Ben North

Ben North is an MBA candidate at the UConn School of Business. At UConn, Ben is a portfolio manager for the student managed fund where he hopes to better incorporate sustainability into the team’s investment decision-making process. This past summer Ben participated as a fellow in UConn’s Technology Incubation Program (TIP), which helps to grow startup companies in Connecticut. Through this program, he worked with Unscrambl, an augmented intelligence data analytics company, where he explored datasets pertaining to sustainability, such as U.S. energy generation and emissions, to provide insights for improving the company’s software product for clients. Ben previously completed a Ph.D. at the University of Florida in natural resource economics where his research focused on bioenergy production in the Southeastern U.S. to meet growing international demands for bioenergy, particularly from the E.U. and the U.K. Prior to the Ph.D., Ben gained professional experience working for several environmental organizations in Connecticut including the Highstead Foundation, the Connecticut Green Bank (the nation’s first green bank), and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Ben also completed an M.S. in conservation biology and two B.S. degrees (molecular & cell biology and ecology & evolutionary biology) at the University of Connecticut. Ben is excited to learn more about international climate policy at COP27 by seeing the negotiation process firsthand.