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Bigger Than Us

Latest episodes

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Aug 1, 2023 • 41min

#224 Walter L. McLeod, author of The Carbon Creed

Walter L. McLeod is a recognized expert and thought leader in clean technology policy, finance, and development. He is an angel investor, entrepreneur, and Professor of Practice (Energy) in the College of Science at George Mason University. Walter is also the author of The Carbon Creed. Walter resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with his wife Laurel. http://www.carboncreed.com/about.html https://nexuspmg.com/
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Jul 18, 2023 • 57min

#223 Durreen Shahnaz, Founder and CEO of IIX and IIX Foundation

Durreen Shahnaz is a global leader in social impact and a pioneer in impact investing. She is also the founder of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and IIX Foundation. IIX is the home of the world’s first social stock exchange and one of the world’s largest crowdfunding platforms for impact investing. IIX is also a leader in impact assessment methodology and innovative financial structures, such as the world's first gender-focused social bond, the Women's Livelihood Bond Series. IIX connects the Back Streets of underserved communities to the Wall Streets of the world by innovating financial solutions and structures for women empowerment, climate action, and community resilience, thus driving Sustainable Development Goals. IIX and IIX Foundation’s work has unlocked nearly US$300 million of private sector investment capital and impacted over 150 million direct household lives. Shahnaz is the recipient of the UN Women’s 2020 Asia-Pacific Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) award, the 2019 Sustainability Superwoman award from CSR Works, the 2017 Oslo Business for Peace Award, often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize for Business’, the 2017 Global Steering Group for Impact Investment Impact Market Builder of the Year award, the 2016 Asia Society Asia Game Changer Award, in addition to the prestigious 2014 Joseph Wharton Social Impact Award given by the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania. Recently, Shahnaz was named in the Forbes 50 over 50 list as a notable leader in the financial industry. Shahnaz has recently authored a book entitled The Defiant Optimist, which just had a global launch. Shahnaz holds a BA from Smith College and a joint degree – an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a MA from the School for Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University. Orange Bond Initiative™ Insights Paper - IIX - Impact Investment Exchange (iixglobal.com) Sustainable Finance for Global Impact | IIX Global https://nexuspmg.com/
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Jul 4, 2023 • 36min

#222 Corey Tyree, Co-founder and CEO of Trillium Renewable Chemicals

Corey Tyree is the co-founder and CEO of Trillium Renewable Chemicals. He raised $16M in financing from venture, strategic, and government sources in the Company’s first 18 months. He built an experienced team and secured partnerships with Solvay, Hyosung, HELM, and others. He started his career as a chemical plant operator and went on to serve in various roles in engineering, plant management, and executive leadership. He holds a BS and PhD in Chemical Engineering. https://trilliumchemicals.com/ https://nexuspmg.com/
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Jun 20, 2023 • 38min

#221 Tim Hade, COO and Co-Founder of Scale Microgrid Solutions

Tim Hade is the COO and Co-Founder of Scale Microgrid Solutions, where he focuses on developing sustainable distributed generation technologies to serve mission-critical facilities. Tim brings his 12+ years of deep energy knowledge and experience to the clean energy projects being developed at Scale and can offer valuable insight into the operational requirements and challenges commonly encountered during the development of clean energy microgrid projects. Tim believes the greatest challenge humanity faces in the 21st century is the need to build a cleaner and more resilient energy system that is affordable and accessible for all, with unprecedented speed. He founded Scale Microgrid Solutions with the aim of achieving this end by building distributed energy systems for businesses and electric vehicle transit fleets throughout the country. More recently, Tim has been invaluable in helping close projects with a public transit fleet, indoor vertical farming facilities, a water utility, a school district, a food production facility and a leading university. https://www.scalemicrogrids.com/ https://nexuspmg.com/
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Jun 6, 2023 • 42min

#220 Kevin Kelly, Co-Founder Wired Magazine and author of Excellent Advice for Living

Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired, an award-winning magazine he co-founded Wired in 1993. He is co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, a membership organization that champions long-term thinking. He is the founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. He is also the author of multiple best-selling books about the future of technology. His newest is Excellent Advice for Living, a book of 450 modern proverbs for a pretty good life. He is best known for his radical optimism. https://kk.org/ https://nexuspmg.com/
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May 23, 2023 • 49min

#219 Larry Keeley, renowned innovation scientist

Larry Keeley is a renowned innovation scientist with over forty years of experience in the field. He co-founded Doblin, the leading global firm focused on enhancing innovation effectiveness, and has nurtured over 700 alumni through the organization. Keeley's contribution to academia is noteworthy. He has been a professor at the IIT Institute of Design for 39 years, a board member, and a leading employer of graduates. He also held a professorship at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management's MMM Program for 12 years, earning the title of Distinguished Professor in 2015. Throughout his academic career, he has helped educate over 5,900 Masters or PhD students as innovators, creating a robust global network of colleagues. Adding to his achievements, Keeley is the author of the #2 all-time best-selling book on innovation, "Ten Types of Innovation," which has been translated into 15 languages. His outstanding contributions to the field earned him recognition by BusinessWeek as one of the top seven global "gurus" of the innovation field, and one of the top 27 designers in the world. In 2021, the Bankinter Foundation in Spain appointed Keeley as the new director of their famed Future Trends Forum, which is conducted bi-annually in Madrid. Despite retiring as a Managing Director from Deloitte (the firm that now owns Doblin) in late 2020, Keeley continues his mission to advance the methods of innovation through research, currently with Keeley Innovations LLC. Keeley is a frequent lecturer on innovation at the Berkeley Haas Business School and an EY Luminary, where he works on cases and capabilities that are reshaping the field of innovation. His dedication and passion continue to have a profound impact on the innovation landscape. https://nexuspmg.com/
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May 9, 2023 • 59min

#218 Brittany Zimmerman, CEO of Yummet

Brittany Zimmerman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yummet. Brittany is the CEO of a globally recognized organization with a diverse team of over 300 graduate-level experts hailing from over 50 countries. This organization has bridged the gap between space technology and terrestrial applications by bringing advanced solutions to meet the needs of humanity on earth. By mimicking the natural process of mother nature, Yummet's innovative, proven, and patent-pending technological approach breaks down waste, disassembles the molecules, and rebuilds them into valuable resources, minerals, soils, water, and clean air - just as nature does. In doing this they produce the strongest, most net-negative concrete ever tested made entirely from waste. They produce biochar that serves as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fertilizers, restoring soil health and purifying water. They desalinate water and treat waste water with no production of brine or other waste products. They produce Green hydrogen at costs that rival dirty hydrogen, providing an alternative to fossil fuels. Ms. Zimmerman was selected early in her career as the Youngest National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Principal Investigator. She served as Principal Investigator (PI) for three NASA Programs. She served as Program Manager and Lead Engineer for the NASA Integrated water Recovery Assembly (IRA) designed to reclaim water from planetary surface habitats for NASA. As Lead Systems Engineer for the Brine Processor Assembly (BPA), currently on the International Space Station, Ms. Zimmerman spent years designing, analyzing, testing, and managing programs that utilize membrane distillation for water recovery during on-orbit and planetary surface operations. This includes her role as Program Manager and Lead Engineer for the Boeing Starliner Humidity Control System (HCS) ammonia testing campaign, and her role as a PI, Lead Engineer, and Inventor of the NASA Condensate Separator for Microgravity Conditions (COSMIC). Ms. Zimmerman’s role as Lead Engineering Analyst for the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) RAIDER program showcased her strength at mathematical analysis of thermal and fluid solutions. She has supported the development of the environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) for a single person spacecraft and has been instrumental in the design of many extreme environment United States Department of Defense (DoD) ECLSS solutions. Ms. Zimmerman earned her B.S. of Mechanical Engineering in 2011, followed by an M.S. in Space Studies focused on bioregenerative physical-chemical hybrid life support systems for long-duration spaceflight. Ms. Zimmerman specialized in the ecology of closed environments and biospherics, for which she designed the greenhouse module for the NASA Inflatable Lunar/Martian Habitat (ILMH). Ms. Zimmerman has been a crew member on several analog Mars missions, including a mission to the Mars Desert Research Station, as an officer of Mission 171. She served in the ILMH, leading Crew 3, the first all-female crew. Her background also includes rocket design, robotic launch systems, and high-altitude ballooning. Achievements: • Patented the most sustainable concrete ever tested • Exceeded $85 Million in Awarded Grants • Youngest NASA Principal Investigator • Principal Investigator for 3 NASA Programs • Patents and/or technologies developed for the ISS, spacesuits, spacecraft, U.S. Department of Defense, Artemis Program returning human's to the Moon, habitats for Mars, and private space industry life support systems. • 20 Under 35 Awardee from the Space and Satellites Professional International • 2020 Promise Award recipient identifying her as a leader in the space industry • Future Space Leader Awardee • Analog Astronaut: Commanding Crew 3 in Inflatable Lunar/Martian Habitat • Analog Astronaut: Mission 171, Mars Desert Research Station https://www.yummet.com/ https://nexuspmg.com/
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Apr 25, 2023 • 34min

#217 John Cleland, CEO of RenewWest

John Cleland is Co-founder and CEO of RenewWest, an environmental asset developer that addresses climate change through the development of natural working land emission reduction projects. https://www.renewwest.com/ https://nexuspmg.com/
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Apr 11, 2023 • 41min

#216 Preston Bryant, Founder / Chief Commercial Officer at Momentum Technologies

Preston Bryant is a graduate of SMU Cox School of Business with a B.A. in Economics, specializing in energy. In college, he established an oil and gas company in memory of his late father. Preston furthered his expertise in commodities recovery at the firm LPI, where he uncovered a groundbreaking critical materials processing method called Membrane Solvent Extraction. After obtaining exclusive licensing rights from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Lab, he founded Momentum Technologies with the mission to revolutionize the way metals were recovered by challenging the conventional norms that processing facilities must be large, expensive, and centralized. https://momentum.technology https://nexuspmg.com/
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Mar 28, 2023 • 39min

#215 NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber

NJ Ayuk is the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, CEO of pan-African corporate law conglomerate Centurion Law Group, and the author of Big Barrels as well as Amazon and Wall Street Journal’s bestselling Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals. His experience includes advising major companies and governments on energy issues and investment strategies. NJ graduated from the University of Maryland College Park and earned a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law and an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. https://njayuk.com/ https://nexuspmg.com/

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