Priyanka's interests span renewable energy, appropriate technology for rural development, sustainable agriculture, and industrial ecology. Prior to Michigan, she worked for six years in the healthcare IT industry in Los Angeles, leading development and implementation activities for mission-critical clinical software at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Priyanka's personal passion for understanding the interplay between business, economic development, energy, and the environment, led her to Michigan's Erb program, where she is exploring the exciting gamut of career options in the sustainability field. This past summer, Priyanka interned with the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder, Colorado, where she helped facilitate two energy innovation workshops with the National Renewable Energy Lab and Rio Tinto Mining, respectively. Priyanka holds a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and her ultimate long-term "career" goal is to teach yoga and hands-on sustainability principles to schoolchildren.
Brewster is focusing his work at Michigan on entrepreneurship in environmental technologies. Prior to graduate school, he was an Associate with Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting in Seattle, a firm dedicated to helping public agencies improve management programs and achieve better environmental results. Before moving to the northwest, Brewster was a management consultant with A.T. Kearney based in Sydney, Australia. Outside of work, Brewster is a founding member and board member of The Eagle Fund, an organizationocused on improving education in Colorado through targeted financial donations and service. And whenever possible, Brewster creates time for international travel having spent significant time on six continents. He graduated from Middlebury College with a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Studies.
Devon is interested in harnessing the power of business to promote environmental sustainability through more active policy engagement and by affecting changes in consumption patterns via marketing and product development. This summer she interned at Seventh Generation for CEO Jeffrey Hollender, developing metrics to assess food, mass and drug retailers in the areas of environmental and social responsibility. Prior to joining the Erb Institute Devon worked for Senator Jim Jeffords, Davis Polk & Wardwell and the Environmental Law Institute, where she witnessed the absence of constructive discourse with industry in the development of environmental law and policy. Before working in law and politics Devon interned at the Environmental Protection Agency, The Conservation Fund and Environmental Defense. Devon is co-president of SNRE student government, a member of the MBS Marketing Club, High Performance and Net Impact. Devon enjoys cooking, running and watching CSPAN and holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy and Government from Colby College in Waterville, ME.
Mike is interested in partnering with corporations to develop profitable sustainability initiatives utilizing energy efficiency, renewable energy systems, and corporate strategies that address climate change. Before coming to Michigan, Mike was an Associate with ICF International in Washington, DC, a firm providing consulting and technology services to public sector clients in defense, energy, environment, homeland security, social programs, and transportation. At ICF, he provided support to EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Solid Waste, and Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics on a number of research and analytical projects. He received a B.A. in International Studies from Kenyon College and he has taken several extended trips to Latin America to study, volunteer, and explore.
Nina is motivated by the opportunity to improve economic conditions in emerging markets through innovative business ventures that respect the environment and indigenous cultures. Her primary interest is in creating sustainable, private-sector business models for poverty alleviation in developing countries. Nina spent the summer of 2007 in Hyderabad, India, designing and implementing an impact assessment study for the Scojo Foundation, a nonprofit social enterprise that develops markets for reading glasses at the base of the economic pyramid. In Summer 2008, Nina will interning as a Portfolio Associate with the Acumen Fund in NYC, focusing on the organization’s investments in renewable energy businesses in emerging markets. Nina is currently the Co-President of the Ross Emerging Markets Club and previously served on the leadership board of the Ross Net Impact Club. Prior to Erb, Nina spent five years in Kathmandu, Nepal managing Wild Earth, a herbal body care company with a mission to support women’s economic development and the sustainable harvesting of Himalayan herbs. Nina earned her BA in History from Princeton University.
Aaron's studies at Erb focus on corporate strategy, real estate, and
leadership development. He seeks competitive advantage through integrated
decision making and sustainable innovation. His interests include management
consulting, high performance building design, and executive education. Aaron
won the inaugural Emerging Green Builder essay contest for his articulation
of human-wilderness interaction in high performance buildings. He has served
as board member for the Ross Leadership Initiative, VP for Net Impact, and
co-chair of the Erb Marketing Committee. Aaron's professional background
includes economic development, conflict management and wilderness therapy.
He is an accomplished songwriter, poet and recording artist and holds a B.S.
in social theory from the University of Michigan.
Jeff is focusing his studies on developing profitable and sustainable growth opportunities within the energy and water resource industries. This is leading him to investigate renewable energy technologies, finance, and corporate strategies that address climate change and energy security. Prior to attending Michigan, Jeff was an environmental scientist and utilities analyst for an engineering consulting firm in Washington State. His projects included analyzing infrastructure cost alternatives for municipalities and developers, providing strategic data collection for resource management, and modeling water supply quantities surrounding water rights trading with the climate-related risks inherent to secure supplies. Jeff also has worked as a field scientist across the western US for multiple government agencies. While working towards his degree in biology, Jeff projects studied the biological effects of climate change for the National Science Foundation in Alaska and in Costa Rica, giving him a first-hand view of the complex nature of this global problem. In his free time Jeff enjoys fly-fishing, hiking, skiing, football, and international travel.
Joe’s background is in climate change and corporate sustainability strategies. As an Associate with GreenOrder, a sustainability consulting firm, he managed projects for clients that included GE, GM, and Office Depot. Most notably, Joe played an integral role in developing and executing of GE’s ecomagination initiative. His responsibilities included creating the ecomagination certification process, performing product eco-assessments, producing green marketing claims, and guiding business units through ecomagination certification.
At Ross, Joe is focusing his studies on finance and marketing and how they relate to the budding cleantech venture markets. His specific area of interest is in financing renewable energy installations and companies with leading-edge technologies.
Joe holds a B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Policy and Behavior from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. He loves live music, paddles wood-canvas canoes better than he rides a bike, and has a severe weakness for good food and drink.
Matt is interested in sustainable transportation and general
management. Specifically, he is interested in how transportation can
help address social issues. Previously, Matt spent seven years working
for a defense contractor focusing on non-metallic materials issues.
Before he came back to school, he was a program manager and lead
technical point of contact for several contracts. He holds a BS in
Material Science and Engineering along with minors in Chemistry and
Mathematics from Virginia Tech.
Ali seeks to study the relationship between the adoption of sustainable business practices and economic tools designed to quantify and internalize the costs associated with climate change and ecosystem services. He currently holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from The University of Cincinnati. Ali has worked as an environmental consultant and a project manager for Ohio EPA where he managed the restoration of 500+ acres of hazardous waste sites. In 2001, he was awarded Ohio EPA’s highest honor – The George P. Garrett Award for Professional Excellence. Ali also played guitar for a band that toured Europe 4 times and helped found an independent record/CD label currently valued at $8 MM. He enjoys cooking, running, playing backgammon, and reading about evolutionary psychology.
Jackie's interests include corporate environmental strategy, green building, and renewable energy. Prior to enrolling at the University of Michigan, Jackie worked at for-profit and non-profit businesses and for the government. Most recently, Jackie worked as a project director for a small, San Francisco based, online market research firm. Her main clients were HP, Siemens, Zazzle and Dunkin Donuts. During her time in the Bay Area, Jackie also worked at the United Way and at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Jackie graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Science in Biology.
Tiffany is focusing on Finance and Real Estate Development and is
pursuing the Real Estate Certificate Program through the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Prior to attending Michigan, Tiffany was a Senior Financial Analyst in Real Estate Finance for the Gap, Inc. Before joining the Gap, Inc. she was a Treasury Financial Analyst for Catellus Development Corporation (now Prologis) in San Francisco, CA. She also worked for the Ford Motor Company in
Pleasanton, CA as a Supervising Credit Analyst. Tiffany holds a BBA in Information Systems from The George Washington University, studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain and speaks Spanish. She is a member of the Junior League of San Francisco and the Urban Land Institute.
Emily is focused on the growing intersection between computer technology, environmental sustainability, and corporate strategy. Specifically, she is interested in working with high tech computer or electronic companies to help develop technology solutions that are beneficial to the environment or to help these companies reconcile
environmental welfare with their development of techno-gadgetry. Prior to attending Michigan Emily worked at Ford Motor Company in their Information Technology department. She is originally from California and studied human-computer interaction at Stanford University.
John is interested in environmental dispute resolution and water allocation/sustainability in the Western United States. Prior to graduate school, he was living in Boulder, CO and working as an Associate with Stratus Consulting, Inc., a well-recognized environmental consultancy offering integrated, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing complex, real-world environmental problems. As an Associate, John provided analytical and research support to several practices at Stratus Consulting, including water resource economics and management, public health economics, non-market valuation, natural resource damage assessment, and climate change policy. In his free time, John is an avid runner and road biker. John graduated from Middlebury College with a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Studies.
Renata is focused on sustainable corporate strategy and its interactions with public policy and sustainable development; as well as on organizational changes. Before coming to Michigan, Renata worked in sustainable development consulting, marketing consulting, and market
research. Renata is from Brazil and holds two BAs: one in Business Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas and a second in Philosophy from Universidade de Sao Paulo
Suzanne is interested in corporate social responsibility and environmental management systems. Prior to attending Michigan University, she spent four years in the socially responsible investment industry. In her role as Research Analyst for Institutional
Shareholder Services (formerly the Investor Responsibility Research Center), Suzanne developed environmental benchmarking metrics to help
clients determine which companies have superior environmental performance. Additionally, Suzanne provided companies with sustainability reporting feedback and researched their social, environmental, and governance background. Prior to her tenure with Institutional Shareholder Services, she completed internships with Trillium Asset Management, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), Long Island NY’s Group for the South Fork, and Westchester County NY’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Suzanne graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Natural Resources.
Prior to enrollment, Aparna launched the Makye Ame Restaurant in Lhasa in 1997, TastyKitchen Design in New York in 1999, and the Aru Namgyal Consulting Company in Chengdu in 2004. Her interests at the Erb Institute are corporate strategy, base of the pyramid (BOP) strategies, and sustainable development. She aims to apply her entrepreneurial flare to defining a framework for sustainability and applying that framework to develop competitive enterprises in Asia. Aparna speaks Tibetan fluently, business Mandarin proficiently, and basic Japanese.
Devon is focused on finding creative solutions to environmental and social problems that might arise in emerging markets. Particularly, he would like to explore ways to avoid these problems entirely through innovative business models. In the past, he has conducted scientific research to assess ecological responses to environmental degradation as well as to elucidate human responses to toxicologic environments. He is now attempting to create small-scaled yet broadly applicable development solutions that will render his previous research endeavors irrelevant. He graduated from Oberlin College with a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies.
Angela F. Uppuluri concentrates on strategy and finance for renewable
energy markets. Currently, she works for the City of Ann Arbor's energy
office developing a marketing strategy for their "20% Renewable Energy
by 2015" challenge. She has a background in urban planning, project
management, and manufacturing policy. Her ongoing Master's project for
the School of Natural resources is an applied financial analysis of
renewable energy in the developing world. Angela hopes to work with
renewables manufacturers or with energy developers in overcoming
regulatory and market barriers. Prior to coming to Michigan, Angela was the Policy Director of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center.
Currently, Angela is the Co-chair of the Erb Recruiting Committee and is
the New Ventures Chair for Brewing Hope Fair Trade Coffee initiative.
Matthew is interested in bringing sustainability to small and medium sized enterprises both nationally and internationally, especially in the development of socially and environmentally responsible enterprises that empower impoverished communities worldwide through facilitating market access, capital acquisition, and specified technical assistance. These studies will build upon his extensive work with his family-run business and in small business development in rural Peru, where he provided small business consulting to producers of organic, fairly traded coffee and cane sugar as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Matthew graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a BA in International Studies. In his spare time, Matthew enjoys cooking, hiking and downhill skiing.
Marc is interested in applying operations management and industrial ecology best practices to increase corporate sustainability and profitability, particularly in developing nations where he sees the greatest opportunities for maximizing their long-term impact. To this end, in addition to his studies with the Erb Institute, Marc is also earning a concentration in operations management through the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. Prior to graduate school, Marc lived in Shanghai, China for three years where he re-designed the work-flow and quality-control processes of Mercer Human Resource Consulting's North Asia employee compensation survey operations. Marc has also worked in Sydney, Australia as Operations Manager of a local internet-services company, and across Canada implementing the Logistics modules of the SAP enterprise resource planning system. Marc speaks French and Mandarin Chinese and, in his free time, enjoys running, Chinese karaoke, and cooking breakfast for his wife and friends.
Priyanka's interests span renewable energy, appropriate technology for rural development, sustainable agriculture, and industrial ecology. Prior to Michigan, she worked for six years in the healthcare IT industry in Los Angeles, leading development and implementation activities for mission-critical clinical software at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Priyanka's personal passion for understanding the interplay between business, economic development, energy, and the environment, led her to Michigan's Erb program, where she is exploring the exciting gamut of career options in the sustainability field. This past summer, Priyanka interned with the Rocky Mountain Institute in Boulder, Colorado, where she helped facilitate two energy innovation workshops with the National Renewable Energy Lab and Rio Tinto Mining, respectively. Priyanka holds a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and her ultimate long-term "career" goal is to teach yoga and hands-on sustainability principles to schoolchildren.
Brewster is focusing his work at Michigan on entrepreneurship in environmental technologies. Prior to graduate school, he was an Associate with Ross & Associates Environmental Consulting in Seattle, a firm dedicated to helping public agencies improve management programs and achieve better environmental results. Before moving to the northwest, Brewster was a management consultant with A.T. Kearney based in Sydney, Australia. Outside of work, Brewster is a founding member and board member of The Eagle Fund, an organizationocused on improving education in Colorado through targeted financial donations and service. And whenever possible, Brewster creates time for international travel having spent significant time on six continents. He graduated from Middlebury College with a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Studies.
Devon is interested in harnessing the power of business to promote environmental sustainability through more active policy engagement and by affecting changes in consumption patterns via marketing and product development. This summer she interned at Seventh Generation for CEO Jeffrey Hollender, developing metrics to assess food, mass and drug retailers in the areas of environmental and social responsibility. Prior to joining the Erb Institute Devon worked for Senator Jim Jeffords, Davis Polk & Wardwell and the Environmental Law Institute, where she witnessed the absence of constructive discourse with industry in the development of environmental law and policy. Before working in law and politics Devon interned at the Environmental Protection Agency, The Conservation Fund and Environmental Defense. Devon is co-president of SNRE student government, a member of the MBS Marketing Club, High Performance and Net Impact. Devon enjoys cooking, running and watching CSPAN and holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy and Government from Colby College in Waterville, ME.
Mike is interested in partnering with corporations to develop profitable sustainability initiatives utilizing energy efficiency, renewable energy systems, and corporate strategies that address climate change. Before coming to Michigan, Mike was an Associate with ICF International in Washington, DC, a firm providing consulting and technology services to public sector clients in defense, energy, environment, homeland security, social programs, and transportation. At ICF, he provided support to EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Solid Waste, and Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics on a number of research and analytical projects. He received a B.A. in International Studies from Kenyon College and he has taken several extended trips to Latin America to study, volunteer, and explore. 
Nina is motivated by the opportunity to improve economic conditions in emerging markets through innovative business ventures that respect the environment and indigenous cultures. Her primary interest is in creating sustainable, private-sector business models for poverty alleviation in developing countries. Nina spent the summer of 2007 in Hyderabad, India, designing and implementing an impact assessment study for the Scojo Foundation, a nonprofit social enterprise that develops markets for reading glasses at the base of the economic pyramid. In Summer 2008, Nina will interning as a Portfolio Associate with the Acumen Fund in NYC, focusing on the organization’s investments in renewable energy businesses in emerging markets. Nina is currently the Co-President of the Ross Emerging Markets Club and previously served on the leadership board of the Ross Net Impact Club. Prior to Erb, Nina spent five years in Kathmandu, Nepal managing Wild Earth, a herbal body care company with a mission to support women’s economic development and the sustainable harvesting of Himalayan herbs. Nina earned her BA in History from Princeton University.
Aaron's studies at Erb focus on corporate strategy, real estate, and
leadership development. He seeks competitive advantage through integrated
decision making and sustainable innovation. His interests include management
consulting, high performance building design, and executive education. Aaron
won the inaugural Emerging Green Builder essay contest for his articulation
of human-wilderness interaction in high performance buildings. He has served
as board member for the Ross Leadership Initiative, VP for Net Impact, and
co-chair of the Erb Marketing Committee. Aaron's professional background
includes economic development, conflict management and wilderness therapy.
He is an accomplished songwriter, poet and recording artist and holds a B.S.
in social theory from the University of Michigan.
Jeff is focusing his studies on developing profitable and sustainable growth opportunities within the energy and water resource industries. This is leading him to investigate renewable energy technologies, finance, and corporate strategies that address climate change and energy security. Prior to attending Michigan, Jeff was an environmental scientist and utilities analyst for an engineering consulting firm in Washington State. His projects included analyzing infrastructure cost alternatives for municipalities and developers, providing strategic data collection for resource management, and modeling water supply quantities surrounding water rights trading with the climate-related risks inherent to secure supplies. Jeff also has worked as a field scientist across the western US for multiple government agencies. While working towards his degree in biology, Jeff projects studied the biological effects of climate change for the National Science Foundation in Alaska and in Costa Rica, giving him a first-hand view of the complex nature of this global problem. In his free time Jeff enjoys fly-fishing, hiking, skiing, football, and international travel. 
Jackie's interests include corporate environmental strategy, green building, and renewable energy. Prior to enrolling at the University of Michigan, Jackie worked at for-profit and non-profit businesses and for the government. Most recently, Jackie worked as a project director for a small, San Francisco based, online market research firm. Her main clients were HP, Siemens, Zazzle and Dunkin Donuts. During her time in the Bay Area, Jackie also worked at the United Way and at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Jackie graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelors of Science in Biology.
Emily is focused on the growing intersection between computer technology, environmental sustainability, and corporate strategy. Specifically, she is interested in working with high tech computer or electronic companies to help develop technology solutions that are beneficial to the environment or to help these companies reconcile
environmental welfare with their development of techno-gadgetry. Prior to attending Michigan Emily worked at Ford Motor Company in their Information Technology department. She is originally from California and studied human-computer interaction at Stanford University.
John is interested in environmental dispute resolution and water allocation/sustainability in the Western United States. Prior to graduate school, he was living in Boulder, CO and working as an Associate with Stratus Consulting, Inc., a well-recognized environmental consultancy offering integrated, multidisciplinary approaches to addressing complex, real-world environmental problems. As an Associate, John provided analytical and research support to several practices at Stratus Consulting, including water resource economics and management, public health economics, non-market valuation, natural resource damage assessment, and climate change policy. In his free time, John is an avid runner and road biker. John graduated from Middlebury College with a dual degree in Economics and Environmental Studies.
Renata is focused on sustainable corporate strategy and its interactions with public policy and sustainable development; as well as on organizational changes. Before coming to Michigan, Renata worked in sustainable development consulting, marketing consulting, and market
research. Renata is from Brazil and holds two BAs: one in Business Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas and a second in Philosophy from Universidade de Sao Paulo 
Suzanne is interested in corporate social responsibility and environmental management systems. Prior to attending Michigan University, she spent four years in the socially responsible investment industry. In her role as Research Analyst for Institutional
Shareholder Services (formerly the Investor Responsibility Research Center), Suzanne developed environmental benchmarking metrics to help
clients determine which companies have superior environmental performance. Additionally, Suzanne provided companies with sustainability reporting feedback and researched their social, environmental, and governance background. Prior to her tenure with Institutional Shareholder Services, she completed internships with Trillium Asset Management, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), Long Island NY’s Group for the South Fork, and Westchester County NY’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Suzanne graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Natural Resources. 
Prior to enrollment, Aparna launched the Makye Ame Restaurant in Lhasa in 1997, TastyKitchen Design in New York in 1999, and the Aru Namgyal Consulting Company in Chengdu in 2004. Her interests at the Erb Institute are corporate strategy, base of the pyramid (BOP) strategies, and sustainable development. She aims to apply her entrepreneurial flare to defining a framework for sustainability and applying that framework to develop competitive enterprises in Asia. Aparna speaks Tibetan fluently, business Mandarin proficiently, and basic Japanese. 
Devon is focused on finding creative solutions to environmental and social problems that might arise in emerging markets. Particularly, he would like to explore ways to avoid these problems entirely through innovative business models. In the past, he has conducted scientific research to assess ecological responses to environmental degradation as well as to elucidate human responses to toxicologic environments. He is now attempting to create small-scaled yet broadly applicable development solutions that will render his previous research endeavors irrelevant. He graduated from Oberlin College with a double major in Biology and Environmental Studies.
Angela F. Uppuluri concentrates on strategy and finance for renewable
energy markets. Currently, she works for the City of Ann Arbor's energy
office developing a marketing strategy for their "20% Renewable Energy
by 2015" challenge. She has a background in urban planning, project
management, and manufacturing policy. Her ongoing Master's project for
the School of Natural resources is an applied financial analysis of
renewable energy in the developing world. Angela hopes to work with
renewables manufacturers or with energy developers in overcoming
regulatory and market barriers. Prior to coming to Michigan, Angela was the Policy Director of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center.
Currently, Angela is the Co-chair of the Erb Recruiting Committee and is
the New Ventures Chair for Brewing Hope Fair Trade Coffee initiative. 
Matthew is interested in bringing sustainability to small and medium sized enterprises both nationally and internationally, especially in the development of socially and environmentally responsible enterprises that empower impoverished communities worldwide through facilitating market access, capital acquisition, and specified technical assistance. These studies will build upon his extensive work with his family-run business and in small business development in rural Peru, where he provided small business consulting to producers of organic, fairly traded coffee and cane sugar as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Matthew graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a BA in International Studies. In his spare time, Matthew enjoys cooking, hiking and downhill skiing. 
Marc is interested in applying operations management and industrial ecology best practices to increase corporate sustainability and profitability, particularly in developing nations where he sees the greatest opportunities for maximizing their long-term impact. To this end, in addition to his studies with the Erb Institute, Marc is also earning a concentration in operations management through the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. Prior to graduate school, Marc lived in Shanghai, China for three years where he re-designed the work-flow and quality-control processes of Mercer Human Resource Consulting's North Asia employee compensation survey operations. Marc has also worked in Sydney, Australia as Operations Manager of a local internet-services company, and across Canada implementing the Logistics modules of the SAP enterprise resource planning system. Marc speaks French and Mandarin Chinese and, in his free time, enjoys running, Chinese karaoke, and cooking breakfast for his wife and friends.
