By Nick Wobbrock, Chad Reed, Leigh Madeira, and Zach Knight, all Full-time MBA 15
The Win: First place in the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, at Morgan Stanley's London Headquarters on April 17.
The Team: (left to right) Nick Wobbrock, Chad Reed, Leigh Madeira, and Zach Knight, all full-time MBA 15
The Field: The challenge began with 380 students, on 127 teams, from 78 graduate schools, based in 20 countries. The final round included 10 teams from 10 top graduate business schools.
The Pitch: Our team, Blue Forest Conservation Notes, pitched a financial structure that would allow investors to help California and the Western U.S. alleviate historic droughts and catastrophic forest fires, all while earning competitive returns. Blue Forest Conservation Notes utilizes pay-for-success contracts to monetize the shared benefits of proactive forest management among water and electric utilities, as well as the US Forest Service. We defended our investment thesis in front of a panel of industry leaders, including both impact-focused investors and more traditional institutional asset managers.
The Clincher: The judges cited the timeliness of the problem, and our team's convincingly innovative financial structure, which they believed would bring investors and stakeholders together to take a step forward in solving California’s two most pressing environmental issues.
