
Consortium for environmentally resilient business
A thought-leadership hub uniting experts in environmental economics, sustainable business practices, and energy consumption.
Consortium For Environmental Resilient Business (CERB), is operated by co-directors, affiliated scholars, and doctoral students at The University of Arizona who will conduct research and provide the academic and business community with enhanced capability in the field.
Focusing on climate change challenges, CERB brings together the academic, business, and policy communities to advance knowledge, develop the next generation of leaders in the field, and improve regulation and policy-making.
Consortium members join a cooperative effort to support research in the field of environmental economics and sustainable business practices, whereby the university environment can be used to perform research on the economic implications of, and firm and policymaker responses to, a changing climate, and implications for energy and water use, renewable energy development, financial markets, transportation networks, and investment in resilient infrastructure.
Key Questions We Aim to Address:
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How much does climate change cost utility companies, businesses, and the regional economy?
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What is the value of information on environmental threats, and how does it drive decision-making and profits?
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How can enhanced monitoring prepare utilities for climate change impacts?
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What incentives and monitoring are needed for a resilient electricity system?

Outcomes

Research Papers
Technical manuscripts authored by CERB faculty, students, and affiliate scholars

Symposium
A platform to share innovative research with business leaders and policymakers

Visiting Scholars
Enhancing research capabilities

Data Repository
Stimulating research within academia, business, and policy communities

The Arizona Advantage
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Unique Southwest Location at the forefront of climate change
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$824M+ Annual Research Activity
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Top 4% U.S. University for Research
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Home to Cyverse: National Cyber-infrastructure for Life Science Research
Meet CERB Co-Directors
Partner Members

Michael M. Schneider, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)
- Vice president of risk management and compliance, chief compliance officer, and chief risk officer at SDG&E, one of Sempra Energy’s regulated California utilities. Schneider is responsible for risk identification, mitigation, quantification and financial frameworks, compliance, energy risk management, and asset management.
- Previously, he was vice president—clean transportation and asset management, where he oversaw clean transportation, asset management, growth and technology integration, strategic planning, and business optimization. In addition, Schneider held executive roles as vice president of operations support and vice president of customer operations.
- Schneider joined SDG&E in 1992 and had roles in customer service, regulatory, operations, environmental, and finance. Schneider holds a master's degree in business administration from George Mason University with an emphasis in finance and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Arizona.
- He serves on the board of directors of the San Diego River Park Foundation and the National Board of Advisors of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

Arun Mani, KPMG
- Arun Mani, a Principal with KPMG, is an Energy and Water sector strategist who operates at the intersection of regulation, operations, and technology to advise clients worldwide on a variety of energy and water-related topics – decarbonized supply, sustainable demand, intelligent infrastructure, and foundational technologies.
- With ~30 years of consulting work advising utility and energy companies' management and Boards on various infrastructure decisions, Arun has a broad understanding of the electric, gas, and water sectors and relevant issues.
- Arun has helped clients shape strategy, drive growth, and lead operational transformations, working with company leaders.
Affiliate Scholars

Alex Hollingsworth
- Associate Professor at Ohio State University
- Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research
- Micro-economist with interests in health and environmental economics
- Co-hosts the podcast, The Hidden Curriculum with Sebastian Tello-Trillo
- Publications include: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Journal of Public Economics, and the Journal of Human Resources
- Website

Jackson Dorsey
- Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin.
- Previously an Assistant Professor at Indiana University Kelley School of Business and completed his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arizona in 2018.
- His research focuses on environmental economics, energy economics, and industrial organization. His recent work aims to understand the market impacts of clean energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and energy storage. This includes investigating the determinants of energy technology adoption and drawing implications for public policy.
- Website

Beth Tellman
- Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona, in the School of Geography, Development, and Environment
- Her research addresses the causes and consequences of global environmental change on people, with a focus on access to water, flood risk, and land use change. She engages in multiple disciplines and methods to “socialize the pixel” or understand the social processes behind environmental change captured in satellite image pixels and leverage satellite data to improve human well-being.
- She is a co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Floodbase, a public benefit corporation that leverages remote sensing to build flood monitoring and mapping systems for countries and parametric insurance products. Her global flood mapping work was recently featured on the cover of Nature.
- Website

Zack Guido
- Assistant Research Professor at the Arizona Institutes for Resilience, and School of Natural Resources and Environment.
- Zack leads AIR’s International Resilience Research for Development initiative and is the PI of the International Research and Applications Project (IRAP). Zack’s research interests focus on climate impacts; the socio-environmental determinants of vulnerability and its corollary, resilience; how people adapt to and cope with the environmental stressors; and the role of weather and climate information in decision-making.
- Zack has active research projects in the U.S. Southwest, Caribbean, and Africa.
- Website

Todd Gerarden
- Assistant Professor at Cornell University in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.
- His research interests span energy and environmental economics, public economics, and empirical industrial organization. His recent work focuses on markets for renewable energy and the economics of energy technology innovation.
- He obtained a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University in 2018.
- Website
Donor
