Hot on the heels of the announcement of a $1 million, 3-year grant from The Skoll Foundation, SustainAbility has appointed its first Skoll Fellow to help run its evolving Skoll Program on entrepreneurial solutions to sustainability challenges. Maggie Brenneke joins SustainAbility as both Associate Director and Skoll Fellow. She will work closely with John Elkington, SustainAbility’s Founder and Chief Entrepreneur—and will also play a leading role in business development and consulting, bringing expertise in the energy sector.
“The Skoll grant has been an extraordinary shot in the arm,” says John Elkington, “and Maggie Brenneke will help us drive our work in such areas as creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Our thanks to Jeff Skoll. Both with his Foundation and his new movie studio, Participant Productions, Jeff—who co-founded eBay—is an extraordinary example of entrepreneurial energy. A central goal as we move towards our twentieth year as a business is to leverage the passion, experience and contacts of such people in support of sustainable development.”
Prior to joining SustainAbility, Maggie worked in Portland, Oregon for LaunchBox a boutique strategy and market research consultancy, and for Ecos Consulting, as a Senior Manager focusing on developing energy efficiency and renewable energy transformation programmes for utility and government clients. Maggie has ten years’ industry experience and has a BA in Economics and an MBA.
“We have just completed a six-month strategic review, concluding that the emerging business agenda means that service providers like SustainAbility increasingly must build a much greater, in-depth understanding of sectors,” notes Seb Beloe, the company’s Director of Research & Advocacy. “Maggie's energy and environmental background will also be key resources in developing our sector capabilities and work.”
So what persuaded Maggie Brenneke to become the first Skoll fellow? “What attracts me to SustainAbility and The Skoll Program”, she says, “is the opportunity to tap the wells of creativity springing up around the world – and in some of the most unusual places – to inspire fresh thinking in addressing our most pressing social concerns.”