About Me
I've been working in climate for almost 20 years. I'm an "outdoors kid" with a love for sailing (I was a sailing instructor for 7 summers), hiking, rowing, rafting and pretty much any activity on the water. In 2005, I attended a semester long Outward Bound program, where I saw first hand the impact that large corporations were having on the environment. After coming back from that trip, I knew I had found my passion: finding a balance between planetary health and the operations we need as a society. Which is practically the definition of sustainability. I looked far and wide for college programs at the intersection of environment and social sciences, which is when I ended up at Marietta College with a double major in environmental studies and political science. I knew my academic career wasn't over and proceeded to get a Masters in Energy and Environmental Analysis and PhD in Climate Risk and Adaptation (see my dissertation here).
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All of this led to a career in corporate sustainability and ESG where I've led 4 different publicly traded companies to initiate and accelerate their sustainability efforts. In my current role, I help to decarbonize 3,000 commercial real estate buildings. I conduct diligence on climate tech and if the technology and company passes my criteria, I include them them in an introduction to the tenants of our building portfolio. Because I was seeing a large number of startups and evaluating them for commercial real estate, I began advising startups in the climate tech space.
My Story
When I was a freshman in college, I hadn't flushed out the right major. I knew I was interested in international relations and political science, but there was a component that was missing. I always loved being outdoors, and as an avid sailor, when I had the opportunity to attend an Outward Bound semester sailing and sea kayaking in the Caribbean, I jumped at the chance to attend. Little did I know that it would change the entire course of my career.
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During that semester, I learned about the intersection between the environment, policy and corporations. The connection was never as clear as when we were in the middle of a 100 mile paddle along the southern cost of Puerto Rico when we came across a port that was surrounded by large factories. I remember vividly the names and smokestacks of the those corporations (some led by the parents of my prep-school pals) and I thought to myself, this is going to be one of the biggest issues of my lifetime.
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So that was it. I came back home, searched around for schools that allowed me to study environmental studies and political science (not many schools had environmental studies degrees at the time) and never looked back. Three degrees and multiple corporate jobs later, I find myself with the passion and experience to help early stage climate technology companies find their market fit and make meaningful connections with the corporations that can utilize their products.
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If you're interested in learning more about how I can help, please reach out to me at sotiriaanagnostou@gmail.com