For Oregon MBA candidate Meredith Ledbetter, her passion for environmental issues and sustainability dates back to her childhood. To this day, as she works to complete her MBA with a specialization in sustainable business practices, it continues to be at the forefront of her education and career goals.
Ledbetter was accepted for the opportunity of a lifetime last summer as an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellow placed at Colgate-Palmolive. Through this esteemed internship she worked on a global sustainability team for the first time. She created a plan for the company to roll out electric vehicle charging stations for facilities worldwide.
“I enjoyed working at a large organization because it allowed me to see firsthand how extensive an impact can be when working on a sustainability team,” Ledbetter said.
After completing her undergraduate degree at Denison University, it didn’t take long for Ledbetter to realize that the University of Oregon was exactly where she wanted to pursue her MBA.
“The Oregon MBA staff really try to make you feel heard and that you personally are needed in this program,” Ledbetter said. “There are not many other grad schools I interacted with that gave me that kind of attention.”
Ledbetter came into the program with seven years of experience in energy efficiency. Since then, she has been able to challenge her personal understanding of sustainability as a professional objective and gain insight on different industries, ranging from food to clean energy. She feels the most meaningful aspect of the MBA program has been engaging with its diverse mix of people who provide distinct perspectives on shared sustainability values.
Ledbetter gives credit to the program for providing her with skills and experiences that she is confident could not have been found elsewhere. Courses such as Life Cycle Assessment and Clean Energy Finance have given her the data and technical background necessary to advocate for her work in sustainability.
Outside of the classroom, she is currently involved in the MBA Impact Investing Network and Training (MIINT) Impact Investing Case Competition and is a finalist for the Net Impact Case Competition (NICC).
After a planned graduation in June 2020, Ledbetter intends to continue her work in corporate sustainability strategy. She specifically aims to work for a larger scale consumer-facing company, where she can share her sustainability story with others.
“I am emboldened by the challenge of working for a large organization and seeing how much I can move the needle with them,” Ledbetter said.
—Terri Chrestenson, Class of 2022