Recruiting Journeys | Energy: Kevin Moss ’24, Connecticut Green Bank
Kevin Moss ’24 combined his policy background with new quantitative skills gained at SOM to transition into clean energy finance.
How did the recruiting process work for you?
Before business school, I worked at the Western Governors’ Association, where I gained a background in energy and environmental policy. I came to SOM to either pivot into management consulting in the short term or go directly into the clean energy field. I initially participated in the consulting recruiting process and ended up being waitlisted at a few firms in February of my first year, which was a huge blessing in disguise. After that, I switched my focus to clean energy and gave myself the goal of getting an offer before spring break. When Kennedy Sani from the CDO posted the Green Bank innovation internship in the Energy Club Slack channel, I dropped everything I was doing to write my cover letter, given the position’s alignment with my previous electric vehicle policy experience. I applied that evening and got an offer within a few weeks.
Halfway through my internship, I approached my Green Bank supervisor, Sara Harari, who is also a graduate of SOM and the School of the Environment (YSE), to see if there was any scope for me to work part-time during my second year. I ended up working 5 to 10 hours a week as a consultant to help develop the Green Bank’s clean transportation work. A big opportunity to show that I could transition to a full-time role came during winter break, when we were navigating a Public Utilities Regulatory Authority docket about medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicles. I gave that project a ton of attention, pulled together our comments, and submitted a financial model on school bus electrification costs that I would not have been able to create before SOM. Managing that process gave leadership confidence in my overall strategy abilities and emphasized the need for a designated clean transportation position. I was fortunate to then transition to a full-time position immediately after graduation.
What SOM classes best prepared you for your current role?
Renewable Energy Project Finance was huge. Prior to SOM, I had barely used Excel and had never done any financial modeling. When I started the class, I didn’t even know how to lock a cell. A lot of people consider that to be the best class at SOM, and it gave me the tools to contribute financial modeling and analysis insights at the Green Bank.
I also took a course at YSE called the Sustainable Business Consulting Capstone. I didn’t want to focus on something that was already up my alley, like transportation, so I chose to do a project with Cambium Carbon, a sustainable timber company founded by a YSE alum. Our team’s task was to assist them with their venture capital fundraising plan and messaging strategy, and it was a great way to get a better understanding of the entire VC world.
Which SOM resources helped the most during the recruiting process?
Kennedy is the CDO’s energy practice lead, and I would always see him at Energy Club lunches. The fact that he had the pulse of the Green Bank and was immediately able to post that job opportunity was really useful for me. Once I applied, I worked personally with Julia Bourque at the CDO to do interview prep. In my second year, because I wanted to return to the Green Bank but didn’t have a definite offer yet, Julia and the CDO were a useful sounding board as I navigated that uncertainty.
The Green Bank also has a very strong SOM and YSE presence. For example, there’s Burr Tweedy, who I consider my “résumé twin”; we went to undergrad together, and then he came to SOM ahead of me and got a job at the New York Green Bank. In my whole arc of applying to SOM, recruiting, and considering the Green Bank offer, he’s been the main person I relied on. Now we get to bounce ideas off each other on school bus electrification and clean transportation topics.
The biggest thing is that there’s just unbelievably strong representation in clean energy among graduates of SOM and Yale more broadly. It’s a very easy place to quickly connect with a ton of people, and I feel very at home and at ease in the sector.
Learn about the Yale SOM Energy Club and visit our sustainability information hub.
What advice would you give to current students recruiting in this field?
Take Renewable Energy Project Finance as soon as you can. Also, given that clean energy and public policy are intertwined, being able to understand and speak to legislation, federal programs, and incentives is really important in interviews and jobs. That’s doubly true at the Green Bank, where we’re using public money to drive private capital to all these investments. Folks who are able to combine a policy and regulatory lens with knowledge of market and investment strategy are the ones most likely to succeed. Brush up on that as much as possible—it will make a difference.
