ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway /business/ en Jake Davis (MBA’16) /business/faces/2025/02/28/jake-davis Jake Davis (MBA’16) Jane Majkiewicz Wed, 02/26/2025 - 13:40 Categories: CESR Blog Tags: CESR Blog CESR MBA Stories ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway Faces of Leeds Anna Bedell (Mktg’25)

Jake Davis’ journey to sustainability has been anything but traditional. While his original life goal was to write for a ski magazine, he ultimately landed in impact investing for The Nature Conservancy, where he has now worked for almost a decade.

Davis followed his aspirations to become a writer by majoring in writing as an undergraduate at Northern Michigan University. Besides his passion for writing, that choice also stemmed from his knowledge that he would be going into active duty in the military after graduation.

“Being in the military had always been a tradition in my family, and it also helped pay for school,” he said. “I was able to choose to study something that I enjoyed—and I had always loved writing growing up.”

A change of perspective

Davis served in the military for the next nine years, working in intelligence operations and spending a few years deployed in Afghanistan. While the experience was invaluable in sharpening his leadership and strategic thinking skills, he was excited for a change. After leaving active duty, he pursued his dream of working for a ski magazine and became an editor in Boulder. But to his surprise, he found it was no longer his passion.

“If I had started sports writing right out of college, I would probably still be doing something like that,” he said. “But having spent a couple of years in Afghanistan and doing other things in the military, writing about ski helmets seemed much less exciting after having been in a war.”

In 2012, Davis joined ŷڱƵ Boulder as a program manager for the Presidents Leadership Class. He came to Leeds because he had been looking for his next move professionally and believed that graduate school could set him up for a successful transition. He completed his MBA in 2016 and John Helmers, Leeds director of Graduate Career Management, helped Davis get his position at The Nature Conservancy.

A new career path

At The Nature Conservancy, Davis runs the department, which is responsible for using private capital to help advance conservation efforts. The department sources, structures, funds and closes innovative investment deals that aim to generate environmental, social and financial returns. His previous experiences have helped him excel in this position, he said, equipping him with the ability to set clear objectives, develop strategic plans and lead teams effectively.

“I think the experiences I’ve had—both in leading teams and knowing how to put together a coherent strategy for getting things done—have been pretty impactful for being able to succeed in life and business,” he said.

For Davis, being in a leadership position means empowering others and supporting them to be the best versions of themselves. He initially faced some challenges transitioning from a military communication style to a corporate setting. He had to learn how to balance different communication styles within the workplace while continuing to prevent conflict and streamline collaboration.

“I’m still working on the skills to be an effective coach for my team,” he said. “I like to have a fun time with people. Sometimes leading means engaging a team, or it requires tough conversations and feedback.”

The evolving role of sustainability

Davis understands that the sustainability industry is highly competitive and not easy to get into. As a fellow MBA student when Davis was at Leeds, Julie Waggoner, who is now the director of operations at the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, remembers Davis as a club leader who helped to organize events related to sustainability, and they did an entrepreneurial class project related to sustainability and social impact. 

That was all part of the learning experience, leading to what Davis believes is simple advice for students looking to follow a career path similar to his: "The core skill sets required to do a job that focuses on evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements are the same as what’s involved in any other business function. Working in a different field right out of college will not hinder one’s chances of working in the sustainability industry later—as long as you’re continuing to hone your business skills."

“Understanding financial analysis and how value is created through channels are core components that those interested in sustainability still need to know,” he said. “Building up those skills while using your dream job for a road map can help set you up for a future career.”

"Understanding financial analysis and how value is created through channels are core components that those interested in sustainability still need to know. Building up those skills while using your dream job for a road map can help set you up for a future career."

Jake Davis (MBA’16)

The path isn’t always linear

Davis’ career is a testament to the value of being a lifelong learner. By having a spirit of curiosity and being open to opportunities, he embraces new experiences that allow him to follow his passions. While landing in his role involved a winding path and some redirection, that was part of the adventure and journey.

From the military to journalism to sustainability, Davis looks ahead with optimism for continuing to create positive change within his community and in the environment. He knows how to find the confidence to innovate and constantly takes steps toward the future he believes in.


Davis has been a guest speaker at events hosted by Leeds' Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR) and is an engaged alumnus who helps students with mock interviews and networking initiatives. Learn more about how CESR is empowering current and future business leaders to solve social and environmental challenges.

Jake Davis took an unconventional career path to sustainability—starting in the military, transitioning into journalism and ultimately finding his passion in impact investing with The Nature Conservancy.

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Wed, 26 Feb 2025 20:40:51 +0000 Jane Majkiewicz 18630 at /business
The Leeds Sustainability Case Competition: Business Students Tackle AI’s Energy Challenge /business/news/2025-02-11/leeds-sustainability-case-competition The Leeds Sustainability Case Competition: Business Students Tackle AI’s Energy Challenge Jane Majkiewicz Tue, 02/11/2025 - 08:35 Categories: CESR Blog Tags: CESR Blog CESR MBA Stories ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway News Social Impact Jane Majkiewicz • Video by Cody Johnston

The annual Leeds Sustainability Case Competition brought together 39 teams from top business schools to develop solutions for sustainability challenges in the age of artificial intelligence.


 


As AI technology expands, its energy consumption is growing exponentially, raising urgent sustainability concerns. How can companies embrace AI without compromising environmental responsibility?

That was the central challenge that MBA students from institutions like the University of California, Berkeley (Haas), The University of Chicago (Booth), Duke University (Fuqua) and Columbia tackled at this year’s Leeds Sustainability Case Competition.

ŷڱƵ Boulder’s "For the Bees" team from the Masters of the Environment (MENV) program took first place, while Leeds’ "The Green Beans" team secured second place.

“Addressing environmental sustainability will be crucial for businesses over the next decade,” said Vijay Khatri, Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean of the Leeds School of Business. “Leeds is at the forefront of highlighting how sustainability is not only a competitive advantage for business, but also an opportunity to drive innovative solutions to global challenges.”

A legacy of sustainability at Leeds

“For 25 years, the Leeds School of Business has prioritized sustainability, ethics and social responsibility, and our students come here because of that focus,” said Mike Leeds (Fin’74).

Since 2001, the Leeds Sustainability Case Competition—formerly known as the Net Impact Case Competition—has provided students with real-world business challenges focused on sustainability. The competition brings together graduate students, executives and businesses that share a common commitment to business practices that yield positive social, environmental and financial returns.

A unique opportunity for future business leaders

“This competition is a unique opportunity because students work in cross-functional teams, collaborating with peers from different disciplines to develop innovative solutions to sustainability-related challenges,” said Kathryn Wendell, executive director of the Leeds Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.

With AI rapidly transforming industries, this year's competition demonstrated how business leaders can balance technological progress with environmental priorities. In addition to fostering an environment of creative problem-solving, the annual event also strengthens students’ professional networks, giving them essential connections as they become next-generation business leaders.

The annual Leeds Sustainability Case Competition brought together 39 teams from top business schools to develop sustainable solutions to power the AI surge.

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Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:35:34 +0000 Jane Majkiewicz 18601 at /business
Investing in Social Impact /business/CESR/insights-news/investing-in-social-impact Investing in Social Impact Julie Waggoner Thu, 11/14/2024 - 18:28 Categories: CESR Blog Tags: CESR Blog CESR MBA Stories ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway 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 economics 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 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.

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: 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. ŷڱƵ 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 ŷڱƵ 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 , I interned at . 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 and . 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 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 faculty 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 ŷڱƵ 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 , , and .

Big foundations like , , , etc. all regularly publish reports on their work and emerging models.

by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

by Morgan Simon

by Jeremy Balkin

by Alexandre Alex Lazarow

by Anand Giridharadas

by William D. Eggers and Paul MacMillan

by Ross Baird

by Jed Emerson

by James Allen

by Eric Ries

by Robert B. Reich

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Fri, 15 Nov 2024 01:28:16 +0000 Julie Waggoner 18330 at /business
Bridging the Gap Between the Classroom and the Sustainability World: MBA Student Consulting Project /business/mba/mba-blog/2023/12/06/bridging-gap-between-classroom-and-sustainability-world-mba-student-consulting-project Bridging the Gap Between the Classroom and the Sustainability World: MBA Student Consulting Project Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/06/2023 - 20:56 Categories: CESR Blog Tags: CESR Blog CESR MBA Stories ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway Sena Kavi

MBA students Mary Boling and Dan Thompson recently had the opportunity to travel to Reno, Nevada, as a part of their consulting project with Arrow Electronics. The project is a part of Joshua Nunziato’s Socially Responsible Enterprise MBA class, where students complete a semester-long sustainability and ESG consulting project for a real company. 

"The consulting project undertaken with the MBA team from the Leeds School of Business serves as a testament to the integral role collaboration plays in today's business environment, inspiring upcoming business leaders to prioritize robust supplier relationships to reduce environmental impacts,” said project host Lindsay Tyson, Director of Global Sustainability at Arrow. “During their visit to the Reno warehouse, the MBA students observed the Arrow supply chain ecosystem in action, bridging the gap between their acquired knowledge and real-world supply chain dynamics."

CESR has helped with sourcing these projects from companies including Arrow Electronics, WestMET, and Nuveen, a TIAA company.

“It’s important for Leeds students to have the opportunity within the classroom to tackle real environmental, social, and ethical challenges that companies are facing today,” said Kathryn Wendell, Executive Director of CESR. “Not only does this provide students with a valuable learning experience that they can talk about in job interviews and apply to their future careers, but also it provides business leaders with a fresh perspective on how to drive business solutions to tough problems. Moreover, these consulting projects connect companies with top talent and help to showcase our excellence in sustainability, ESG, and social impact here at Leeds.”

"The consulting project undertaken with the MBA team from the Leeds School of Business serves as a testament to the integral role collaboration plays in today's business environment, inspiring upcoming business leaders to prioritize robust supplier relationships to reduce environmental impacts,"

- says Lindsay Tyson, Director of Global Sustainability at Arrow

CESR recently sat down with Mary and Dan to talk about the project, their trip to Reno, and their insights into the rapidly-evolving ESG landscape.

CESR: Can you briefly tell me about your background and what brought you to the Leeds MBA program?

Mary: My career up until coming to Leeds has been in education. I taught middle school English for 3 years and then worked in student recruitment for a charter school network in Denver for about 5 years. What brought me to Leeds was my desire to pivot out of education and into a different industry where I could still focus on having a positive impact on the world, but in a different sector.

Dan: I did my bachelor's here at the Leeds School of Business as well, and I graduated in 2015 with majors in Marketing and Operations Management. During my undergraduate years, I was working at Tango Analytics, where I did market optimization, sales forecasting, and retail trade area analysis. After that, my father and I started JBT Ventures and invested in a variety of small businesses. Since 2019 we've mostly been focused on our own personal investment strategies. In 2021 I decided to get my MBA because he's looking about retiring, so it’s time to go my own way.

CESR: What are your post-MBA goals?

Mary: I’m currently a part of the Clean Energy Pathway, and am interested in consulting roles in the renewable energy space.

Dan: I'm still looking at a number of different ideas, but I like the idea of working in the cannabis industry, maybe on the marketing or branding side. We invested in some cannabis businesses back at JBT Ventures; so I do like the space, but I‘m still exploring a number of different avenues.

CESR: Describe your project with Arrow Electronics.

Mary: We are working on looking at Arrow's supplier engagement, specifically through an ESG lens. Since they're such a large company, we've been focusing on what supplier engagement looks like at their Reno facility, which is their largest North American facility. The reason why we went out to visit Reno was that actually being there in person, meeting some of the people and getting to see the operations first hand can really deepen that understanding of the current state [of the facility]. 

Dan: They want us to get a unified supplier outreach approach with the lens of the quality and sustainability industry best practices. They’re going to have to be reporting Scope 3 emissions pretty soon and that means they're gonna have to gather data from their suppliers and calculate their emissions accurately.

"It's one thing to learn about things in class and understand what’s required at a high-level, but then seeing it mapped onto such a large company that has so many complexities really brings to light the way that companies actually take these challenges and goals and make them a reality, especially when you need to consider other facets of the business besides just reporting or emissions,"

- says Mary Boling, MBA Student

CESR: What value have you seen in working on real sustainability/ESG challenges that face a company like Arrow Electronics?

Dan: It was great to see the facility and the challenges that they face on a daily basis. Arrow is a huge company, with a 6.7 billion market cap and over 200,000 customers. With the increased reporting standards that are coming up, they are facing a big challenge with calculating the Scope 3 emissions.

Mary: It's one thing to learn about things in class and understand what’s required at a high-level, but then seeing it mapped onto such a large company that has so many complexities really brings to light the way that companies actually take these challenges and goals and make them a reality, especially when you need to consider other facets of the business besides just reporting or emissions.

CESR: How was your trip to Reno, and what was your biggest takeaway from it?

Mary: It was awesome. Our main points of contact are based in Denver, but they also were out there for site visits so we were able to tour with our main points of contact and get introduced to people at the facility. Having both of those groups together was really great. My biggest takeaway was how important the operations and ensuring products are received, stored and delivered at a high quality are. The products that Arrow is dealing with are very sensitive, so having the right procedures and materials in place is critical. What I found really interesting was being able to hear about the idea of maintaining that high bar of operations while also still making moves on improving ESG metrics and then seeing firsthand what that's looking like on the floor.

Dan: My biggest takeaway was seeing the complexity and scale of their operations. When we were walking on the floor we had to wear anti-static smocks and little shoe straps so that we wouldn't damage the products – they take a lot of care with that. It was really interesting to see all of that in action.

"What I found really interesting was being able to hear about the idea of maintaining that high bar of operations while also still making moves on improving ESG metrics and then seeing firsthand what that's looking like on the floor,"

- says Mary Boling, MBA Student

CESR: What are some important trends that you see in the ESG and sustainability landscape right now?

Dan: I would say ESG integration with financial reporting. It's a growing trend that ESG reporting is being combined with traditional financial reporting, and it’s mostly driven by sustainability-minded investors. Also, reporting organizations like the GRI and SASB have quite a bit of influence now.

Mary: Some of the things that stand out to me right now is that companies know that there are pressures to be reporting out data, but for some of these companies it's the first time they’ve ever calculated this type of data. Right now, they are figuring out how to go about it and the assumptions that need to be made. There's a lot of different reports out there but not a lot of standardization or specific guidelines. There's just a lot of inefficiencies in the systems, and until we get that clear people will be trying to work with a moving target. Developments in California are starting to hint at what that could look like.

Dan: In Professor Nunziato's class, we've talked a little bit about how the org chart is set up within a company in terms of  who the sustainability division reports to. Sometimes it's the finance department or a lot of times it's legal and compliance and you can kind of gain some insight into how a company is looking at sustainability based off of how the org chart is set up.

Mary: I feel like overall it seems that it’s been tied more with the risk compliance part of companies, just making sure that they're hitting those standards and making sure that they're not opening themselves up to any type of litigation or being out of compliance, which does send a certain message on this type of work. To Dan’s point, it is interesting to think about what it could look like if it was under a different wheelhouse.

CESR: Is there anything else you would like to share regarding your project, or any advice that you have?

Mary: The Reno trip was a really great trip. Being able to work with a company and also visit their site is what getting an MBA is all about. It's about that real world application of what you're learning in the class, and I really appreciate Professor Nunziato for creating this opportunity for us to have this project through his course (Socially Responsible Enterprise). I would recommend this class for students who are looking to better understand the complexities around what the ESG and sustainability landscape is right now. It's a really great class to have philosophical discussions in class, but then also get paired in a project that's kind of showing firsthand how those complexities are showing up in the business world. I also really appreciate Arrow’s willingness to collaborate with us throughout the semester. Getting insight into such a large company and being able to contribute to the work that they're all doing has been really meaningful and this has definitely been a highlight of my experience at Leeds so far.

Dan: I definitely think it's a good experience. I would say, if you have the opportunity to do consulting projects in class or outside of it, it's definitely a good experience to have.


  • Interested in exploring how our MBA or advanced undergraduate teams might accelerate sustainability initiatives at your organization? Visit this page to learn more about submitting a proposal.
  • To learn more about the Socially Responsible Enterprise class and more opportunities, explore CESR’s ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway.
  • Mary Boling and the Leeds MBA team recently placed second place at the International Duke University Energy in Emerging Markets Case competition. To read about this exciting success, check out this recent blog post.
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Thu, 07 Dec 2023 03:56:32 +0000 Anonymous 17944 at /business
Navigating the Path to ESG and Sustainability: Insights from Tonie Hansen /business/news/2023/10/05/navigating-path-esg-and-sustainability-insights-tonie-hansen Navigating the Path to ESG and Sustainability: Insights from Tonie Hansen Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/05/2023 - 15:19 Categories: CESR Blog Tags: CESR Blog CESR Community Connections ESG and Sustainability MBA Pathway Aaron Vadakkan

Tonie Hansen is an ESG leader and started building the ESG department at NVIDIA in 2006. She built their corporate responsibility functions from the ground up and worked on their strategic relationships and brand reputation. She originally went to NVIDIA to build its charitable foundation, and also spent 15 years before that in several different marketing roles. She currently serves as an advisor on the CESR Advisory Board, and is spearheading the ESG Bootcamp on October 12th. Tonie spoke with CESR recently about her many roles and the upcoming ESG Bootcamp that she has been working on planning. 

Hear from Tonie and other experts at CESR's ESG and Sustainability Bootcamp

When: Thursday, Oct. 12th from 11-2 p.m.

Where: C4C Flatirons Room

Who: Seats are still available for degree-seeking Leeds students. Unfortunately, no more seats are available for community members or non-Leeds students.

Sign up and learn more here


On her career path and experience in ESG and Sustainability.

Tonie switched her career path three times during the course of her entire career. She started by studying Business Management at the University of New Haven. After working in Marketing for several years, she decided to get her MBA and later became interested in strategic corporate giving. Hansen began working as a Senior Manager of CSR at the NVIDIA Foundation, which she grew into a role building the ESG department at NVIDIA. 


On getting involved with CESR and serving as a CESR Advisory Board member

After mentioning to her friend Diane Solinger, current chair of the CESR Advisory Board, that she is interested in learning about and interacting with the next cohort of sustainability professionals, Tonie was introduced to CESR. She decided to join the board in order to work with youth who are passionate about making an impact. Looking toward the future, she is excited to work on the next step beyond cutting carbon emissions, which is replenishing the ecosystem and focusing on biodiversity. 

On the ESG & Sustainability Bootcamp, what students will get out of attending and why the topics we’re covering are important

“The purpose of the ESG & Sustainability Bootcamp is to help students understand what their career options are if they are passionate about sustainable business and to connect them with some of the people doing the work,” Tonie says. “For example, students should understand that the ‘Head of ESG’ role is an amazing one, but not the only way to make an impact.” 

She also hopes to teach students how to apply the skills that they have developed over their education or work careers to change the culture at the organizations they will work for.

The bootcamp will begin with an introduction to ESG values and why they are important by Mike Leeds, and then Tonie will go into what ESG (focusing on the E and the S for the sake of time) careers exist in each area.

On the key challenges and opportunities in the ESG & Sustainability space

Tonie breaks her response to this question down into two parts, the macro and the micro sides. On a bigger picture scale, . Today, companies are doing only what they need to do by government standards. How do we incentivize and encourage them to go above and beyond to do the ecosystem repair work that is required? The main challenge with this is that it is very expensive. On a micro level, regulations are becoming a way of life for many companies. These companies will need to pay people to do the work necessary to gather data and ensure regulations are met. 

Advice for students seeking careers in ESG

"The opportunity that presents itself now is to figure out how you want to make your impact in ESG," Tonie says. "How do you want to spend your time? There are a lot of different ways to make change, and students should explore and figure out which one is right for them. Some of the most important skills students will need include change management, program management, and strong communication skills with executives."


Discover sustainability and ESG careers, build your network, and develop career-relevant skills through CESR events. Learn more about the ESG Bootcamp and all we have to offer on the CESR Events Page.

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Thu, 05 Oct 2023 21:19:38 +0000 Anonymous 17823 at /business