E2 Introduces Third Class of 1 Hotels Fellows in San Francisco
E2 is excited to launch the third year of our 1 Hotels Fellowships. After a national search that resulted in about 100 applications from across the country, we introduced and convened our 2020 cohort of Fellows in San Francisco on Feb. 20.
The 1 Hotels Fellowship at E2 is designed to support early to mid-career businesspeople who are tackling unique projects at the intersection of environment and economy. E2 created the program in 2018 thanks to a generous gift from 1 Hotels founder Barry Sternlicht.
Our 10 new Fellows (pictured) receive $20,000 each and work with E2 staff and advocates to design and implement their big ideas, which include unique educational, research and communications projects. This year’s Fellows hail from nearly every region of the country and their projects include:
· Amplifying stories on how clean tech and sustainability start-ups are helping Appalachian counties transition to a clean energy economy.
· Educating auto dealers about electric vehicles and ensuring that EVs are accessible to all income levels.
· Documenting the business case for regenerative agriculture practices and telling the stories of farmers who have engaged in this work
· Helping hotels in Ohio become more sustainable
· Developing a database of renewable energy investment sources
With this year’s group of fellows, E2 will have now empowered 30 innovators to design, implement and accomplish solutions to pressing environmental issues.
After Lauren Hafford’s work as part of the second cohort of fellows, she continued her work with dryland farmers in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska which led to the group being a awarded a $1.6 million grant to facilitate peer farmer communication and education to transition to more sustainable farming techniques.
Salem Afeworki was a well-respected energy efficiency practitioner before being one of our inaugural group of fellows and produced a website that tracked electric vehicle incentives in California as part of her fellowship. She has continued to make an impact, just recently becoming the Energy and Sustainability Services Manager for the City of Costa Mesa.
Cory Connolly, also from our inaugural group of fellows, has continued his project of developing and managing a statewide network of clean energy leaders in Michigan, while he transitioned to working as the Vice President of Policy at the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council.
These are just three examples of the work that the fellowship helped to support, but also speaks to how the innovation doesn’t end after the fellowship.
To date through the 1Hotels program, E2 has empowered 30 young innovators to design and implement unique solutions to pressing environmental issues. Fellows also get mentoring from seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders who belong to E2. They’re also connected to a peer group of current and former Fellows and get the opportunity to engage in E2’s advocacy work. The program also serves as a pipeline of future business leaders who can help shape our future through E2.
We will be updating our website with more from our fellowship, and you can go here to read updates from our inaugural group of fellows.
