Larry Furman, Mba Shifting the Paradigm to Sustainability

Although Larry Furman is the director of information technology at a law firm in New York, he has long been active in the renewable energy debate outside of his work. He writes articles on energy for Popular Logistics, sends letters to the letter and talks with his representatives at the national and local level. He even writes songs that include topical songs about global climate change, such as “Sunbathing in Siberia” and “350 Parts of Carbon.”

“I want to build utility-scale wind and solar farms, catalyzing the paradigm shift into an economy based on sustainability, not consumption,” said Larry. “This paradigm shift needs to occur, and I can’t think of anything more worthwhile.”

When Larry was looking into further education in the field of business management, he was drawn the MBA in Managing for Sustainability program at Marlboro College Graduate School because of its focus on sustainability and ecological economics.

“People with traditional MBAs and a short term focus are the people who got us into the current economic mess,” said Larry. “I liked the fact that, in the Marlboro program, the focus is on sustainability, and that the program is in Vermont. I also had a few good conversations with Joe Heslin, director of graduate admissions, and Ralph Meima, MBA program director.”

The program provides Larry with an ideal mix of three-day intensives in Vermont with distance learning, and combines the core courses of every MBA with a systems-based understanding of social justice, ecological responsibility and holistic economics.

“I am reading books and articles I would not have found, and therefore thinking about things I would not be thinking about,” said Larry. “It’s great. I hope to get a deeper formal understanding of the problems and solutions, the challenges and opportunities we face.”

Larry hasn’t planned his Capstone Project yet, but he’d like to rollout a 25 to 50-kilowatt solar array on every public school, middle school, high school, community college, church, mosque, synagogue, temple, and other community center in New Jersey, where he lives. That would be a start!