Jenny Linger

UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business

“Sustainable business-minded farmer driving change at the intersection of land stewardship, global markets, and human rights.”

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love learning new languages and have worked in two—Spanish (Mexican) and Waale Dagaare (a language family in the Upper West Region of Ghana).

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Cincinnati (DAAP): BA, Urban Planning

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Hudson Valley Farm Hub: Production Co-Manager

Berkeley Haas is founded on four Defining Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. Which principle resonates most with you and why? Question the Status Quo. From childhood, my mother, trained as a journalist, taught me to always ask questions, overturn problems, dissect meaning, and seek truth and justice for others. Those critical thinking and investigative skills encouraged my creativity and oriented me to always pursue new solutions and improved alternatives. This was further engrained working in organic small farming, which is practiced on less than 5% of U.S. farms. In challenging the norms of conventional agriculture and industrial food systems, success hinges on your ability to innovate and collaborate with others to build operations, market opportunity, in-house R&D, and sustainable labor strategy.

What excites you about earning your MBA in the Bay Area? For me, the Bay Area is such a vibrant landscape to earn an MBA because of its proximity to tech, start-ups, VC, and food and agriculture. Being across the Bay from San Francisco and Silicon Valley and positioned between the Central Valley and Northern California means ready access to innovators, investors, and producers in ag tech and food systems, not to mention Haas’ vast Bay Area alumni networks. I first apprenticed at Full Belly Farm in the Capay Valley (due east of Napa Valley); having engaged as part of the regional food system is an added bonus to understanding connections and contextualizing learnings in the local ecosystem.

What was the key part of Berkeley Haas’ MBA curriculum or programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Haas is the leader in driving impact-oriented frameworks and sustainable solutions within business education and leadership. The opportunity to work with William Rosenzweig at the Center for Responsible Business and within the Sustainable Food Initiative were key components in my decision to come to Haas. Equally, Haas’ integration of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) as a critical business lens aligned with both my community and leadership values—and, as a Consortium member, distinguished it among other top schools.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at Berkeley Haas? I look forward to connecting with classmates through Haas Africa Business Club and Redwoods@Haas. Working in Ghana for two-and-a-half years, I experienced the immense talent, land and cultural resource, and market opportunity that exists there for sustainable business development. I am excited to collaborate and build with classmates sharing a passion for and experience in growing African businesses, while also attracting new African leaders to Haas. Because of its location, I’ve met so many classmates who are avid and aspirational adventurers in hiking, running, swimming, cycling, surfing, and climbing. Having a community to not only learn with but also recreate and explore the beauty of Northern California and other parts of the world is also thrilling to me.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While working with a tremendous team at Peter and Jennifer Buffett’s philanthropic farm, we increased vegetable production by 30% year over year on the same acreage, resulting in an additional quarter-million-plus pounds of certified-organic produce within the Tri-county emergency feeding system over two seasons. Most importantly, while growing our team in skill and number, I was also able to introduce advancement and professional development opportunities for our largely Hispanic farm teams, including management coaching and mechanical, technical, and videography training. Seeing farmers’ eyes light up in empowered unity and storytelling has been one of my biggest markers of success.

At this point, what do you hope to do after graduation? I aim to pivot into strategy consulting after graduation, deepening my business acumen and leveraging more than a decade of experience in food and agriculture through work in expert consulting teams. I see this as an important stepping stone to corporate/organizational leadership, a path I seek in driving climate and sustainable agricultural transition internationally. My vision is simple—I want to bring more land workers to the board room and board members to farms. By integrating farmers, farmworkers, and productive Indigenous and rural communities into business decision-making and modeling, there is vast potential to generate greater land, community, and labor ethics, innovation, efficiency, climate synchronicity, and value potential through unrealized logistical and market opportunities for our world’s most significant economic drivers.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Berkeley Haas’ MBA program? Stay true to yourself! For many applicants, especially nontraditional, it can be tempting to diminish your story by trying to fit it into a mold. At Haas, these unique points are valued as the ways that you will most vividly contribute to the classroom and the world. They are the fuel for transformation and the fabric of purpose. Working with farmers in West Africa, running my own micro farm business and raw dairy, and inspiring nonprofit organizational change were all important dots to be collected and connected in my story and future ability to drive social and environmental impact through business.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE BERKELEY HAAS MBA CLASS OF 2026