A recent event at the Naveen Jindal School of Management proved that collisions do not necessarily have to be destructive — some can produce positive change.
The inaugural Texas Cleantech Collisions event, held March 27 in the Executive Dining Room, brought together leaders from industry, government and academia for a panel discussion titled “Navigating the Human Factor in Impact Initiatives: Insights from Change Agents Across Sectors.” The conversation explored the challenges and opportunities each sector faces when implementing sustainability efforts.
“Most collisions, I think, are good,” said event facilitator Umair Surani, who pointed out that collisions produce both blue skies and electrical power. “Life is all a product of atoms colliding in a very special way. Essentially collision leads to connections. Connections lead to transformation.”
Surani is the co-creator of Texas Cleantech Collisions, a network he co-founded with Anna Clark, a longtime sustainability practitioner and president and founder of EarthPeople Media. The two began collaborating last fall when they met as fellow panelists on the Green Careers event hosted at the Jindal school. They realized there was a need to convene impact-minded professionals on a regular basis.
Dr. Dorothee Honhon, associate dean for sustainability and societal impact at the Jindal School, represented academia. She is one of the five founders of the new group aimed at bringing together those interested in sustainability.
“The idea is to have a network, a platform for people who are interested in careers in sustainability,” Honhon said during her opening remarks to the group of professionals and students. “We hope this is one of many events.”
The event was organized by group founders Surani, Clark; Honhon, UTD alumnus Geoffrey Barker, MBA’23, and Geeta Menon, founder of One Earth One Chance and member of the Advisory Board for Sustainability at the Jindal School.
The evening opened with an hour-long panel discussion with Honhon; Stephanie Byrd, a sustainability expert with Schneider Electric; and Lindsay Graf, sustainability coordinator for the City of Plano. Clark and Surani moderated the panel.
“When Umair and I started collaborating, we saw great potential in combining ideas, resources and contacts from our respective fields—his in building automation and mine in corporate sustainability. But we soon realized that siloed thinking and lack of trust hinder collaboration, and more broadly, sustainable innovation,” Clark told the audience before introducing the panelists.
The panel discussion focused on ideas to ensure resource availability for future generations. The event was attended by professionals across a spectrum of career backgrounds, realizing the new group’s goals for collaboration across various sectors. Representatives from various industries including banking, automotive, healthcare, higher education, nonprofits and HVAC attended the event, indicating a broad concern for environmental issues.
Diverse ways to promote sustainability, from banning single-use plastics to reducing food waste to providing citywide composting, were discussed before the attentive audience. Companies such as Schneider Electric has environmental concerns as a centerpiece of their business model, according to Byrd, a Baylor University graduate who is now a 16-year veteran of the company. She has worked in various departments of the Paris-based company which is “consistently ranked the number one sustainable company in the world,” according to Clark, one of the panel’s moderators.
One of Schneider Electric’s former CEOs, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, empowered employees to put environmental causes at the forefront of decisions. She credits his thought leadership for advancements.
“For our company, we’ve been recognized for sustainability because it’s built in our DNA,” Byrd said. “The executive having that as a purpose goes a long way.”
Others, such as Graf, have found consensus building and education have helped make progress. With a degree in environmental studies from Baylor University, Graf has worked in the public sector for the City of Plano as its sustainability coordinator and previously as a manager for Keep Waco Beautiful, Inc.
Through schools, neighborhood associations and large corporations, Graf and her team have been able to change the status quo. Through education about the importance of changing habits to reduce waste or to improve efficiency, new policies were adopted even when change wasn’t driven by law or revenue.
As an example, Graf spoke of Plano’s residential food composting program. The cost of curb-side pickup was not appealing to many residents, so the city changed strategy. In opting for a drop-off program, the city averages collecting 100,000 pounds of food scraps a year with approximately 800 residents participating since 2022.
“We’ve seen really great results,” Graf said. “For us, it’s about reaching people and making Plano a better place to live.”
Getting a group, a company or an institution to see the benefits can be key to promoting change. Ensuring that administrators know that studies show students are now wanting sustainable campuses has helped promote the cause, Honhon said. Framing the desired policies as a means to a goal, such as a more beautiful campus, can help an organization attain its goals. Changing policies can happen when decision-makers learn the benefits.
“We have so many passionate students on campus, and the president will listen to them,” Honhon said. “We don’t want a plastic bottle in front of our beautiful magnolia trees.”
Among the audience members was Sailakshmi Santhanakrishnan, a Plano-based executive with Amazech, where she heads environmental, social and governance issues plus sustainability.
“I came today to support the community here,” she said. “I think it’s time for us to join hands and do what we do best.”
Santhanakrishnan also is working with UT Dallas engineering students on environmentally related capstone projects and has served as an adjunct professor at the University. Connecting with others interested in sustainability is important to her, so she is supportive of Texas Cleantech Collisions’ goals.
“We need people to move toward a common goal, and I’m one of the contributors to that,” she said. “It was good to hear everybody’s outlooks.”
Santhanakrishnan said that changes in farming and distribution need to be addressed to improve health for marginalized citizens.
“This group is great and very inspiring,” she said after listening to the panel discussion. “Because of the environment I work in, I see thousands of pounds of food going to waste. I’m going to spread the word because it’s helping the world.”
UT Dallas stands at the forefront of universities in promoting sustainability by integrating academics, operations and student activities. UTD has embraced the international standard of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) through its Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). This system assesses sustainability across academics, engagement, operations, and planning, and UTD has attained the important STARS Gold rating.
Sustainability education is important at UTD with the university stressing sustainability through its curriculum, in research and campus activities. Students may become involved in environmentally focused classes, internships and leadership roles. Additionally, UTD offers related programs such as the Green Office Certification and Sustainability Honors, a recognition for environmentally friendly contributions on campus.
A networking session concluded the evening. The casual, but lively end to the gathering was important to the Texas Cleantech Collisions launch, according to Honhon. The founders’ goal was for like-minded professionals to make important connections to advance their work.
Future events will be held throughout North Texas, Honhon said.This event marked the launch of what Honhon hopes will become an expanding network of professionals from diverse backgrounds. Connections–those beneficial collisions—should expand, leading to a thriving community devoted to protecting and sustaining the world’s environment.
“My goal with this is to have people meet today and talk and come up with ideas and this is the starting point,” said Honhon.
