By Jennifer Haley

You can’t spend three days at the Milken Institute Global Conference without feeling both exhausted and inspired. Exhausted perhaps from my overenthusiastic hand gesturing on our panel?

It was my first time as both attendee and participant. Our panel, which is linked below so you can watch, focused on how collaborative innovation must drive our clean energy evolution. The panel was expertly moderated by Ryan Heath, Editorial Director, Global Growth at POLITICO and included Vinay Shandal, Partner and Managing Director of Boston Consulting Group, Jon Pertchik, CEO at TravelCenters of America, Mark Nelson, Executive Vice President, Downstream & Chemicals, at Chevron, and Andrew Littlefair, President and CEO at Clean Energy Fuels. We covered a lot of ground with a focus on pragmatism and optimism, and I walked away with the sense there is no such thing as an insurmountable challenge if we work together. Which might as well have been a theme for the entire conference.

I was grateful for this incredible experience, particularly inspired to hear how Goldie Hawn’s MindUP way of life is helping our children thrive and act with kindness (skills that most adults also need to develop), Deepak Chopra reframing stress as “resistance to existence,” how investors can drive ESG goals through engagement with Ester Pan Sloan and the interplay of how poverty underlies violence and negative community outcomes with the former mayor of Stockton, California Michael Tubbs.      

I came home with a new perspective, new friends, and a great reading list to tide me over until next year.

I am already looking forward to it.

Watch the Panel:

Planes, Trains, Automobiles…and Lightbulbs: The Future of Global Energy