Columbia Business School In the News

"Now the economics of office buildings is much more challenging," said Tomasz Piskorski, a professor of real estate finance at Columbia Business School. "Stock prices of public REITs tell us the value of office buildings is down by about third since 2020."

In this article on the importance of community engagement for the future of clean tech, Donnel Baird '13, CEO and founder of clean technology company BlocPower, called for communities to take an ownership stake in projects.

At the inaugural event for the new "Climate Change and New American Economy Series," Brian Deese, MIT innovation fellow and former director of the National Economic Council at the White House, and principal architect of the Inflation Reduction Act, spoke with Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor at The Economist, on the future of climate and clean energy policy in the wake of the IRA.

US commercial real estate has been hit by the surge in interest rates and a pullback in lending from regional banks. Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of real estate investment firm RXR, and Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, professor of real estate and finance at Columbia Business School, break down the risks in commercial real estate.

"COP28 has the potential to encourage further climate action, including the introduction or strengthening of policies that can lead to emissions-reducing technological breakthroughs, as well as to deliver a much-needed rulebook on important technical issues, such as the use of offsets. Whether it succeeds depends entirely on execution," writes Professor Geoffrey Heal.

According to Columbia economics professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, cities across the country could be heading for an "urban doom loop" that starts with vacant office spaces and spreads through downtowns. Later, Rachel Seigel joins The Post’s Teo Armus in Northern Virginia to experience a place that is creatively using vacant office space to escape the doom loop fate.

Professor Masazumi Wakatabe, CJEB Summer 2023 visiting scholar, former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, and professor of economics at Waseda University, wrote the Financial Times article "Lessons for China from Japan’s lost decade" Professor Wakatabe states in the article, “China’s recent economic slowdown has elicited comparison with Japan in the 1990s and its subsequent long stagnation with deflation. But are there real parallels to be drawn between the two countries?”

Tamer Fund for Social Ventures portfolio member Dollaride is partnering with Revel to create the state’s first electric dollar van network. Dollaride co-founder Su Sanni writes about how this partnership will provide drivers with reliable access to affordable fast charging and New York’s air will be cleaner because of it.

As a global minimum tax attracts growing support around the world, discussion about it continues to unfold in the United States. Our panel, which included Dean Emeritus and Columbia Law School Professor David Schizer, thoroughly examined this multifaceted and controversial issue -- discussing the pros and cons of such a tax and encompassing the perspectives of both legislators and industry leaders. 

We're thrilled to (once again) see Phoebe Boyer '93, president and CEO of Children’s Aid; Alison Overseth '84, CEO of Partnership for After School Education; and Ben Thomases '03, executive director of Queens Community House, included in this list of top 100 leaders of social services providers, legal aid organizations, advocacy organizations, and foundations leading the nonprofit sector in NYC.

Interview with Kalina Oroschakoff & Gerald Hosp for Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Banks are facing mounting uncertainty as the commercial real estate (CRE) sector continues to struggle. But, tailwinds in our financial names should help safeguard their bottom lines.

Tamer Fund for Social Ventures portfolio member Kelvin (formerly Radiator Labs) retrofits buildings’ cooling and heating systems to reduce their environmental impact.

Bridging the American Divides, co-taught by Professors Bruce Usher and Todd Jick, is considered "that class" at Columbia Business School — "the stuff of legend, the one that fills up fast because it is worth the price of admission." The class is "an exercise in dialogue," where students discuss polarizing topics such as globalization, immigration, job loss, race, income, education, and politics. The class culminates with a trip to Rust Belt Ohio, where students meet with business and community leaders working actively to address these issues.

Climate tech company BlocPower, where Donnel Baird '13 is founder and CEO, announced a collaboration with Georgia Power to implement an Energy Empowerment Program, designed to provide clean-energy projects in underserved communities in Georgia.

Become a confident leader and use data, experience, and intuition to drive your decisions Agile decision making is imperative as you lead in a data-driven world. Amid streams of data and countless meetings, we make hasty decisions, slow decisions, and often no decisions.  Uniquely bridging theory and practice, Decisions Over Decimals breaks this pattern by uniting data intelligence with human judgment to get to action — a sharp approach the authors refer to as Quantitative Intuition (QI).  QI raises the power of thinking beyond big data without neglecting it and chasing the perfect decision while appreciating that such a thing can never really exist. Successful decision-makers are fierce interrogators. They square critical thinking with open-mindedness by blending information, intuition, and experience. Balancing these elements is at the heart of Decisions Over Decimals. This book is not only designed to be read - but frequently referenced - as you face innumerable decision moments.  It is the hands-on manual for confident, accurate decision-making you've been looking for; the rare resource that provides a set of pragmatic leadership tools to accelerate: Effectively framing the problem for stakeholders Synthesizing intelligence from incomplete information Delivering decisions that stick Strike the right balance between information and intuition and lead the smarter way with the real-world guidance found in

Climate tech company BlocPower, where Donnel Baird '13 is founder and CEO, was awarded a $1.2 million grant by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) to create and implement a groundbreaking workforce development program in partnership with local nonprofit, Browning the Green Space.

Professor Dan Wang provides thoughts and a preview of what he has planned for his fall 2023 classes with AI integrated into many of the routine elements of course assignments, research, and group work. He suggests that it is the responsibility of educators to expose students to the potential for generative AI tools as an organic feature of their everyday lives. But, he argues, there is room for debate on what this responsibility looks like.

Guava — where Kelly Ifill '17 is founder and CEO — has amassed over 3,000 members since January 2023. The online banking platform is designed to support Black entrepreneurs and small business owners.