James Cortese

Director, Clean Tech Practice Zeno Group

San Francisco Bay Area CA

Corporate communications for clean tech, biotech and high tech

Social

Biography

I am a corporate communications strategist with more than a decade of agency and in-house experience. I specialize in emerging industries, including technology, clean energy and life sciences.

With an MBA in sustainability from Presidio Graduate School, my mission is to help forward-thinking business leaders, inventors and designers tell their stories and build a better world.

I have partnered with organizations of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 100 multinationals, and I have led communications initiatives for a variety of venture capital firms, social ventures, and non-profits.

Industry Expertise

Public Relations and Communications

Corporate Leadership

Cleantech

Areas of Expertise

Content Development

Media Relations

Public Relations

Storytelling

Social Media Development

Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Bachelor of Arts

History

2001

-- Interned for two summers in the public relations department of Compaq Computer Corp., coordinating laptop product reviews and developing an internal Web site for the partner marketing organization
-- Interned with Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Innovation Network (WIN) to generate publicity for a new high-tech cluster in southern Wisconsin

Presidio Graduate School

MBA

Sustainable Management

2010

-- Capstone Project: Developed a business plan and Web site prototype for a social marketplace providing crowd-sourced information and products for home energy consumers
--- Wrote strategic, marketing and financial plan for the Urban Forest Map (urbanforestmap.org), a Web-based ecosystem services tool for governments that launched in April 2010
-- Created a product development plan to commercialize a Web-based, crowd-souced corporate innovation platform
-- Created an operations framework for the City of Berkeley's Climate Action Plan (CAP)
-- Conducted integrated financial and sustainability analyses of Fortune 500 companies in the technology and retail sectors
-- Completed Climate Policy Design executive seminar with Dr. Holmes Hummel, Senior Policy Advisory, U.S. Department of Energy