Intern Spotlight | Cristian Olander

Written by: Jessica Alvarez, Communications & Content Manager

This fall, Blue Forest welcomed Cristian Olander, a Class of 2022 Brown University grad seeking an internship before starting his career as a management consultant in early 2023. Born and raised in Ecuador, Cristian moved to the U.S. in 2018 to pursue higher education. He spent the next four years at Brown where he studied and earned an undergraduate degree in Economics in the Spring.

While at Brown, Cristian developed an interest in the intersection between finance and environment. He had the opportunity to work with Blue Forest board member, Ricardo Bayon, on developing a syllabus and to teach an environmental finance class under his wing. On two occasions, Ricardo invited Blue Forest CEO, Zach Knight to participate in a panel on forest finance and Cristian was intrigued. Ricardo then connected Cristian with Zach and Cristian joined us in early September.

“I was looking for something in the environmental finance space to gain some more experience in the short-term,” he explained, and through Ricardo, he was able to do just that.

Cristian’s internship was not only a great fit, it was also timely. As we started our exploration  to expand the FRB to Latin America, Cristian, who is a native Spanish speaker and has an understanding of the South American educational, cultural and political landscape, was luckily there at the right time and proved to be an invaluable asset to Blue Forest.

“I really gained value from understanding the importance of working with really good people, and I think that Blue Forest has done a really good job—despite the hurdle of hiring people virtually—of putting together a really great team. I think that it’s unusual to have people that are doing such different things working toward a mission and have genuine concern and passion for what they’re doing,” said Cristian.

For Cristian what feels genuinely exciting, but also genuinely innovative, is Blue Forest’s finance model. “It’s very new and it’s a really cool thing to be a part of,” he said. “There are nonprofits that do very cool necessary work that’s not necessarily treading in new territory, and this was a chance to work at a nonprofit that also has this entrepreneurial excitement around it.”

As Blue Forest explores the opportunity to expand its work to new parts of the world, we gain insight and inspiration from the new energy and genuine sense of wonder/opportunity that people like Cristian bring to the table. Our deepest appreciation for an individual who not only came with a willingness to learn and grow, but to truly contribute and immerse himself in the work, the culture and the mission.

As he gets ready to start his new position in January, we’d like to wish Cristian all the best in his personal and professional endeavors!