As part of CMC company outreach this summer, Jana Cain, CMC Recruiting Relationship Manager, and I spoke with representatives at AES, Department of Energy, and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Here is what we learned:
AES Corporation – Global power company with generation and distribution businesses
We connected with Joel Larkins ’03 in Corporate Development at AES in the Washington DC area. Joel focuses on capital allocation, monitor competition, and understanding changes in the market in the corporate headquarters of 300 people. AES is a very international company with 20,000 employees in 30 countries with global focus on Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Panama, Colombia), India, Vietnam. Recent graduate Nishant D’Souza ’10 works as a Commercialization Manager in Vietnam.
Of most interest to MBAs – AES has a Leadership Rotational Program – and is a great place for someone who wants an international energy career. They hired 4-5 MBAs from Harvard, Wharton, and other schools. They also hire summer interns who are working on new projects including some in Ghana and Kenya. Strong candidates will have global experience, strategy or finance experience, and real passion for energy. They are open to career changers – “someone from the World Bank would have a strong background for example.”
- Key to landing a job there has really been networking. Past candidates have found connections and started conversations that way. As a very decentralized company, candidates will need to talk to offices of interest if outside Arlington.
U.S. Department of Energy – Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy
Keddy Chandran, Commercialization Advisor, (ARPA-E) spoke to us about the funding and growth of his program and how that will determine hiring needs. His office doesn’t have formal hiring plans at this point, but they have hired MBAs for summer projects in the last couple years. Networking to find out what the office is focused on is important. Here is a list of some of their new projects – Keddy has a focus on building cooling.
- Summers are open to MBAs that want to get to know the energy space better.
- Full time candidates will want to networking. Keddy is happy to talk to students interested in his group. These candidates should have technical background and would love that person to have VC experience.
- Stanford MBAs that have also worked for the Department of Energy more generally include Becca Levin ’12, Frank Visciano ’11, and Megan Guy ’10.
Keddy is organizing the upcoming Energy Innovation Conference to be held on Feb. 27, 28, 29, 2012. He is hoping to increase student participation this year. Perhaps even have presentation available via telepresence. More information to follow.
Environment Defense Fund (EDF) – Climate Corp Summer Program
We spoke to Sitar Mody, Project Manager, Corporate Partnerships about next year’s recruiting for EDF’s Climate Corp. Each year the Environmental Defense Fund hires MBAs for summer sustainability project in corporations. They hope for more applications from Stanford next year.
These MBAs work in companies to identify ways to reduce energy usage and costs in their buildings. Sitar hopes that more MBAs will be able to leverage their experience for full-time positions like past participant Trish Kenlon of NYU. Trish is now the Manager of Energy & Sustainability at Ann Taylor.
- Avra Winograd-Hutner ’12 is working on a project for boutique hotel company Joie de Vivre. Other California companies partnering with EDF this year included Facebook, eBay, and Cricket Communication.
The application for internships in the summer of 2012 will be due in the month of December. More information at: http://edfclimatecorps.org/
Next Up – Visits to DropBox, Salesforce, AirBnB, and Joyent