Come learn more about CESR's MBA Pathways!

Learn how you can be recognized at graduation for your commitment to sustainability, and unlock access to new benefits, including:

• A social activity to connect with other Pathway participants every semester.
• Priority access to funding from CESR to support your participation in conferences and competitions.
• Access to industry experts who can provide career advice and guidance.
• A dedicated Slack channel where you'll get information and connect with peers just for your Pathway.

Event Details:

• Date: Feb. 19th
• Time: 2-3 pm
• Location: Zoom 

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Join industry experts in a hands-on two-day workshop in clean energy project finance. Students will learn project finance concepts, gain highly sought-after modeling skills, take a deep dive into quantitative analysis in clean energy investment, and learn about consulting, development, and investment career paths in the clean energy sector. Students will leave this workshop having built an industry-standard financial model for valuation and financing of a renewable energy project.

Please note, this workshop includes a pre-course exercise that will be due before the beginning of the program. To get the most out of the workshop please be prepared to spend time on a modeling project between the first and second workshop sessions. Group work is encouraged!

Lunch will be provided on Friday and Saturday.

****Students should have basic excel proficiency and an understanding debt and equity financing prior to attending this workshop

Workshop Agenda

Day 1 - Friday 2/21 (9am - 4:30 pm) Room 101

• Renewable Energy Project Lifecycle and Participants (Glen Davis) 9-10:20 am
• Project Finance Concepts and Capital Structuring (Bailey McCallum) 10:30-11:50 am
• Pre Course Materials Review; PF Modeling Best Practices (Omid Alemi) 12:45-1:45 pm
• Renewable Energy Career Path Panel (Chris Fogler, Ben Turner, Dave Smith, Arianna Giankopoulos) 2- 3:00 pm
• Debt Sizing 101 (Omid Alemi) 3:15-4:30 pm

Day 2 - Saturday 2/22 (9am - 3pm) Room 105

• Advanced project finance modeling (Omid Alemi) 9-1:45 pm
• Simplified tax equity modeling 2-3 pm

Speakers:

Omid Alemi, Director of Investment at Excelsior Energy Capital

Excelsior Energy Capital is a private fund focused on investing in North American middle-market renewable energy projects. Omid leads M&A, financing, and tax credit monetization transactions for Excelsior, as well as other commercial initiatives. He coordinates internal teams and third-party advisers, overseeing due diligence, commercial negotiations, documentation, and transaction execution. Before joining Excelsior, Omid was the Director of M&A at Onward Energy, where he contributed to the acquisition, project financing, and restructuring of over 4 GW of renewable and gas generation projects. He also trained, mentored, and supervised associates. Earlier in his career, Omid spent 10 years in Iran in project management and engineering roles on consulting infrastructure projects. He holds an MBA from ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Ʒ’s Leeds School of Business with a concentration in Finance and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tehran.

Glen Davis, CEO of Agile Energy Advisors, LLC.

Agile Energy Advisors provides advice and services to clients pursuing energy and infrastructure objectives. Mr. Davis is also a Board Director for Lightshift Energy, Madison Energy Infrastructure and Syrcuit Energy Solutions. For most of 2024, Mr. Davis served as Chief Executive Officer of Cypress Creek Renewables’ distributed generation business. From 2021 through 2023, Mr. Davis was CEO and a Board Director of Sunfolding, Inc., a supplier of innovative solar trackers. From 2014 through early 2017 he served as President and CEO of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) Americas. Mr. Davis joined RES Americas in 2013 as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for leading commercial activities, including corporate strategy, technical and financial analysis, M&A, transactions, transmission, and new business. Mr. Davis spent the first 18 years of his energy career with the AES Corporation, helping build it into one of the leading global independent power producers. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Wind Energy Association and the Board of Trustees of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. He holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Sc.B. in mechanical engineering from Brown University.

Bailey McCallum, CEO of Goshe Energy Storage LLC

Bailey leads the team acquiring, financing, constructing, and operating Goshe's utility-scale, stand-alone storage projects. Prior to joining Goshe, Bailey served as the Managing Director of Capital Markets at Copia Power where he raised a $750MM capital commitment from the Carlyle Group to support large solar and storage projects in the Desert Southwest. Bailey has also held positions at Paragon Energy Capital, GSSG Solar, Element Power, and GE Capital, during which he raised over $7B of capital to support over 8 GW of renewable energy now operating in the US. He holds a BA in biology and neuroscience from Williams College and an MBA and an MEM from Yale University.

Renewable Energy Career Panel:

Chris Fogler, Director FTI Consulting

Chris Fogler is a Director in FTI Consulting's Power, Renewables, and Energy Transition practice where he focuses on strategy and market entry for clean energy technologies including advanced nuclear, renewable fuels, and others. Prior to FTI, Mr. Fogler specialized in field service operations for thermal generation plants–focusing on output efficiency and emissions reductions for F-Class gas turbines.

Mr. Fogler holds an M.B.A. and an M.S. in Business Analytics from the University of Colorado, Boulder. His studies focused on the application of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to build actionable, value-creating insights for businesses. He also holds a B.A. in Mathematics and French Language & Literature from Williams College.

Arianna Gianakopoulos, Senior Product Manager at David Energy

Arianna has 8+ years' experience at the intersection of product design and sustainability. She currently leads product development and go-to-market strategy for David Energy’s business solutions, helping owners and operators to manage their energy and participate in grid flexibility programs. Prior to joining David Energy, Arianna led product development and go-to-market strategy at energy startups Uplight and Mammoth Water. Prior to entering the cleantech space, Arianna spent 5 years leading user research and design consulting for Fortune 500 companies in the automotive, healthcare, and financial services sectors to drive innovation strategy and execution.

Arianna holds a B.A. in Visual Communications from Penn State, an M.A. in Design for Sustainability from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and an MBA from the University of Colorado Boulder.

David Smith, Senior Client Development Manager at Schneider Electric

Dave brings a diversity of perspective gained through 10 years in the renewable energy industry across roles in community solar development at AES, research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), non-profit consulting at Natural Capitalism Solutions and onsite solar development at Icon Solar. He holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Colorado, both with concentrations in sustainability.

In his current role at Schneider Electric, Dave’s primary focus is helping organizations develop and implement global decarbonization strategies with a keen focus on renewable energy, carbon offsets and supply chain decarbonization. Dave has facilitated renewable energy advisory partnerships and corporate transactions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Ben Turner, VP Triple Oak Power

Ben is a renewable energy developer for Triple Oak Power. Ben started working in renewables after graduating from CU with an MBA and Graduate Energy Certificate in 2015. Over the last 10 years Ben has worked on utility scale projects including wind, solar, battery storage, and transmission. Ben has managed all aspects of project development from evaluating markets and identifying greenfield sites through project construction, and everything in between. In his current role Ben oversees a team of developers managing a portfolio of projects throughout the western US. Ben is originally from Texas and graduated from Texas A&M with a finance degree. Prior to moving to Colorado in 2013 to complete his MBA Ben worked in the homebuilding industry and spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa. Ben lives in Littleton with his wife, three kids and many animals.

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The March Debate Madness tournament is an individual, head-to-head, single-elimination debate tournament. First prize is $1000, second is $500, and third is $250. (All amounts are pre-tax.)

There is no prep required. You will show up at your assigned 20 minute time slot and toss a coin to decide who will take the pro side and who will take the con. Then, you will select a debate prompt from a hat. All prompts ask you to debate a topic in business ethics by drawing on a principles-based ethical perspective. You'll formulate your ideas in 5 minutes immediately before your debate starts.

The tournament will run on the following four Tuesday evenings: 2/25, 3/4, 3/11, and 3/18 from 6:00-8:30 pm in Koelbel. Grab-and-go food will be provided starting at 5:30 pm. The tournament is open to all current CU undergrad students, including those outside of Leeds. 

Please sign up   by Feb. 21st to be placed into a debate bracket. You will receive an email prior to the event. You must confirm your participation by responding to that email. If you do not confirm, you will be placed into a stand-by participant pool. If you show up without confirming, we will do our best to accommodate your participation; but you will not be guaranteed a spot in the tournament.

Former HR specialist at Google, will lead a hands-on 90 minute workshop for SRE students on how to talk to employers about your strengths, experience and passion for sustainability and social impact. Dinner provided!

Event Details:

• Date: March 12th, 2025
• Time: 5:30-7:00 pm
• Location: TBD

With over 15+ years of experience in Talent Management, Marissa Johnson is a seasoned career coach with a focus on developing people, teams and organizations to drive growth and business results. She previously worked at Google in People Development and Operations, and currently operates her own career consulting company.

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The social side of sustainability is just as important as the environmental one, but companies often struggle to set quantifiable social impact targets that align with strategic objectives. That’s where you come in!

Join us on March 19th, from 1–2:30 PM MT via Zoom, for an interactive workshop on Social Impact Measurement with .

This hands-on session will:

• Break down what impact measurement and evaluation really mean.
• Show you how these tools can supercharge sustainability initiatives.
• Introduce user-friendly frameworks and approaches.

*This workshop is part of CESR’s Sustainability Skills series and counts toward experiential learning requirements for the undergraduate SRE Certificate and MBA Pathways. Don’t miss this opportunity to make a difference while building expertise for your future!

Event Details:

• Date: March 19th, 1:00 PM
• Location:

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