately applicable ESG education while providing career-long value through strong alumni engagement and networking.

Program alumni on a site visit to Red Rocks to learn about the history and sustainability practices

“The education you receive is great and helps how you approach CSR and ESG, but the network is what sets it apart,” said Lauren Roadman, specialist global community relations at Ball Corp., who completed the ESG certificate program in 2020. “Having a deeper pool of resources and fellow alumni to lean on for support, networking, feedback and ideation provides immense value.”

Today, Roadman holds a committee leader position on the ESG networking group team after playing a key part in energizing the alumni group through creating structure, committees and meaningful outreach and engagement opportunities.

“The alumni network cares about investing in the continued professional development of leaders across organizations and providing opportunities for crowdsourcing and thought partnership from the alumni network.”
- Colleen Maleski, Program Alumni

Colleen Maleski, senior associate at GBSM, completed the ESG certificate program in 2022, leveraging professional development funds. Now she pours her energy into nurturing a strong alumni network so the benefits of focusing on corporate sustainability and social impact grow over time.

“I was seeking the opportunity to learn about the latest innovations in the social impact space. In an ever-changing field with new innovations and regulations constantly evolving, the class is designed to give you baseline information and involve you with what is happening in real time in the news, with an up-to-date perspective,” Maleski said. “The alumni network cares about investing in the continued professional development of leaders across organizations and providing opportunities for crowdsourcing and thought partnership from the alumni network.”

More than 500 engaged and growing

Program alumni assembling care packages for babyֱ��app Coalition for the homeless

Roadman and Maleski say there are about 30 highly active alumni members, with an overall network that has grown to more than 500 professionals worldwide. Since the Certificate in ESG Strategy program is fully online now, there are more opportunities to tap into a larger network of resources, and one of the group’s goals is to continually increase participation outside babyֱ��app.

“We live in a virtual world,” Roadman said. “There are a lot of similar roles out there—what better way to tap into an existing network and pick their brain for ideas and suggestions? We have an active and large hyperlocal contingent in the Denver metro area, but it’s only one piece of a greater whole.

Program alumni hosted a panel of sustainability professionals for a networking event

Part of the success with this network is a conscious effort to create more inclusive opportunities and expand networking offerings beyond the traditional happy hours. The alumni group has also organized tours of Red Rocks Park & Amphitheatre and the Denver Botanic Gardens to learn more about those organizations’ sustainability efforts. The group also completed a volunteer event supporting the babyֱ��app Coalition for the Homeless, for which nearly two dozen ESG alumni assembled care packages.

As the alumni network continues to grow, they’ll continue to look for even more ways to engage with members worldwide and continue to share knowledge and inspiration about corporate responsibility and sustainable practices. ESG alumni are always welcome to share networking ideas and opportunities.

Learn more about this certificate program

The Certificate in ESG strategy program attracts professionals interested in building a strong, supportive career network with others who care about corporate responsibility and social impact, while expanding their knowledge through education that aligns with personal values. If you would like to discuss your professional development goals and how this certificate can build your skills and partnership opportunities, our certificate instructor, Jennifer Forman, is happy to schedule a one-on-one meeting so you can learn more and share any questions you have.

The Sustainability and Social Impact Certificate has a strong alumni network that continues to grow and develop ongoing professional opportunities for its members.

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Advancing Your Career with ESG

Justin Michael Forbis — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 19:22:06 +0000

Advancing Your Career with ESG Justin Michael… Fri, 07/12/2024 - 13:22

Developing new ESG skills and refining the ones you have helps align your values with your job.

Naisa Beaumont’s heart has always been in sustainability.

Beaumont, who has a background in environmental science and spent years in compliance and policy, is the Impact Manager at BarkleyOKRP, an advertising firm that works with purpose-driven clients.

Beaumont completed the Certificate in ESG Strategy from Leeds with the desire to shift careers to be more involved in strategic planning around ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). She wanted to upskill and add a certification to her toolkit to increase opportunities and job advancement in roles more aligned with values, impact, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

“I love this field. It’s a field that requires constant upskilling and relearning,” Beaumont said. “It is always shifting and changing, so it’s important to stay on top of things. I enjoy all aspects of the field and bringing everything together. I love this world of ESG and got so much personal and professional fulfillment in the discussions I had with other students.”

Upskilling and advancing with ESG

Beaumont, who vetted a few other similar programs, appreciated how the timing, topics and schedule of the Leeds ESG program fit with her life. Having the certificate and new experience carried her through the interview process as she explored opportunities.

“Just being able to talk the talk and use industry speak—it felt very familiar and comfortable to me and the role I wanted. The program also helped narrow my focus on roles and responsibilities as I applied for new jobs.”

Career pivots to social impact

Beaumont appreciates that everyone in the ESG certificate program comes from different backgrounds and brings different skills and perspectives. Understanding how to create valuable, transferable skills is important. Her advice to professionals seeking ESG opportunities is to make a running list of their strongest skills and remain knowledgeable about how those skills can be applied to a variety of roles. “One of the topics we talked about in the program is reading job descriptions and understanding their required experiences, exploring how to develop the expertise to meet those qualifications. One thing that is understated is that while young professionals need to add skills to their toolkit, later-career professionals also benefit from upskilling and developing transferable skills.”

Learn more about the Certificate in ESG Strategy

The Certificate in ESG strategy program attracts professionals interested in expanding their knowledge and making career changes that align with their personal values related to social impact and sustainability. Learn how to build a plan to ask for employer financial support or consider scholarships and discounts to help you in your professional development journey. If you would like to discuss your professional development goals and how this certificate can build your skillset, we encourage you to schedule a 1:1 with our certificate instructor, Jennifer Forman.

Learn all about Naisa Beaumont advanced her career by learning critical ESG skills that align with her values and in her career

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