at Blue Shield of California, 50 Beale St, San Francisco, CA
On March 9, BC3 members gathered at Blue Shield of California for a lunchtime brown bag with Arup's Chris Luebkamen and BC3's Katherine Michonski. Chris and Katherine debriefed us on their recent trip to Davos, Switzerland where they participated in the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. As an independent international organization committed to “improving the state of the world,” the World Economic Forum gathers business, political, academic, and other leaders each year to shape global and industry agendas at its annual meeting. Chris and Katherine shared their insights from the conference, focusing on highlights from the sustainability and business sessions. Katherine also shared her experience attending the conference as a Global Shaper, the World Economic Forum's community of "under-30" leaders and doers from around the world.
Chris Luebkeman is director for global foresight and innovation at Arup, where he advises on how the driving forces of global change should be incorporated into more effective global business strategies. Prior to joining Arup in 1999, Chris taught in the department of architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the University of Oregon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His industry-funded research program at MIT - “house_n; MIT’s intelligent home of the future” - is a technology and tectonic exploration of the integration of the digital with the physical. Chris' experiences have enabled him to specialize in being a generalist with a view to being “in league with the future”. Chris is an active facilitator and motivational speaker. He lectures widely on the future, sustainability, and innovation, as well as on research at Arup.
Katherine Michonski is director of the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3), a public-private partnership between local government and the business community that works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in San Francisco through dialogue, collaboration, and direct action. Prior to joining BC3, Katherine worked on international climate and energy policy as a research associate in the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. She also volunteers support for EarthSpark International, a nonprofit organization that works to alleviate energy poverty in Haiti. Katherine graduated from the University of Chicago where she founded the school's first sustainability council. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and participates in the San Francisco hub.
