Presidian Blog

This post was originally published in Conscious Company Magazine’s Fall 2015 issue. By Jimmy Jia In 1964, the Columbia River Treaty between the US and Canada created the hydropower management framework for the Pacific Northwest. The US was interested in developing hydropower but needed a steady supply of water. Since the first third of the …

I was a humanities major as an undergrad. Asian Studies, with a concentration in Japanese language. Part of the challenge of learning a new language for me was this: It was not just the words I needed to learn, it was an entire way of thinking, a world view, and a shared cultural understanding. In …

 This article was originally published on geekwire.com on November 5, 2015. Sonja Skvarla is an alumni of Pinchot University’s MBA in Sustainable Business. She launched A Social Ignition in 2011 while still a student at Pinchot.   Today’s class is about failure. Sonja Skvarla, who teaches the basics of entrepreneurship in this small classroom twice …

Why do we do what we do as sustainable practitioners? It’s a question that comes up again and again in circles of sustainability. People like myself who do this work at institutions like Presidio want to know where did the motivations come from that give people the well of strength to be sustainable business leaders? …

 Name: Lyrica McTiernan Cohort: C11 Company: Facebook Title: Sustainability Manager Interview by Dany Warman (C19/PA5) I had the opportunity to attend Facebook’s Sustainability @Scale 2015 event this Summer. The event overall was very inspiring, and I got to meet Alyssa Holt and Lyrica McTiernan, the two alumni leading sustainability changes at Facebook. After playing phone and …

  If you’re looking for reassurance that today’s energy problems are being considered by the best and the brightest our generation has to offer, look no further than the 117 EDF Climate Corps Fellows deployed across the country this summer. The fellowship program recruits and trains top graduate students, traditionally from MBA and engineering programs, …

Published in: Santa Cruz Sentinel Business Alumnus Ned LeBlond (C15) enters the startup world as a social entrepreneur with his new venture EquityStone (@EquityStone). A social non-profit public-private partnership connecting homeowners to ideal renters to help pay their mortgages. Ned is tackling the affordable housing shortage by meeting the needs of homeowners struggling to pay their …

Published in CSR News   Renewable Choice Energy announced today that Erin Decker (C10) has joined their team as a Senior Director of Business Development to oversee their growing Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) division. Previously, Erin was at Salesforce who lead their global sustainability team by setting a 100% renewable energy commitment and strategy. Decker earned her …

During a short visit to Boulder, CO for a friend’s wedding, I had the opportunity to connect with alumnus Scott Bright (C17) – a.k.a. ‘ScottieB‘- and learn about how Presidio Graduate School prepared him for his dream job. Alumnus: Scott Bright (aka ScottieB) C17 Location: Boulder, CO Company: Mondo Robot – Creative Digital Agency Title: Digital Strategist …

 This post was originally published on lunarmobiscuit.com on August 25, 2015. In the last post, I talked about how revenue-based investments are a lower cost of capital than traditional equity.  In this post, as promised, I’ll explain how they also better align the incentives of an investor with the entrepreneur. To start with, always remember …