Career Opportunities for Green MBAs: Talking to Presidio Graduate School Dean

I’m working on an upcoming MBA Podcaster show focusing on real-life career opportunities for Green MBAs. Green and sustainability are hot topics in the business world, but what exactly can you do with a Green MBA? What industries can you work in? What companies will hire you? In which position? I’ll be asking this of my guests and keeping you posted along the way with blog updates.

Today I’m talking to Nicola Acutt, Associate Dean of Programs at Presidio Graduate School, which declares that it is “dedicated to developing business and civic leaders with the competencies and the courage to implement their ideas for creating a sustainable future.” She believes that sustainable management is relevant to every job.

“Organizations are really starting to understand that a focus on efficiency and energy and sustainability can be an asset and an added value and that’s underscored in tough economic times like we’re experiencing.  I would say definitely in the last 6 years, I’ve seen a shift from the pioneers to traditional established companies focuses on this area.”

Acutt says that every industry in every sector is coming around and hiring - from Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett-Packard to consulting firms like Saatchi and Saatchi .  She sees is an increase in interest in from two interesting areas: educational/nonprofits institutions and emerging markets.

“We’ve seen an increase in positions being posted for jobs like the director of campus sustainability being posted for positions in universities across the country. And of course we continue to see the steady stream of non-profit and public sector roles. But more and more in educational organization and charter schools looking for directors or sustainability or people with that mind set to help organization understand and implement policies and initiatives.... and several clean tech positions have been posted for India and China. This speaks to global movement and relevance of sustainable management.”

Learn more of what Acutt an the other guests have to say about Green MBA job opportunities and how to snag one in our upcoming show that will be live by the end of the week. Other guests on the show include:

• Michael Callahan, the co-founder of Powermundo, who will share his experiences in the job market with his sustainable MBA;
• Katie Kross, Associate Director of the Corporate Sustainability Initiative at Duke University, who will talk about what Green MBA’s need to succeed in the job market; and
• Ellen Weinreb, a sustainable recruiter, who will talk about job paths for green MBA’s.