Nike’s Director of External Engagement and Senior Director of Environmental Management and Innovation met with 14 Nicholas School students and 4 Fuqua School of Business students in Environment Hall on March 23rd to answer questions about how Nike approaches sustainability and discuss their plans to reach 2020 sustainability targets.
The visit came in the wake of the Nicholas School’s Net Impact student group Career Trek to Seattle and Portland in late 2017 when students met with sustainability officials from major corporations including Nike and Amazon. The networking and professional development group made a strong impression on the athletic wear manufacturing company’s Director of External Engagement, Alex Lebow, when they visited the company’s headquarters in Portland. Lebow later reached out to the Nicholas School about setting up a meeting with the students when he realized he and Nike’s Senior Director of Environmental Management and Innovation, Scott Vitters, would be in Durham for a conference.
Jeff Meltzer MEM’19, who hosted the meeting on behalf of the Net Impact group, was thrilled by the experience to meet with the Nike representatives. “It was extremely valuable to hear from representatives from one of the most well-known companies in the world, which also has one of the most well-developed sustainability programs,” the first year MEM student said. “By interacting with a company like Nike, students in the Net Impact Club were able to learn from and pick the brains of the very best environmental professionals out there, which helps us redirect our studies and activities so that we can become attractive candidates for these types of jobs.”