The Green MBA - Alumni

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Alumni

Green MBA graduates work in a variety of capacities. Some start their own businesses, many are working as consultants, and others are intrapreneurs in both large and small business settings. The strong bond developed among students continues after graduation.

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Nareeya Chvajarernpun ^Featured

Nareeya is from Thailand. She came across the Green MBA program through an internet search one day and after reading through the course descriptions, decided right away that this program was exactly what she wanted. She received a B.A. in International Relations from Thammasat University in Thailand and was working for about a year as an international project coordinator at the Education for Development Foundation. Before enrollment into the Green MBA, Nareeya would never describe herself as “business material” since she had never believed that exploitation of both the environment and soc ...
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Robyn Erler ^Featured

Robyn Erler is using her Green MBA degree to promote online activism and LOHAS lifestyles with Care2.com. As a Senior Campaign Manager with Care2, Robyn educates a wide audience of Internet users on how they can make a difference on a range of issues – from carbon emissions at home to human rights violations abroad. While working for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation prior to the Green MBA program, Robyn saw the tremendous positive impact business can have on the world. She began to take workshops in sustainable living and scour the Internet for green business programs (where she found ...
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Phoebe Higgins ^Featured

Phoebe Higgins is Project Manager and Loan Officer at the California Fisheries Fund . She assists borrowers throughout the lending process and manages the Fund's everyday operations. Before joining CFF, Phoebe served as the Sustainable Programs Director at Community Bank of the Bay in Oakland, where she was responsible for making loans to green businesses and environmental nonprofit organizations through the bank's Bay Area Green Fund. Phoebe also has several years' experience as a community organizer with ACORN and other groups focused on social justice issues such as affordable housing, e ...
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Avary Kent ^Featured

Avary Kent is Corporate Advisory Analyst with HIP Investor, where she  manages the private venture evaluations for HIP clients. Avary received a B.S. in Biology from George Washington University in 2005, and honed her analytical skills as a genetic engineer for George Washington University Labs. She has also founded a profitable enterprise dealing in antiquities in Virginia. Her human impact experience includes teaching animal care at an inner city education non-profit, and managing endangered species ecology for the National Parks System. In 2009 Avary obtained her MBA in Sustainable Enterp ...
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Nils-Michael Langenborg ^Featured

Santa Rosa native Nils-Michael Langenborg graduated with Cohort L in December of 2008. Since then he’s been providing sales and marketing consulting services to natural and organic food companies and retailers with a focus on the triple-bottom line. With sustainability as the lead business practice, he’s working with companies like Numi Organic Tea (an artisanal tea company), Alter Eco (a fair trade company), Practice Greenhealth (a non-profit focused on sustainability in healthcare), and Good Earth Organic and Natural Foods (a retailer with 90% of their prod ...
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Joey Shepp ^Featured

Joey Shepp is a visionary artist, entrepreneur, technologist, ecologist, and eternal optimist. He is the founder of Earthsite , SustainableHosting.com and GreenMaven.com. After 8 years of design, marketing, and consulting for green businesses, Joey founded these companies with the mission of creating a global network of sustainability websites. One of Earthsite's key clients is the Read More...

Alex Szabo ^Featured

Alex Szabo founded TheGreenOffice.com in 2005 after work as a sustainability consultant and educator. The company works to leverage the purchasing power of values-based consumers in order to speed the transition to sustainability in the office products industry. By offering a full selection of socially and environmentally responsible office products at competitive prices, TheGreenOffice.com empowers individuals and organizations to align their values with action. Prior to his work with TheGreenOffice.com, Mr. Szabo oversaw the campus sustainabi ...
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Kari Anne Robert

Kari Anne Robert started the Green MBA Program in September of 2006 after earning her BA in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Communities, with an emphasis on Ecological Food Systems. Kari Anne has over a decade of experience in restaurant and kitchen management, and is passionate about renewing our relationship with local, native foods in the face of climate change and resource depletion. While focusing on her MBA in Sustainable Enterprise, she worked on creating The Abundance Project; a natural cooking and nutrition education program for the City of Riverside Parks and Recreation Dep ...
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Sonora Beam

Sonora is a lifelong artist, accomplished in painting, writing and music. "I never could sit still in one medium", Sonora says, "So it's no surprise I ended up in advertising." She created Digital Hive EcoLogical Design while still in the MBA program. Digital Hive is a full service strategic marketing and design firm that specializes in promoting green initiatives.Sonora also facilitates experiential creativity and business workshops in beautiful places like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Sonora is now a Green MBA faculty member teaching Green and Social Marketing.

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Meaghan Bertram

Meaghan was born and raised in Marin County. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in environmental sciences and design. In 2005, she and her husband bought an RV Park and campground in Solano County and are currently expanding their business. Meaghan graduated from the GreenMBA program in December 2010. Since completing the program, she was named a board member and Northern California representative for the California RV Park and Campground Association and is very excited about breaking ground at their RV Park in Vacaville in summer 2010 to build 50 ...
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Susan Briski

Susan Briski, Principal and founder of Sustainable Progress Consulting, provides consulting services to leading organizations to help them create a sustainable future and improve their triple-bottom-line performance; where business, the environment, and people prosper. She helps people understand and apply sustainability principles in practical, common sense ways, and provides systematic approaches to produce measurable improvement. Her clients include businesses, colleges, nonprofits, and community groups. ...
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Anne Buffington

Anne Buffington works with Earthsite, LLC (founded by two of her fellow classmates Joey and Stacie Shepp). Anne is the account manager for Green Festival. Anne came to the Green MBA with a lifelong interest in people and places. She has apprenticed with her dad’s real estate development company, traveled abroad learning foreign languages, and taken a geographical tour of Northern California. During this time she has learned from her own experiences as well as native peoples and transplants how it is that peoples’ connections with human ecological habitats coalesces.
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Christopher Byrne

Christopher Byrne is independently contracting through his firm, Shambhala Consulting. Combining the “Green is Good ” model of New College of California's MBA in Sustainable Enterprise with the analytic framework of the Integral perspective, Shambhala Consulting promotes sustainability through business by assisting companies in successfully meeting the challenges and realizing the rewards of “going green” . Projects presently include coordinating the sustainable design, renovation, and operations plan of an Eco-retreat / HotSprings in Northern California and a vision of purpose for a tea compa ...
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Gabriella Canez

Currently a Marketing Associate with San Francisco Department of th Environment, Gabriella holds a Paralegal Diploma from Esquire College and a bachelor's degree in International Relations in Sustainable Development from San Francisco State University. She spent years working in nonprofit organizations, including the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Braille Institute, Environment California and volunteered at the International Development Exchange. She also worked at Kleiwerks, a nonprofit international organization, promoting sustainable living around the world. Gabriella’s ...
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April Capil

April Capil came to the Green MBA Program seeking refuge from the traditional corporate model. "I had gone through this restructuring where I watched a company throw away social capital that had taken years to build, just because the CEO wanted us be the Wal-Mart of commercial real estate. It was ridiculous." During graduate school, April developed financial models for an Eco-Villa rental property, a CSA for a master-planned community, and an organic mobile restaurant chain. Her insights and endeavors are available at aprilcapil.com....
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Charles Carroll

Charles is the founder of New Outlook Financial, a financial planning firm based in Portland, Oregon that specializes in sustainable personal finance. New Outlook offers comprehensive and specific planning in the areas of: insurance, education saving, investment, retirement and estate planning, spending management, financial independence and green entrepreneurship on a fee-only, hourly basis. In his work as a financial planner and investment advisor, Charles weaves what he learned in the Green MBA program with his other profession ...
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Felicia Chavez

Felicia was sold on the Green MBA program when she discovered that the Bioneers Conference was part of the Green MBA curriculum, as she had volunteered annually for the extraordinary conference eight years in a row. She believes "social change flows from personal growth." As such, since graduating in 2007, she has become both a sustainability consultant (at iReuse) and further developed her spiritual practices, pursuing the point where spirituality, sustainability, and business converge. The connections made during the program through on-the-ground academic ...
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Melinda Cheel

Melinda Cheel is the Executive Director of the Green Chamber of Commerce, where she promotes and supports members, strengthens the green business community and actively engages in public policy to create a healthy and sustainable future.

Prior to joining the Green Chamber of Commerce, Melinda worked as a designer and account manager for Jodi Riviera, Inc., assisting with an environmentally responsible bedding & bath brand. She also worked for four years at Environmental Home Center in Seattle and served as marketing ...
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Patrick D. McAvoy

Patrick graduated in August of 2004. Patrick owns his own business called Information Services Limited. He deals with software development, applications, and support. He has been doing this since 1981 and has been in the computer industry for over 30 years. Patrick has also been doing some green consulting on the side. Just recently he took on a partner, a long time friend and fellow musician, to start a new venture. They will be offering computer help support for people purchasing home computers.

Patrick lives with his wife, Caroline, in Alameda, CA. They have six children, four of ...
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Trina Dixon

Trina moved to Sonoma County in 2000 after spending 12 years practicing accounting and management consulting in Colorado. Her experience includes both public and private from small privately held businesses to Fortune 500 firms. In January 2004 she became a partner at a CPA firm, Zainer Rinehart Clarke, DFK. She is leading the organization to become the first CPA firm to integrate sustainability into everything they do, from tax planning to triple-bottom-line reporting (financial, environmental, and social). The firm is planning to role model sustainability while also helping advise clients ...
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Lance Funston

Lance Funston is a marketing consultant in corporate communications, and social and environmental marketing helping corporations to shape and align communications strategy with their performance and actions in corporate social responsibility, with specific focus on the transportation, energy, media & technology sectors. Lance is currently the director of marketing communication for the Future 500, a non-profit working to bring major companies, NGO’s and government agencies through stakeholder engagement to advance global citizenship. Lance also consults independently with small and medi ...
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Brian Hamlin

Brian Hamlin is affiliated with the California Resource Recovery Association, the Northern California Recyclers Association, and Berkeley Macintosh Developers’ Group. He maintains a blog at www.EwasteInsights.info where he posts his written work – a number of informative articles pertaining to market research, business development, strategic analysis, advocacy, public speaking, and consumer education. He has been published in NCRA news and other online forums. Brian has worked with trade groups on new alliances for effective disposal systems, d ...
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Lindsay Hassett

After nearly 5 years of driving on biodiesel and veggie oil, educating all ages about the benefits of using Biodiesel Lindsay aka Betty Biodiesel has finally found her biodiesel dream job. She is the Marketing Director & Business Development for Blue Sky Biofuels. Blue Sky is the first commercial Biodiesel facility in the Bay Area. Located in Oakland Blue Sky has the capacity to process both waste oil and virgin feedstock into 20 million gallons of Biodiesel per year. She will also be further developing her non-profit, The Betty Biod ...
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Peter Hoberg

Peter Hoberg is the Director of Business Development at Renewable Energy Resources, Inc. He has over twenty years experience in business development and application engineering for test and measurement applications with Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. This also includes direct experience in defining, specifying, and managing custom projects for implementation of electronic test systems for aerospace, defense, and communications applications. In addition, Mr. Hoberg spent 2½ years in Hong Kong as Asia's regional business development manager for Hewlett Packard. In that position he l ...
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Carolyn J. Strange

One of our first alumni, Carolyn graduated from the precursor to the Green MBA program, earning her MA in 2002. Her work to help heal the Earth involves a variety of writing and public education projects in which she enjoys drawing upon her dual backgrounds in science and journalism, as well as her synthetic thinking and communication skills. Carolyn’s thesis project evolved into a “conscious consuming” workshop — sustainability education for people who want to live “greener” lives, but wonder which changes really make a difference, and don't have time to research it themselves. When Carol ...
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Miya Kitahara

Miya has been sympathetic to environmental issues since she was a child growing up in Japan and Berkeley, CA. Yet it was not until she immersed herself in New York City, the epitome of a capitalistic American city, that her aversion for the current system of ecological destruction became her primary concern. After receiving her BA in psychology from NYU, she returned to California to seek a path in the environmental movement. Miya has also worked in several non-profits and holds a certificate in Permaculture design from the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. Her experience with New Yor ...
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Shana Levy McCracken

Shana is a co-owner of Gigantic Idea Studio, Inc. — a green & social marketing company specializing in behavioral change campaigns on behalf of public agencies. Her clients range from small cities to the Pentagon. Shana had already been working in the environmental field for approximately ten years when she joined the program, looking to take her work to the next level. The master’s and MBA programs enabled Shana to add a new strategic dimension to her consulting services, as well as manage her business more effectively. “The wo ...
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Jeremy Litow

Jeremy works at the Portland Energy Conservation Inc. based in Sacramento, CA. Working under the auspices of PG&E, he conducts energy audits of commercial facilities and identifies tiered opportunities for conservation. He then manages projects to realize these opportunities, working with facility owners and managers to identify available PG&E rebates, and partnering with equipment and service providers to install equipment or improve operational management. He then follows up and audits completed projects, assesses whether deliverables were met, and moves to the next tier of co ...
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Cady Marsh

Cady Marsh graduated from Dominican University of California with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in the May 2007. During her senior year of college she had the opportunity to intern at a local Organic Skincare Company Juice Beauty , in San Rafael, California, where she currently works in prestige sales and marketing. At the same time, the Green MBA relocated to Dominican University. The values of both paired perfectly together creating a unique opportunity for her to continue on with her education and work for a company ...
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Minnetta McAdams

Minnetta’s background is a BBA in financial accounting. She has work experience in accounting and information technology, specializing in software systems integrations. She had started an MBA program 10 years ago, but decided to wait until she “found the perfect match” before pursuing the degree. What brought Minnetta to the Green MBA program is “seeing a need in business to do things differently.” She started the program at New College in Fall 2005, and graduated in Spring of 2008 at DUC.
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Laura McKaughan

Laura currently works as the Recycling Projects Manager for the San Francisco Conservation Corps (link www.sfcc.org). Her work involves monitoring existing collection routes for recycling, handling recycling/compost collection for events, and developing and implementing environmental education for the urban youth the program serves. The SFCC exists to empower youth, build community and offer opportunity. Specifically the youth involved in the program develop job skills while working on service projects and attend classes to attain their high school diplomas. ...
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Ryan Milani

Before entering the Green MBA in 2006, Ryan studied sociology from California State University, Chico. As a sociology student, Ryan saw how business has produced many wonders at the expense of the environment and people. He decided to explore this relationship more, and after winning a business plan contest that helped launch him into entrepreneurship, he decided to attend the Green MBA for post graduate studies.

As a student in the MBA, Ryan launched GNet, the GreenMBA's online social network for students, faculty, and alumni. In 2007, Ryan also gathered a team to launch the Domini ...
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Francene Ospital

Francene graduated in May of 2004 and is now living in Long Beach, California. She works as a regional sales manager (Southern California) for Consol, an energy consulting firm for production home builders. www.consol.ws Francene considers the most poignant aspect of the Green MBA program at New College to be the intimacy gained by its small class-sizes and intimate cohorts. Francene appreciates the authenticity and camaraderie that New College students and faculty offer.
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Becky Persun

Becky received her B.S. in Environmental Studies/Wildlife Biology from California University of Pennsylvania. In addition to this curriculum, she enrolled in a summer study program with The School for Field Studies Center for Wildlife Management in Kenya, East Africa. While there Becky participated in field research and interacted with locals to better understand human-animal conflicts and the effects of both government and NGO conservation programs on wildlife populations and local economies. After graduation, she moved to Sumatra, Indonesia to work as a Project Assistant for the Orangutan ...
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Janet Pomeroy

Janet has spent over 16 years in various capacities working in advertising, television, and multimedia and web design. She specializes in User Experience Design and enjoys leading clients through the complexities of technological innovation. Janet launched Digital Hive digitalhive.biz, with her classmate, Sonora Beam. Digital Hive is a full service design firm in San Francisco focusing on marketing products and services for companies serving the multi-billion dollar green marketplace. “It’s been rewarding to align my values with my ski ...
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Candace Rossman

Candace graduated from Smith College in 1996 with a BA in Music, minoring in Education. Returning to her hometown of Denver, Colorado, she pursued a music teaching career. After two years, frustrated by the lack of authenticity of the experience, she applied to Graduate School at Colorado State University to gain more exposure to music therapy and education. On summer break after her first year, she worked for a high tech company who began to preen her for their marketing department. It worked and she began her career in corporate America. After being laid off and working in a few more cor ...
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Michael Rubovits

Michael Rubovits is currently the Director of Finance at the League to Save Lake Tahoe , a non-profit whose mission is to Keep Tahoe Blue. Prior to working for the League, Michael was the interim Executive Director/Finance Director at the Watershed Project, an organization that works to educate and inspire communities to protect their local watershed. He has over ten year experience in non-profit management and finance helping environmental non-profits maximize there efficiency and build their surpluses. Michael is also the CFO o ...
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Stacie Shepp

Stacie Shepp is the co-founder of Earthsite, LLC along with her husband and fellow Green MBA graduate, Joey Shepp. Earthsite is a full service web development firm working with sustainable businesses. Clients include the Green Festival and Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Stacie is using the skills she acquired in the Green MBA in all stages of the business including business development, marketing, finance, operations and human resources. Earthsite has several of it’s own web properties including Read More...

Tiffany Smith

After graduation, Tiffany launched Green Burial: Turning Over a New Leaf, which helps people make their death a contribution to life. The organization’s mission is to purchase land which will be used for environmentally sustainable burial. The revenues will be used to foster cleaner cremations, social equity, and land conservation. Tiffany finds the disciplines of humanities and leadership in the Green MBA program, provides an excellent foundation in affecting social and ecological change. Her final project consisted of creating a business model promoting sustainable methods of dealing wit ...
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Jessica Waggoner

Jessica Waggoner graduated from the Green MBA program in 2007 and currently lives in Chicago with her husband and her dog. She works for the Global Philanthropy Parntership advising the City of Chicago on its path to decrease carbon emissions as outlined in the Chicago Climate Action Plan Her work lies in developing strategies that the City can use to engage the private sector in reducing their carbon footprint. Prior to working on the City of Chicago project, she worked for Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the countr ...
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Orion Walker

Orion graduated from the GreenMBA program in 2007 and now works at the Solar Living Institute . As the Green Career Programs and Events Manager he produces Green Career Conferences, coordinates career transition workshop programs, organizes solar training events, and represents the SLI at conferences and festivals. Orion holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College and lives with his wife and son in a self-built stawbale and cob house ...
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Stacey Ward

Stacey has a Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Planning and Economics. After graduation she was uncertain of where she was headed. All she new is that she wanted to make a positive difference in the world. She continued her job in corporate group sales at a hotel in Sonoma for about two years. She had gained business experience from this position, but grew restless. While looking for a new job, she stumbled upon the Green MBA program. She was drawn to the way the program “combined both [her] passion for the environment and interest in business.” Through ...
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Sarah Wechsberg

Sarah has a diverse background studying Art History, Environmental Geography, and Politics. The combination of all three disciplines, plus many years of international traveling, and a progressive upbringing within a contrasting traditional Southern culture provided a diverse and conscious foundation for Sarah’s aspiration to bring positive change to the world. For undergraduate, she attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her experience covers a broad spectrum, where she worked in galleries and museums, performed green building auditing, food system auditing, political c ...
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Sara Weihmann

Sara graduated from Whitman College in 2004 with a major in English and a minor in Rhetoric and Film. She first heard about the New College of Californias Green MBA program from someone she met hiking in the backcountry of Denali, Alaska. It was the idea of using commerce as a leverage point for environmental and social change that struck her immediately, and the visit to the New College campus that sealed the deal. It was very clear, the moment that I stepped through that classroom door, that I was in a place which instigated the development of the individual, providing them with leadership ...
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Jennifer Woodruff

Jennifer Woodruff moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend the Green MBA program. She recently moved back to Ashville, NC where she grew up. There she is working on starting a green building and natural home furnishing supply store similar to Green Fusion in Marin County, CA. Jennifer’s favorite part of being a Green MBA student was community with classmates, alumni, and faculty. She says: “The concepts being taught in the program are definitely on the cutting edge - we are pioneers. We are working to i ...
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"The energy analysis of water movement through our vineyard operations done by the Green MBA students in the fall of 2007 provided us with a baseline on which to build energy reduction programs and examine energy generation. The Green MBA student team was engaging and through in their investigation. The experience was enriching for both our operation and the students with a final product that was complete and professional"

John Nagle,
Manager Environmental Affairs,
Gallo Family Vineyards

Alumni

Nareeya Chvajarernpun Featured

Robyn Erler Featured

Phoebe Higgins Featured

Avary Kent Featured

Nils-Michael Langenborg Featured

Joey Shepp Featured

Alex Szabo Featured

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Alumni

Nareeya Chvajarernpun ^Featured

Robyn Erler ^Featured

Phoebe Higgins ^Featured

Avary Kent ^Featured

Nils-Michael Langenborg ^Featured

Joey Shepp ^Featured

Alex Szabo ^Featured