BOSTON—Harvard Business School (HBS) has announced the 2019 recipients of its Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowships. Established in 1998 by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and Richard L. Menschel (MBA 1959), a former director of the Foundation and a limited partner at Goldman Sachs, to encourage students from the nonprofit sector to attend HBS, these fellowships enable the School to award approximately $10,000 each to seven to ten incoming MBA students.
Since 1990, 219 incoming students have received the fellowship. Recipients of the award have served in leadership roles in nonprofit and public sector organizations and demonstrate a strong commitment to continued career paths in these areas. New recipients are invited to participate in events with current and former recipients as well as local social enterprise leaders in an effort to create a network of individuals committed to working in social enterprise.
The 2019 Goldsmith Fellows are:
Azeem Ahmed, who has experience at the intersection of policy, economics, agriculture, urban planning, and poverty alleviation. After serving as a Truman-Albright Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he joined the Millennium Challenge Corporation where he was responsible for identifying partnerships and financing public infrastructure to stimulate economic development. He also is an MPP candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School and deeply interested in “creating opportunities for socioeconomic mobility, especially in frontier markets.”
Kshitij Chaudhary, whose public health efforts have spanned Botswana, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zambia, during his tenures as an Overseas Development Institute Fellow and an entrepreneur. In his two years with the Government of India, he advocated for reforms in India’s digital health act and influenced bilateral dialogues with six Middle East-African economies, augmenting the business climate for multinationals entering India. He is excited to join the Goldsmith Fellows cohort for a “wider network, world-class mentorship, and improved perspectives on the global social impact sector.”
Patrick Deem, who previously worked as a strategist at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). He facilitated the development of IRC’s strategy and organizational structure in Syria and managed a team to implement ‘Refugee.Info,’ a project that provides information to refugees on their legal rights and available services in Europe. After working for IRC in eight countries, he intends to approach development less through crisis response and more through sustainable solutions. As a joint MBA/MPP student, he hopes to “continue taking a business approach to public sector challenges.”
Michelle Ferreol, whose work has focused on leadership development in Africa. After two years designing learning programs and products at the African Leadership University, she joined the founding team of ALX to launch a career readiness program for recent college graduates, preparing to reach thousands of students and five cities in Africa by 2022. She hopes to use her time at HBS to “merge business and education to build a social enterprise that brings high-quality, affordable, and scalable education to young people in my home country of the Philippines.”
Jackie Lender, who was the first recipient of the Harvard Presidential City of Boston Fellowship, serving the city by providing leadership in the technology, innovation, and transportation sectors. She went on to help launch a Startup Job Fair in Boston that connected entry-level talent with local employers, and also crafted new initiatives for Boston’s tech and startup community. Pursuing a JD/MBA, Jackie is interested in the intersection of government and innovation, and has dedicated her career to “fixing processes and providing efficient city services through technology.”
Yawei (Linda) Li, who comes from Social Finance, where she structured and advised Pay for Success (PFS) impact investments to support social programs across the U.S., including a workforce development program to transition inmates returning to the community, professional development services to teachers, and behavioral health programs for young children. She also catalyzed the development of outcomes rate cards, a tool to further standardize and scale PFS projects. She is looking forward to joining the Goldsmith Fellows cohort for its “close-knit community, lively debates on social impact approaches, and exposure to new ideas.”
Brendan Lind, a social entrepreneur, who co-founded LaunchCode, an organization providing pathways to upward mobility and economic opportunity through free education and paid apprenticeships in technology; and Human Agency, a venture-backed platform and agency working to democratize advertising. In 2017, Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business. He’s pursuing a JD/MBA to “improve his ability to make a positive impact.”
Joshua Mbanusi, who has dedicated his career to eliminating systemic barriers preventing people from escaping poverty. After two years as a corps member for Teach For America in North Carolina, he worked with Made in Durham and then MDC, focused on advancing economic opportunity and social equity in the South. After graduation, he hopes to reshape the broader philanthropic landscape across the South toward more community-centered, equity-oriented grantmaking. He notes that “connecting to a learning community of ambitious, undeterred, and like-minded leaders through the Goldsmith Fellowship will be an invaluable asset.”
Kam Phillips-Sadler, who believes “you can only dream what you’ve seen.” She founded Dream Outside the Box to broaden the horizons of underserved K-5 youth while cultivating skills in collegiate volunteers; Dream Delivered, which developed imaginative career exploration kits for children around the world; and Dream Architects to consult nonprofits in bringing innovation to impact. Her efforts have served thousands of children globally and garnered recognition from President Obama. She sees HBS as the “best investment I can make in gaining the skills necessary to transform dream deserts.”
Ade Popoola, who comes from KaBOOM!, dedicated to ensuring kids in under-resourced communities have equitable access to play. As Special Assistant to the CEO, she led the organization’s first, large-scale public-private partnership with the New York City Housing Authority, elevated director inclusion in the annual planning process, and helped to create a blueprint for a new measurement and evaluation function. She is coming to HBS to “learn best practices to scale social change initiatives, and how to become a dynamic nonprofit leader that drives results and impact.”
