Doug leads the Energy and Environment track for MITCNC, helping to organize events to educate and engage alumni to understand the perils of climate change and the range of solutions available. The Climate Policy event on Monday, September 28th will feature Tom Steyer, a leading environmental policy advocate and presidential candidate, who will be discussing climate policy and what needs to change for our future. Register now for the event!

Why did you decide to volunteer with the MITCNC?

Help deal with climate change by educating and engaging our alumni regarding replacement of fossil fuels in energy production and transportation and increasing understanding of the perils of climate change. MIT is a global leader in this area; I wanted MITCNC to be a Bay Area leader in the same regard.

Tell us a bit about your role with the MITCNC. What are your responsibilities in this position?

I have been leading this track for the past ten years, averaging seven events per year with an audience of around 1,000 per year. As the overall leader, I consider myself the executive producer of the track and encourage our volunteers to take leading roles such as series planners, event managers and moderators.

What exciting things can we expect to see from your area of focus in the coming months? (e.g., social events, speakers, etc.)

We enter our 2020 – 21 season with an all-virtual lineup of speakers, including some nationally-known ones.  We are making these events free for all MIT alums with a club membership worldwide and hope to expand our audience well beyond our region, since most of our events have national and even global content.  We’ve also been able to land some important speakers on the East Coast, who have agreed to do an event for us without having to travel.  The challenge is to produce professionally-done virtual events in place of the in-person events of the past, expand our audience and have them be just as well-received.

Describe one of your most memorable MIT moments.

Being one of three Class Speakers at my 50th Reunion and telling the story of how I developed a second career by leading the E&E track at MITCNC, along with many other energy-related activities with MIT.