On May 10 I walked into Kalkin Hall, mentally rehearsing the practicum pitch I would present that afternoon. As I entered the building that had been my second home for the last nine months, it dawned on me that this was the end of nine-month, 45 credit-hours, academic sprint, most of which was spent this building. My nerves quieted and I felt deep appreciation for what I had accomplished up to that point. It’s hard to overstate the amount of time, effort, and determination that was required to get to where my classmates and I now stood. Looking around the room, I saw people that not so long ago had been strangers. But that day I saw 40 friends that shared a common bond born of shared struggle, successes, personal and professional growth, and way too many hours together. These are the kinds of people you want on your team and I’d support them in any way possible in the years ahead. And the best part, I knew the feeling was mutual.
Keil, left, and practicum partner Tor Dworshak.
With my presentation scheduled for later in the afternoon, I took a mental note to really take in the day and be present for my classmates’ presentations, something easily forgotten when you’ve seen the same people collectively present around 100 times. And boy I’m glad I did. Kicking off the day, the Ashoka team presented their plan to turn support services for social entrepreneurs into a financially sustainable business model. And with that we were off and running.
With not a small amount of
jealously, I listened to my classmates present plans to address an array of
complex issues: using cover cropping to address pollution and financial
challenges associated with Vermont’s dairy industry with Ben & Jerry’s; creating
a closed-loop business model for Burton’s soft goods; addressing legal and
environmental implications of 3D printing with the Environmental Law Institute;
transforming Interface into a carbon negative company; creating an emerging
market strategy to help Just Foods address malnutrition; building the business
plan and securing financing for Green Man Acres, a regenerative, diversified student-owned
Vermont farm; reducing the environmental footprint of the outdoor adventure travel
industry with REI; building niche market demand for artisanal Manchaha rugs
through storytelling with Jaipur Rugs; creating a business tool to identify blockchain
applications with Resonance; developing policies and strategy to incorporate
environmental, social, and governance criteria into the investing strategy of
the FIS Group; developing a smart phone application for checking the
environmental footprint of consumer purchases through a student-designed
entrepreneurial venture called Karma Score; and removing plastic packaging from
packaged goods at Seventh Generation. As my turn to present got closer, as usual,
I had to turn up the mental pep talk to prepare myself to meet the high bar set
by this intrepid cohort of MBAs. To that end, my partner and I presented our
plan to develop an emerging market strategy to drive demand for mobile network
services in rural areas, working with Vanu in Rwanda.
With the day drawing to a close, a bittersweet relief settled in. Our coursework was done, but so was our time all together. There’s no doubt the bonds that have been forged this year will remain far into the future. I feel lucky to have spent these last nine months with these extraordinary individuals and can’t wait to see the final results of these projects in August, and the accomplishments, successes, and positive impacts this cohort will have as they embark on their careers after graduation. Now, let the practicum work begin!
This post was written by Alyssa Stankiewicz ’19, and co-written by Andrew Mallory ’19
EDITOR’S NOTE: A team of five students from The Sustainable Innovation MBA program recently took first place in the Wharton-sponsored Total Impact Portfolio Challenge, beating a field of finalists from Yale, Columbia, Fordham, and Boston University. Read more here.
When I came to this program in August 2018, I had never even heard the term “impact investing.” I planned to focus my learnings on innovations in social justice and sustainable agriculture. I dreamed of founding a self-sustaining weaving center that provided support and reflection to folks through art therapy. While this is still an eventual dream of mine (stay tuned!), I realized that what really motivated me about this dream was the opportunity to help people.
The mission of The Sustainable Innovation MBA program is using business as a force for good in the world, also described as “doing well by doing good.” Through the mentorship and encouragement I received from Dr. Chuck Schnitzlein, I began to realize that not only does the world of Finance provide this same opportunity, but I possess a natural knack for the work involved. He presented us with two extracurricular opportunities to test and demonstrate our skills and studies. The first project revolved around developing an impact strategy for the UVM Endowment (for more on that, see this article), and the second was a Wharton-sponsored impact investing competition called the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge.
The competition was stacked, to say the least. 26 teams from 19 business schools including Yale, Columbia, Booth (Chicago), and Wharton (Penn) entered the competition, and with this being just the 5th cohort of our Sustainable Innovation MBA program, our team was ecstatic to find out in March that we’d been selected as Finalists. We had spent months taking extra classes with Dr. Schnitzlein in Portfolio Management and Evaluation, researching the companies who achieved “best in class” accolades, and developing our investment philosophy and strategy in our copious free time (“copious” might be an exaggeration). When they announced we won at the live competition in Philadelphia on May 1, we were completely over the moon.
We like to think that we
had a competitive advantage because each of our professors integrates
sustainability holistically into every single course. We learned about
Entrepreneurial Business Design, Systems Thinking, and Cost Models from a
sustainability perspective, so we were more fully prepared to incorporate
sustainability into every piece of our portfolio.
The Total Impact
Portfolio Challenge provided us with two fictitious investor profiles from
which to choose, and our team selected a Family Office who wanted to achieve
multi-generational wealth and sustainable impact in line with five themes,
which we matched to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our team took
a unique and bold approach: we successfully invested the entire portfolio in
companies and funds that are going beyond minimizing the bad; instead, each of
our investments contributes to developing solutions for the greater good. We
highlighted the innovations of Mary Powell at Green Mountain Power and the
Reinvestment Fund’s success in the City Mission Project. We developed methods
for measuring impact and adapted our findings to the unique characteristics of
the various asset classes. Peter Seltzer even coined the SI-MBA Score, which
goes beyond traditional ESG scoring systems to incorporate materiality. This is
because, as we learned in our Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility course
(and which was affirmed in this study written by Khan, Serafeim, & Yoon),
companies that focus on the sustainability issues that are most material to
their business actually see improved financial performance over the long term.
Where do we go from here?
I personally want to find
ways to help accredited and non-accredited investors deploy their finances in
ways that are more meaningful to them. I have a passion for efforts to
democratize investment opportunities, and I’m working on an idea that
incorporates my Linguistics background with my Finance interests to create a
more effective system for financial literacy education. I look forward to
exploring opportunities in place-based investing and community funding models
as avenues to strengthen the resilience of local economies. Find me on LinkedIn!
Photo credit: Chris Kendig
Emily came to The Sustainable Innovation MBA program passionate about opening up venture capital investment to women and other underrepresented founders. Through projects studying everything from community capital initiatives to equity crowdfunding policy to this challenge on integrating materiality into ESG scores, she sees increasing opportunities to promote a more sustainable form of capitalism for investors and entrepreneurs. After the program, she is seeking a career in impact investing and hopes her involvement can promote responsible investment opportunities in the industry.
For Andrew, this challenge was a perfect blend of his two professional passions: finance and sustainability. Coming from a traditional finance background, he sees how important it is for impact investing and ESG integration to continue to evolve and grow, and he is encouraged by how many financial institutions are now incorporating ESG into their strategies. After graduation, Andrew is interested in pursuing public and private equity research, specifically analyzing companies who are embedding sustainability initiatives into their core operations to see how impact alpha can mitigate risk and provide long-term growth.
Peter came to the program as a CPA with ten years of experience. Throughout his career, he has gravitated towards opportunities to support social causes, including serving on the boards of two non-profits and working for three years at The Food Trust, a Philadelphia based non-profit. While here, he discovered a passion for the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and began a certificate program in the fundamentals of sustainable accounting. The group utilized his research in developing the SI-MBA Score, which was a differentiating factor in our presentation. After graduation, he is pursuing opportunities where he can incorporate his SASB knowledge to help investors generate greater impact with their investments.
Maura, coming from the client services and business
development side of the investment industry, saw the demand for responsible
investment solutions from young investors and European clients. She hopes to
use the skills developed during her SI-MBA experience and her involvement in
the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge to re-enter the field and meet the needs
and wants of the industry demand. Planting roots in Vermont, she looks forward
to growing the responsible investing industry presence in the state.
We had great support from all of our classmates, but special acknowledgement (in no particular order) goes out to Andrew Oliveri, Alyssa Schuetz, Ryan Forman, Elissa Eggers, Caitlyn Kenney, Esteban Echeverría Fernández, Alexa Steiner, Emily Foster, Jeffrey Lue, Matt Iacobucci, and Keil Corey. In the spirit of The Sustainable Innovation MBA, this was truly a collaborative effort, and I believe that’s what ultimately gave us the competitive advantage. I’m personally looking forward to seeing where we go from here, and I wish good luck to next year’s cohort!
This post was written by Adam Figuieredo ’19. See a wonderful offer at the bottom of the article
A lot of
people will be talking about time management. You know how the game is played. Be
efficient and don’t overlook the low-hanging fruit. Your commute is the best
place to start. I recommend searching for a place near the business school ASAP.
My
5-minute walk is not something I think about often at this point in the
program. I have to remind myself of my deliberate/proactive approach, as well
as my good fortune, or else I’d take it for granted. I’m confident the value-add
in convenience is worth any additional cost.
I can
relax as I prepare for morning classes and get ready for the day, knowing I can
“turn-up”… eat, shower, dress, go… at a rapid fire pace. It’s also easier to
meet with your team(s) before morning classes in preparation for presentations.
If I’m having
trouble studying, I can quickly escape the funk with a brisk walk to school. It’s
probably not surprising that the ability to focus on academic problems is easier
in academic environments. This is especially true for the occasional late-night
grind. There’s something mystical about burning the midnight oil in Kalkin 110.
You could even
diversify your income through charging your classmates for parking pass
privileges (or just rack up the IOU-coffees). Yet the best perk may simply be
the ability go home for lunch, make a homemade meal, and rest for a few
minutes.
Finally, I extend an invitation… I plan on
moving out of my apartment by the end of the summer. For those interested in living
on Fletcher Place, please reach out and I’ll be happy to provide more
information. I’ve spoken with my landlord about this potential arrangement and
he’s all for it. This is a wonderful program and I’d love to help anybody in
the next generation transition to life on campus. I feel like I’m achieving my
goal of becoming a more sophisticated entrepreneur. Now it’s your turn to
pursue whatever it is you’re pursuing.
Row upon row of solar panels reflect the Zambian sky while
they silently and cleanly produce enough electricity to power over fifty
thousand homes. Walking the solar plant that covers almost 50 hectares in the
special economic zone outside the capital city, I am exhausted but filled with
hope. Renewable energy is no longer a niche technology that “serious” business
people don’t even consider but the preferred source of electrical energy for most
countries.
I am at the Bangweulu Solar plant where I have been contracted as the commissioning engineer to ensure that the project can be handed over to the client and be ready to be brought online at an inauguration ceremony that will be attended by the president, US ambassador and other dignitaries.
This is grueling work, and the timeline is stressful, I only had four hours of sleep after flying in from Vermont before I had to be onsite for a planning meeting and hit the ground running. However, I know that this project marks a significant time for me and the company I am working worth. This project is about more than handing over yet another installation successfully to our client, it’s about capacity building and developing skills to make Zambia’s energy infrastructure more sustainable. The Bangweulu project was made possible by a financing structure that brought development partners and private business together.
This belief in the idea that value can be created at the confluence of social development and business enterprise is what brought me to The Sustainable Innovation MBA program at UVM.
A team of Sustainable Innovation MBA students has emerged from an elite group of finalists as the winners of the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge, sponsored by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. The team was comprised of Class of 2019 students Alyssa Stankiewicz, Pete Seltzer, Emily Klein, Maura Kalil, and Andrew Mallory. Their faculty advisor and coach was Prof. Chuck Schnitzlein.
The Total Impact Portfolio Challenge involved creating and analyzing a portfolio that met risk, return and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) impact investing objectives. The team presented their work in Philadelphia on May 1 and 2.
The other finalists in the competition included Yale, Columbia, Fordham, and Boston University. Our group was named one of the “Final Five” back in late-March from an strong field of 25 teams that included entrants from the University of Chicago, Cornell, Georgetown, NYU, Wharton, MIT, and Northwestern.
This is a significant accomplishment, and an important milestone in the history of The Sustainable Innovation MBA program.
Beginning third from left, Emily Klein, Alyssa Stankewicz, Andrew Mallory, Maura Kalil, and Peter Setzer.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The MBA Women for Change, a student-founded and managed group, is about to conclude its first year of existence, and scored a number of significant accomplishments in 2018-2019 aimed at bringing the issue of gender equality in the workplace to the forefront.
As a woman in my mid-twenties, I am constantly thinking
about my future—crafting my next move, creating my career path, and navigating
the opportunity costs of personal and professional decisions. My decision to
attend business school solidified my personal statement of purpose: I am
capable, confident, and powerful, and I will bring about meaningful change in
the world. For me, business school was intimidating and, to be honest,
sometimes I felt like an imposter; however, if there is one thing I’ll take
away from the SIMBA program, it is the
idea that challenges bring about great opportunities.
We started the MBA Women for Change group to actively
promote women in business leadership roles. Female leaders are and will be key
drivers of sustainability efforts around the world; we see great opportunity in
recognizing and capitalizing on the unique perspectives of women as we pursue
sustainability and innovation in business.
MBA Women for Change has three goals in mind for our short
year together: spurring deeper conversations around women in leadership and
sustainability roles; organizing professional development opportunities; and
building networks of support within the university and in the Vermont business
community. In our first semester, we have accomplished quite a lot in pursuit
of these goals:
Conversations around women in
business: Serving as a support group and forum for women in the current
cohort, Women for Change has encouraged discussions on topics ranging from
Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” to communication and confrontation. The group has
also facilitated cohort-wide conversations around gender, identity, and
leadership.
Professional development:
Women for Change has hosted several professional development workshops,
including a session on power and leadership in conjunction with the UVM Women’s
Center, lunch with guest speaker Lori Smith on organizational wellbeing, and an
interactive situations workshop with our own Alexa Steiner.
Outreach: Coordinating with
the Alumni MBA Women’s Group and women on the SIMBA Advisory Board, Women for
Change is working to create a more tight-knit SIMBA community of female
leaders. Group members have also attended community networking events with Vermont
Womenpreneurs, Vermont Women’s Fund, and the New England Women’s Investor
Network, and have connected with local businesses such as Generator, a
makerspace in Burlington.
In pursuit of these goals, we have sparked deeper
discussions, forged stronger connections, and created a more supportive and
inclusive learning space. Our hope is these conversations, interactions, and networks
empower women to take the lead toward a more sustainable future. By growing the
pipeline of female leaders in the sustainability space, UVM and others are
effecting long-term change. As many before me have said: this is not a women’s
issue, it’s a human issue.
They say to be the change you wish to see in the world. The
MBA Women for Change group envisions a more sustainable and equitable future;
our cumulative individual efforts power a driving force within our program and
beyond to achieve this vision. For the twelve months we have together in the SIMBA
program, we work to change the conversation around female MBA students and
leaders.
Come August 2019, we will have a powerful network of women
behind us as we move into corporations and create our own companies. From
finance and marketing to supply chain and social responsibility, we are the
leaders we wish to see in the world. I am proud to study alongside tenacious
women and supportive men – together, the 41 of us are a force to be reckoned
with.
The Sustainable Innovation MBA at the Grossman School of Business embodies a movement facilitated by the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative to transform management education. Read more here:
A few weeks ago, during our Driving Sustainable Change course, my classmates and I were fortunate enough to chat with Andy Ruben, co-founder and CEO of Yerdle. Yerdle is a “circular economy powerhouse” driving change in the recommerce market by partnering with brands in a way that benefits consumers, companies, and the planet. For someone who came into this program looking to gain new skill sets and tools that would support me in my quest to change the fashion and retail industry for the better, it was exciting to have the opportunity to hear first-hand how Yerdle is disrupting the retail landscape.
Currently, the fashion industry produces upwards of 100 billion pieces of clothing per year despite there being just under 8 million people on the planet. On average, we consume 400x more clothing than we did 20 years ago. Clearly, we have a consumption problem. However, we also have a lack of use problem. As Andy highlighted in our conversation, a large portion of perfectly wearable clothing in the world today sits unused in people’s drawers and closets. That doesn’t even take into account the 10.5 million tons of clothes tossed into landfills each year in the United States alone when people decide it is finally time to purge. So how do we address the growing mountains of clothing taking over the planet? Extending the life of our clothing by keeping pieces in circulation longer is definitely a key piece to this puzzle.
Now, keeping clothing in use by passing it along is by no means a novel idea. Passing along hand-me-downs and buying from and selling to thrift stores are examples of ways people have long been extending the life of their clothing. However, if we are truly to stop the current systems of production, consumption, and disposal that currently define the retail landscape and result in wasted resources, then we need to innovate and expand on our current re-sale systems.
Yerdle is doing just that. By
partnering with brands to help them take control of their resale market and
extract value from it in the form of profits and customer acquisition, Yerdle
ensures that all stakeholders (including the brands) benefit. A key theme woven
throughout our coursework in this program is the importance of expanding the
pie. In other words, for a solution to be truly sustainable and innovative, it
cannot simply redistribute the value created to different groupings of stakeholders.
Rather, it needs to expand the pie to increase the value captured by all.
Understandably, finding a solution
that truly expands the pie is easier said than done which is why listening to
Andy was such a valuable experience. Ultimately, by making retail companies
part of their solution and beneficiaries of it, Yerdle has created a solution
that other brands would want to be part of because the expanded value created
extends to them. This makes integrating recommence into their businesses seem
like the smarter, more profitable option.
One of my biggest takeaways from the conversation is that as my cohort and I move out into the world and start trying to tackle these big issues, we need to remember the importance of crafting solutions that reduce friction and do not force people to make trade-offs. The fact is, we are all passionate about different things and not everyone is going to care about or be willing and able to sacrifice something for the sake of sustainability. Nor should they necessarily be expected to. Thus, building a solution that requires stakeholders (businesses or consumers) to make a sacrifice of something they value in order embrace the greener option, is simply not a realistic and scalable alternative. Instead, businesses, particularly those in retail, need to embrace and develop strategies that make things easier and better for all. Yerdle is one example of a company doing just that.
With so much focus throughout The Sustainable Innovation MBA curriculum on the complex, pressing sustainability challenges across the globe it can start to feel claustrophobic and overwhelming to think about how to address these issues from as individual in terms of personal consumer behaviors. One place I have been trying to minimize my own ecological impact is by reducing my consumption of single-use and disposable consumer plastics products wherever I can. These attempts have made it clearer than ever how hard it is to break up with plastic, it is so ubiquitous in most of the products we all use on a daily basis. Fortunately this is an issue gaining traction, highlighted by Burlington’s recent vote on Town Hall Meeting Day to ban single-use-plastic bags, and with higher scrutiny towards how prevalent these products are in our lives there is a broadening new market for more sustainable substitutes to help tamper plastic use.
By looking at the plastic products I use most frequently I have been able to identify some
good alternative products to replace those, allowing me to reduce my reliance on them. One
source of plastic waste that might not immediately jump to front of mind is plastic toothbrushes,
but with their daily use they tend to be replaced fairly regularly and over one’s lifetime
toothbrushes can account for a significant amount of plastic waste. Many companies have sought
to offer a more sustainable option, with biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes being a common
alternative. Bamboo is a very low agriculturally intensive crop, requiring relatively little land
surface area for cultivation and no fertilizer use. However, not all bamboo is created equal and
with the rising popularity of the crop for myriad uses it can take a bit of digging to verify
whether or not a bamboo toothbrush (or any product made with the eco-fiber) is actually
sustainably grown or rather being greenwashed as a more eco-friendly option.
Another area of single-use plastics that can be reduced through investing in more
eco-friendly substitutes is produce bags. While it has become pretty common practice for many
to bring reusable grocery bags to the store, many of us still rely on plastic produce bags for
packaging our perishable fruits and vegetables. However, there are many alternative, reusable
mesh bags that can be easily used to replace the flimsy plastic ones so ubiquitous in grocery
stores. These also make for a relatively simple addition to any already ingrained reusable bag
habits. While the need for more substantive, paradigmatic shift in the way we as a society views
the use and disposal of plastics remains a daunting and pressing concern, there are many ways at
the individual level to curb your consumption and make small but meaningful changes. Investing
your dollar votes in sustainable products that provide longer term solutions instead of reaching
for single use plastics when convenient is one way we can all contribute to the larger, collective
groundswell of change.
This post was written by Lauren Masters, Emily Klein, Meryl Schneider, Caitlyn Kenney, Maggie Robinson, and Alyssa Schuetz of the Class of 2019
What started as an idea in September turned
into the first formal public event hosted by The Sustainable Innovation MBA
(SI-MBA) program’s Women for Change group. Seven months ago, Lauren Masters, a
current student of the SI-MBA program said, “I think Holly Dowling would
be a great speaker to catalyze and legitimize our group within UVM’s Grossman
School of Business and the greater Burlington community.”
With this goal in mind, a group of six women
combined their skills, experiences, and minimal free time to jumpstart a new
endeavor. The event planning committee included current MBA students Emily
Klein, Lauren Masters, Caitlyn Kenney, Alyssa Schuetz, Meryl Schneider, and
Maggie Robinson. Little did they know the amount of grit, determination, and
perseverance that would be needed to legitimize the Women for Change’s first
event held for the Greater Burlington community.
Throughout this process, students learned
valuable lessons on how to navigate the world of fundraising, legitimize a club
on campus, and overcome challenges that arose in unexpected places. As time
passed and checklists seemed to grow, the planning proved to be difficult as
students juggled their full-time schedules. There were even moments when they
questioned whether, or not they would be able to pull-off the event. Ultimately, the cumulative shared values of
the planning committee proved to be enough as the group banned together until
the very end.
On March 21st, over 50 young professionals,
business leaders, and SI-MBA students alike were able to see this event come to
fruition. Henry Vogt, a SI-MBA student said, “I found the Holly Dowling event
to be fun, exciting and inspiring. Not only was it a great networking
opportunity, but it was also exciting and thought-provoking. When Holly presented
it felt like she was speaking directly to members of the audience. She offered
perspective and inspiration on how to be successful, depicted personal stories
of how she persevered through adversity, and gave tips on how to live a more
fulfilling life. Additionally, it was very impressive that this event was
organized by a passionate group of women MBA students, who put in a massive
amount of work to successfully fundraise and organize an excellent event.”
As the adrenaline wore off, this small group
of women looked at this event as one of the many highs of their overall SI-MBA
experience. Grad student Lauren Masters
adds, “We knew we were all working towards a bigger picture of empowering
female leaders not only within our cohort but also the greater Burlington
community area and beyond. We hope that some of the key insights gained from
this event will stick with attendees throughout their careers.”
For more information on the specifics of this
event, please check out the following article: Leaning In
