Hill Heat

Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard University

With additional comments by:

• Phil Sharp, President, Resources for the Future
• Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University
• Chad Holliday, former CEO, DuPont

Twenty years ago, Michael Porter, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on management and competitiveness, posited what has since become known as the Porter Hypothesis – the notion that well-designed environmental regulation can spur innovation and improve competitiveness. As current policy debates focus on regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act and concerns about global competitiveness of U.S. industry, Porter’s insights have never been more germane. With these issues in mind, Michael Porter will deliver the annual Hans Landsberg Memorial Lecture at Resources for the Future on January 19, 2011.

Michael Porter is a leading authority on competitive strategy; the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions; and the application of competitive principles to social problems such as health care, the environment, and corporate responsibility. Porter is generally recognized as the father of the modern strategy field, and has been identified in a variety of rankings and surveys as the world’s most influential thinker on management and competitiveness. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School. A University professorship is the highest professional recognition that can be awarded to a Harvard faculty member. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, dedicated to furthering Professor Porter’s work. He is the author of 18 books and over 125 articles.

To RSVP for this event, please send an email with your contact details to events@rff.org.

RFF First Floor Conference Center
Resources for the Future
1616 P Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

From the Wonk Room.

Even as the appointment of Dr. John Holdren as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is held up by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), new hires at the OSTP have been made. The Wonk Room has learned that two veterans of the Clinton White House have taken top positions at the office, which “serves as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment” for the President.

Thomas Kalil, who was responsible for technology policy at the National Economic Council in the Clinton White House, is the new OSTP associate director for policy. Before joining the Obama White House, Kalil ran the Big Ideas @ Berkeley program at UC Berkeley. Kalil was also a member of California’s Blue Ribbon Nanotechnology Task Force, the scientific advisory board of Nanomix, and Q Network Inc. He has served on several committees of the National Academy of Sciences, including the Committee to Facilitate Interdisciplinary Research. As a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Kalil developed a “National Innovation Agenda” and was on the advisory board of Science Progress.
Jim Kohlenberger, who was Vice President Al Gore’s senior policy adviser, is the new OSTP chief of staff. As one of Gore’s chief technology policy advisers, Kohlenberger “worked to help pass the Telecommunications Act of 1996, help shape the administration’s hands-off approach to the Internet and e-commerce, and help spearhead administration efforts to bridge the digital divide and connect every classroom to the Internet.” Before joining the OSTP, Kohlenberger was the executive director of the Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition, and a senior fellow at the Benton Foundation, where he supported universal broadband service. From 2006 until March of 2008, Kohlenberger lobbied Congress on behalf of the VON Coalition.