Greening executives: A new program teaches managers about the business of clean tech
- Carina Storrs for Scientific American January 5th, 2010
- Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=greening-executives-a-new-program-t-2010-01-05
While the unemployment rate in the U.S. climbed to more than 10 percent in December, the job market could be gaining strength for green leaders. Already companies such as Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola Co. and FedEx Corp. have reportedly carved out executive positions for so-called sustainability officers. But, as two professors at New York University (N.Y.U.) recently discovered, there are scant programs to ready future green executives working in urban environments.
So, next month, N.Y.U.'s Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn will launch its first 10-session clean technology crash course program, called CleantechExecs, which is tailored to the New York City industrial market. The program will focus on so-called knowledge-intensive services—a vast sector spanning financial services, such as investment banking, insurance and real estate, as well as other professional services, such as consulting, architecture and hospitality to name a few.
"This has not been done to the extent that it should be done in particular for a city like New York," says Mel Horwitch, a professor of technology management at the Polytechnic Institute. Horwitch developed CleantechExecs with Ari Ginsberg, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at N.Y.U.'s Stern School of Business.
