Consulting in the Clean Energy Economy
On October 30, the Baumhart Center hosted “Consulting in the Clean Energy Economy.” With Baker Tilly colleagues and Quinlan School of Business alumni, we explored how they work together to create a fair and sustainable clean energy future through their consulting efforts.
- , Senior Consultant, Economic Development and Community Advisory at Baker Tilly and Baumhart Scholars MBA (’22)
- , Senior Consultant, ESG Strategy & Management at Baker Tilly and Baumhart Reporting For Impact participant (’24)
- , Senior Analyst- Development and Community Advisory, Capital Formation at Baker Tilly and Quinlan BBA (’19)
- , Manager, Energy Advisory at Baker Tilly and Quinlan MBA (’22)
- Moderated by , Managing Consultant at South Pole and Baumhart Scholars MBA (’25)
鈥淭hese tools are how to incentivize the private sector to drive profit and purpose in underserved and disadvantaged communities.鈥�
Jonathan McGee, Sr. Consultant, Economic Development and Community Advisory at Baker Tilly | Baumhart Scholars MBA (鈥�22)
The event opened with a welcome video from Jonathan McGee and Karen Weigert, Director of the Baumhart Center. Following the introductions, each panelist shared more about their specific roles and how they collaborate across the industry.
Some clients are unfamiliar with clean energy overall. Baker Tilly consultants help clients with their ESG strategy and reach beyond the bare minimum requirements regarding ESG compliance. This allows clients to create a more significant impact and gain a competitive advantage for doing good.
Another way Baker Tilly helps their clients is through developing community benefits plans. A community benefits plan is a voluntary guideline outlining how a developer plans to collaborate with communities throughout their project. The purpose of the plan is to ensure the community gains from the project in some way, whether it is workforce development, clean energy infrastructure improvements, or other services.
鈥淚 take mostly a compliance focus when it comes to sustainability reporting, so helping our clients, comply with these regulations, but we also help with a number of the voluntary reporting pieces.鈥�
Brianna Hardy, Sr. Consultant, ESG Strategy and Management at Baker Tilly | Baumhart Reporting for Impact participant (鈥�24)
鈥淲e work hand in hand with developers and municipalities, helping them structure their projects to maximize their capital, source credits, and everything possible to make these projects the most successful.鈥�
Elizabeth Guararra, Sr. Analyst - Development and Community Advisory, Capital Formation at Baker Tilly | Quinlan BBA (鈥�19)
鈥淲hen we build our projects, it鈥檚 not just about the direct savings, but how we look at it from a regenerative standpoint.鈥�
Joe Marchese, Manager, Energy Advisory at Baker Tilly | Quinlan MBA (鈥�22)
The conversation ended with advice to get involved with the consulting industry. The best way to get involved in the consulting industry is through networking, research, and understanding core competencies, such as project management.
Key Takeaways
- To learn about updates in the clean energy economy, get familiar with the Climate and Jobs Act (CJA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
- For the latest regulations and policies in clean energy, review your local state website or
- Utilize your network and set up chats with consultants to learn about their role if you want to get into the industry
- To find out more about Baker Tilly’s work in Clean Energy,
Interested in learning more about the Baumhart Scholars MBA?
Join us at our next in-person Baumhart program, Tech For Good.
On October 30, the Baumhart Center hosted “Consulting in the Clean Energy Economy.” With Baker Tilly colleagues and Quinlan School of Business alumni, we explored how they work together to create a fair and sustainable clean energy future through their consulting efforts.
- , Senior Consultant, Economic Development and Community Advisory at Baker Tilly and Baumhart Scholars MBA (’22)
- , Senior Consultant, ESG Strategy & Management at Baker Tilly and Baumhart Reporting For Impact participant (’24)
- , Senior Analyst- Development and Community Advisory, Capital Formation at Baker Tilly and Quinlan BBA (’19)
- , Manager, Energy Advisory at Baker Tilly and Quinlan MBA (’22)
- Moderated by , Managing Consultant at South Pole and Baumhart Scholars MBA (’25)
The event opened with a welcome video from Jonathan McGee and Karen Weigert, Director of the Baumhart Center. Following the introductions, each panelist shared more about their specific roles and how they collaborate across the industry.
Some clients are unfamiliar with clean energy overall. Baker Tilly consultants help clients with their ESG strategy and reach beyond the bare minimum requirements regarding ESG compliance. This allows clients to create a more significant impact and gain a competitive advantage for doing good.
Another way Baker Tilly helps their clients is through developing community benefits plans. A community benefits plan is a voluntary guideline outlining how a developer plans to collaborate with communities throughout their project. The purpose of the plan is to ensure the community gains from the project in some way, whether it is workforce development, clean energy infrastructure improvements, or other services.
The conversation continued with how the consultants track regulation and funding opportunities for clients. Consultants do this through a combination of checking federal, state and local websites, subscribing to specific clean energy newsletters, and following up with colleagues.
The conversation ended with advice to get involved with the consulting industry. The best way to get involved in the consulting industry is through networking, research, and understanding core competencies, such as project management.
Key Takeaways
- To learn about updates in the clean energy economy, get familiar with the Climate and Jobs Act (CJA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
- For the latest regulations and policies in clean energy, review your local state website or
- Utilize your network and set up chats with consultants to learn about their role if you want to get into the industry
- To find out more about Baker Tilly’s work in Clean Energy,