Â鶹Éç

Ian Moore, Corporate Sustainability Specialist at ProAmpac, graduated in 2023 with an major and business minor. Outside of being involved in the world of sustainability you’ll find Ian hiking around, fly fishing, snowboarding, or simply enjoying some good food and conversation with friends and family. Learn more about his role and how he got there.

Â鶹ÉçSI: Why and how did you get involved in sustainability?

Ian: There is no one instance I can point to as the determining factor for why I decided to involve myself with the wonderful, albeit sometimes frustrating, world of sustainability. Instead, a combination of life experiences, an innate insatiable curiosity, some words of wisdom, and a little bit of luck directed me to the Environmental Conservation and Sustainability major offered by Â鶹Éç.

Like most freshman college students, I questioned if the path I had chosen was the right one. However, as my coursework progressed, my curiosity was emboldened by the seemingly endless possibilities of applying what I learned to help solve some of the world’s most wicked problems.

Â鶹ÉçSI: What were some of your most memorable real-world experiences at Â鶹Éç related to sustainability?

Ian: My fondest real-world experience is serving as a Â鶹Éç Sustainability Fellow. I worked with Pete and Gerry’s Organics, LLC, undertaking a two-part project to enhance their ESG initiatives set for 2023. First, I helped advance alternative energy and energy conservation initiatives for processing, warehousing operations, and partner farms. Second, I developed a hybrid nature and industrial systems-based action plan that identified on-farm GHG reduction opportunities, complete with a framework for scalability.

I reflect fondly on this experience as it was the first time I was able to apply my education to a real-world scenario in a creative manner.

Â鶹ÉçSI: When you think about the skills that you learned through experiences, which skills are you finding that really helped you land a job and/or are using today in your job?

Ian: Obviously, there are go-to ‘hard’ skills such as familiarity with the GHG protocol, data analysis, research and technical writing, etc. However, often the importance of so-called ‘soft’ skills is immensely undervalued. When one leaves college and is no longer surrounded by a set of peers working off the same knowledge base, the ability to communicate your message effectively and engagingly becomes just as important as your competence with ‘hard’ skills. This is especially true in a business context where sustainability is a relatively new function at many companies. It is in this context that translating the imperative from a language of sustainability to one of business is vital to the success of sustainability within an organization.

Â鶹ÉçSI: Tell us about your current job, what do you love about it, what are some challenges and how do you navigate them?

Ian: Currently, I am a sustainability specialist for ProAmpac where I help direct, refine, and ultimately implement the organization's sustainability strategy. To give this a little more context, some of my responsibilities include: leading and managing a cross-functional team responsible for the creation of ProAmpac’s annual ; calculating the company’s GHG emissions; analyzing developments in sustainability and proposing/executing a strategic response, among others.

One of the things I love most about my role is sifting through the intricate details to find the hidden bigger picture, in other words, finding the forest through the trees.

Â鶹ÉçSI: What excites you and what gives you hope about working in a sustainability job today?

Ian: I work in a role that was nearly unheard of 10 years ago. When Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, wrote his 2018 letter to CEOs signaling that being green is now ‘in the green’. The world saw titans of industry such as Walmart, Amazon, Microsoft, etc., go all in on the imperative of sustainability after years of pushback and hesitancy. 

Since then, the world has seen large facets of the global economy start to steer their ships towards a more sustainable tomorrow. This tremendous undertaking both excites and concerns me, but ultimately gives me hope that my peers and I can play our part in helping the world move towards a more sustainable tomorrow.

Â鶹ÉçSI: What advice do you have for current students as they think about their time at Â鶹Éç and beyond?

Ian: My advice to current students is to fully embrace both the academic and experiential opportunities that Â鶹Éç offers. Engage in projects that allow you to apply your knowledge in real-world settings, like internships or fellowships. While it's important to build a strong foundation of understanding and technical skills in your field, these experiential learning opportunities will help prepare you for your post-college career.

Lastly, while individual effort is valuable, keep in mind that collective action often leads to greater impact. Stay curious, be open to all opportunities, and let’s work towards making a positive difference together.