{"660810":{"#nid":"660810","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Letter from the BBISS Interim Director, Beril Toktay","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EI am excited to step into the interim executive director position at the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, with sincere gratitude to John for his pioneering leadership, to the Brook Byers Professors and Faculty Fellows for their high-profile contributions to sustainability research and education, and to Mr. Byers for his generous support of BBISS over the years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI am also delighted to have the opportunity to work with a very committed team in Mike, Susan, Gay, and Brent, whose combined tenure with BBISS adds up to more than 40 years, not to mention Mike and Brent\u2019s early involvement with defining Georgia Tech\u2019s role in sustainability going back to the late 90s! I invite you all to engage with us over the next year: a small step is to sign up for the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eepurl.com\/hqYnJL\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBBISS newsletter\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome colleagues will remember that I had an office at ISTD, BBISS\u2019 precursor, when I was on sabbatical at Georgia Tech from INSEAD about 20 years ago. I was introduced to the campus sustainability community by former executive directors and mentors Carol Carmichael and Bert Bras. When I moved to the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business in 2005, I was excited to become part of this sustainability community, with whom I have since had many productive and enjoyable collaborations leading to the creation of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, Serve-Learn-Sustain, the Carbon Reduction Challenge, and more. Rejoining BBISS on its leadership team is bringing things full circle for me and feels a bit like a homecoming.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOver the last year, I have had the privilege of working as co-chair of \u003Cem\u003ESustainability Next\u003C\/em\u003E, the Georgia Tech Strategic Plan 2020-2030 Implementation Task Force tasked with developing an Institute-wide implementation plan for sustainability cutting across all core missions of Georgia Tech and encompassing both environmental and social sustainability issues defined by UN Sustainable Development Goals. Many of you contributed through the task force, surveys, townhalls, and individual conversations, for which I am grateful. Through this work, I have come to appreciate not only the depth of the sustainability expertise at Georgia Tech but also the unique point at which we find ourselves in terms of the opportunity to have transformative impact in our city, region, nation, and globe.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssets that collectively provide that opportunity include: the cutting-edge Georgia Tech sustainability research community spanning all six colleges and GTRI; successful sister IRIs, centers, and initiatives; a commitment to campus sustainability exemplified in flagship projects like the Kendeda Building; \u0026nbsp;a student base that is eager to have positive societal impact in their careers; many strong industry partnerships including the Drawdown Georgia Business Compact focused on climate action; federal government and philanthropic dollars poised to invest in climate solutions with an emphasis on social justice; a state government working to bring \u201cnew economy\u201d companies into Georgia; many city- and county-level sustainability and climate initiatives; GT-led regional and international sustainability networks including RCE Greater Atlanta and the University Global Coalition; a coalescence around taking Metro Atlanta and Georgia to the next level in entrepreneurial activity; and ELT-level support and resources for sustainability through Institute Strategic Plan funding and Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech theme definition. \u0026nbsp;There is also a set of challenges, of course, but things worth doing are never straightforward!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI look forward to working with you all to capitalize on these assets and the momentum of the present day. My hypotheses about what our priorities should be for this year are the following, and I look forward to hearing your input and suggestions as we finalize them together:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EGrow the community of faculty, students, and staff who see themselves as part of the BBISS family and strengthen ties within;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExpand BBISS\u2019 research foci to reflect the full richness of sustainability scholarship on campus (here I see a clear focus on climate that draws on all colleges and GTRI as a must);\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAdvance BBISS\u2019 capacity to support interdisciplinary grant writing and community-engaged research;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EPartner with schools and colleges to help grow sustainability and climate-related interdisciplinary academic program offerings;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAccelerate commercialization and entrepreneurship activity in sustainability and climate solutions;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EContribute to philanthropic success in sustainability both at BBISS and Georgia Tech-wide;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EGrow the visibility of Georgia Tech sustainability thought leadership.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI plan to hold \u201clistening sessions\u201d and a retreat to crystallize BBISS\u2019 research foci and priority activities. To engage with this process and explore whether BBISS is a good \u201chome\u201d for you, please sign up for the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/eepurl.com\/hqYnJL\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EBBISS newsletter\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI look forward to working with you all!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeril\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EL. Beril Toktay\u003Cbr\u003EProfessor of Operations Management and Brady Family Chairholder\u003Cbr\u003EInterim Executive Director, Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems\u003Cbr\u003EFaculty Director, Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business\u003Cbr\u003EScheller College of Business\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBeril Toktay\u0026#39;s letter of introduction as interim director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Beril Toktay\u0027s letter of introduction as interim director of the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2022-09-01 20:10:05","changed_gmt":"2025-06-18 14:16:43","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-09-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"660835":{"id":"660835","type":"image","title":"Beril Toktay Portrait 2","body":null,"created":"1662128504","gmt_created":"2022-09-02 14:21:44","changed":"1662128504","gmt_changed":"2022-09-02 14:21:44","alt":"Portrait of Beril Toktay.","file":{"fid":"250370","name":"Beril_Toktay_portrait_scaled.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beril_Toktay_portrait_scaled.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Beril_Toktay_portrait_scaled.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":567855,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Beril_Toktay_portrait_scaled.jpg?itok=izHOCeSz"}}},"media_ids":["660835"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"132","name":"Institute Leadership"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"188360","name":"go-bbiss"},{"id":"2813","name":"Beril Toktay"},{"id":"87921","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"194566","name":"Sustainable Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Research\u0026nbsp;Communications Program Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}