Katie Mencke

In 2004, while still a graduate student, Katie was awarded one of 30 positions in Akzo Nobel’s one-week International Business Course that took place in Arnhem, the Netherlands.  This opened the door for the beginning of her career as a process engineer.  She traveled the continental US and Canada assisting in the sales of paper additives that decreased the energy requirements for making paper and improved the quality of recycled paper fibers. 

While honeymooning in 2007, she was contacted about an opportunity at Pöyry Management Consulting, a Finnish consulting firm that specializes in the Forest Products Industry.  She traded in her steel-toe boots for a suit and spent the next 6½ years helping paper companies improve their operation strategies.  Her talent for complex data analysis was useful in benchmarking the performance of paper mills and was the foundation for developing operational and financial modeling for comparative decision-making. 

Wishing to formalize and complete the business education she received on the job as a management consultant, Katie enrolled in Bard College’s MBA in Sustainability in 2013.  After completing her first year, she was awarded a fellowship for her work in the NYCLab course, in which she and her team members had advised an international bank on strategies regarding sustainability-related client engagement.  Upon completing her MBA, Katie wants to refocus her career on sustainability and sustainable manufacturing in the paper and other industries.

Katie is excited to be part of G&A team as a Global Reporting Initiative Analyst Intern.  This is the first of what she hopes will be many collaborations with sustainability-focused institutions.