Enviva Partners, LP, a global renewable energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy, today announced that it has entered into multi-year recruiting and career development pipeline agreements with four significant Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the U.S. Southeast, to identify, recruit, and hire new employees for its rapidly growing business.
Enviva, which operates ten modern biomass production plants and six port terminals from North Carolina to Florida, is seeking to hire talent at all levels of the organization from North Carolina A&T University (Greensboro), North Carolina Central University (Durham), Alabama A&M University (Huntsville), and Jackson State University (Jackson, Mississippi). Enviva will participate in career fairs and student enrichment opportunities at these universities and finance scholarship opportunities with each institution to facilitate careers in renewable energy and sustainable forestry for African Americans.
“As a global renewable energy company and leader in forest stewardship, we have a responsibility to be intentional about diversifying our workforce at all levels of our company to help shape the future of a net-zero world,” said John Keppler, Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Enviva. “That work begins with recruiting some of the brightest and most ambitious minds which emerge from these prestigious HBCUs located in the geographic region of our operations. These institutions have world-class agriculture and forestry programs and help educate amazing future engineers to help us design, build, operate and continuously improve our plants, terminals, and business around the world. There are no better spaces from which to grow our business from a talent perspective.”
These new partnerships will reinforce Enviva’s existing recruitment efforts, focusing outreach on an array of graduates from each of the universities, including electrical, mechanical, and civil engineers, in addition to forestry, agriculture, and agribusiness majors. Enviva expects to place the recruits across its facility fleet, including at its corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and Raleigh, North Carolina, in addition to its manufacturing plants and terminals.
“As an HBCU alumnus myself, I am excited to pursue talent from these stellar institutions and welcome them into our company and industry as present and future leaders,” said Don Calloway, Enviva’s Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Impact. “People are the core element of Enviva’s business, and as the industry is expanding rapidly, we must grow our talent pool. Enviva, and the renewable energy industry, will be significantly enhanced by the innovation, creativity, and perspectives these students bring to the table.”