Posts

Posted on

An MBA Finds Cold Comfort In Solving A Nation’s Food Waste

This article was written by Taylor Ralph ’17 and originally appeared at GreenBiz.com. Taylor is currently an Agricultural Supply Chains Consultant at SSG Advisors.

 

This spring, a global manufacturer of industrial refrigeration equipment asked me and another MBA candidate — eager, passionate students with a slew of newly minted sustainable business pedagogies in our quiver — to explore emerging market opportunities that also tackled global social and environmental issues. Our project was a result of the company’s strategic focus on tackling major world issues that go beyond eco-efficiency, such as food loss.

Sellers at a warehouse in São Paulo, Brazil, unload a truck of unrefrigerated watermelons.

My classmate Brett Spusta and I began the project with two parameters: we’d be exploring the issue of food loss and we’d be doing so in Brazil. Beyond that, it was up to us to narrow the scope of our research, develop a team of research partners on the ground, ask the right questions and formulate strategies that could produce cold chain innovation, create meaningful social and environmental impact and be scaled.

It was an MBA student’s dream come true.

What began as a cumbersome undertaking crystallized into a specific, surprising and insightful set of actionable recommendations tailored to Brazil’s unique market.

Continue reading “An MBA Finds Cold Comfort In Solving A Nation’s Food Waste”

Posted on

Martine Rothblatt: Innovating Through Radio and Therapeutics

This post was written by Lauren Emenaker ‘18

Martine Rothblatt, Founder and CEO of United Therapeutics, could easily be considered the most interesting and inspiring speaker anyone has heard in many years. Martine visited UVM on October 11, 2017 (International Woman’s Day) and sat with Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell for a conversation in front of a sizable crowd at Alumni House. Here’s a brief overview. 

During a break from undergraduate studies, Rothblatt was inspired by traveling and working with a NASA satellite station. She wondered if it would be possible to have something in the Earth’s orbit that could give music to the world. Feeling enthused, she returned to school to study communication. She continued onto grad school and graduated from UCLA with JD-MBA degree. All the while, Rothblatt’s passion for satellite communication continued to remain at the forefront of her life, leading her to become founder and CEO of SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

Continue reading “Martine Rothblatt: Innovating Through Radio and Therapeutics”

Posted on

Alumni in Review: Caitlin Goss, Class of 2017

This post was written by Camille Fordy ’18.

Caitlin Goss ’17 is Director of People & Culture at Rhino Foods, headquartered in Burlington, Vermont. In some ways, Caitlin’s role at the head of the firm’s human resources team is similar to the traditional human resources professional. But Rhino’s commitment to impacting the manner in which business is done creates a broader scope for her work and is aligned with her commitment to workforce development and The Sustainable Innovation MBA mindset and toolkit.

Originally from Hinesburg, Vermont, Caitlin left to pursue an undergraduate degree at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and later moved to Boston where she worked at Bain & Company, a top global management consulting company. At Bain & Company, Caitlin worked on analysis and employee engagement as part of the firm’s global human capital team to attract, engage and retain employees. Her success at Bain & Company enabled her to live in Shanghai for several years.

Looking for an opportunity to move closer to home, Caitlin discovered the University of Vermont’s Sustainable Innovation MBA. The program provided Caitlin with the opportunity to return to Vermont and to plug into the local professional community. While still a young program, The Sustainable Innovation MBA has already developed a strong reputation in the Vermont business community. Its growing network of graduates are focused on building future partnerships and synergies across all domains of business in the state and region. The program also gave Caitlin fundamental tools and business “fluency” to succeed in any business environment.  

Continue reading “Alumni in Review: Caitlin Goss, Class of 2017”

Posted on

The Cape Wind Project: The Importance of Strategic Messaging

A student team in The Sustainable Innovation MBA Class of 2018 conducted this speculative case analysis in their “Sustainable Brand Marketing” course for the ill-fated Cape Wind offshore wind farm in Cape Cod, Mass. The team consisted of Julia Barnes, Taylor Mikell, Julia Lyon, and Randy Baron. This article was primarily written and adapted for the Review by Ms. Barnes.

The case study is a lesson in what can happen when one loses control of the narrative surrounding a controversial project and fails to invest strategically in stewarding innovation through the gauntlet of implementation. This is what can happen when strategic messaging is undervalued – the first offshore wind farm in America stalled in 2015 and is considered dead.

Jim Gordon, a Boston entrepreneur who made his fortune in energy, conceived of the Cape Wind offshore wind farm as the next step in his mission to provide efficient and environmentally sound energy. After all, wind power had already proved successful in Europe and the technology was becoming more sophisticated every year. The cost of successful wind power generation in countries like Denmark and Germany was even as low as $.04 per KW hour. Gordon had also identified an attractive location – Horseshoe Shoal, off the coast of Hyannis Port, Mass. where a 130-turbine farm could theoretically make an extremely significant dent in the use of fossil fuel for residents of Cape Cod. With depth and wave conditions that made construction of these huge turbines feasible, Gordon was looking at an investment of over a billion dollars to see his dream of offshore wind energy come to life.

However, he faced a number of issues in executing the Cape Wind vision. First, Gordon immediately ran into extreme and well-funded opposition from rich property owners along the coast who did not want to see their ocean view marred by wind turbines. People from the Koch Brothers to Bunny Mellon to Walter Cronkite joined forces behind the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound (APNS): a NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) group flush with cash and influence who set out to discredit Gordon and undercut the validity of the Cape Wind project. Second, Cape Wind faced prominent political opposition. The influence and connections of the APNS board members wreaked havoc for Cape Wind’s political standing and extensive lobbying efforts damaged the progress of what would have otherwise been a highly embraced endeavor. Finally, Cape Wind was an expensive undertaking – one whose fluctuations in cost had significant impact on its timeline.

Problem Analysis: Well-funded NIMBYism – The coast of Massachusetts along Nantucket Sound is home to many extremely wealthy and influential residents. Exhibit 8 shows the span of wealth that runs from Oyster Harbor to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis. These multi million-dollar views would be impacted by the construction of Cape Wind. The obstruction was enough to have them form APNS and arm it with millions of dollars in funds, high-powered lobbying efforts, and a massive public relations campaign to discredit and destroy Cape Wind. As APNS alleged, Cape Wind would negatively impact commercial and recreational boating, impair fishing, harm tourism, kill bird populations and upset the Cape’s tax base with property value decline. While citing factually based evidence to the contrary, Gordon also answered these claims with impact studies and the support of Clean Power Now, a pro-wind, grassroots community group with pennies compared to APNS. APNS was skilled in enlisting Chambers of Commerce, town government, fishermen, lobstermen and boaters to their cause – a middle-class demographic that had little in common with the rich individuals behind the AstroTurf movement.

Continue reading “The Cape Wind Project: The Importance of Strategic Messaging”

Posted on

This Week In Sustainable Innovation

Microsoft just bought all the electricity from this wind farm for 15 years to power cloud computing
Electric Vehicles Will Drive A $5 Trillion Transition
It’s All About the Chain, Gang: Procurement the Link to Sustainable Supply Chains
There’s enough wind energy over the oceans to power human civilization, scientists say
Blockchain could be the missing link in the renewable energy revolution
Posted on

Sustainable Innovation MBA Students Support “Old Spokes Home”

Fundraiser Aids Mission To Provide Mobility and Job Skills To Low Income Vermonters

This post was written by Shari Siegel, ’18

Students from The Sustainable Innovation MBA Class of 2018 — Arielle Tatar, Madeline Brumberg, Ian Dechow, and Shari Siegel — donned their tights and jerseys and saddled up for a recent fundraiser for the Old Spokes Home in Burlington.

The unique bike shop is a not-for-profit organization that, in addition to selling and servicing new and used bicycles, helps get bikes into the hands of low income Vermonters who need them for mobility, health and freedom.  In addition to providing bikes, the Old Spokes Home offers job training, classes, social programs and guided rides.  As its leadership says, “we believe bikes are a simple solution to complex problems. We believe there is a bike for every person and every purpose. We believe bikes aid in positive personal and cultural transformation. Bikes connect people to their community, to their own bodies, to their physical environments. Bikes heal. Bikes empower. Bikes mobilize. We believe everyone should have access to bikes. We believe everyone deserves to feel the joy that a bicycle provides. That’s why we’re here.”

Such a mission is embraced by the students who came out for the event. The event exceeded its fundraising goal, and a good time was had by all. 

Posted on

This Week in Sustainable Innovation

Scotland Just Set a World Record for Producing Energy From Tidal Power
China’s Painful Energy Transition
Business That Works For Everyone: A Declaration Of Interdependence
The Impact Intrapraneurs: How Interface and ZSL Collaborated to Create Net-Works
Puerto Rico Is Considering Bringing Power Back Through Renewable Microgrids

 

Posted on

A New Generation Changing the World, One Business At A Time

We believe business can change the world and, capitalism — disrupted and reinvented — is a force for the economic, environmental, and social change necessary to solve the world’s most pressing problems.

Out of this belief, The Sustainable Innovation MBA was created to build the next generation of business leaders who will build, disrupt, innovate, and reinvent sustainable business and enterprises in a world that demands it.

Related Post: “Now, More Than Ever”

With each new cohort arriving on campus we are struck by two things: first, the diversity of experiences and backgrounds in our students, often reaching beyond business, and second, that these students have passionately and intentionally chosen business as a vehicle to change the world.

So, we were pleased — but not surprised — to find this interesting take on the growing attraction among millennials to enter the business world as agents of change. In an article in GreenBiz entitled, “Is business the new destination for millennial activists?“:

“According to a recent survey by Deloitte, 76 percent of millennials view business positively and believe that it has a positive impact on society. The widespread criticism of big business, once so intrinsic to college campuses, is also on the decline with a 16 percent drop since 2015.

“Talented and passionate young people who almost certainly would have gone into the nonprofit or public sector just a generation ago are now more likely to join a mission-driven business.”

The University of Vermont’s one-year Sustainable Innovation MBA was designed from the ground up to challenge the traditional MBA. We enlisted some of the greatest leaders in the field to design and shape our program.

The result? We’ve fundamentally reinvented business education and the MBA degree to address directly the core challenges we face– environment, ethics, poverty and inequality—through the lens of enterprise and entrepreneurship.  In just twelve months, you receive an accredited MBA degree, which includes not only the basic MBA toolkit, but also the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to transform today’s business and create tomorrow’s truly mission-driven, inclusive, and sustainable enterprises.

If you, too, believe in the power of business to change the world, won’t you join us?

Photo: Lisa Carver, KuliKuli Foods.

Posted on

Innovator in Residence: Hunter Lovins

This post was written by Shari Siegel ’18

L. Hunter Lovins, the dynamic President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, recently spent the day with The Sustainable Innovation MBA Class of 2018. Sporting her signature Stetson hat, Ms. Lovins shared the story of the evolution of her career as a pioneer in sustainable development, and using market-based solutions to forge a better future for ourselves and the planet.

Ms. Lovins first came to prominence as one of the co-authors of the book Natural Capitalism, which was later summarized in the Harvard Business Review. It was the first major publication to posit that the value of the “services” provided by the earth’s ecosystem (such as forests that provide water storage and habitats) were not being accounted for when assessing the costs of natural resources extraction or other economic activity. She and her co-authors, Amory Lovins and Paul Hawken, argued persuasively that the companies that incorporated this insight into their own business plans would improve both the health of the planet and their own bottom lines.

Continue reading “Innovator in Residence: Hunter Lovins”

Posted on

Getting to Know the Class of 2018: Camille Fordy

Meet Camille Fordy ’18, (LinkedIn) who came to The Sustainable Innovation MBA from the Washington, D.C. law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck where she worked in their government relations division. Prior to working at Brownstein, Camille worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staff assistant to Sen. Patrick Leahy and  the Senate Judiciary Committee. This interview was conducted by Peyton White (LinkedIn), an undergraduate Business Administration major in UVM’s Grossman School of Business.

Why did you choose The Sustainable Innovation MBA?

I was MBA-bound for a while. I took the GMAT once and was exploring future options for MBA programs. I did lots of research on two-year programs, which I liked. I was going to push the application process out a year to continue studying for the GMAT, but instead I applied to The Sustainable Innovation MBA. I liked that the opportunity cost of attending The Sustainable Innovation MBA program was only one year and offered me a great change of network, too, away from my primary one in D.C.

“I liked that the opportunity cost of attending The Sustainable Innovation MBA program was only one year.”

What do you like about The Sustainable Innovation MBA?

I know a few individuals who were in previous cohorts. Their growth and experience in The Sustainable Innovation MBA program is inspiring and I really like the uniqueness of the program. I have heard before that “if you don’t go to a Top 10 school, an MBA isn’t worth it.” But after one month, I can say I disagree for many reasons. The program offers many interesting perspectives, classes are intellectually challenging, and we are provided with many opportunities to work in teams. I have found that the teamwork projects have been a great tool to self-assess how I work with others and improve upon my communication, project management, and problem solving skills for use in my future workplace. I have had the opportunity to develop relationships with new people and new personality types that I may never have met in my former workplace. Working in these diverse teams in a low-stakes atmosphere has given me the space to take risks and grow.

Continue reading “Getting to Know the Class of 2018: Camille Fordy”