Fired Up. Ready to OUTREACH!

Forgive the old-campaign-slogan-with-a-twist move, but my creative juices were failing me and I had to grab your attention. Why is that, you ask? Well, simple. Because I'm excited about...OUTREACH!

That's right, folks. Business school is not just about...business. Darden prides itself on providing students with a whole host of opportunities to pursue topics, hobbies, and passions outside of the classroom (don't worry, though, you'll get your money's worth!). My activity of choice is Outreach, which manifests in a variety of ways - tutoring, organizing events, fundraising, volunteering, etc. For example, in the past 24 hours, I've tutored elementary students, volunteered to give mock interviews to high school students, and interviewed teachers at a local middle school. Could I have worked on cases instead? Of course. Did I miss out on an a few hours of sleep? Probably. But do I regret for one minute being involved in the Charlottesville community? No way!

Getting out of the Darden bubble every now and then has kept me sane. Business school can get hectic (see ALL previous posts), and it's important to remind yourself that there's a great wide world out there, one that doesn't have anything to do with Excel, valuation, or the 4Ps...

So, to those who are just embarking on the awesome adventure that is business school, I have one piece of advice: figure out what you love to do outside of class - whether it be flag football or finger painting - and make time to do it! You won't regret it.

Coming up for air!

Hello, friends! Please forgive me for being absent for the last 36 days. I fell into the black hole of recruiting and feared I would never make it out in one piece. The good news is, I managed to crawl out, relatively unscathed, and I'm now returning to a life of pseudo normalcy. Hooray!

To celebrate my liberation from case interviews, I participated in annual conference hosted by Net Impact and the Energy Club last week. The theme was "People + Planet = Profit," and the event featured an incredible roster of speakers who addressed topics such as renewable energy, corporate social responsibility, international development, and sustainability (who says you can't do good and do well at the same time?!).

A blog from one of the events I attended is below...but please visit the Net Impact blog for more tidbits from the conference!

It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it...

Well, not “dirty” in the “we promote fossil fuels” kind of way – this was the Renewable Energy panel, after all. Think “dirty” more along the lines of “difficult and demanding,” or something that requires incredible amounts of ingenuity, persistence, and grit.

All of our panel participants showcased those characteristics on Wednesday afternoon. Experts in their respective fields of renewable energy – solar, wind, and biomass – they spoke about the ups and downs of a burgeoning, but bumpy, business. Their titles and companies are listed below:

• Mike Lenox, Associate Dean and Executive Director of the Batten Institute (Moderator)
• Matthew Markee, President, Recast Energy
• Thomas Meth, Executive VP, Enviva Sustainable Biomass Resources
• Eamon Perrel, Director of Business Development, Apex Wind Energy
• Danny Van Clief, VP Business Development, HelioSage

A consistent theme during the discussion was that renewable energy companies, especially smaller start-ups, face unique challenges in the post-recession economy. Specifically, Matthew Markee said that the cost and time for project financing was onerous due to the restricted risk appetite of investors. Additionally, Thomas Meth mentioned that cheap electricity prices have hampered the return on projects, making it even more difficult to raise capital. To that point, Danny Van Clief emphasized how important it was to engage in a great deal of marketing to appeal to “patient capital,” and convince investors of a company’s credibility in the industry.

Despite this challenging environment, the panelists were tremendously optimistic about opportunities for growth. When asked about what cost efficiencies the industry could realize moving forward, each of them was quick to respond: Danny Van Clief thought that manufacturing costs for solar would decline substantially in the future; Eamon Perrel argued that technology would get cheaper and that there would be greater efficiencies of scale, rendering wind energy more competitive; Thomas Meth cited the learning curve as the main opportunity for biomass; and Matthew Markee mentioned that changing the mindset of biomass suppliers would lead to higher performance in the industry.

For more blogs from the Net Impact/Energy Club conference, visit: http://netimpactdarden.blogspot.com/