ECI Alumni Dinner 2021
The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) has been holding Alumni Dinners since 1996 without fail, so after the 2020 edition had to be cancelled due to COVID, it was high on the agenda to make this event happen in person again this year, not least to give the leaving cohort of ECM students a good send off at the end of a more than unusual MSc year.
It was a rather overwhelming experience to see 110 guests arriving at Somerville College - with many travel restrictions still in the place the group was less international than normal, but a large crowd of last year's ECM graduates came to catch up on their celebrations.
To start with, ECI alumnus Raman Nanda (ECM MSc 1996 and DPhil 1999) gave a remarkable and high-powered pre-dinner talk on his journey to leading SoftBank's solar investments. SoftBank is one of the world's leading solar energy players and Raman has helped install industrial-scale swathes of solar across India - and now in the US.
Raman cut his teeth at McKinsey before going into the front line to run a struggling network of pharmacies across India. McKinsey gave Raman the secret insights they don't tell you about for Excel and PowerPoint. The pharmacy franchisees gave him a fast track lesson in people and cultural co-operation. His big break was taking the chance to meet with the head of the Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank and stimulate their green energy interests. They - and Raman - now have 18 of the world's 100 largest solar plants. Raman sees modern solar installation as a miracle in the race against climate change. But, while an optimist (as befits a high-class triathlete!), he urged his fellow ECIers to pursue the several more miracles that will be needed in this decade to win the race.
Over drinks and dinner students, alumni and staff had plenty of opportunity to mingle and network, catch up with their class mates and build new connections across year groups. Planet-saving conversations continued long after the bar had closed, into the early hours of a (slightly too) mild September night.
ECI Alumni Dinner 2021
The Environmental Change Institute (ECI) has been holding Alumni Dinners since 1996 without fail, so after the 2020 edition had to be cancelled due to COVID, it was high on the agenda to make this event happen in person again this year, not least to give the leaving cohort of ECM students a good send off at the end of a more than unusual MSc year.
