2025 Career Trek
Thursday, February 27th
The global career trek enables all competing students to connect and learn from a select group of international sustainable investing organizations that represent the diversity of career opportunities in the field.
Many challenge participants will pursue careers in sustainable finance, and some may even launch their idea. The career trek is a way to learn from and meet people who have walked the same path.
The career trek focuses on:
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Frameworks for understanding the landscape of firms and careers in sustainable finance
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Illuminating career pathways
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Highlighting key skills that differentiate job seekers
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Creating opportunities for personal connections between student participants and presenting companies
The trek agenda features:
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One-hour panel focused on discussion of skills and pathways in sustainable finance careers
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Two 30-minute networking discussions led by early career sustainable finance professionals
Only students who submit prospectuses to the 2025 Challenge will be eligible to participate.
Ashley Edwards
Ashley is an Executive Director within the Global Sustainability Office at Morgan Stanley and leads the implementation of sustainability-related strategic and regulatory initiatives across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Ashley has been at Morgan Stanley for 9 years, previously working with the EMEA Chief Operating Officer to deliver large-scale change regulatory-driven and strategic programmes, including Brexit. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Ashley was a consultant at Deloitte helping clients across the banking and capital markets industry to meet and implement new regulatory requirements. Ashley has completed a Masters from Cambridge University in Sustainability Leadership (graduating in 2025), holds an MA from Oxford University in Economics and Management, and has passed all three levels of CFA designation.
Adam Wolfensohn
Adam Wolfensohn is Co-Managing Partner of Encourage Capital, an asset management company formed by the recent merger of Wolfensohn Fund Management and EKO Asset Management. A unique partnership of disciplined investors and creative problem-solvers, the new firm is already working with major asset owners to deploy investment capital to solve problems like global ecosystem decline, climate change, and bringing financial services to the world’s poor. Previously, Adam was managing director at Wolfensohn Fund Management and also managed the Wolfensohn family office cleantech and environmental markets strategies. From 2003 to 2006, he produced the climate change documentary Everything’s Cool that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. From 2002 to 2003, he worked with Conservation International to create a market for carbon credits from avoided deforestation projects. Prior to 2002, Adam composed music for numerous films, television commercials, and theater productions, as founder and CEO of “Red Ramona,” an award winning music and sound design studio in New York City. He is a trustee of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Yad Hanadiv, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and Bang on a Can. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Adam earned a B.A. from Princeton University and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Carlos Pena
Carlos Peña is a Director of Investment at ImpactAssets Capital Partners, where he manages the sourcing, due diligence, and selection of investment opportunities across impact themes and asset classes, with a focus on racial equity.
Carlos started his career at Deloitte’s Financial Advisory Service group, where he performed valuations of public and private businesses, complex securities, and intangible assets for financial reporting, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic planning purposes. After Deloitte he transitioned to Accion Chicago, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), where he worked with entrepreneurs and small business owners seeking microfinance solutions to start and grow their businesses. Carlos eventually left Accion to pursue an MBA from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he focused on the intersection of early-stage ventures and philanthropy. Following his MBA Carlos joined the Beacon Fund, an impact-focused private family office, where he led diligence processes for opportunities across the capital continuum – including but not limited to venture capital, private debt, program-related investments (PRIs), and grants. He is originally from Ecuador but came to the U.S. to study finance and economics at the University of Notre Dame.
