Leaders list highlights human capital

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Here in the Northwest, there’s a lot of discussion around the development of a strong economy based on companies that can deliver solutions for the growing global markets for clean technology. It’s such a natural fit with our regional preferences for green power, local and organic foods, recycling, land-use planning, hybrid car adoption and alternative transportation. Forbes magazine even ranked Oregon and Washington in the top three “greenest” U.S. states.

So why is there so much talk and yet so few emerging clean-tech companies? It’s a question my colleagues and I hear often.

Some people say it’s a lack of investment capital in the region. Others say we just don’t generate enough quality investment opportunities to attract capital.

And I’ve heard people say it’s because we don’t have enough experienced people and management in the Northwest — people with the leadership skills to turn clean technology ideas into vibrant, successful companies here.

This last comment never sat quite right with me or my partners at Pivotal Investments. We agree that both investment capital and human capital are keys to the development of a sustainable, clean technology-based economy here in the Northwest. So we decided to prove that our hunch was right: This region does have a vibrant and growing group of leaders who are poised to become the CEOs and CTOs of tomorrow’s clean technology companies.

We created the Pivotal Leaders program with two main aspirations:

• • To demonstrate to investors and the business community that the Northwest does have a wealth of talented leadership, people who have the knowledge, skills, motivation and business acumen to lead successful clean technology companies.
• • To create a mechanism for helping these leaders identify each other and the resources they need to realize their goals in leading clean-technology companies here in the Northwest.

The key to our economic future is the development of strong entrepreneurial leadership. And the opportunity in the Northwest is just as great, if not greater, than any other region in this country.

In truth, there aren’t a lot of entrepreneurs with deep clean-tech experience anywhere, because the sector is still emerging. What we have in the Northwest are successful companies, large and small, in other profitable sectors with talented leaders in their ranks.

We also have entrepreneurs forming companies and people in the public sector advocating for economic development in clean technology sectors. Our universities are turning out young leaders with tremendous potential who have a strong commitment to building a sustainable economy.

In order to deliver on our potential, we must continue to develop and attract the breadth and depth of entrepreneurial talent that leadership in the emerging sustainable economy demands. The rewards are huge, the competition is global and fierce.

We need to identify and recognize our talented prospective leaders, give them opportunities to learn and develop, and support them as they build the companies of the future here.

In developing the Pivotal Leaders network we chose a two-step process: community nomination and peer selection. We knew we could leverage our network and the collaborative approach to quickly and effectively identify prospective leaders through a broad-based nomination process. We saw that by getting people involved in the process early, we could create a sense of urgency and purpose that would help us develop this important network.

We were fortunate that larger companies and service providers shared our interest and sense of urgency in building our clean-tech innovation ecosystem. Their support provided us the resources we required to launch the network and commence the process of identifying the prospective leaders — people who are motivated to build our economy by creating great companies here that deliver clean technology solutions for the planet.

The effort resulted in 600 nominees from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia. This demonstrates a collective passion for the opportunity and the commitment to build a vibrant economy based on innovation, targeting the growing demand for alternative energy, energy efficiency, green materials and sustainable agriculture and forestry.

The list — which is available in full at www.pivotal-leaders.com — includes a combination of proven leaders from well-known businesses such as McKinstry and Microsoft, to clean-tech entrepreneurs developing alternative transportation, smart grid, smart storage and alternative energy, service providers, investors and the public sector. Every person on the list is improving our competitiveness in the Northwest and the United States toward a cleaner, greener, economically stronger future.

This network will help build our region’s reputation as a place that has innovative companies with strong leadership building successful clean technology enterprises.

Gregg Semler is a managing director with Portland-based Pivotal Investments.