Born in Eugene, Oregon, Ben Jacklet was destined for a life shaped by curiosity and discovery. His parents were finishing graduate school when he was young, and both went on to become biology professors. Eventually, his father accepted a faculty position at the State University of New York in upstate New York, moving the family across the country and further immersing Jacklet in a world grounded in science and inquiry.
Growing up with two scientists as parents meant everyday life often felt like a science project in motion. His father spent long hours in the lab doing research, while his mother approached the world with constant curiosity - collecting specimens, caring for animals, and turning ordinary moments into opportunities to observe and learn.
At the time, Jacklet wasn’t thinking about renewable energy. But his childhood experiences and lifelong fascination with sunlight became a foundation that would eventually connect his work in journalism, business, and sustainability, culminating in his newly published book, Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions.
“My memories from growing up are often just sunshine and me exploring the woods, or sunshine and me playing baseball with my friends,” he said. “It’s a big, integral part of my memories. But I don’t think I had any idea back then that I’d get into photovoltaics—like, ‘Wow, you could take that sunshine and turn it into electricity and replace fossil fuels.’”
A Career in Journalism
For years, Jacklet built a career in journalism, writing cover stories and immersing himself in the communities he covered. After growing up in New York, he spent years in Seattle working for the alternative press. He moved to Portland after marrying Christina Nicolaidis, now a faculty member at Portland State University, and joined the staff of the Portland Tribune, continuing to do what he loved most: learning by talking to people.
As his career evolved, so did his curiosity. During his journalism career, Jacklet developed a particular interest in interviewing entrepreneurs, founders, and innovators. Their ideas, energy, and willingness to build something from scratch pushed him to imagine a different future for himself—not as an abandonment of journalism, but as an expansion of it.
That realization led to a deliberate mid-career decision. In 2016, at 50 years old, Jacklet enrolled in Portland State University’s The School of Business MBA program.
“It was a fantastic thing to do mid-career instead of getting burned out or starting to complain about what you’re doing,” he said. “Try something new.”
Expanding the Toolkit at PSU
Jacklet earned his MBA in 2018, along with a certificate in sustainability. The experience gave him more than technical knowledge—it gave him confidence and clarity. The program helped him understand that the skills he had developed as a journalist were not only relevant in business contexts, but could also take him further into entrepreneurship, advocacy, and authorship.
“These skills are transferable,” he explained. “If you can interview people for journalism, you can go out and find things out for a business. If you can make something very clear to newspaper readers, you can make things very clear to potential customers, too. These are the same skills.”
Equally impactful were the people who taught him. Jacklet credits several MBA professors and mentors with shaping his overall experience.
“Professors like Brian McCarthy and Dave Garten really encouraged and challenged me,” he said. He also valued the collaborative nature of the program. Working in diverse teams with classmates from different countries and cultural backgrounds became one of the most meaningful parts of his MBA experience. “I worked with a lot of international students, and I loved it,” he said. “I loved getting those perspectives and working through any kind of language barriers.”
That global teamwork mirrored what Jacklet would eventually do on a much larger scale: interviewing people across countries, navigating language differences, and learning how innovation looks different depending on place and context. The MBA didn’t point him toward a single career ladder. Instead, it expanded his sense of what was possible.
A Book That Needed to Be Written
Jacklet has always been drawn to big ideas, even when the outcome is uncertain. “I always have big plans and I always like to try things,” he says. “I won’t say they always work. I’ve tried books in the past. This is the first time I’ve made it to the finish line.” Writing Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions began as another experiment, one that, for the first time, he fully carried through.
The opportunity came when his wife received a sabbatical, giving them something they hadn’t had in decades: time. After years in Portland’s gray winters, they were ready to chase sunlight.
“We’ve lived in Portland for the last 25 years,” Jacklet explained. “So we said, let’s go to places where it’s sunny. That will be the theme of our trip. Follow the sun.”
What followed was a yearlong journey across the globe, moving with the seasons and the sunlight. They traveled through Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Chile’s Atacama Desert—where it hasn’t rained in years—before heading on to Italy, India, Australia, Greece, and beyond. In total, Jacklet interviewed 50 people across 12 countries, often relying on one conversation to lead him to the next.
“You get one interview, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, you need to talk to so-and-so,’” he said. “And then it just snowballs.”
Those conversations ranged widely. In India, he found himself at one of the most competitive universities in the world, speaking with leading photovoltaic researchers. In other places, he listened to communities describe how solar panels worked better than traditional power grids—including communities in hurricane zones or rural regions of Mexico that now run entirely on solar and battery storage, often more reliably than conventional electricity.
For Jacklet, those contrasts became the heart of the book. Some interviews were deeply technical, forcing him to ask scientists to distill decades of research into simple, plain language. Others were intensely human, grounded in daily life and survival. Together, they formed a global picture of solar energy not as a future promise, but as something already reshaping lives.
“It’s affordable, it’s everywhere, and it absolutely works,” Jacklet said. “It’s the best way to generate new electricity on the planet.”
What began as an experiment, writing a book while chasing sunlight around the world, became something much larger. Follow the Sun blends travel, business, and storytelling into a portrait of a global industry powered by individuals, researchers, and communities all contributing their part. It is both a personal journey and a reflection of what can happen when curiosity, preparation, and persistence finally converge.
Redefining Success
For Jacklet, Follow the Sun stands as proof that an MBA does not have to lead to a narrow or predictable path. The degree did not pull him away from storytelling. Instead, it expanded what was possible, giving him the tools to pursue a story on a global scale.
“There’s no way I could have done it without the knowledge, the connections, and the understanding of how things work that I gained through the MBA program,” he said.
Today, Jacklet’s work lives at the intersection of business, sustainability, and journalism. As a solar energy consultant at Portland-based Elemental Energy, he works daily to expand the reach and viability of solar solutions. His journey reflects a broader truth about business education at PSU: success is not defined by a single job title, but by how intentionally you apply what you learn.
“We talked a lot in the MBA program about what’s your goal, what do you want to do?” he said. “One thing that resonated with me was the business acronym AMP: autonomy, mastery, purpose. The freedom to make choices, the challenge of learning to master something, and the importance of working with purpose.”
For Jacklet, solar energy brought those ideas into focus. His work has continually challenged him to learn, ask better questions, and think about the impact he wants to have. Finding a company or cause you truly believe in may take time, but when it aligns with your values, the work becomes meaningful.
Discover how The Portland MBA expands your professional toolkit here.
To learn more about Ben Jacklet’s global perspective on solar energy and the stories behind it, read Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions here.