The second in a four-part focus on what leading international practitioners and academics foresee as crucial developments in the energy sector and how higher education should tailor studies to meet the challenge

Part 2: From industry experts participating in the Council on Business & Society Boston Forum Energy, Business, and Society

Philippe Joubert, Executive Chair, Global Electricity Initiative, World Energy Council

The World Energy Council is a global and inclusive forum for thought-leadership and tangible engagement, headquartered in London. Its mission is “to promote the sustainable supply and use of energy for the greatest benefit of all people.

“The generation entering universities and business schools now are aware of the real danger our planet is facing and cannot understand why we continue to ignore these limits. They also understand that maximizing individual financial profit without considering social and environmental dimensions, and externalities, is a collective dead end, with growing inequalities and danger for civilization.”

Neil “Dutch” Kuyper, CEO, Parker Ranch

Parker Ranch is one of the largest cattle operations in the United States and owned by the Parker Ranch Foundation Trust. The trust is designed to benefit and support charitable beneficiaries in the communities surrounding the ranch in perpetuity.

“Energy touches all parts of society. The electricity and transportation sectors will undergo a revolution over the next 20 years as decentralized solutions approach grid-parity. Leadership in the next era of our energy economy will need to understand how to convert ideas to priorities and deliver value to the marketplace. An understanding of strategy, technology, and finance will be key. Yet a premium will be fetched for creativity and resolve.”

Dan Revers, Managing Partner and Founder, ArcLight Capital Partners LLC

ArcLight Capital Partners LLC, founded in 2001, is a private equity firm focused on energy-infrastructure investments.

“This is not your grandmother’s energy industry. Today’s energy industry is increasingly complex, volatile, and global. Successful leaders in energy must be able to understand and synthesize complex economic, commercial, technical, and political factors that drive the global energy markets and domestic and international energy policy. The general-management education provided by today’s leading business schools is an excellent training ground for future leaders in energy.”

Peter Smith, CEO, Citizens Energy Corporation

Citizens Energy Corporation is a nonprofit organization that primarily aids the poor in the United States and throughout the world by organizing projects to provide discounted and free home-heating services and supplies.

“A business executive who has donated time and energy to helping others is better poised to integrate such values into business decisions than someone who loves humanity in the abstract. Business schools should regularly teach cases involving energy challenges, in order to prepare students for the complex interplay of regulatory, market, and political factors in the 21st century energy landscape. I always look for core business competency but also a commitment to social justice—and not just as an abstraction.”

Timothy Dunn, Managing Member and CIO, Terra Alpha Investments, LLC

Terra Alpha is an investment firm with a mission to demonstrate that sustainable business practices enhance long-term returns as expressed in real investment results, and to advocate for wide adoption of environmental productivity across the global economic system.

“Currently and in the foreseeable future, the power/energy sector is facing more challenges, yet also more opportunities for innovation than any other sector out there. Managers and leaders will stand out for being flexible, creative thinkers in how they provide their customers what they need, as well as being responsive to the constraints presented by natural resource limitations.”

Statements collated by the representatives of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Edited by Tom Gamble

LINKS to further sites and resources

• Download the eBook: Managerial Capabilities in the Energy Sector: A student and graduate recruitment guide
• View the key-note speaker videos at the Energy, Business, and Society Boston Forum 2015

The Council on Business & Society Global Alliance is an ongoing international dialogue between six of the world’s leading business schools and an organiser of Forums focusing on issues at the crossroads of business and society – The Council Community helps bring together business leaders, academics, students and journalists from around the world. #CouncilonBusinessandSociety