Middlebury Alums Global Sustainability Speaker Series

Terry Kellogg ’94, P ‘24, ‘27 will return to campus for a conversation, moderated by Maeve Nolan ’25 (Economics major) and Santiago G. Canella ’25 (History major), about the pitfalls and opportunities of sustainable innovation. Terry is the Founder and Managing Director of https://helioscv.com/.

Umar Serajuddin ‘96 will return to campus for a conversation moderated by Lomus Pudasaini ‘25 (Economics) and Lillian Caldwell ‘26 (Economics). This discussion explores pathways, out of the current polycrisis, to achieve progress toward eradicating poverty and boosting shared prosperity on a livable planet. The conversation is centered on the findings of the World Bank’s newly released Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024: Pathways Out of the Polycrisis, which provides the first post-pandemic global assessment of poverty and shared prosperity. 

Charlie Kronick ‘78 will join a conversation moderated by students Maya Teiman ‘25 and Ken Deng ‘24.5. The impacts of climate change, including physical impacts - rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, more intense extreme weather events (including Helene and Milton) - are ubiquitous and plain to see. The climate crisis is an existential threat on a variety of levels. Yet the response to this global problem is disputed, deeply polarizing, far from rational and for many audiences signifies far beyond its actual “real world” manifestation.

Suzanne Slarsky Dael ‘02 will return to campus for a conversation moderated by students Tashi Sherpa ‘24 (International and Global Studies) and Finn Warner ‘24.5 (Environmental Economics). The European Union has cut greenhouse gas emissions by almost a third since 1990 and is working towards its next target: net 55% reductions by 2030. Suzanne graduated as a Geography major and will share insights from her journey from Midd’s GIS lab to her current role monitoring this climate progress as Head of group on climate change mitigation, energy and transport at the European Environment Agency.

Capital Markets Meet the Environmental Markets: The Importance of Private Finance in Accelerating our Transition to Clean Energy 

Jack Klinck ’85, P’17.5 & ’20 will return to campus for a conversation moderated by students Emma Binks ‘23.5 (Environmental Economics) and Arjun Kumar ‘25.5 (International and Global Studies). They will discuss how capital market infrastructure can be leveraged to propel us towards a quicker and just transition to a carbon free world.

Advancing Climate Solutions through Venture Capital - the vital role of early-stage investment in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement

Peter Hirsch ‘12, Head of Sustainability at 2150, a climate tech-oriented venture capital firm in London, will return to campus for a conversation moderated by students Kavina Amin ‘24 (Economics and History) and Gianna Palli ‘23.5 (Art History and Economics).

Representative Sean Casten ‘93 (IL-06) will visit campus virtually for a conversation about next steps for the U.S. in combating the climate crisis, moderated by students Mariia Dzholos ‘24 (Economics major) and Jack Torpey ‘24 (English major/Film & Media Culture minor).

This inaugural event will feature two alums from Wellington Management Company LLP in a discussion about Applying Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Factors in the Capital Markets:

Sandhya Subramanian Douglas ’93, P’25, Partner, Senior Managing Director, Director of Strategic Analysis and Implementation Soyibou Sylla ’20, Investment Science Associate The conversation will be moderated by Amanda Frank ’23.5 and Samuel Sullivan ’23.