Welcome to Season Eleven of Conversations in Cleantech!
This season, we're exploring the talent equation, examining the people, skills, and leadership required to accelerate the energy transition. From workforce strategy and culture, to talent development and organisational growth, we'll explore what it really takes to build the teams driving the sector forward.
In this episode, our hosts Jenny Gladman and Kate Treacher are joined by Jordan Robison, Chief Executive Officer and Jill McWhirter, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer at Natura Resources, a Texas-based advanced nuclear company developing liquid-fuel molten salt reactor technology.
Building first-of-a-kind technology means confronting first-of-a-kind problems. As Natura works towards deploying its demonstration reactor and bringing its commercial technology to market, there isn't always a precedent to follow - whether that's in legal and commercial strategy or finding people with the exact experience required.
Jordan and Jill explore why that makes looking beyond traditional nuclear backgrounds essential, and what other industries can bring to a sector entering a new era of growth. Their own unconventional career journeys reflect that thinking, alongside a shared belief in adaptability, curiosity, and remaining open to opportunities you couldn't have planned for.
Because proving the technology can work is only part of the challenge. The industry also needs the people and organisations capable of deploying it at scale.
01:27 - Introduction to Jordan and Jill
03:00 - Jordan, how did your career journey ultimately lead you into advanced nuclear and Natura Resources?
04:25 - Jill, how did you go from nuclear engineering to law and eventually back into nuclear?
06:30 - Jill, how did an unexpected phone call from Natura founder Doug Robison bring you into the business?
07:30 - Do we need to get better at showing people that careers don't have to be linear, particularly in nuclear?
10:20 - What is Natura Resources building, where is the company today, and what are you trying to change about how nuclear energy is deployed?
13:20 - Does today's renewed momentum around nuclear feel fundamentally different from previous nuclear renaissances?
16:50 - What does it take to build a company when the legal, commercial, financing, and regulatory playbooks are also first-of-a-kind?
20:10 - How do you balance challenge and governance without becoming the person who always says no?
21:25 - Is talent becoming as significant a constraint on nuclear deployment as capital, regulation, and technology?
23:50 - What should businesses look for when someone doesn't have the perfect nuclear background on paper?
26:25 - How important is attracting people who historically haven't seen nuclear as a career path?
28:00 - What leadership qualities will Natura need as it moves from demonstration towards commercial deployment?
29:50 - What does advanced nuclear need to get right over the next five years to ensure talent enables growth rather than creating gridlock?
32:00 - What does success look like for Natura, from its demonstration reactor to commercial deployment and scale?
33:35 - Jill, what advice would you give someone at the beginning of a career in the industry?
34:50 - Jordan, what advice would you give the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and leaders taking advanced nuclear forward?
Connect with your hosts, Jenny Gladman and Kate Treacher, on LinkedIn.
Find your guests, Jill McWhirter & Jordan Robison, on LinkedIn.
Thanks for listening to Conversations in Cleantech brought to you by Brightsmith.
This is a Loaded Hype production.
