Lianne Pinto (MBA’21) Named 2020 Rising Women Solar Fellow

Lianne Pinto (MBA’21) was recently named a 2020 Rising Women Solar fellow for the Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE), a program aimed at college and graduate students studying renewable energy and related fields. 

“The fellowship really helped me expand my industry network,” said Pinto. “ I was mentored by some amazing female leaders across the gamut of energy and had a fantastic peer group of female fellows that I plan to stay connected with for life.”

Grounded in the Jesuit value of “women and men for others,” Pinto entered Georgetown McDonough with the desire to build a career around social impact. Having always been passionate about combatting the effects of climate change, she gladly accepted the opportunity last summer to intern at Exelon, a large U.S. public utility and leading energy provider. 

Pinto worked in the distributed energy area, a sector that has soared due to the recent proliferation of resources like solar, storage, and smart home products. 

Pinto piloted a concept that involved increasing smart home adoption among residential consumers and developed cost-saving sources. Her second project centered on biomass waste, where she created a report to help the company understand the market, uses, and price point for its biomass plant waste — thereby identifying a cost-savings source of $2 million.

Pinto has furthered her study of the clean energy and technology industry within the Georgetown McDonough community. She is the vice president of events for the Cleantech Club and organized Energy Career Day by bringing companies like Next Era, PG&E, and Nextracker to speak. She also organized a Cleantech 101 session, which provided an overview of the field, a peer career panel, and club happy hour. 

In addition to her extracurricular activities, which also includes serving as vice president of the MBA Student Government Association, Pinto benefited from the unique opportunities of a Georgetown McDonough education. 

Last year she attended the convention on climate change held on Georgetown’s campus where leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke about climate policy. She also attended an event with Seth Goldman, chairman, Beyond Meat, who came to campus and spoke about the future of the alternative meat industry through the Business for Impact initiative. 

She also noted the academic rigor present within the classroom alongside Georgetown’s Jesuit mission. 

“I knew Georgetown, being a Jesuit institution, would focus on providing a solid academic experience.” said Pinto. “The classes I have taken like accounting, valuation, and project finance gave me confidence in my ability to speak the language of finance, which truly helped me pivot into investment banking.”

Pinto has accepted a full-time offer and will continue her journey at Nomura Greentech, a renewable-energy focused investment bank, following her graduation.  

“I owe Georgetown a lot because I really feel like I landed my post-MBA dream job,” said Pinto. “The entire MBA experience-from the classes, extracurriculars, to the people- have all truly challenged me and helped me grow into a better leader.”