Join this conversation of Wharton alumni and industry leaders to discuss the implications of the 2020 election for the American energy industry in 2021 and beyond.

Speakers:

• Christine J. Harada (WG’94, Lauder’94) - Executive Council, Clean Energy for Biden
• Charles Schliebs (W'72) - Managing Director, Stone Pier Capital Advisors 
• Moderated by: Warren Wang (W'00, ENG'00) - Associate Director, Guidehouse Inc.

Event Description:
The goal for this event is to help alumni understand the forces at play in shaping the path forward for clean energy and legacy energy sources in the U.S. under the Biden administration. The Wharton Energy Network seeks to create space for Wharton alums to model what a uniting, productive conversation among disparate perspectives can look like. It's an opportunity for our Wharton community to move beyond the partisan split and discuss real solutions to help strengthen U.S. leadership in the energy sector, drive job creation, and mitigate negative environmental impacts.

Register Online
Date: Thursday, January 14, 2021
Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm PST
Location: The panel will be hosted virtually.  Zoom details will be sent out to RSVP'd guests in the confirmation email the week of the event.

About the Panelists:

Christine Harada (WG’94, Lauder’94) - Executive Council, Clean Energy for Biden
Christine Harada is a climate and impact investor. Most recently, she was President of i(x) investments, a permanently capitalized holding company that invests in the critical areas of human need (renewable energy, green real estate development, affordable housing, gender equality, technology and information, waste reduction and food and agriculture) in a multi-strategy investment approach throughout the entire capital structure.
Christine has over 20 years of success in leading government and management consulting organizations. She has extensive expertise in business strategy and translating that into operational excellence. Most recently, she was a Partner with Ridge-Lane LP, a triple-bottom-line advisory that creates sustainable social value by bridging the gap that exists between private companies, investment capital, and government – across the Federal, State, and Local levels. She is also a Fellow with the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator.
Before returning to the private sector, Ms. Harada served as the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer for the Obama administration. In this role, she provided oversight for all sustainability-related initiatives across the federal government in energy, fleet, and acquisitions-game-changing improvements that added to our nation's clean energy future.

 

Prior to her White House role, Ms. Harada was the Acting Chief of Staff and U.S. General Services Administration. While at the GSA, Ms. Harada also served as Associate Administrator, Government-wide Policy and Chief Acquisition Officer responsible for transforming a "business model" to provide more proactive, evidence-based policies, and increased transparency at the agency.
Prior to joining the government, she was a management consultant to Fortune 500 and public sector clients to tackle their most pressing challenges. Christine has extensive expertise in business strategy, and translating that into operational excellence.

Charlie Schliebs has over 30 years of experience as a dealmaker and strategic advisor in a variety of industries, first as a lawyer and then as an investment, venture capital and private equity professional.
Following graduation from Wharton and Vanderbilt Law School, Charlie returned home to Kansas City and joined Blackwell Sanders [now Husch Blackwell], a pre-eminent Midwest law firm with a premier corporate/securities practice. He advanced to partner at age 29, as the firm’s youngest ever partner. Following several years in the corporate world, Charlie conceived of the first office of an international law firm in Pittsburgh, proposed it to Jones Day and was a Jones Day partner from 1988 through 1999 in the 2,600-lawyer, international law firm. At both firms, his substantive expertise was as a securities/corporate finance/M & A partner. At Jones Day he was also an international specialist with his primary industry focus being the inter-related pharmaceutical, medtech, agricultural chemical, animal health and biotech fields, principally counseling multinational healthcare/life science companies. At Jones Day, besides being the founder of the highly successful Pittsburgh Office, he was the worldwide head of the Firm's Life Sciences Practice Group until he left the firm in late 1999 to co-found with a Forbes 400 family a private investment/venture capital/private equity firm.
From early 2008 until 2010, Charlie was retained by Chesapeake Energy, the nation’s 2d largest producer of natural gas, to facilitate its entry into the Marcellus Shale. He was trained at Chesapeake's HQ in Oklahoma City with respect to unconventional natural gas exploration and development.

In 2012, Charlie and Dale Killmeyer co-founded Stone Pier Capital Advisors, LP, to act as M&A, financial and strategic advisors across a variety of industries, including energy and healthcare/life sciences.
Charlie was named to the Power 100, the 100 most influential people in Pittsburgh, is on the "Who’s Who in Energy" list by American City Business Journals, and served on Gov. Wolf's Transition Team. During his legal practice, Charlie's work earned him an AV® Preeminent certification (5.0 out of 5.0) from Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings, the highest available mark for professional excellence.

 

Charlie is Chairman of the Energy Innovation Center Institute (eicipgh.org), the Huddle Up for Kids Foundation (huddleupforkids.org) and the Reuters NE Petrochemical Conference (2017- current). He is on various for- and non-profit boards, including Aperio Genetics LLC, Pro Football Alumni LLC and Britsburgh (British American Connections Pittsburgh), and is Convenor of the 2021 Committee on Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh Site Selection Rankings.

Warren Wang (W'00, ENG’00) -Associate Director, Guidehouse Inc.

Warren Wang is an Associate Director in the Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice of Guidehouse (formerly Navigant Consulting)  based in Los Angeles, CA. His areas of expertise and interest include research, development and demonstration (RD&D) management, emerging technologies integration, and strategic partnership and acquisition planning.  He is responsible for program management and delivery of services to the California Energy Commission’s RD&D Division and previously supported the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with pioneering smart grid and distributed energy system demonstrations from 2010-2015 while based in Pittsburgh, PA. He has also led and executed smart cities (and communities) projects with utilities serving major U.S. cities to enhance service delivery to residents and businesses while improving environmental and community resiliency.

 

Warren began his career with Arthur D. Little’s Technology and Innovation Management practice in Palo Alto, CA.  He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s dual degree Management and Technology (M&T) Program