Greg Saunders (MBA 1990) is the chief executive officer of CleanFund Commercial PACE Capital, a California–based financing firm focused on empowering commercial property owners to reduce their the carbon footprint of their buildings. In this video, he talks about the impact of his company’s innovative approach.

“I have been in renewable energy for about five years now, and I joined CleanFund about a year ago as CEO, in order to help the company unleash a financial technology that will make a difference on the environment.

“We help commercial property owners across the country adapt clean water and energy efficiency in their buildings so they can reduce the carbon footprint that they are causing. We found that many of our customers implement new clean technology to reduce energy cost and water cost by something like 20 percent to 50 percent—remarkable savings that they can often times pass along to their tenants—and provide a better working environment as well.

“California is where it all started. That’s not surprising, given the nature of California. It is where the largest opportunity is right now from a business standpoint. But we are finding that many other states are getting on the bandwagon, because the type of financing we have, and the kind of impact it has, is on local jobs; it’s on the local environment, so it really is gaining popularity.

“The work I do now is running a company, which is actually pretty darn difficult, and so I draw upon a lot of what I learned at HBS, around everything that matters. So we’re talking about marketing strategy, human resources, financial strategy, operations of a business, technology strategy—so all of that has been very valuable and has made a difference for me as I try to embark upon this new venture of this new company.”

(Published January 2016)

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