The Wharton Environment and Climate Action Network (WECAN) is a Wharton Global Affinity Club dedicated to harnessing the collective power of the global Wharton alumni network to advance sustainable business solutions for the climate and environment. Our mission is to cultivate innovation, collaboration, and action in the global transition toward sustainable and resilient systems through networking, knowledge exchange, and strategic partnership opportunities.
Our vision for WECAN is to serve as a global Wharton hub where alumni collaborate to address climate and environmental challenges, creating transformational change in our global journey toward a sustainable future.
Through purpose-driven online and offline events, knowledge sharing, and other activities, WECAN empowers its members to become change-makers in the evolving landscape of environmental and climate action.
Christophe is the Head of HSBC Asset Management’s Climate Technology venture fund having recently relocated to London from San Francisco. Previously he was Vice President of Centrica Innovations, leading the UK’s largest energy retailer’s Venture Capital effort deploying £100m in North America, Europe, and Israel. He started his career
Christophe is the Head of HSBC Asset Management’s Climate Technology venture fund having recently relocated to London from San Francisco. Previously he was Vice President of Centrica Innovations, leading the UK’s largest energy retailer’s Venture Capital effort deploying £100m in North America, Europe, and Israel. He started his career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in London before joining the Private Equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners where he focused on growth equity investments and leverage buyouts in a variety of industries. Following his MBA, Christophe joined Centrica in the group M&A team and later leading the European gas origination team as part of Centrica Marketing and Trading. In 2014, Christophe moved to North America as part of the M&A team where amongst other things, he led the acquisition of Panoramic Power, an energy management and intelligence company.
Christophe has a BA in Economics and International Affairs from Colorado College, a Finance and Accounting graduate degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Christophe is married with three children.
Harvey is a Co-Founder and Partner at Congruence Capital. Congruence manages a low-net L/S equity strategy that seeks to generate both superior financial returns and meaningful sustainability impact by investing in under-valued companies and working collaboratively with management teams on Sustainability Improvement Plans. Congruence spec
Harvey is a Co-Founder and Partner at Congruence Capital. Congruence manages a low-net L/S equity strategy that seeks to generate both superior financial returns and meaningful sustainability impact by investing in under-valued companies and working collaboratively with management teams on Sustainability Improvement Plans. Congruence specializes in impact initiatives that can grow revenue and increase profitability while also improving environmental and social performance.
Prior to Congruence, Harvey was a Vice President at Centerline Capital Management, a Platinum Equity affiliate, where he focused on investments in companies with the potential for value creation through operational improvements. Previously, he worked in various roles at Oaktree and Evercore, where he focused on companies in stressed and distressed situations. Harvey graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a concentration in Finance.
Marina Rakhlin (WG11) is the Program Director of Partnerships in Climate and Sustainability and ESG Strategy at IBM. She leads cross-departmental collaborations with academic institutions, governmental organizations, enterprise partners and non-profits to expedite discovery and commercialization of solutions to challenges posed by climate
Marina Rakhlin (WG11) is the Program Director of Partnerships in Climate and Sustainability and ESG Strategy at IBM. She leads cross-departmental collaborations with academic institutions, governmental organizations, enterprise partners and non-profits to expedite discovery and commercialization of solutions to challenges posed by climate change. Her key projects include IBM’s engagement as a core partner in the New York Climate Exchange ,which is building a climate action center on Governors Island in New York, and IBM participation in the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium. At IBM Marina has worked on the intersection of AI and climate technology in areas such as geospatial analytics, natural carbon sequestration and accelerated discovery of new materials for carbon capture. Prior to IBM Marina was leading Product Management and Strategy teams at a number of startups.
Marina holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in International Economics from University of California Davis.
Amy Richard Butte (WG03) has a career in delivering solutions for sustainability. Her experience includes product development, marketing and sales, commodity pricing and structuring, and project development. At Constellation Energy, she launched successful renewable energy, onsite solar, and load management products representing hundreds
Amy Richard Butte (WG03) has a career in delivering solutions for sustainability. Her experience includes product development, marketing and sales, commodity pricing and structuring, and project development. At Constellation Energy, she launched successful renewable energy, onsite solar, and load management products representing hundreds of megawatts of power. At Enventix, she leads commercialization of regenerative agriculture, carbon, and biofuel products. As a consultant, she has worked with Pacific Gas and Electric, EPRI, PARC, Viridity Energy (now Ormat), EnerVault, the City of Santa Monica, and other clean tech startups and nonprofit organizations. Amy performs regulatory analysis and has worked as an advocate for equitable climate action. Amy earned her MBA in Operations and Finance from Wharton and a BA from Stanford.
Wayne Hao (WG11) is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of global experience in entrepreneurship, corporate growth, and business development. Mr. Hao is currently Vice President of Corporate Development for NANO Nuclear Energy, a clean energy technology company that focuses on nuclear microreactors with additional vertically integrate
Wayne Hao (WG11) is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of global experience in entrepreneurship, corporate growth, and business development. Mr. Hao is currently Vice President of Corporate Development for NANO Nuclear Energy, a clean energy technology company that focuses on nuclear microreactors with additional vertically integrated business lines in the nuclear supply chain.
In past roles, Mr. Hao has held leadership positions in successful entrepreneurial ventures including helping build and sell two early-stage startups with successful exits of over $150M in exit value and serving as an investment analyst for an $800M venture investment firm.
Mr. Hao also serves on the leadership team of the Wharton Alumni Club of Southern California as VP and Head of Events and on the Board of the non-profit Asian Business League (est. 1984). Mr. Hao holds an MBA from The Wharton Business School and a BS from Washington University in St. Louis.
Jack Rejtman (WG02) is a social entrepreneur, innovation consultant and strategic adviser. He has spent the past 15 years working with start-ups, research-intensive organizations, multinationals, NFPs and governments to create new products, services, software and platforms to unlock and multiply the impact of research, knowledge networks
Jack Rejtman (WG02) is a social entrepreneur, innovation consultant and strategic adviser. He has spent the past 15 years working with start-ups, research-intensive organizations, multinationals, NFPs and governments to create new products, services, software and platforms to unlock and multiply the impact of research, knowledge networks and big data.
As a founding director of Acacia – a social enterprise working to reallocate capital to create greater ecological, social and economic value – Jack is supporting development of the first large-scale, commercial kelp farm in Australia. Previously, he has helped accelerate commercialization of new products that remove excess phosphate from water to reduce algal blooms, that reduce dengue fever and that provide advanced warning of bush fires. Jack also co-founded and led The Conversation — a global media group that translates academic research and insights into plain English.
Jack holds an MBA in Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management from Wharton and a BS in Journalism & Communications from the University of Florida.
Learn more about how you can get involved and make a positive impact through the Wharton Community.