Meet Yale SOM’s MBA Class Of 2027

We all love a good story. Who wouldn’t enjoy stepping out of their lives? Charismatic people, colorful times, and evocative places: a front row seat to watching others beat the odds and change their worlds. In the end, every story serves the same purpose. They are a reminder that everyone overcomes the same doubts and fears. More than that, they reinforce that we’re all in this together – and more alike than different.

It is these stories that led the Class of 2027 to the Yale School of Management, to a community that shares their values and supports their ambitions. And it is a community, says ’25 alum Nico Pedreira, that is both socially conscious and mission-driven.

“I chose Yale SOM because I wanted a business education that explored impact beyond the bottom line. Coming from political campaigns, I was drawn to SOM’s mission of educating leaders for business and society—where success is measured not just by a company’s growth, but by the meaningful impact it has on the world. SOM’s curriculum combines business fundamentals with a deep curiosity for purposeful leadership, and I wanted to develop my management skills in that spirit—learning how to lead and win with both strategic insight and a commitment to positive change.”

MAKING THEIR DENT IN THE UNIVERSE

First-year Molly Lynch compares herself to a fictional character: Ted Lasso. By that, she means that she sees herself as a humble and empathetic servant leader…who gets results. Before business school, she spent eight years working for Teach for America in Dallas, eventually becoming a principal. Here, Lynch engineered an impressive turnaround that reflected her true leadership potential.

“I inherited a school with a poor reputation, strained culture, and low student performance. I led our community in establishing a meaningful mission and vision statement. Then I helped build systems that reflected our best. I learned the hard lesson of delegating until the work was authentically shared among our team. We saw tremendous growth. The school went from a C (72) accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency to a high B (88). The best part: our students take tremendous pride in their accomplishment. In their words, they know their school is special.”

Lynch wasn’t alone in devoting her career to the greater good. In Kenya, Michael Henry – a former U.S. College Boxing National Champion – scaled social impact for two nonprofits, including one supporting victims of violence. At Invest India, Prabhash Chauhan established a “milestone-based monitoring framework covering 1,600 construction projections involving $520B – an effort that saved billions in cost overruns. While working for the World Bank, Lisa Sheridan, a Princeton grad and biologist by training, organized a four-day conference on “advancing social inclusion in climate finance.”

“The agenda was developed by expert representatives of Indigenous communities, and conference attendees represented a diverse set of perspectives, including Indigenous and local communities, civil society, academic, and development agencies. I was humbled by the collective wisdom shared, and proud that the valuable lessons from the conference were presented at COP28 to help inform global climate negotiations.”

FROM DISNEY TO MARS TO APPLE

In some cases, these Class of 2027’s stories might be worthy of business school case studies. Take Zach Mulligan a former McKinsey business analyst. In one engagement, he helped a maritime firm build a $100-million savings pipeline. Grisel Ramirez cut her teeth at Kearney, once spearheading a supply chain transformation that cut a Mexican pharmaceutical firm’s logistics spending by 15%. At Mars, Keshan Chen was able to launch a new product despite the logistics obstacles created by COVID. At the same time, Rachel Autumn Lee made an impact in both the corporate and startup spaces.

“At Disney, I served as a Co-Lead for Women@Disney, an enterprise-wide resource group where I built community through peer mentorship groups that connected women across departments and fostered professional growth. Outside of my day job, I co-founded PRISM Bags, a sustainable bag and backpack brand, with my sister. My biggest accomplishment is launching four products that sold out within 48 hours on an ethical consumer goods marketplace.”

The class certainly made a difference early in their careers. When Rishi Tummala was 19, he was already an engineer at Apple – one of the youngest in the company’s history. Later on, he built a million-dollar company. By the same token Marley Brown faced an equally daunting rite of passage in her early career.

“I was promoted from Associate to Director after about 18 months of working at an early stage fintech startup and had to quickly adjust to a variety of new responsibilities. At the age of 22, I had less work experience than the colleagues I was being asked to lead. While navigating the discomfort of managing former peers was challenging, I became their biggest champion over time. Being thrust into this position taught me that the best leaders lead with empathy and compassion.”

EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND BUSINESS

In every story, characters bring an underlying motivation that drives their actions. Brown’s purpose is rooted in her upbringing in Queens, where she watched the community’s small business backbone slowly crumble. Witnessing this disruption instilled a mission that ultimately led her to New Haven and the Yale School of Management.

“An environment in which small businesses thrive yields the economic benefits of job creation, increased competition, and accelerated innovation. More importantly, entrepreneurship supports self-actualization and gives individuals new ways to interact with their communities. These experiences informed the focus of my career: leveraging financial markets to empower communities. SOM’s core curriculum will certainly arm me with the technical skills needed to pursue a career in finance…Consciously centering accountability will be critical as I aim to serve my community; Yale will offer me avenues to explore the intersection of accountability and business.”

Keshan Chen found his calling when he worked for a suburban grocery store. Now, he hopes to establish an outlet to provide healthy foods to underserved regions. To do that, he plans to take full advantage of resources provided by Yale SOM.

“For example, the Internship Fund encourages us to explore the non-profit space, while programs like the Non-Profit Board Fellows and Social Impact Week give us opportunities to engage directly with the New Haven community,” writes Chen, a professional photographer in his spare time. “These comprehensive resources have convinced me that my time at SOM will be the catalyst I need to achieve my mission.”

DIFFERENT VISIONS / SAME OBJECTIVE

In high school, Lisa Sheridan would lead cave tours, “guiding international visitors through our beautiful collection of stalactites, stalagmites, and other ancient limestone features.” Since then, Sheridan has channeled her love for the natural world into becoming a financier supporting climate action. It is a vocation that she intends to build on as a member of the MBA Class of 2027.

“I aim to enable companies to fund the restoration of forests and other natural landscapes as part of managing their carbon footprint. Yale SOM’s integrated curriculum, combined with the vast expertise in environmental management across this campus, will equip me to design innovative, scalable climate finance solutions. The school’s emphasis on cross-sector collaboration and global impact will allow me to bridge the business and environmental communities, ensuring that land stewards are equitably compensated for their valuable work.”

Sierra Davidson, a Cleveland native, hopes to use sports to bring communities together and build generational wealth. Her classmate, Rachel Autumn Lee, is passionate about sustainability, which she intends to apply to products and supply chains. A former contestant in Miss Universe Mexico, Grisel Ramirez has focused on making workplaces more friendly to women. For Rishi Tummala, the goal is simple: Become a better problem-solver.

“My mission lies in finding simple, elegant solutions to complex problems. There is an intrinsic beauty in breaking down challenges to their most fundamental parts and solving them with precision. Yale SOM will equip me with the strategic insight, global perspective, and leadership skills necessary to amplify these solutions and navigate the complexities of bringing transformative ideas to life on a large scale.”

UNIQUE CONTRIBUTIONS

When it comes to how Tummala will contribute to his class, he boils it down to “relentless resourcefulness.” “From bootstrapping a profitable startup to inventing solutions that replaced whole manual processes, I thrive on solving complex challenges and building technology that creates social value. This entrepreneurial drive and collaborative spirit will make me a catalyst for innovation and impact at Yale SOM.”

As a first-year, Keshan Chen has been leaning into his leadership development background, while Lisa Sheridan has been sharing her background in balancing profitability with stewardship. Similarly, Prabhash Chauhan has been exposing his classmates to the best practices in analytics and AI.

“I’ve worked at the cusp of government, industry, and data—comfortable with ministers and economists, memos and models. I’ve also led an 8-member team, aligned multi-agency stakeholders, and built R/Python pipelines (196 trade reports) while training 150+ colleagues to use AI tools. This combination of operational know how and analytical rigor lets me distill messy, cross-stakeholder problems into trackable, incentive-aligned plans. In class…I’ll bring analytics, cross cultural insights, and a unique point of view about systems and norms.”

A CLASS PROFILE

The first-year MBA class features 367 students, a 20-student uptick over the previous year. This year, the GMAT focus score for the class was 675, while the GRE average came in at 329 (with 47% of the class submitting a GRE score). In addition, the class posted a 3.66 average undergraduate GPA.

As a whole, women account for 44% of the class, up 5 points from the previous year. Underrepresented minorities make up another 15% of class. First generation and LGBTQ students hold 17% and 13% of the class seats respectively. The percentage of international students also rose 4 points to 41%, as 47 countries are represented in the class.

In terms of academic backgrounds, the class is strongly business-centric. 29% of the class holds Business-related degrees, with another 18% studying Economics as undergrads. STEM and Liberal Arts and Social Sciences majors constitute 32% and 20% shares of the class. Professionally, Financial professionals (25%) again represent the largest segment of the class at 19%. Consulting (19%), Technology (12%) and Non-Profits (11%) also achieved double-digit shares (with Government inching up to 9%).

Next Page: In-depth profiles of 12 members of the MBA Class of 2027.

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