News
New Inaugural Executive-in-Residence Program with Dr. John Kinch
September 30, 2021
The KBEI is pleased to announce that Dr. John Kinch, the Executive Director of Michigan Energy Options, has agreed to serve as our first designated executive under our new Executive-in-Residence program. Dr. Kinch will be speaking to students and faculty on special occasions throughout the year, and will help Prof. DeWilde with research and developing an MBA course devoted to ethics and sustainability.
John Attix Kinch directs the strategic and daily operations of
Michigan Energy Options (https://www.linkedin.com/company/michigan-energy-options),
emphasizing innovative and collaborative projects between the public
and private sectors. Under Kinch, MEO's work has expanded across the
state and its revenue has grown and diversified. Working with national
partners, federal agencies and local governments, MEO strives every
day to make sustainable energy a foundation of Michigan communities.
Among recent achievements, Kinch has brought online the first
community solar park in Michigan that is owned and operated by a
nonprofit, and which won Michigan Energy Project of the Year in 2019.
Kinch is a D.O.E. SunShot advisor, a municipal certified solar expert
by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a consultant for the
Council of Michigan Foundations, and has been a renewable energy
consultant for The Nature Conservancy. He serves on national working
groups and task forces and writes on energy issues in various venues.
Kinch has a 30-year history in green causes, spending tenures
with The Nature Conservancy, a university land policy institute and a
green investment venture. He has a Ph.D. from Michigan State
University with a dissertation on the "the cyclical reinvention
of the American Environmental Movement." He's a former reporter
and is published widely, including a book, and articles for The New
York Times.