Thomas D'Eri's answer to StartingBloc Fellowship Application Essay 2

1. How will you bring your experience and knowledge to enrich the StartingBloc network? By Thomas D’Eri

2. A versatile skill set and global prospective Experience as both an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur Excellent understanding of how to integrate sustainability into a business’s strategy Global prospective shaped through international experiences in 21 countries

3. How I’ve built my skills and prospective Brought up by a successful entrepreneur My father has built several successful businesses Top flight business education Graduated summa cum laude in Economic/Finance with a concentration in Global Sustainability from Bentley University Deep passion for sustainable and social business Completed 15 engagements with organizations in fields from ecotourism to sustainability consulting to distribution Unquenchable thirst for knowledge Read over 70 books on sustainable business, general business strategy, social entrepreneurship and psychology

5. Principles of Marketing

7. Venture Capital

8. Stock Valuation

9. Principles of Finance

10. Ability to work in teams

11. How to write a business plan

12. How to pitch a business

13. How markets can be used to solve social and environmental issues

14. How business impacts the environment

15. Financial analysis, projection and evaluation

16. How economic systems work

17. Environmental Chemistry

18. Science of Sustainability

19. Environmental History

20. Alternative Energy

21. Principles and Intermediate Micro & Macro Economics

22. Environmental Economics

23. International Development

24. Monetary EconomicsSustainability Courses

25. Started off as an Intrapreneur

26. Leveraged Intrapreneurial experience to become an entrepreneur In the Fall of 2010 I travelled to Indonesia to help build a start up nonprofit: The RACI Project

27. More experience as an entrepreneur I built a sustainability consultancy, GreenWave Planning, which supported me financial through my senior year of college and this past summer GreenWave Planning provided high quality research, writing, project management and strategic guidance to its clients

28. A Global Prospective I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel frequently in my life and have visited 21 countries in both the developed and developing world These experiences have shaped my world view in a way that allows me to understand how cultural differences influence people’s behavior thus giving me the ability to better communicate with and tolerate people who have dissimilar ideologies My travels have also shown me how powerful cultural diversity can be as a tool for innovation

29. I love to help other social innovators Unlike many entrepreneurs I do not need to have ownership over an idea in order to be enthusiastic about it This allows me to bring my full self to the table when collaborating with other social innovators I also am very enthusiastic about sharing my network and often find great synergies between what my contacts are doing and the ideas that I learn about in conversations with new people

30. Thank You for Reading! I believe my prospective as an entrepreneur and intrepreneur, coupled with my knowledge of sustainable business and world view shaped from extensive travel would make me a valued member of the StartingBloc Network