The People
7:00PM PANEL I: TECHNOLOGY
Moderated by Jocelyn Chen (SEAS '23), Editor-In-Chief of Consilience
Bradford Parker
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Bradford Parker is a project manager at BlocPower, and is currently working in operations and program management for BlocPower’s Civilian Climate Corps - working to build the diverse and equitable workforce America needs to power the clean energy and building modernization revolution. Previously, Bradford was selected as an EDF Climate Corps Fellow to investigate energy management practices at NYCHA and was enlisted as a Medic in the US Army. Bradford is an alum of both the undergraduate program in Sustainable Development and the graduate program in Sustainability Management at Columbia.
Alex Hyans
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Alex Hyans is a Senior Associate on the Corporate Development team at Blueprint Power, headquartered in New York City. Blueprint’s energy transformation software platform employs real-time energy data, Distributed Energy Resources, and automation to help real estate owners eliminate carbon, attract new business and energy revenue opportunities, and improve environmental impact visibility and reporting for their building portfolios.
Alex came to Blueprint with a background in power & infrastructure investment banking, having previously worked as an Associate at Cantor Fitzgerald. Alex has advised on $1.3bn worth of equity and debt capital raises and M&A processes for 2.9 GW of utility-scale power assets within all decentralized US power markets. Alex received a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Finance from Duke University.
7:40PM PANEL II: POLICY
Moderated by Kate Marsh (CC'23), Academic Journal Co-Director of Consilience
Daniel (Ching-yu) Chu
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Daniel (Ching-yu) Chu is the Energy Planner for the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. NYC-EJA is a non-profit city-wide membership network linking grassroots organizations from low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in their struggle for environmental justice. The Alliance empowers its member organizations to advocate for improved environmental conditions and against inequitable environmental burdens by the coordination of campaigns designed to inform City and State policies. In his role as Energy Planner, Daniel works to reduce our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels and unchecked energy consumption by facilitating collaborations, such as the PEAK Coalition and REVitalize Partnership, to ensure that energy planning and economic development in NYC are conducted equitably and that frontline communities do not continue to bear an overwhelming burden.
Daniel is trained as an urban designer with an interest in civic involvement in built environment design and preservation, with a focus on flood vulnerable communities in New York and the Pacific. He came to NYC-EJA with energy planning experiences in Local Law 97 implementation and NYSERDA-funded energy efficiency retrofits. His multi-year involvement in an immigrant and community-led cooperative housing design process has been exhibited in the French National Museum of Immigration History. Daniel also held several positions across The New School in research, public programming, and advising, where he received an M.S. in Design & Urban Ecologies and a B.A. in Urban Studies.
Paul Gallay
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Paul Gallay is the Director of the Columbia Center for Sustainable Urban Development's Resilient Coastal Communities Program, where he and his colleagues seek to foster actionable, equitable solutions to flood risks along with complementary benefits like habitat restoration, job creation and more empowered communities. He is also a Lecturer in the university's Undergraduate Program in Sustainable Development.
Between 1987 and 2021, when Paul joined Columbia full-time, he served in legal and policy leadership positions with the New York State Attorney General and Department of Environmental Conservation, Hudson Riverkeeper and land conservation organizations in Maine and New York.
While in public and nonprofit service, Paul resolved hundreds of cases of corporate and government pollution, supported the creation of dozens of new parks and preserves, helped trigger $4.4 billion in state funding for drinking water and pollution control infrastructure and partnered with groups across New York State to win a ban on natural gas hydrofracking.
Paul is a 1981 graduate of Williams College, where he also served as Visiting Professor of Environmental Law from 2004 to 2008. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1984.
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[Panelist 3 Bio Coming Soon]
8:20PM PANEL III: FINANCE
Moderated by John George (SUMA '23), Briefings Co-Director of Consilience
Mila Skulkina
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Mila Skulkina is the Head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income at Lord Abbett. In that role she is a lead Portfolio Manager of the firm’s fixed income portfolios investing primarily in emerging markets debt; in addition she is responsible for managing emerging markets exposures in other fixed income portfolios at Lord Abbett. Ms. Skulkina also leads ESG Sovereign analysis and integration for Emerging Markets. Prior to joining Lord Abbett in 2013, Ms. Skulkina was a Research Analyst at Sanders Capital working across long-only, long/short, and multi-asset portfolios. Previously, she was a Strategy Consultant at Bain & Company and an Investment Banking Analyst at Merrill Lynch. She has 20 years of investment experience and holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She received her undergraduate degree in business economics from UCLA, graduating summa cum laude. Additionally, Ms. Skulkina is a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. She is a member of the Board of Visitors of the UCLA Economics Department and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee.
Charlotte Peyraud
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Charlotte is a Director in the ESG Financing Group at Credit Suisse, heading Sustainable Debt Products. In this role she is working to advance the sustainability bond and loan markets. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in 2021, Charlotte led Credit Agricole CIB’s Sustainable Banking team in the Americas. Before moving to the banking space, Charlotte spent a number of years at Sustainalytics, working closely with issuers, investors and underwriters as part of the Sustainable Finance Solutions team. Charlotte holds a Master of Science degree in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business from James Madison University.
Consilience Planning Team
Rachel Brzezicki
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Zoe Chan
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Annie Delgadillo
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Aliyah Elfar
Renata Happle
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Sally Ho
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Aaron Ullman
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Sherrye Ye