Sustainability Mentors

Navneet Banka, Associate Director of Finance at Zeta Charter Schools

Education: Cornell MBA ’22, St. Xavier’s Calcutta BComm ’15, Accounting & Finance

Topics of Expertise: Education, Consulting, Banking, Corporate Strategy. Financial Strategy & Operations, Equity Research, Gender/Racial Equity, Resume, Interview Prep

Navneet is an Associate Director of Financial Strategy & Operations at Zeta Charter Schools, a leading K–12 charter network in New York City serving over 4,000+ students. He focuses on strategic planning, financial sustainability, and building scalable financial systems and processes. Previously, he has worked in transformation and M&A at McKinsey, banking at JP Morgan, and corporate finance in the energy sector. A 2022 MBA graduate from Cornell Johnson, he served as an Admissions Ambassador, SGE & EFII fellow, TA for the Capital Investments course, and coach to Dyson students through the Grand Challenges Coaching program. As a first-generation immigrant, Navneet is passionate about the intersection of finance, organizational strategy, and educational equity, and enjoys supporting students in exploring career paths and recruitment opportunities. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and swimming.

Austin helps lead sustainability and innovation at The Wonderful Company, a diverse company specializing in agricultural products and consumer packaged goods. He leads the agricultural byproduct innovation practice upcycling agricultural waste into value-added products like fiber fit for human consumption. Austin also creates and executes the strategic sustainability approach for Wonderful to reduce carbon emissions and natural resource consumption. He graduated from Cornell Johnson with an MBA in Sustainable Global Enterprise.

Austin Blais, Sr. Manager, Sustainability Strategy at The Wonderful Company

Education: Cornell MBA ’20, Univ. of Virginia BA ’10 Environmental Economics

Topics of Expertise: Consumer Packaged Goods, Agriculture, Food & Beverage Production, Transportation, Waste Management, Corporate Sustainability, Strategy, Data Management, Innovation, Change Management, Continuous Improvement, Waste Upcycling, Sustainable Packaging, Corporate Sustainability Strategy, Carbon Emissions (Measurement & Management), Organizational Change, Traditional Roles in Sustainable Organizations

Zara de Belder, UK Transactions & Sustainable Finance Lead, Associate Director at Anthesis Group

Education: MBA ’23 from Alliance MBS (international exchange program at Cornell), Bayes Business School MSc ’20 Social Investment, Univ. of Nottingham BA in American & English Studies

Topics of Expertise: Sustainability Consulting, Private Equity, Transaction/M&A, Leadership/Management, Client Director, Sustainable Finance, Sustainable Strategy Development & Implementation, Voluntary Reporting, Governance (Policies & Processes), C-Suite Engagement, Women in Sustainability

Zara de Belder heads up the UK ESG Transactions & Sustainable Finance team at Anthesis Group. In this role, Zara leads a team of consultants who provide advisory services to Anthesis’ financial services client base, including private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Zara works with her clients to help them mitigate sustainability risks and capitalise value creation opportunities, within the context of a changing regulatory landscape. Before joining Anthesis Group, Zara established the sustainability practice at a boutique consultancy in London. Working with corporate clients and investment managers, Zara advised Boards and senior management on their sustainability strategy development, external reporting and investor relations. Zara regularly speaks at ESG conferences and has featured in numerous media publications including Forbes, Responsible Investor, ICAEW and London’s business paper, City A.M. She is also a guest lecturer on ESG and sustainable finance for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom. Zara holds a master’s degree in Social Investment from Bayes Business School, University of London and an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester. During her MBA, Zara attended Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management as part of an international exchange programme.

Brennan is passionate about the intersection between ag biotech and sustainability. With 15 years across the value chain in Ag, Brennan joined Ginkgo in 2022. He manages the business development and marketing functions for the Agriculture business unit. He previously held roles at Cargill and Land O’Lakes/WinField. At Cargill, he in-licensed transformational technologies to produce biobased intermediate chemicals, while at Land O’Lakes he managed and developed businesses in ag inputs/animal nutrition/seed genetics. He did his MBA at Cornell (where he started a company on enzymatic approaches to controlling ag pests) and lived in Latin America for several years before working with environmental consulting. He resides in Chicago and has a BA from Ohio State University.

Brennan Duty, Sr. Director Business Development at Ginkgo Bioworks

Education: Cornell MBA ’15, Ohio State Univ. BA ’09 International Studies

Topics of Expertise: Agriculture, Biotechnology, Marketing, Product Management, Business Development, Licensing, Greenhouse Gas Management, Consumer Marketing of Green Products, Career Advising

Nikunj is a Principal at Kaiser Associates, a global strategy consulting firm, where he leads the Operations Practice. He advises private equity funds, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and non-profits on growth and operational strategies to enhance performance and achieve long-term goals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Illinois, as well as master’s and MBA degrees from Cornell University. Before transitioning into consulting, Nikunj worked as an engineer in the nuclear, oil & gas, and mining industries, where he supported nuclear power plant permitting, developed new products, and managed large-scale industrial construction projects. Building on his experience as an Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellow, he has also guided clients in renewable energy, environmental services, and sustainability, helping organizations pursue innovation and impact alongside performance improvement.

Nikunji Raithatha, Principal at Kaiser Associates

Education: Cornell MBA ’20 and MEng ’12, Univ. of Illinois BS ’11

Topics of Expertise: Private Equity, Venture Capital, Impact Consulting, Engineering, Management Consulting, Energy Industry, Emission Measurement, Sustainable Operations, Career Advising

Raghu Reddy, Chief of Staff at GCI

Education: Cornell MBA ’23, IIT KGP BS ’14 Ocean Engineering & Naval Architecture

Topics of Expertise: Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, Finance, Investment, Strategy & Operations, Battery Energy Storage Systems, Renewable Energy, Carbon Capture, Sustainable Buildings, Resume Review, Interview Prep, Industry Overviews, Working in Large Organizations vs. Start-Ups

Raghu Reddy is a Class of 2023 MBA graduate from Cornell’s Johnson School, where he focused on corporate finance and was an Environmental Finance and Impact Investing Fellow. He is currently Chief of Staff at GCI, a battery energy storage development startup, where he works across finance, strategy, and project development to advance the clean energy transition. Prior to his MBA, Raghu earned his Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kharagpur and worked as a Naval Architect at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan, specializing in commercial ships and cleantech solutions for the marine sector. As a mentor, Raghu looks forward to supporting students interested in renewable energy and startups.