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I grew up on a small idyllic island
in the Caribbean with beautiful scenery and beaches. At age eight,
I noticed the black smoke
emanating from the local oil refinery’s smokestacks. Downwind, I saw
that the trees were brown and unhealthy. I began to see how pollution can
damage communities and nature. The refinery, however, was this tiny island’s
largest employer. I quickly realized that its economic power meant that
the government was not about to regulate it. I also knew that it was not
about to invest in cleaner technologies unless it was forced to do so by
the government.
From that moment, I became passionate about “saving the world.” At
the same time, I knew that business, environment and law are intricately
connected. As I got older, I discovered that there were a lot of people
doing environmental law, but there seemed to be few people who were experts
at connecting the dots between business and the environment. After exploring
this connection for a couple of years at Environmental Defense, I decided
to pursue an MBA. The environment is a business issue. As an environmental
professional, it was my duty to speak about the issue like a businessperson.
Yale has far surpassed my expectations. There are few places where
you can go to a talk by the CEO of GE, discuss marketing strategies for
birth control in Bangladesh, and watch a top manager from one of the largest
insurance companies in the world announce their intention to invest $100
million to promote the development of carbon markets—
all in one day. There are few other places where an entrepreneurship
professor with 30 years of experience at a top Wall Street Bank will team
up with an environmental science professor to teach a class on writing business
plans for environmental ventures—and then help us bring these business
ideas to fruition.
I have not only learned a tremendous amount in the last three years,
but I believe that I have gained a significant amount of credibility. Many
people still believe that shareholder value and environmental protection
are at odds with one another. My dream is that some day a company’s
CFO will be just as knowledgeable about environmental issues as the EH&S
director . . . and that I will be that CFO. |
