Harvard’s Class of 2011 Includes Eight Social Enterprise Fellows

After receiving their degrees this spring, eight members of the Harvard Business School MBA Class of 2011 will begin working in nonprofit and public-sector organizations through the School’s Leadership Fellows Program. Now in its tenth year, the program provides Fellows with a one-year position in a nonprofit or public-sector organization.

Since 2001, the program has placed 97 Fellows with 44 organizations. Participating organizations pay Fellows $45,000, and Harvard supplements that with a one-year grant of an equal amount. Throughout the year, Fellows also benefit from access to HBS resources and return to campus for organized networking and professional development events with other Fellows.

This year’s Fellows and the organizations where they will work are:

• Erin Barringer, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel and Jorge Paulo Lemann Leadership Fellow, Endeavor Global. Last summer, Barringer worked as a portfolio associate at Acumen Fund, evaluating investment opportunities in Africa, India, and Pakistan.
• Clive Chang, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel Leadership Fellow, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Before arriving at HBS, Chang was a composer, orchestrator, and music director, and last summer he worked as a strategic advisor to the executive director of the New York City Ballet.
• Austin Johnsen, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel Leadership Fellow, World Wildlife Fund. Prior to business school, Johnsen worked at Jefferies Capital Partners and Barclays Capital in their investment banking groups.
• Daniel Koh, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel Leadership Fellow, City of Boston Mayor’s Office. Last summer, Koh worked in labor relations for Major League Baseball and has previously worked in consulting roles for Spencer Stuart and the New England Patriots.
• Michael Louis, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel Leadership Fellow, Partners In Health. Last summer, Louis worked for Root Capital, a social investment fund that provides capital to grassroots businesses in rural areas of developing countries.
• Ben Schumacher, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation/Richard L. Menschel Leadership Fellow, Teach For America. While at HBS, Schumacher worked with Teach for America’s Greater New Orleans Region on alumni strategy and is currently co-designing a charter school that will open in Brooklyn, NY, in 2013.
• Alisa Seewald, Margaret T. Morris Foundation Leadership Fellow, Year Up. Seewald recently was an Education Pioneers Fellow at Jumpstart, a national early education organization, as a member of its Performance Management Group. She previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their advisory services division.
• Mariah Sheriff, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and Michael E. Porter Leadership Fellow, City of Sacramento Mayor’s Office. Before beginning her studies at HBS, Sheriff was at Teach For America, teaching investments to elementary students in a Chicago public school.

“This program is a win-win-win situation for all its constituents,” said professor Allen Grossman in a statement. Grossman serves on the steering committee of the program. “Our partner organizations describe the significant impact made by their Leadership Fellows. Our students consistently report that working with these exceptional groups provides a unique leadership development opportunity. And the HBS community could not be more proud of these emerging leaders and their dedication to making a very real and positive difference in the world.”

Leadership Fellows Program organizations are chosen each year by an HBS steering committee composed of faculty and staff representing the School’s MBA Program and its Social Enterprise Initiative. Criteria for selection include the scope and nature of the proposed position, capacity of the organization for utilizing the leadership and management skills of Harvard MBAs, and potential student interest. Once selected, organizations are listed as available opportunities, and student interest determines the number of candidates for a particular position. Fellows are chosen by the hiring organization through a standard interview process.

More than 90 percent of Fellows receive an offer to stay at the organization that initially employed them. Approximately one-third of the program’s alumni are still at that organization, while one-third have moved on to a similar operation, and one-third have joined the for-profit sector.

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