Elena Helmers-Wegman

University of Michigan, Ross School of Business

“Healthcare-turned-business student obsessed with people and places, new ideas, goats, live music, and creative community building.”

Hometown: Cincinnati, OH

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve ventured 90 miles north of the Arctic circle in *January* to experience the Ice Hotel, go dog sledding through the snowy forest, and catch the Northern Lights! Freezing but awe-inspiring. Pack layers.

Undergraduate School and Major: Wofford College – English & Biology. Current Master of Health Services Administration candidate at the University of Michigan as well.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Milken Institute, Associate Director

Michigan Ross is best known for experiential learning programming like MAP, Living Business Leadership Experience, and the Leadership Crisis Challenge. What experiential program interests you the most (and why)? I’d love to engage with the Management as a Calling course led by Dr. Andrew Hoffman – a course that involves immersive weekend retreats, experiential and reflective activities, and a close cohort of students in their final year of school. I feel strongly that even within the context of business and capital markets – maybe especially within this context – that business leaders with power (and the accompanying material benefits) have a great responsibility to society at large. Dr. Hoffman’s collection of programming around this idea pushes students to explore how business and impact can go hand-in-hand; how to be better humans and leaders in a business-driven world; and why it’s important to step outside of personal gain and into broader market impact in our pursuit of career success. These are all questions I’ve personally wrestled with in the process leading to business school. Even more, they’re questions that I feel strongly my classmates and I should work to answer to in our two years at Ross. A valuable and unique aspect of Ross is that we, as students, are encouraged to think about the bigger picture, our obligation to society, and the impact we’ll ultimately have on our peers, industries, and the world.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Michigan Ross’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? Ross uniquely and intentionally integrates opportunities to consider social impact in coursework and extracurriculars alike. I didn’t necessarily need it to be the central focus of every academic or professional experience, but I did want to ensure this was a key element of the broader business conversation across subject areas and industry conversations. Not only does Ross support extracurricular opportunities like Design+Impact, Net Impact, and Social Venture Fund to act as explicit centers of gravity for this work, but courses and other clubs that are tangentially related to impact participate in the discourse as well. In addition, the University of Michigan boasts many top-ranked graduate programs, meaning that impact-centric conversations in public policy, healthcare, law, and sustainability are directly accessible to Ross students as well. This interconnectivity makes it clear that the Ross MBA program prioritizes thinking outside of oneself and “getting” the bigger picture.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at Michigan Ross? I get most excited about the student-led investment funds at Michigan Ross. This is such a unique opportunity to engage in real-life critical thinking and decision-making as an associate of a venture fund. These student-governed funds offer the chance to invest real money in a real company like an investment firm would. This requires critical, consensus-based evaluation around a company’s potential, likelihood of success, target market, and business model, among other things.

Often, experience is the best teacher, and being on a fund accelerates learning like no other. As a dual-degree student, I was fortunate to join the Social Venture Fund in 2023. SVF is the nation’s first student-run social impact fund, and I led the impact evaluation of a healthcare company the Fund ultimately invested in after a six-month diligence process.

Looking at your recruitment, what was the moment when you realized that the Ross School was the right MBA program for you? Why? Honestly, nothing compares to an in-person visit to Ann Arbor. This is when I knew Ross was the right choice for me! When my partner and I were faced with the difficult choice of which business school to choose, we booked last-minute flights to visit Ann Arbor on a random Tuesday night in March in hopes it would illuminate the right choice. I can tell you – Ann Arbor truly shines in the summer and during football season, not in March. And we STILL loved it.

The baseline energy buzz in the business school was palpable. As I walked around Ross, I heard multiple languages being spoken; I found groups of friends sitting around tables, eating and laughing together; I experienced the warmth students implicitly espouse, even to a stranger! Layer that on top of a gorgeous, sprawling campus, an active and locally-owned business community downtown, and a legacy of excellence that permeates all things UM, and the Ross MBA is a tough program to beat.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2026? Why? Community orientation. I’ve always deeply believed that you’re only as strong as those who surround you. Because of this, it’s incumbent upon each person in a community to significantly and positively contribute to it. I bring with me a real commitment to getting to know others deeply and investing in relationships. In my leadership practice, I prioritize community-building, belonging, and a sense of active shaping of the community that one exists within. I hope to contribute to the Ross community by grounding the Class of 2026 in this practice and belief to seed deeper and more meaningful connections in whatever ways I can.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was fortunate to start my career at a think tank on a budding team that was just starting to gain momentum under incredible leadership. I was an original team member who helped shape a 4-person team into a 20+ person operation; we grew a handful of client engagements to over 30 in just four years! I specifically built an operating model that converted and scaled biomedical research investment strategy into impact-driven action. Over the course of my tenure, the portfolio grew to 10+ programs influencing more than $60M of investment into varying diseases across the biomedical research spectrum.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Michigan Ross’s MBA program? Spend serious time reflecting on what makes you unique. What can you bring to the table that it’s likely no other applicant will? Often, this is less about professional accomplishments and more about personal experiences and values. Take the time to thoughtfully integrate these pieces into your application so that it’s crystal clear who you are and how you’ll treat others as a Ross MBA. These intangibles can often make the difference in a sea of identical test scores. While yes, Ross is looking for smart and accomplished people, more than anything, Ross is looking for good people.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE MICHIGAN ROSS MBA CLASS OF 2026