Samuel Wess

Canon Institute Global Order Framework Project – Professor Steven Vogel, Political Economy. Selected as 1 of 5 students for the Berkeley team of an international ESG project, working with 4+ university teams in Japan, China, and Korea. Cultivating a global network of students, academics, and professionals to collaborate on ESG research and corporate/sovereign ESG evaluations. Utilized Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) to recommend 3 optimal ESG rating data vendors to build an organizational rating platform.

Potts Biodiversity Policy Lab: Natural Capital Markets – Professor Matthew Potts, Environmental Science, Policy, & Management. Supported use of LLMs and Python to perform sentiment analysis on sustainability policy over past 20 years and identify trends in public opinion. Analyzed 200+ publications on current biodiversity credit market landscape, science, policy, and corporate activity, and identified segmented trends.

Managed and trained 2 teams of 6 consultants in PowerPoint and research; sourced 2 projects by outlining 6 project scopes based on client needs. Projects: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Environmental Defense Fund. CSIS: Optimized content for policy potency through 10+ case studies, 5 SEO strategies, 4 Salesforce Pardot tools, and 4+ platform recommendations. EDF: Maximized donor engagement through segmented demographic research, 1000+ donor surveys, 3+ NGO interviews, and 8 recommendations.

Projects: Black Tech Street, Newlines Institute, Athletes Soul

Chosen as the first Summer Analyst at Frutura, a vertically-integrated agricultural portfolio company of the Renewable Resources Group. Created 2 sustainability dashboards in Excel and Power BI, tracking 2+ years of supply chain energy, waste, and water use data for 12 business units. Developed an Excel dashboard to quantify packaging impact metrics for 8 suppliers and 200+ SKUs to comply with 2 major U.S. produce retailers. Supported B Corp Certification processes by tracking 10+ sustainability initiatives and compiling data for annual impact reports.

Produced 15+ research reports evaluating and scoring sovereign ESG labeled bond frameworks and prospectuses issued in emerging market countries. Utilized proprietary criteria to identify bond strengths and weaknesses, informing investor advocacy to international finance ministries.

Composed 8+ research briefs on emerging market economies, utilizing 7+ years of global financial data to guide advocacy campaign focuses. Compiled presentation resources and briefed the President on global ESG current events before 4+ international investment conferences.

Oversaw 70+ internal office projects working to improve campus housing, basic needs access, financial literacy, and mental health resources.

Improved digital marketing strategies for 5+ local POC-owned small businesses, negotiated student discounts, increased total revenue by $3,000+.

Valedictorian