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We are happy to announce the winners of the 2024 LIFT(  Investment for Future Transformation) Challenge! This year, team Sustainable Impact (photos below) from Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business, University of Virginia Darden School of Business and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business placed first in the LIFT challenge sponsored by Bank of America. Their proposal focused on using blended finance to create a compressed biogas facility in India.

ACES was pleased to facilitate the award of the Stacia L. Wood Social Impact Summer Grant to six deserving MBA students so that they could pursue internships with a focus on social impact and sustainability.  Learn more about their experiences in the summer of 2023.

The ACES Team is proud to celebrate 60 UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA students graduating with the concentration in Sustainable Enterprise this year! That represents 20% of the class, who took 7.5 credit hours or more in the sustainable enterprise curriculum.

Green Heffa Farms is a Certified B-Corporation and is minority woman-owned. They are the only B-Corp farm that has a Black woman as CEO. The plants they grow, the teas and steams they make promote and strongly tie with African and African-American cultures. The owner, Cee, organizes the W.A.S.H. conference (We Are Still Here). The conference aims to connect Black and Indigenous farmers with one another.

FlexGen provides access to clean energy at all hours including access to electricity during natural disasters, which provides more grid reliability. They recognize the value in energy storage is between the hardware (battery storage) and the software that enables it to perform. Their social impact includes creating a more reliable grid at a quicker pace by implementing utility scale and microgrid storage projects for power generation all over the world.

Bennett Wetch, UNC-CH Class of 2007, consistently mentors our students, visits our classes, speaks with faculty and helps ACES maximize our impact. Bennett exemplifies an intense dedication to his alma mater and positive sustainability impact.

The undergraduate student club Solar Equity has achieved an important milestone by receiving 501c3 status. ACES Executive Director, Jeff Mittelstadt, serves as their faculty advisor. Solar Equity’s mission is to revolutionize access to solar energy.

Each month, we spotlight a member of the ACES family to learn about their passions, how they are connected to the Center and how their work with ACES has helped them create a bigger impact through our collaboration

The 2023 LIFT Challenge came to an exciting conclusion on Saturday, February 11, with Hempact Collective taking home the top prize of $10,000.

Each month, we will spotlight a member of the ACES family to learn about their passions, how they are connected to the Center and how their work with ACES has helped them create a bigger impact through our collaboration.

The Stacia L. Wood Social Impact Summer Grants (SISG) provides financial support to MBA students during their summer internship with organizations that make a positive social impact.

Is your company exploring how positive social and environmental impact can drive your business forward? The Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability (ACES) has created a comprehensive program for companies to engage with us on thought leadership, industry research and innovative exploration of sustainability ideas and frameworks.