Middlebury Institute graduates discuss where they are working today, how the Institute helped them get there, and what advice they’d give to current and future MIIS students.
My name is David Feng, and I graduated with an MA in International Environmental Policy (IEP) from the Middlebury Institute in 2012. My language of study was Mandarin Chinese. I now work as a senior manager of product at GoDaddy, based in San Francisco, California. In my role, I oversee the lifecycle of two customer engagement tools, from planning to launch and beyond. It’s essential to understand our customers’ needs and how they align with broader business objectives. I collaborate with teams such as engineering, marketing, legal, and care to bring product visions to life.
Before joining GoDaddy, my journey began with a transformative internship at WildAid, recommended by Professor Jason Scorse after my first year at the Institute. I traveled to China with WildAid’s film crew to script and film a climate change documentary focused on China’s rapid adoption of renewable energy. This documentary aired on Air China flights in 2011 and 2012.
My fluency in Mandarin was a key factor in WildAid’s decision to hire me. I communicated with the Chinese team entirely in Mandarin, and all partnerships, program details, documents, and contracts were in Chinese. Though I left China at the age of four, my parents made sure I kept up with the language throughout my school years. While it felt like a burden at the time, I came to realize its immense value when I entered the workforce. This language skill became crucial to my work with local stakeholders and WildAid’s partners in China.
Upon graduating, I was offered a full-time position as WildAid’s Climate Change Program manager but chose to start my own software company instead. In the early days, my cofounder and I launched several MVPs (minimum viable products) in search of the right product-market fit, which led to several iterations and pivots. After securing capital, we focused on customer communications and engagement, starting with a unified inbox solution for small businesses. As we honed our expertise in the e-commerce industry, our company began to grow rapidly, expanding from a team of two to over 15 by the time of acquisition. Our business attracted attention from major corporations such as Facebook and BigCommerce and was acquired by GoDaddy in 2021.
I still apply my learnings at MIIS every day, even in the tech industry.
My experiences at MIIS were instrumental in helping me interpret the world through new perspectives. The skills I developed, while rooted in environmental policy, apply to various industries, including business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. MIIS courses, like statistics for environmental science and natural resource economics, still influence my work. I still apply my learnings at MIIS every day, even in the tech industry.
One of the most transferable skills I gained was the ability to understand and interpret the difference between what people, businesses, and organizations say, want, and do—key insights I gained through studying environmental policy. Humans, businesses, and governments often operate within the confines of the prisoner’s dilemma, and understanding these dynamics has been crucial, whether I’m managing a conservation program or launching a new product in the tech world.
My best advice for current students: Don’t treat your professional education as just education. Learning is different from applying what you learn in real-world situations. Keep developing skills that help you avoid tunnel vision. Have a plan, but be adaptable to the unexpected opportunities that may come your way.
| by Caitlin Fillmore
Environmental policy and management student Allie Chapman will share her experience drafting legislation during a free public event at the Middlebury Institute on October 21.
| by Jason Scorse
Tackling climate change right now is less about science and technology, and more about people, politics and behavior change, environmental policy Professor Jason Scorse told Foreign Affairs in a recent Q&A.
| by Nadia Pshonyak
This summer, a cohort of thirteen students from a variety of backgrounds completed their practicums while finishing out their degrees at the Institute.
