Dr. Chris Wedding is an Executive in Residence at the Fuqua School of Business, where he teaches energy finance and management consulting via the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP), and an Associate Professor with the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, where he teaches on corporate sustainability strategy, green real estate, and clean energy.
His professional focus includes environmental entrepreneurship, renewable energy finance, green real estate innovation, and corporate sustainability strategy.
He has over 20 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, executive education, and academia, all with a focus on energy and the environment.
Dr. Wedding is also a Professor of the Practice with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Kenan-Flagler Business School; the Managing Director of IronOak Energy Capital, an investment banking and advisory firm focused on clean energy; the Founder of Entrepreneurs for Impact, which provides mastermind groups and executive education for businesses solving problems in energy and environmental sectors; Faculty for the Institute for Defense and Business, which provides executive education for U.S. military leaders; and one of the earliest LEED Accredited Professionals with the US Green Building Council. He was also a Director and Senior Advisor at Cherokee Investment Partners, a private equity firm that has raised over $2 billion in private equity funds and, separately, founded or invested in over 150 startups and venture funds.
He brings a global perspective, with experience in 22 countries and language abilities in Spanish, Japanese, and Creole. As one of the top 10% most viewed LinkedIn profiles, he is a connector, catalyst, and a frequent speaker at national and global energy and finance conferences. He also shares market insights on renewable energy, finance, entrepreneurship, and productivity in this newsletter.
Dr. Wedding received a BS summa cum laude in Environmental Science from Western Kentucky University, where he was a national Goldwater Scholar in Math and Science. At UNC, he earned an MS and PhD focused on business and strategy in real estate and energy.
School Division
Environmental Sciences & PolicyEducation
- Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008)
- M.S., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2005)
Recent Publications
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- Us Green Building Council ( ):
- Nc Sustainability Center ( ):
- Startupbeat.Com ( ):
- North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association