Olga Hawn

Olga Hawn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship;
Sustainability Distinguished Fellow;
Faculty Director, Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability
Full-Time MBA| MBA@UNC| Charlotte MBA

 

What courses do you currently teach, and what do you love most about them?

1. Strategy and Sustainability
2. Global Immersion Elective (Sustainability and Social Enterprise).

 

How do you bring real-world business challenges or trends into the classroom?

By discussing sustainability in the news, finding most recent industry reports on the state of the profession or certain challenges, through case studies and case discussions as well as translating current research.

 

What’s one lesson or insight you hope every MBA student takes with them after your course?

I believe that firms should use the most effective and efficient means to do the most good with their limited resources. Understanding the trade-offs involved and how to achieve this is the primary focus of sustainability strategy and has been my mission. By prioritizing stakeholders (through stakeholder analysis) and issues (through materiality assessment), our students an navigate this complex problem.

 

Can you share a moment or student success story that’s stuck with you?

Greg Dougherty struggled with the choices he had for employment after MBA: one option was to go full into sustainability and get training as ESG analyst (but less pay) and another highly-paid prestigious job in oil&gas. Upon my advice, he chose the former and has since only moved up (almost every year) changing jobs thanks to the expertise he developed. High risk – high reward!

In what ways do you see our students standing out in the workplace or making an impact?

Our students live the Carolina way after graduating – helping each other at work, collaborating for impact and even having these goals in mind.

What excites you most about the future of business education or your field?

I am excited about all the potential solutions to climate change challenge that our graduates and entrepreneurs and scientists come about in the near future. One example: on the GIE in Iceland we visited Carbfix – they are doing amazing things today – imagine scaling it in the future!

What advice would you give to incoming MBA students?

Be strategic about what courses and activities you choose, build relationships and expand your network, develop interpersonal skills if you don’t already possess them – they will be even more important to succeed in the age of AI!

Is there anything you’d like to highlight about your research, industry partnerships, or other projects?

At ACES we run annual sustainability roundtable with business leaders in NC.

What’s something your students might be surprised to learn about you?

I don’t know… that I am Russian-American? I usually tell them that. I like rock climbing and hiking? no surprise to those on the GIE… I’ve been living in Durham since 2007 (my husband did his undergrad at NC State and I did my PhD at Duke, so we covered all of the triangle? We met at Oxford UK)… that when I was growing up, my favorite color was Carolina blue to the point that my best friend asked me “do you have any other color in your wardrobe???” and I had to change it up 🙂

Is there a student, colleague, or industry partner you’d like to recognize?

Tracy Triggs-Matthew has led the center for so many years, thanks to her it is still successfully operating and we build a huge alumni base. Also, Jeff Mittelstadt who we hired with Tracy as executive director for the center, who helped developed activities for our students (both undergraduate and MBA) that set them up for success in the job market.