EXECUTIVE INSIGHT
Q . WHAT WAS YOUR EDUCATION AND CAREER PATH AND HOW DID YOU END UP IN A CSO ROLE ?
» When I went to school , there weren ' t sustainability degrees at that time , so I actually have an environmental engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania .
Following undergrad , I spent the first seven years of my career in environmental consulting , helping companies manage and mitigate their environmental risk – so a lot of environmental remediation projects . I then went to business school at Dartmouth and then , during business school and immediately after , I was in management consulting working for Oliver Wyman .
During that time , I did have the opportunity to do a couple of projects in the energy sector , which were fantastic , and then that led me to join Pacific Gas & Electric where I had a variety of leadership roles during my time there in their customer care organisation . I was really focused on customer energy efficiency , demand response , solar and EV charging programmes . It was a fantastic opportunity . California provides significant incentives to their corporate , as well as their residential , customers . I had the opportunity to set up their first EV charging incentive programme while I was there , which was a great experience .
After working at PG & E , I went back into the consulting realm . I had leadership roles at 3Degrees and Arcadis , further building their sustainability consulting practices . At 3Degrees , I was more
“ So climate change is one of the most important topics of our generation and to be able to come to work every day and feel like I ' m making a positive impact towards that is really rewarding ”
focused on energy and climate change and then at Arcadis I focused more broadly on sustainability . And then that led me to join Cushman , where I started out leading our sustainability practice for our global occupier business – working with some of the largest companies to achieve their sustainability goals within real estate .
Q . WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA THAT YOU ENJOY ?
» For me , it ' s really about making an impact . And that ' s actually what led me back into this role at Cushman as I ' d spent a lot of time developing strategies , helping companies come up with sustainability plans .
And now I not only get to help them come up with a plan , but actually implement and see it all come to fruition . Climate change is one of the most important topics of our generation and to be able to come to work every day and feel like I ' m making a positive impact towards that topic is really rewarding .
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