Alumni Careers

Here are just a few stories from our CIERP alums. Please share your updates with mieke.wansem@tufts.edu!

Also read about recent alumni news here!

	Eliza Sheff, MALD '21: Senior Analyst, Cadmus Group "After graduating from Fletcher, I started working as a Senior Analyst on the International Climate and Energy Team at Cadmus Group. I primarily work on energy resilience projects for Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean and the Pacific, while also assisting colleagues in the Sustainability and Energy Team on domestic projects surrounding energy and electricity regulations and climate adaptation planning. My coursework at Fletcher has provided a solid foundation for me to jump into these projects with the ability to make substantive contributions. I am grateful for the opportunities that working with CIERP staff and faculty has provided me, and my experience at Fletcher has opened career doors for me in ways that I previously hadn’t thought possible. At Cadmus, I have been able to build upon skills that I began cultivating through various classes, jobs, and internships whilst at Fletcher—research, policy analysis, project management, Excel skills—and group project work has prepared me for the consulting world. I am looking forward to pursuing this career path in energy and the environment."
	Dana Thomas, MALD '20: Project Manager, US Department of State "After graduating from Fletcher, I began working with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Change. The Office of Global Change is responsible for implementing and managing U.S. international policy on climate change and representing the United States in UNFCCC negotiations. As a project manager, I work on a team that oversees a variety of U.S. government foreign assistance projects in developing countries which focus on renewable energy, adaptation, and land use. I also support the office’s budget and strategic planning efforts, communications with Congress, and the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate's bilateral engagement aimed at enhancing ambition to address the climate crisis. The International Environment and Resource Policy courses at Fletcher prepared me well for this role. Many of the projects I worked on for classes like International Energy Policy, Climate and Clean Energy Policy, and Environmental Problem Solving replicated tasks I encounter frequently in my current job. Additionally, as someone looking to transition from domestic policy to a more international-focused career, internship support from CIERP enabled me to gain valuable experience before entering the job market." The views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. government.
	Mathew Lee, MALD’19: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Researcher, MSCI "I'm an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Researcher at MSCI where I try to factor in the impacts, risks, and opportunities climate change presents into research insights for the investment community. I have a specific focus on the power and utilities sector in North America, where I track company announcements and disclosures as well as regulatory developments. The policy analysis and writing skills at Fletcher definitely come into play every day, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of the CIERP courses helping to guide my research approach as I'm often trying to draw new connections between conventional financial wisdom and emerging climate-related trends"
	Grace Tamble, MALD’19, Climate Change and Sustainability Specialist, ICF International, Washington, D.C. "After graduating from Fletcher, I joined a consulting firm, ICF, as a Climate Change and Sustainability Specialist. My team primarily conducts greenhouse gas inventories and develops climate action and sustainability plans for international, federal, state, and local public sector clients. One of my core roles is the lead technical analyst preparing emission estimates for the Energy sector of the U.S. EPA’s Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. I had to quickly get up to speed on the ins and outs of the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, gain a deep knowledge of EIA datasets, and brush up on my excel skills. My position requires both detail-oriented work (from converting energy units to processing large data sets) and the ability to critically analyze potential improvements and recommendations for our clients. My work is heavily tied to the skills I learned in CIERP classes including Environmental Problem Solving, International Energy Policy, and Petroleum in the Global Economy."
	Stefan Koester, MALD'19: Policy Analyst, Acadia Center, Boston MA ""I recently started at Acadia Center, a New England-based environmental and energy non-profit focused on the clean energy transition, as a policy analyst. There, I focus on energy sector regulatory policy and reform, as well as energy modeling, with a particular focus on environmental justice concerns. Many of the skills that I use on a daily basis, from research and policy-oriented writing, to data analysis and GIS, I learned in International Environmental Policy courses and CIERP research seminars and research projects. Many of the complex and nuance subjects that I tackle on a daily basis I first got exposure to from my professors at Fletcher, including Prof. Kelly Sims-Gallagher and Prof. Bobbi Kates-Garnick, and have been able to reach out to them for insight and guidance ever since."
	Amanda Formica, MIB’19: Analyst, Customer Energy Management, National Grid, Waltham, MA "After graduating from Fletcher I joined National Grid’s Customer Energy Management team, working on strategy and program design for the best rated energy efficiency program in the U.S., at one of the largest investor owned electric and gas utilities in the U.S. and U.K. My work draws heavily on the negotiation, diplomacy, and analytical skills I honed at Fletcher, as I collaborate extensively with other regional utilities, state agencies, municipalities, NGOs, and other stakeholders to design and implement residential energy efficiency programs in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. My focus is at the intersection of equity and energy efficiency to ensure that the benefits of our programs, including the jobs created in the process, are equitably accessed by groups such as people with low incomes and residents of Environmental Justice neighborhoods. Bobbi Kates-Garnick’s class on global energy markets laid a strong foundation for my current position, as well as Kelly Sims-Gallagher’s Climate and Clean Energy and International Energy Policy classes. The combination of climate and energy policy with my MIB degree helped me to understand, design, and articulate for alignment between public, private, and social sectors to create win-win-wins for communities, economies, and the environment. That’s exactly the space I’m able to inhabit in my current role, thanks to the classes, internships, activities, and most importantly people at Fletcher."
	Ana Orians, MALD'19: Senior Associate for Monitoring & Evaluation, Ceres, Boston, MA "After graduating from Fletcher, I started working as the Senior Associate for Monitoring & Evaluation on the Food and Forest team at Ceres, a sustainability non-profit headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. My team's work focuses on halting global deforestation resulting from agricultural supply chains and supporting the integration of sustainability within global companies. My primary responsibilities pertain to maintaining and expanding Ceres' internal databases, which I use to prepare findings for our teams for use in dialogues with external stakeholders. This role requires that I keep learning— currently, I’m becoming quite proficient in excel and am gaining fluency in business finance— however, I have found that my the strong foundation I built while at Fletcher has facilitated my work on many occasions. Fletcher allowed me to build upon my background in Latin American studies, and during many final projects exploring the policies and politics of land use, I became well versed in the intricate nature of global supply chains originating in the Amazon. Furthermore, through my course on Corporate Social Responsibility, taught by Jette Knudsen, I gained a new and surprising perspectives on the role of businesses in the future of our environment and sustainability policies. I enjoyed the dynamic process of learning through CIERP coursework, peer collaboration, internships, events and talks."
	Elizabeth Minchew, MALD'18, Market Research Officer, Climate Business at International Finance Corporation, Washington, D.C. "I currently work as a consultant on IFC's Climate Business team conducting market research analysis for our industry specialists who work on renewable energy, energy storage, efficiency, waste management, green buildings, and more. This requires a solid understanding of where to get data, market insights, and projections, as well as an ability to draw analytical conclusions that can help shape IFC's investment decisions. I chose to attend Fletcher in part to learn how to sharpen my analytical skills, specifically as they relate to international energy and climate policy. Each course I took at Fletcher combined quantitative and qualitative analysis, which has helped me immensely in my professional career. To be competitive in the energy/climate world, you have to be flexible and creative. For example, the ability to write a 20-page technical report on offshore wind viability or contract structures for battery installations is great, but if you can craft a series of tweets and well-placed blog posts/speaking engagements to showcase that work, you can actually generate action. Fletcher has enabled me to do both types of work."
	Zerin Osho, MALD'18, Special Advisor to the Executive Director (ED) of the UN Environment, Paris "After graduating from The Fletcher School, I was offered the position of a Special Advisor to the Executive Director (ED) of the UN Environment, Mr. Erik Solheim, in Paris. As an Advisor to the ED, my job was to develop and launch the ‘Cool Coalition,’ a program aimed at reducing short-lived climate pollutants such as HFCs, that are commonly used as refrigerant gas in ACs and refrigerators, while substantially improving energy efficiency of cooling technologies. My everyday work involves dealing with a lot of scientific literature that is then developed in to strategic policy briefs to be communicated to both the public and the private sector for announcing targets, developing action plans and for implementation. This entire process of science-based policy making is a skill that I honed at The Fletcher School."
	Matthew Arnold, MALD'18, Innovation and Sustainability Analyst, Enel Green Power "Much has passed over the last year since graduating Fletcher. I started off working as a technical expert and project designer for climate change and biodiversity conservation projects funded by USAID, based in Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea. This was a great experience leveraging what I learned through my internship with the Climate Policy Lab and UNDP, researching climate resilience and conservation among Asian and Pacific states. The cross-cutting nature of my project design work --aligning biodiversity conservation with political agendas, competing industries, etc. -- also reminded me of lessons from Professor Khan's Historian's Art class, which shone the spotlight on how specific human impacts on the natural world lead to cascade effects that reverberate across continents (remember the dugong!). Since then, I have come back to the Boston area and now work as an Innovation and Sustainability Analyst for Enel Green Power, an Italian power producer that is quickly becoming one of the largest global renewable energy companies as it retires its fossil fuel fleet. As a student of Professor Gallagher's Innovation and Prosperity class, I could not have imagined how much I would be connecting those dots in real time a year later. To use the terminology from class: my job involves scouting out and helping startup companies get through the valley of death, providing them with a platform to demonstrate and then scale up their renewable energy technologies in partnership with Enel. I caught the innovation bug from Professor Gallagher and have a deep appreciation for how much her class attuned me to the barriers that new ideas often face, and how to overcome them."
	Bilal Choudary, MIB'17: Senior Advisor to the President, UN General Assembly, NY, NY "I currently work as Senior Advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly, with a focus on agriculture, food security, desertification and drought. I had come to Fletcher with limited knowledge of finance, economics or sustainable development. The learning curve during the next 2 years was intense, yet rewarding. It gave me the tools to sharpen my quantitative and qualitative skills; prompted me to stretch my imagination and find innovative solutions to complex problems; and strengthened my belief in life-long learning. By the time of graduation, I could navigate through business and environment journals on my own, and this is what makes the Fletcher experience so special – the exposure to cross-disciplinary knowledge and ideas."
	Sydney-Johanna Stevns Fabrin, F'17, Strategy Design Lead, SPACE10, Copenhagen, Denmark "After finishing at Fletcher, I worked at World Resources Institute supporting South American and Asian governments in implementing their NDCs. Since then, I was at MIT building partnerships between academia and sustainability-focused companies in Denmark. Now, I have switched to promoting the adoption and implementation of sustainable practices and solutions through the private sector. At IKEA's external and future-focused innovation lab, SPACE10, I do this through research and design of solutions that challenge IKEA to be more affordable, accessible and sustainable. At SPACE10, my focus is on leveraging the scale and impact of a company like IKEA to be bolder by thinking differently about how a company can improve people's lives. The opportunity at Fletcher to engage in a wide range of coursework has so far allowed for a seamless transition across the public sector, academia, and now the private sector. Being able to explore my interests at Fletcher gave me the flexibility and creativity to pursue a career in a type of diplomacy I didn’t know existed"
	Andy Tirrell, F’17 Andrew Tirrell received both his MALD and PhD from Fletcher. He is an assistant professor in the department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego. He teaches Politics and the Environment, International Environmental Governance, Law of the Sea, and International Relations. His research focuses on environmental justice, natural resource management, sustainable development, marine policy, and the Arctic.
	Anna Schulz, MALD'08, PhD'16, Head of Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Edinburgh "During my tenure at Fletcher, I researched the legal frameworks governing transboundary watercourses, with a particular interest in how the evolution and structure of water law norms and how it affects efforts to build adaptive capacity into transboundary water regimes. In my spare time, I was traveling the world with the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) building expertise first as a writer and then a team leader in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations. Following Fletcher and a brief stint teaching international environment and climate politics at Boston College, I moved to the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as a climate diplomacy specialist. In this role, I was responsible for building their climate diplomacy programme and laid the foundations for their work supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement, I also served as a technical advisor to the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group in the UNFCCC negotiations in the area of transparency. In 2019, I moved to IIED as a Principal Researcher and Head of their Global Climate Law Policy and Governance Programme based in Edinburgh. In this role, I serve as a legal and strategic advisor to the LDC Chair and lead a programme that provides the LDC Group with legal, technical and strategic advice and manage a research portfolio on international climate negotiations and implementation of the Paris Agreement. Fletcher prepared me to both think deeply about international environmental negotiations and ensured that I had the skills to deploy theoretical approaches in the real world. My initial thought was to use my Ph.D. to teach the next generation of international environmental leaders, but quickly realized for now that my Fletcher education, while deeply theoretical, is best used in the field facing dynamic challenges."
	Keerthana Chandrashekar, F'16, Energy Economist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities "In my current role, I provide support to the Commission to implement statewide energy policies. My main areas of focus are Distributed Generation, Grid Modernization, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Policy. A critical part of my role is providing engineering and economic research along with conferring with local, state and federal agencies in the government. The interdisciplinary nature of the Fletcher degree enabled me to develop the relevant skills that qualify me to work on pertinent energy policy issues."
	Min Soo Kim, F'16, Division of Country Programming at the Green Climate Fund (GCF) "I mainly work on the country side, providing operational support for the country readiness programs and drafting Country Program Briefs. The Country Readiness Programs are funding provided to countries’ National Designated Authorities or Focal Points, usually the ministry in charge of implementing climate change work, to make sure that they are “ready” to receive the funding from GCF to utilize the funding for their priority projects. Fletcher definitely prepared me well for this role, as I look at countries’ climate change agenda individually while understanding the regional and global context for such agenda."
	Alex Schulte, F'16, Director of Operations at BlueWave Renewables, MA "I will be working on scaling up their community solar and residential solar loan products. I’m excited by the opportunity to work on building out a new business model, and look forward to adding a bit of operational experience to my consulting background."
	Lisa Tessier, F'16, Analyst in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at Castalia Strategic Advisors, DC "After studying Climate Change, Energy, Economics and Finance at Fletcher, I joined Castalia advisors in DC as an Analyst. As an infrastructure development consulting firm, Castalia works primarily for development banks and governments internationally. My job allows me to apply what I learnt at Fletcher by carrying out economic and financial analyses of renewable energy projects and policies in Francophone Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean."
	Kartikeya Singh, F-'16, PhD, Fellow and Deputy Director of the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C. At CSIS, Dr. Singh is charged with leading the Wadhwani Chair’s work on India’s states, including a new project on energy. Prior to joining CSIS, he worked at the U.S. Department of Energy supporting and managing U.S.-India and U.S.-Pakistan bilateral energy cooperation. Dr. Singh received his B.S. in ecology and sustainable development from Furman University, his M.E.Sc. from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is the recipient of several national awards, including the Morris K. Udall Scholarship, the Switzer Fellowship, and the Boren Fellowship.
	Elizabeth Peyton, F'15, DE Shaw Renewable Investments Liz Peyton (F15) is transitioning from her role as a Project Director in renewable development with NextEra Energy Resources, where she led project development for some of the largest solar assets in New England, to a role in renewable development at DE Shaw Renewable Investments. Liz will be working on bringing utility scale renewable projects in the US to construction, with a focus on land acquisition, environmental permitting, interconnection and support for financing.
	Cristiana Pasca Palmer F'14 UN Assistant Secretary and Executive Secretary of Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity Christiana completed her PhD thesis on Growing The Green Economy In Transition Economies: The Case Of Eco-Entrepreneurship For Born-Green Firms In Romania in 2014. Prior to her appointment at the U.N. she was the Minister of Environment, Waters & Forests of Romania Watch Cristiana's discussion at the World Economic Forum.here.
	Katie Walsh, F'14, International Business Relations, Environment & Resource Policy Manager of the Cities program for North America at CDP "I work with municipalities on reporting on their sustainability, climate mitigation and adaptation/ resiliency strategies. As part of a global NGO, I contribute to the organization's strategic thinking on engaging cities all over the world on their sustainable planning and development efforts. This work is crucial because cities serve as some of the leading emitters of ghg emissions and are also experiencing the wide ranging effects of climate change. I am passionate about this work because cities are well positioned to develop robust mitigation efforts and adapt to more frequent and extreme weather. By working with city leaders from all over the U.S. and Canada, I am improving management to minimize risks and maximize opportunities from climate change."
	Geoff Finger, F'13, International Environmental and Resource Policy, International Business Relations Environmental Cooperation Program Manager, U.S. Department of State Geoff manages bilateral environmental cooperation in collaboration with the USFS, DOI, EPA, DOJ, and NGOs supported by free trade agreements with Oman, Morocco, Jordan, and Chile. He is currently at State as a contractor with the ATSG corporation. At Fletcher he studied international environmental and resource policy, international business relations, and was chair of the 2013 Tufts Energy Conference.
	Emily Chessin, F'13, Energy & Environmental Policy, International Business Consultant with Meister Consultants Group (MCG) "I started as a Fellow with MCG in July 2013 and was brought on as a Consultant in January 2014. I'm working on clean energy all the time on projects that range from the City to State level, to the Federal and International level. Thus far, I’ve worked on projects for the City of Boston, Mass Clean Energy Center, UN Environment Program, the Department of Energy, the International Energy Agency-Renewable Energy Transformation and Deployment, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States. So, I would say I've landed in a good place. Who knew work like this existed in Boston!"
	Gao Hairan, F'12 GMAP Deputy Director and Assistant Professor, National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC) Founded in 2012, the NCSC is a national institute of strategic studies and a window of international collaboration and exchange for addressing climate change. One of the main international focuses of NCSC now is China-U.S. relations on climate change and South-South cooperation on climate change. Prof. Gao is currently a key member of a project that aims to design the concrete activities and steps forward in the area of climate change under the broad framework of new models of major power relations.
	Lauren Gritzke, F'12, Project Manager, Global Climate Change Initiative at U.S. State Department
	Lasse Eisgruber, F'12, International Affairs, Energy & Environmental Policy Global Supply Chain Strategy Specialist, Siemens Wind Power "At Siemens Wind Power I am responsible for driving strategic initiatives that make our supply chain more efficient and market oriented. This for instance includes the development and implementation of a strategy to handle requirements imposed by some governments to localize part of our supply chain (so called “local content requirements”). My education at Fletcher has ideally prepared me for that job. First, I acquired a set of tools that enable me to find effective business solutions for markets with complex regulatory environments. Second, I learned to successfully collaborate in cross-cultural teams. This is vital for my projects in which I work closely together with colleagues from the Americas, China, and Denmark."
	Halla Hrund Logadottir, F'11, Economics and Renewable Energy Director, Iceland School of Energy, Reykjavik University "I did not intend to study energy when I started my MALD, but I chose Fletcher for the breadth and flexibility it offered. This gave me great freedom to follow my emerging interests and my thesis was an entrance ticket into the energy world. As important as the academic recognition of the degree has been the Fletcher network. It has been important in my career development and also where I first met some of my best friends."
	Tillman Liebert, F'10, Policy Officer at the European Commission - Directorate General for Climate Action, International Carbon Market, Aviation & Maritime Unit