Coffee, Connection, & Conversation

Coffee & Climate is a NEW quarterly speaker series hosted by Change is Simple which breaks down a given sustainability or climate topic with the help of guest speakers. Programming includes a range of topics including sustainability in business, transportation, investing, building, design, and education.

Fall 2024 Session

Electrifying Transportation For Schools

Thursday, September 26th, 2024 from 8:30am — 9:30am

About Duncan

Duncan McIntyre is the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors at Highland Electric Fleets, as well as a serial climatetech entrepreneur.

Prior to founding Highland in 2018, Duncan founded and served as President of Altenex, the first renewable energy marketplace serving Fortune 500 companies, where he built over 2 GW of utility scale renewable energy for corporations. Acquired by Edison International in 2015, Altenex created the virtual power purchase agreement and authored the "REPA" (renewable energy purchase agreement), a structure that is now the industry standard contract format for large corporate purchases of renewable energy. Before that, Duncan was a venture capitalist with Polaris Venture Partners, investing in companies across the energy transition landscape, and a member of the mergers and acquisitions team at Harris Williams.

Duncan holds a bachelor’s in finance from Babson College. He's passionate about land preservation and the need for more local organic farming and spends most of his time outside with his wife, three kids, and three dogs.

About Highland Electric Fleets

Highland Electric Fleets has built the largest electrical school bus fleet in North America, with over 600 vehicles participating in Massachusetts and Vermont's first V2G (Vehicle-to-Grid) programs. Featured by Time, Bloomberg, The New York Times, WBUR, ABC News, and more, this impressive company was founded by current CEO Duncan McIntyre who has lead the company to success since 2019. We are excited to welcome Duncan to our series and hope you can join us!

Past Sessions:

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 from 8:30am — 9:30am

The event was hosted by Patrick Belmonte, Co-Founder and CSO of Change is Simple with Special Guest Natasha Lamb from Arjuna Capital, Sustainable Investing

About Natasha

Natasha Lamb is a managing partner and Chief Investment Officer at Arjuna Capital, which she co-founded in 2013. A leader in impact investing, Natasha works with individuals, families, and institutions to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investments. Natasha believes that social justice, environmental responsibility, and economic vitality are all “bottom line” issues and is convinced that investing in a more equitable, environmentally responsible economy is simply smarter long-term investing for the prosperity of future generations. She engages major corporations to improve their performance through shareholder activism and has been named by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of the Bloomberg 50 most influential people who defined global business in 2017. In 2018, she was named to InStyle magazine’s The Badass 50: Women Who Are Changing the World.

Change is Simple is a non-profit dedicated to: Instilling Lifelong Social and Environmental Responsibility Through Experiential Climate Change Education That Inspires Action — For Healthy People, Planet, & Community.