Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — The Hoover Institution is proud to announce the first cohort of six professionals for its highly selective Enviropreneur Fellowship Program.
This pioneering fellowship, falling within Hoover’s Markets vs. Mandates Research Program, invites innovative conservation professionals to apply market-based solutions to pressing environmental issues, combining intellectual rigor and entrepreneurial spirit to foster meaningful change.
The fellowship is a nonresidential, project-based program tailored for midcareer professionals who have a minimum of five years of hands-on experience in conservation. Throughout the fellowship, participants will engage with Hoover Institution scholars and Stanford faculty to enhance their projects and drive innovative, market-driven solutions for environmental challenges.
“These fellows embody the fusion of entrepreneurial zeal and a deep commitment to market-based, conservationist principles,” said Senior Fellow Terry L. Anderson, who directs Markets vs. Mandates alongside Senior Fellow Dominic Parker. “We are excited to witness how their projects will evolve over the next year and how their work will set new benchmarks for environmental innovation.”
The fellowship spans from March to October 2025, allowing participants to integrate the fellowship experience with their ongoing professional commitments. It will encompass three in-person modules hosted at the Hoover Institution on Stanford University’s campus. The first module will occur in mid-May, during Hoover’s annual Markets vs. Mandates conference.
The second module of the program will occur between July 30 and August 1 and will involve workshops with Hoover and Stanford scholars. For the final module of the program, all six professionals will present a final project on a pressing environmental matter.
Virtual sessions will ensure ongoing engagement, providing continuous support as fellows develop their strategies.
Overall, the Hoover Enviropreneur Fellowship aims to integrate entrepreneurial insight and market mechanisms into conservation efforts, cultivating projects that outpace traditional government interventions in both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Ultimately, the fellowship strives to convert innovative ideas into measurable environmental improvements, driving home the potential of economically sustainable solutions.
Meet Hoover’s first cohort of Enviropreneur Fellows:
Shawn Andrews has twenty-five years of finance and private credit experience. He is the CEO and founder of BridgePeak Energy Capital, a renewable energy credit manager with more than $3.5 billion in loans closed since 2020. Prior to joining BridgePeak, Andrews was the founder and CEO of Windsor Advantage, a commercial loan servicing company with a focus on Small Business Administration and US Department of Agriculture loans.
Connor P. Coleman founded Colorado-based Resiliency Lands LLC in 2016 to serve landowners across the nation as a progressive, conservation-minded land management advisory group committed to promoting resource resiliency. Prior to taking his current role, he spent fifteen years working for multiple land management and conservation entities, including the Nature Conservancy, the US Department of Defense, Ranchlands, and multiple local land trusts, where collectively he was responsible for the administration of more than four hundred conservation easements.
Colter DeVries is a fifth-generation rancher from Roberts, Montana, and the Founder of Ranch Investor Advisory and Brokerage. As an accredited farm manager (ASFMRA), accredited agricultural consultant (AAC), and accredited land consultant (RLI), he blends financial expertise with deep agricultural knowledge to assist investors and ranchers in navigating the complexities of land ownership.
Michael Iberkleid Szainrok is the cofounder and president of RESILIFT, a climate adaptation company focused on residential flood mitigation. RESILIFT offers end-to-end solutions for homeowners and property managers, including tailored financing, flood mitigation construction, and integrated software and hardware technologies that optimize the process for all stakeholders.
Dr Manuel Piñuela is a nature advocate; technology, health, and science entrepreneur; and recipient of multiple awards and recognitions, including being named to the MIT Technology Review “Innovator under 35” list. He is a cofounder of Cultivo, Drayson Tech, and SensL. Experienced in nature restoration and investments, private equity, venture investment, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions.
Jamie Workman is a dynamic storyteller and entrepreneur whose experience with hunter-gatherers on land and at sea has sparked new thinking about how we replenish freshwater, marine fisheries, mature forests, and biodiversity. Workman founded AquaShares Inc., which pioneered online water savings credit trading in California and Morocco. He is the author of Sea Change: A Success Story of Oceanic Proportions and Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought, award-winning books on rights-based, incentives-driven conservation.
More information about the Enviropreneur Fellowship Program can be found here.
For coverage opportunities, contact Jeffrey Marschner, 202-760-3187, jmarsch@stanford.edu.
