Chief Sustainability Officers in Training…

As the second Geballe Fellow, I have the benefit of stepping into the Green Portfolio Project just as enthusiasm and momentum for our work with KKR and the private equity sector is beginning to take off. This spring, KKR announced that five additional portfolio companies would join the Project and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and helping them to identify opportunities to increase business value while reducing environmental impact.

I joined EDF as the new Geballe Fellow following three years at Yale where I was completing a dual degree program, earning an MBA and an MEM (Master of Environmental Management). During that time, I witnessed an amazing growth in collaboration between the business and environmental communities on campus. Increasingly, students at the two schools are seeking each other out for input on projects and professors are writing new cases and curriculum to capture the growing interplay between business and environmental interests.

Last year, as I began my full-time job search, I decided to focus on large companies with internal sustainability offices where I could put my corporate environmental strategy expertise to the test. I shifted gears, however, when I heard about the EDF Geballe Fellowship position. This opportunity caught my eye because of the one of a kind experience I would gain working in the private equity industry and across a wide range of investment sectors. The more I learned about EDF’s Corporate Partnerships Program and the organization’s work with KKR, the more enthusiastic I became. In the end, the decision was easy. I couldn’t design a better position! I get to spend the next two years at EDF learning about sustainability challenges facing a diverse set of companies and working to drive broad change across the private equity industry. Stay tuned for updates…

Editor’s Note: The two-year Geballe Fellowship at EDF is designed to steep a recent MBA graduate in the principles and practices that guide EDF’s work in the Corporate Partnerships Program.

The Geballe Fellowship seeks recent graduates of advanced degree programs in business or environmental management with the intention to send the Fellow into the private sector after two years to put environmental principles and practices to work. EDF’s vision for the Fellowship Program is to train a future generation of Chief Sustainability Officers who can help redefine business as usual.

The first Geballe Fellow, Elizabeth Seeger, spent her time at EDF developing and rolling out EDF’s Green Portfolio Project in partnership with KKR. (Read more about Elizabeth’s experience at EDF in her Twitterview.) Having seen the value that environmental performance management brings to their organization, our partners at KKR asked her to join them to add additional depth and breadth to what they've already started. In this role, Elizabeth will continue her work to improve KKR's companies' environmental performance and will help develop KKR's communications on the efforts. 

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