Events

I landed early Sunday morning at Denver International Airport, shaking off my fatigue and replacing it with the excitement of returning to the city of my alma mater (the University of Denver). Before kicking off the career trek’s planned company tours, I spent my afternoon exploring the Denver Art Museum. Walking through the museum’s exhibit entitled Indigenous Arts of North America, I noticed a prominent focus on interactions between humans and land resources. Many pieces in this exhibit made me reflect on how we view, treat, and interact with the natural environment and its ecological resources. These thoughts informed my mindset and approach in the following two days of touring five sustainable-focused companies.

Vitality VF

Monday morning, my fellow career trekkers and I drove over to the headquarters of Vitality VF, where we were met enthusiastically by the Co-founder and Managing Director Natalya Wallin. Natalya’s excitement and passion for her work was infectious, and despite the early hour, the entire conference room was wide awake. Natalya’s vision for Vitality is to solve billion-dollar problems using the expertise of nature. Her fund invests exclusively in early-stage biomimicry technology startups designed to solve the pressing environmental problems of the future.

KSL Capital Partners

Our minds reeling with the possibilities of reef-mimicking cement and AI soil health tracking (see reefcycle and tierrasphere), we entered the sleek lobby of KSL Capital Partners. In a conference room with a mountain view, we heard insights into private equity and KSL’s vision from Kavin Vasudevan followed by an overview of KSL’s sustainability strategy from Duke MEM/MBA alum Amanda Braun. As Sustainability Senior Manager, Amanda provides sustainability guidance to KSL’s portfolio companies, intending to integrate ESG into operations to increase value and mitigate risk.

Tersus Solutions

After lunch, the group headed to Tersus Solutions, a textile recycling center in Englewood, Colorado (just south of Denver). Becky Day and Abby Manwiller welcomed us inside with handshakes and Halloween candy. After a presentation summarizing Tersus’ vision of diverting textiles away from landfills and back into brand sales, the group donned high-vis vests and headed onto the factory floor for a tour. We got to peek our heads into Tersus’ high-tech liquid CO2 washing machines, observe workers making live sewing repairs, and hear about the streamlined cataloguing system all textile pieces are added to as they move through the factory stations. Walking through the rows and rows of re-sanitized and repurposed clothes and shoes, I felt awe and amazement at how well Tersus was able to harness a system’s waste and turn it into a business service.

Alumni+ Panel & Mixer

After the long day of company tours, we got the chance to unwind at the Duke Alumni+ panel and mixer. First, we heard career insights from Jason Craymer, Megan Parker, and Devon Bonney. The key takeaway I gained from this panel was the idea of homing in on a specific skill or industry field, becoming an expert in that niche, and then seeking out companies where your expertise adds value. After the panel, we chatted with Denver-based Duke alumni, making connections while enjoying the brisk October temperatures on the outdoor patio.

Ball Corporation

On Tuesday morning, day 2, we drove out to Ball Corporation’s headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado. In a conference room with a fantastic view of the Boulder Flatirons, we heard from Taylor Cornish and two members of her team, Tess Wasowicz and Dave Nebel, about Ball’s global sustainability strategy and future aspirations. Ball Corporation’s business model improves directly alongside improvements in sustainability– more recycled aluminum incorporated into cans means cheaper production costs and increased efficiency. Ball places a high value on transparency and dedicates the time to answering several voluntary sustainability assessments in addition to producing an annual sustainability report. It was refreshing to see sustainability conversations at the forefront of such an expansive company, and it was equally refreshing to sip sparkling water from Ball cans during the presentation.

EcoEnclose

After lunch we headed to EcoEnclose, our final stop on the trek. There we heard from CEO Saloni Doshi about EcoEnclose’s various sustainable packaging offerings. We passed around sample packaging that included a polybag made of seaweed and a shoe box with print made from algae ink. After the presentation, we headed into the factory where Jason Craymer and Frank Maramor led us on a tour of various packaging and printing machines. While EcoEnclose acknowledges that there is no such thing as perfectly sustainable packaging, they are constantly striving to make improvements by increasing the percentage of recycled material in their products, explore new creative packaging innovations, and expand the brands they serve.

Final Reflections

I left the career trek feeling inspired and optimistic. I had just encountered five prime examples of the intersection of business and sustainability in the city I want to live in. As I rapidly approach my Master of Environmental Management graduation date, I’m excited to begin my career by joining the fight for a sustainable future. We need more businesses to demonstrate a legitimate commitment to making their operations more sustainable, and we need more creative people attacking wicked problems with business and technology innovations. There is much to be done, and I’m ready to start working on it.