When we think of solar power, we think of panels tilted toward the sun across dozens of uninhabited desert acres in utility scale solar plants, or your eco-friendly neighbor’s new residential ‘green’ roof solar panels. Eleven years ago, Lars Norell (Law ’98) observed an emerging market in Europe that seemed to target something in the middle: efficient power generation at scale on top of large commercial or municipal buildings combined with local use of the electricity produced. Today, his company Altus Power funds and operates solar arrays on the rooftops of large commercial and industrial buildings — everything from high schools to factories to your local department store.
“That department store purchases the electricity from Altus at a discount to what they pay their traditional utility company, and sometimes during peak hours, can even add electricity to the grid,” says Lars.
Of course, installation can be expensive, and creating the organizational capital to drive growth can be a challenge. To meet the demand and help grow business, Lars has formed partnerships with groups such as Blackstone, providing both customers and investors exceptional value.
Lars says, “We have worked hard together with Blackstone to create the first ever investment grade rated and scalable credit facility for large rooftop solar arrays.” This has led to increased customer savings and higher levels of growth for our portfolio.
Since its founding in 2009, Altus has developed or acquired more than 200 distributed generation solar facilities from Vermont to Hawaii totaling more than 265 megawatts. But what does the solar industry’s future look like?
“It’s bright,” says Lars. “Two percent of the nation’s energy produced last year came from solar. Each state’s renewable energy standards are increasing with goals of 30% or more in the next few decades.”
“The required change and the effort required to close that gap is awe-inspiring.”
Lars believes that to meet the metrics of each state, every flat commercial roof that can hold a solar system, should. He also believes UVA can play a big role in the renewable energy space and its link with entrepreneurship. “Altus was started as a value-creating endeavor, both for stakeholders and investors. If you can start entities that create and deliver value in this space, it’s both fun and inspiring.”
“We should be able to take entrepreneurial steps within the Trust to build a renewable energy ecosystem at UVA with a focus on delivering value.”
It’s an ambitious, visionary goal, but we’ve seen time after time that when a challenge is made to the University community, we find a way to rise to it.
The Board of Trustees of the Jefferson Trust is excited to announce our 2020-21 annual grant awards, totaling $984,854 to fifteen programs that will enhance the University of Virginia community, as well as a significant portion of the larger community. This is the largest dollar amount the Trust has granted in a single year.
This year, the Jefferson Trust received 57 grant proposals requesting a combined $4,063,323.50 by the October 1, 2020 deadline. Proposals came from 8 schools, 16 student organizations, and various other University areas, centers, and institutes. Community-facing grants include the UVA Brain Camp for local middle school students; DevHub@Wise, a training program for UVA Wise students; a leadership pipeline program connecting high school students to the Batten School; and a Community Engaged Teaching program led by the Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
The 2020-21 Grants:
UVA Brain Camp – A Neuroscience Summer Program for Kids: $49,326
UVA Brain Camp will inspire young scientific minds, provide in-depth and hands-on education in Neuroscience, and enrich young students’ local scientific network through one-on-one mentorships. This program will be free and accessible to middle school students who are nominated by their teachers and who identify as members of underrepresented communities or who are financially disadvantaged.
Workforce Development in Data Science for Autistic Young Adults: $99,200
A multidisciplinary team of faculty from UVA’s School of Data Science Brain Institute (within the School of Medicine) and STAR Initiative (in the School of Education) is creating a workforce-development program that will prepare a new generation of adults on the autism spectrum to be data scientists. The program will strengthen systems, transform lives, improve science, and change misperceptions about people whi have different disabilities.
DevHub@Wise: $49,720
DevHub@Wise will train and educate students of UVA at Wiseto be technologically literate, and engage with the surrounding Appalachian community to take on real-world technology projects. DevHub@Wise builds on the highly successful DevHub model at UVA.
“Knowing Better To Do Better” Preparing and Sustaining Equitable and Anti-Racist Educators: $49,478
As the population of students in Pre-K – 12th grade becomes more diverse, it is vital to prepare teachers to teach through an anti-racist lens and to build equitable classrooms. This one-year pilot program will provide professional development for preservice teachers and their mentors and coaches.
Democracy at UVA Internship: $75,000
The UVA Democracy Internship will create a collaborative internship program across units at UVA that focuses on the study of democracy and governance. The program will promote greater inclusivity in the realm of public service by offering mentorship and research experiences to people in underserved populations.
Pediatric Mental Health in the COVID-19 Era: Helping Patients via Group Telepsychology: $46,649
Approximately 1 in 5 children and teens in the U.S. have been diagnosed with a mental illness, and many go without evidence-based psychotherapy services. This unmet need has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 health crisis. UVA Children’s [Hospital] will launch a telehealth program for group therapy for children, adolescents and their caregivers.
Climate Restoration Initiative: $110,000
The Environmental Resilience Institute will launch an initiative to develop strategies for reversing climate change. The Climate Restoration Initiative will bring together an interdisciplinary team of UVA scholars and students to understand how to restore the climate by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with an initial focus on Virginia. This initiative will be the first of its kind to combine the disciplinary and policy perspectives needed to understand the feasible scope of negative emissions strategies, and as such, will distinguish UVA on the global stage.
Distinguished Major Project Musical Through Virginia Players: $2,500
The Virginia Players Lab Series will produce an original full-length musical in the fall of 2021. Tentatively titled “Peace by Piece,” the show focuses on mental health within the queer community and interracial relationships. The main intention is to show those with family members and/or friends in the LGBTQ+ community what a queer person might be going through.
Leadership Skills for a Diverse and Divided World: Developing Leaders who Facilitate Change: $64,900
This grant will fund an ambitious eight-day leadership and policy pipeline program for 40 rising high school juniors will take place in summer 2021. Designed and taught by Batten School faculty and facilitated by students, the program advances the dual goals of training and empowering current UVA students while also building a pipeline for a future generation.
Building a Sustained Commitment to Community-Engaged Teaching: $130,000
The Office for Academic Outreachand the Center for Teaching Excellencewill create the infrastructure to support the expansion of community-engaged courses for undergraduates within and beyond the College. This initiative will launch a website with UVA-tailored resources to support new community-engaged courses, a two-day faculty institute and monthly learning community, one-on-one pedagogical assistance for faculty in developing courses, and course-development grants.
Biomaterial Building Exposition: $72,202
Mockup design for the Biomaterial Building Exposition
Hosted by the School of Architecture and engaging students and scholars from across the University and beyond, this year-long effort will culminate in an exhibition of built exterior temporary pavilions which demonstrate novel approaches to construction using rapidly renewable biomaterials. Pavilions will take shape literally and metaphorically at the intersections of disciplinary expertise, created by multi-disciplinary student-led teams working directly with external expert mentors and displayed across Grounds.
Affordability and Equity: Open Educational Resources: $77,400
The use of open educational resources to provide affordable and equitable access to an excellent education has been hampered by two factors: insufficient content appropriate for UVA courses and lack of support for faculty authors. The proposed program will address both issues by offering grants to support faculty in the creation of new resources or the adaptation of existing open educational resources, in collaboration with instructional designers, librarians and student interns.
Skyscraper Gothic: $20,000
Student design concept for the exhibition Skyscraper Gothic
This exhibition will explore how skyscrapers (such as the Woolworth, Radiator, and Empire State buildings), now rejected as examples of architectural modernity, were originally embraced as emblems of modern American life. The project is a significant collaboration between The Fralin and the Architectural History department, directly enabling the realization of student research and design work undertaken in two classes in the 2019-2020 academic year.
UVA Edge: $100,000
UVA Edge is a one-year undergraduate experience for working adults that is a new offering in higher education. It will launch a pilot cohort with UVA staff and community members.
The Robertson Media Center Women’s Maker Program: $44,980
The goal of the Robertson Media Center-based Women’s Maker Program is to help promote greater confidence in female undergraduate students, improve their sense of belonging inSTEM fields, and better prepare them for careers in the STEM workforce.
The Trustees of the Jefferson Trust are excited to announce that Brent Percival has accepted the position as Executive Director of the Jefferson Trust. He assumed the role on January 1, 2021, following the retirement of Wayne Cozart.
Brent came to the Trust a little over two years ago from the UVA Health System Development Office to serve as Director of Development. In that time, he has recruited or renewed 18 trustees and raised over $3.5 million. He has also helped navigate the Trust’s rebranding and promotions efforts, as well as managed the budgeting and finance operation over the past year. Before joining UVA, Brent worked in development for Auburn University and in advertising with Media General. He brings a background in gift planning and a passion for the Trust!
“I’m thrilled to be the Trust’s executive director. Wayne built an incredible organization with a history of impactful grants, dedicated Trustees and an excellent staff. I’m excited to pick up the torch and lead the organization forward,” Brent shares.
The January Flash Funding cycle has closed, and we received 16 proposals requesting a total of $155,540 in funding!
If you missed January, our February application cycle is open! Flash Funds are focused on shorter-term or immediate use projects, with awards capped at $10,000 per project. All proposals submitted in February will have a decision by March 15. Please visit our Apply Page to learn more and view an Information Session video, or contact our Grants Administrator, Amy at als9n@virginia.edu, to discuss your project.
UVA graduate student Cassie Davies received a flash grant from the Trust in February 2020 to create a short film documenting Aboriginal art on Grounds. The film explores two exhibitions of Aboriginal art, “The Inside World: Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Memorial Poles” at The Fralin Museum of Art and “Munguyhmunguyh: Forever” in the University of Virginia Rotunda. Viewers learn how UVA students were impacted by these exhibitions and follow artists Gabriel Maralngurra and Joe Guymala of Injalak Arts as they visited UVA to share their art and culture.
“It was amazing to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Kluge-Ruhe’s and the Fralin’s preparations for these two exhibitions,” shares Cassie. “I felt especially lucky to have the opportunity to interview Gabriel Maralngurra and Joe Guymala, and to document some of their time here in Charlottesville — it was so nice to think of them watching my documentary back home in Australia. I’m also glad that this video will allow people to see the exhibitions despite the pandemic, because so much hard work and creativity went into them. Many thanks to the Jefferson Trust for making this project possible!”
The media business has changed dramatically in the past few years. New brands are gaining customers, there have been countless mergers and acquisitions, and now many traditional media companies have a “+” at the end of their name, delivering even more content on-demand. It’s a substantial change in the way we consume media, how we access content, and how our thoughts and habits are shaped.
In this new world, there is tremendous opportunity for UVA students and alumni to impact the future. Many Trustees are at the forefront of this change. What does this look like from their perspective, what does the future hold, what does it mean for students entering the industry, and how can the Trust’s entrepreneurial spirit play a role?
“I was the only lawyer [at Netflix] in 2002. Now we’re over 700 and growing,” says David Hyman (Col ’88, Law ’93) who serves as the streaming giant’s General Counsel. “The work has changed in innumerable ways. When I started we were a domestic-only distributor of physical DVDs; now we’re a global media company, producing content across all verticals of TV and film.”
“Netflix was the beginning, and in the last two years, we’ve seen an explosion of services looking to compete,” says Paul Pastor (Col ’97). Paul is the Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder at Firstlight Media and Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of the brand-new streaming service, Struum. He has held positions at the Discovery Channel, Disney, Technicolor and Universal Music Group to name a few.
“Streaming is transforming the way people consume content; however, it presents new challenges for consumers: most importantly, how should they navigate an a-la-carte content world. With now hundreds of services available in the U.S. alone, consumers struggle to figure out what to watch and where to watch it, and then need to balance this against what they can afford and the hassle factor of managing multiple subscriptions.” Paul is quick to note that data is playing an increasing role in almost every facet of the industry: data is leveraged to market in order to manage the consumer life cycle and to provide watch recommendations to consumers, and that’s just scratching the surface. Paul says, “I’m pleased to see UVA’s investment in data science. There are tremendous opportunities for UVA graduates to shape the consumer experience and the industry as a whole.”
Brian Stengel (Col ’89) is the founder and CEO of Trebuchet Partners, a merchant bank that advises and invests in disruptive growth companies and also led the fundraising efforts for Struum; he appreciates the recent industry evolution.
“Historically, media companies wielded control regarding what we watched and when we watched it. It’s amusing to think we once tuned in weekly for specific shows and that the networks would let us know when. Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) is the new normal and content is now available On Demand, how, when and where we want to watch it. It’s a seismic shift of power: the consumer now has choice, flexibility and control where once the broadcaster or programmer ruled.”
This shift has implications for many other things, including philanthropy, and Brian sees similarities with the Trust’s unique donor-led model. “Private Venture Capital will support innovative ideas in the same way the Jefferson Trust supports great unfunded project. Many institutions align donors with certain priorities,” he says. “The Trust is an unrestricted endowment, and the donors use this same choice, flexibility and control to determine how much to give and how the funds are allocated.”
Whether advancing UVA through philanthropy or finding new ways to watch the ’Hoos, change is evident.
Anthony DiClemente (Com ’98) serves as the Executive Vice President of Investor Relations with ViacomCBS, and he rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq when Viacom and CBS recombined in December 2019. Having spent most of his career as an internet and media equity research analyst, Anthony has held positions at Evercore, Nomura and Barclays.
“As one of the industry’s largest creators of film and TV content, we fundamentally believe that producing compelling content is of paramount importance in today’s fragmented media landscape,” Anthony says. “Streaming allows content creators the opportunity to access an enormous and growing global market by way of distribution on multiple platforms, not just linear TV. More importantly, streaming technology has enabled content companies to increasingly forge a direct relationship with their fans and subscribers by way of their owned streaming platforms.”
Anthony is excited for the launch of ViacomCBS streaming service Paramount+ in March, and he hopes to find himself streaming the Hoos on the service for March Madness on CBS.
A newcomer to the business who has seen it shape as he’s learning is George Brown (Col ’19). George serves as Senior Partnership Coordinator at Teton Gravity Research, which produces action sports films and content, including everything from extreme skiing expeditions to death-defying mountain biking adventures. The company also serves as a platform for outdoor enthusiasts to share and curate content.
“For the media business, this pandemic has taught us that content is king,” he says.
“The media companies that are able to consistently create engaging content, while providing their viewers with easy and accessible options for streaming that content, will succeed in this COVID world and beyond.”
Our grant application for the January flash funding cycle is now open! To learn more about what the Trust funds, plan to participate in our Virtual Information Session on January 7th. Visit our Apply Page to learn more or contact our Grants Administrator, Amy, with questions.
For over 40 years, alumni have entered Alumni Hall and seen a smiling, familiar face. Since the 1980s, students have seen him walking across the Lawn and welcoming them into one of the three Pavilions he has called home. Wayne Cozart is a fixture of the UVA and alumni communities, always sporting an orange and blue tie. Alongside his wife, Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Lampkin, Wayne’s introductions to undergraduate students have transformed into decades-long relationships.
For him, the student experience and alumni experience are part of one seamless relationship and reflect his appreciation for the unique character of UVA men and women. He fell in love with the concept of student self-governance in his early days at the University. When he moved to Alumni Hall, it was only fitting he extended this concept into “alumni self-governance.” Wayne’s belief in the individual and their abilities, combined with his belief in what is possible for UVA, made him the ideal person to lead the Jefferson Trust for the past eleven years.
At the end of 2020, Wayne will retire from the Trust, leaving a legacy of impact and advancement.
One of the Trust’s original trustees, Sharon Owlett, who rejoined the board after her original term ended, has seen the organization transform under Wayne’s leadership. She remarked, “All of us know what a memorable working relationship looks and feels like: your visions sync, you build on each other’s strategies, you solve each other’s problems, you even share the same sense of humor. What you create is always something in which to take pride in. Those of us lucky enough to work with Wayne throughout his tenure on the Trust have had the gift of that kind of relationship with him. The Trust as it stands today is a testament to his ability to bond with a disparate, diverse group of people to weave us all together to build something great.”
Building synergy and community is what has helped make the trustee experience so unique. These elements are a core part of Wayne’s leadership style and have had a direct impact on the fund’s successes.
Reflecting on his tenure, Wayne notes, “During my time leading the Jefferson Trust, it has transitioned from a brilliant idea by the Alumni Association into a flourishing endowment with assets of $36 million. Thanks to the commitment and philanthropy of the Trustees, the Trust has been able to have a major impact on the lives of students and faculty.”
Both the Trust’s endowment and annual grant amount have more than doubled during Wayne’s tenure. His stewardship, mentorship and friendship have positioned the organization toward continued success.
When asked to reflect on his time at the helm, Wayne instead opines on what’s possible for the organization moving forward: the grants, gifts and global impact he knows will shape the University. He says, “In the future, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Trust will take the University of Virginia to new heights further enhancing the Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a great university.”
It is a process, culture and vision we can all rally behind, and a challenge we humbly accept.
Thank you, UVA students, faculty and staff: the Jefferson Trust received 57 proposals this year, seeking a total of $4 million in our annual grants cycle for the first time in the history of the Trust! Submissions span a wide range of topics, including diversity and inclusion efforts, outreach to our local community, and improving teaching and learning for UVA students in the midst of COVID, as well as several creative student endeavors. Our Trustees are now reading and reviewing the ideas that will enhance and expand the University. The Trust will make awards totaling $1 million this year — which means tough decisions ahead for our Trustees!
If you missed the annual cycle deadline, Flash Funding applications will open in January 2021. Flash funding awards grants of $10,000 or less for more immediate use. All proposals submitted in a month will have a decision made on the 15th of the following month. Funding is available monthly until funds are depleted. See our Apply page and Facebook for more information when the application opens.
As always, we are available to answer any questions or meet to discuss your potential project. Contact our Grants Administrator, Amy Bonner, at als9n@virginia.edu.
