Biomimicry Panel Draws Presidio Community and General Public

Presidio hosted a panel on biomimicry principles on March 15th during the Saturday evening community event at Fort Mason's Golden Gate Room. The panel featured three certified biologists who studied with Biomimicry Guild co-founder Janine Benyus and are applying biomimicry in their current endeavors. Biomimicry is a science that studies nature's systems and elements and mimics them to solve human problems sustainably. Nearly 200 people attended the standing-room only event, which was open to the public. The lively discussion included examples of how designers, architects and others use biomimicry to solve design and engineering challenges sustainably and how principles can innovatively be applied to businesses to improve organizational behavior and culture.

Students Help Wal-Mart with Nationwide Curbside Recycling Initiative

Heather Free, Ken Hejmanowski, Nils Moe and Michel Weksler got high marks from Wal-Mart after completing an operations plan to help the company introduce or expand recycling programs in its 4,000 communities. As part of Presidio's Operations & Production course, the student project focused on developing a highly flexible financial model that took into account program goals, costs, revenues and supplies. It included different scenarios and featured two stores in areas where curbside-recycling programs did and did not exist. Wal-Mart's main project contact said, "This program was a great opportunity for our company, and my experience was very enjoyable. I know this in part was due to the diligence and dedication of the student team I was fortunate to work with. They displayed the highest level of professionalism and dedication to the program."

Gap Director Discusses Company's Sustainability Efforts

During Hunter Lovins' class on Implementing Sustainability, Gap Inc. Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Environmental Affairs, Kindley Walsh Lawlor, discussed her experience implementing sustainability for the global company. Lawlor has worked at Gap for 10 years and is now responsible for developing strategies to further integrate social responsibility and environmental objectives into the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy brands. While Gap has had a comprehensive social responsibility program in place for years, it has received negative publicity on its labor practices. She discussed the challenges the company faces and her role focusing the company's environmental strategy around "ECO," three areas where the company has the greatest opportunity to impact positive, lasting change: (E)nergy conservation, (C)otton/sustainable design and (O)utput/waste reduction.

Coming Attractions for Presidio Venture Plans

Graduating MBA students will present their final Capstone Venture Plan projects during the Venture Showcase in May. One venture plan, Climozone, is the project of Kristina Pappas, Todd English, Joe Madden and Allen Price. Climozone is commercializing a comprehensive system to monetize the destruction of ozone depleting substances, preventing millions of tons of global warming emissions and bringing unrealized verified emission reductions to the carbon market. Another student team — comprised of Shana Gillis, Stephanie Chenard and Lauren Tett — are developing a business called Garden Technologies, which creates urban growing environments to provide inexpensive and high-quality organic food year-round, in any climate. The primary product will be a vertical farm in the form of a large green building that ultra-efficiently uses water and energy use and produces no waste. The farm will serve as a health and wellness community-gathering place with a restaurant along with cooking and nutrition classes. Stay tuned for more highlights on student venture plans.

Student News

Soon-to-be Presidio Grad Helping Berkeley Mayor Green the City

Student Nils Moe recently accepted a full-time position as Assistant to the Mayor of Berkeley, focused on sustainability initiatives. He will primarily focus on developing Berkeley's Climate Action Plan, solar financing district and sustainable transportation programs, and the East Bay Green Corridor initiative. Nils said he is "incredibly excited to have a dream job that allows me to exercise sustainability knowledge and expertise in real time." He says his Presidio education was key to getting him the job. It all started with the Managerial Finance class when as part of his team project he developed a financial model for Berkeley's solar financing initiative. "The project and education allowed me to be considered for the position," Nils says, "and gave me the confidence to credibly address sustainability issues while interviewing. Now, I'm well prepared to brief the mayor on the city's sustainability projects." Congratulations, Nils.

Students Win Design Competition

Lina Constantinovici and Kaytea Petro celebrated recently for their winning entry in the RE:vision RE:STORE international competition. Recognized by the judges as the "most creative and practical efficient use of retail space," the team's design focused on a new shopping and community experience through sustainable construction, education, waste management and fostering local economy. The winning entries will be presented at the San Francisco Mayors Conference on Climate Change in June. Urban Revision sponsors "competitions for visionary thinkers" that inspire innovation and use ideas in new and amazing ways. Well done, Lina and Kaytea!

Graduate News

Presidio Grad at the Forefront of PG&E's Climate Protection Policies and Plans

Since graduating from Presidio in May 2007, Xantha Bruso has been working for PG&E on a variety of sustainability initiatives. Currently, she serves as a Climate Protection Policy Specialist in the company's Environmental Policy Department. Xantha is responsible for quantifying and reporting PG&E's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, participating in public workgroups to develop GHG inventory and project protocols, and implementing emissions reduction and renewable energy projects. When she was a Presidio MBA student, she worked for a non-profit that managed PG&E's Solar Schools program and then later completed an internship at the utility company, helping her land a full-time position.

Through completing her Presidio Capstone project on a potential dairy biogas program for PG&E, she joined the Dairy Biogas team that developed the first project in California to deliver pipeline-quality, renewable natural gas to a utility. This effort won the team PG&E's Richard A. Clarke Environmental Leadership Award, which honors examples of environmental leadership among the company's 20,000 employees. "The work I am doing is fascinating and will become more so as the renewable energy and carbon markets develop," Xantha says. "The skills I learned at Presidio and am now learning will enable me to help PG&E succeed within a new regulatory framework that requires more renewable energy and greater emissions reductions. With this new framework, the energy and carbon industries present great career opportunities for Presidio MBAs."

Faculty News 

Presidio Provost Engages B-Schools with Values-Based Leadership Ideas

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