WHAT DOES YOUR JOB ENTAIL?
The Outreach team manages and expands Capstone’s relationships with government entities, industry groups, and experts to make sure our research team can connect with important decisionmakers that help us explain or predict future policy and regulatory changes. We also organize events where our clients have the unique opportunity to speak with policymakers and stakeholders on issues clients care about. We host Policy Days in places like DC, Chicago, Sacramento, and San Juan. These are days of meetings with several policymakers and industry experts to learn about a specific topic related to regulatory or policy themes Capstone covers. With the pandemic, we have increased the number of conference calls we host and made our policy days virtual until restrictions are lifted.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO JOIN CAPSTONE?
I actually started at Capstone as an outreach intern, but I remember being amazed with how much exposure I got to all of the research side of Capstone. I had no idea what area of policy I wanted to work in, and the outreach role allowed me a chance to figure that out without having to commit myself to one particular area of research. More importantly, the people at Capstone are intelligent and passionate about their work, and I knew I would continue to learn in the role I am in.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR ROLE?
I love the fact that I get to work with many different research verticals and learn about the various things we cover. Often times, I will be working on a project that I have no familiarity with, but at the end, I finish the project with a good understanding of the issue. I am certainly not a subject matter expert like our analysts, but I know a bit of everything across everything we work on! While I love working on the different research teams, the majority of my work is focused on the energy sector, and I love working with our energy team with cover a wide range of energy issues.
HOW DOES YOUR TEAM INTERACT WITH OTHER TEAMS AT CAPSTONE?
We work with a lot of different teams at Capstone. Because we are setting up client events for our sales team and phone calls for the research team, we have to make sure the sales team and research team are aligned with what topics or issues areas we need to be covering. We typically talk with an analyst to get a full scope of what policy areas they are still unsure about and try to line up phone calls to fill that gap, and we typically meet with our sales team every week to make sure we are planning events that clients are interested in.
WHAT IS AN EXCITING PROJECT YOU WORKED ON RECENTLY?
We just hosted our first Energy Transition Summit Series, where senior policymakers and CEOs from various energy companies discussed policy changes related to the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. This is the first time we sat policymakers and company representatives in the same panel, and the conversation that came from it was unique. We held panels discussing topics like biofuels, transmission, nuclear energy, and clean power generation.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE NEW TO CAPSTONE OR THINKING ABOUT JOINING CAPSTONE?
For any role at Capstone, you need to be curious and flexible. We move as fast as the market and the news cycle, so you have to be ready to become familiar with any policy topic that arises. There are times where breaking news demands us to organize events for clients or support our research team on a short timeline. Being able to shift gears at a moment’s notice despite a lack of familiarity in the topic is critical. At the end of the day, our job is to make sure our analysts and clients become the experts, so it is those moments where our value truly shines.
Interested in a role like Kevin’s? See our current openings.
