HBS Family,
On behalf of the Student Association (SA), we are excited to welcome you to what will be a fantastic year at Harvard Business School. As you settle in on-campus and crack open your cases, we would like to share our vision and team for the school year.
What is the SA?
We work for you. The SA builds community on campus and liaises with the administration, faculty and staff to implement your feedback. The SA consists of two arms:
SA Executive Team
The SA Executive (SA Exec) consists of two Co-Presidents – that’s us, Triston and Sana – and an amazing group of Chiefs and VPs who are passionate about their respective areas and dedicated to making HBS as wonderful of an experience as possible. We are responsible for building community among the student body and enacting changes that occur within the time frame of one school year.
SA Senate
The SA Senate is comprised of 20 Senators, with one elected from each EC and RC section, and works to develop and implement policies that will impact HBS over the course of many years. The Senate also provides certain oversight functions for the SA Executive Team and serves as another channel of communication between the student body and the HBS administration. Led by Head Senator, Dan Cooper, the SA Senate meets on a weekly basis, and these SA Senate meetings are open for all HBS students to attend.
Our Vision
At HBS, we are developing into leaders who will change the world. Change, however, is never made alone. It takes a community because we are stronger together. The SA aspires to bring all of HBS together to foster a cohesive, collaborative community on-campus.
To achieve this vision, we kickstarted the year with Orientation in the Dark, a new event led by the SA’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Ceená Beall, on Thursday, September 6. The event was oversubscribed with over 300 RSVPs. RCs and ECs shared personal characteristics about themselves while being blindfolded without ever stating their name, where they were from, pre-MBA employment or other career plans. Dean Nitin Nohria, Jan Rivkin and FIELD Foundations course head were in attendance and were impressed with the student’s transparency about obstacles that may prevent us from being our authentic self as we look to build genuine relationships with people at HBS. The D&I team plan to host another “In the Dark” event during Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Week in the spring.
Our powerhouse Community team, led by Meg Williams, is also launching many new initiatives such as Community MyTakes, TGITs, and Eat & Engage.
Community MyTakes
Similar to Section MyTakes, Community MyTakes is a student-led initiative aimed at growing perspectives and creating meaningful relationships through story-telling. Twice per month during the academic year, two HBS students (both RCs and ECs!) will either share their personal story or discuss a topic which they are pass
ionate about.
The first MyTake, which took place on Wednesday, August 29, attracted roughly 350 HBS students. The next Community MyTake is Monday, September 10. If you attend and enjoy the event, please thank Marissa Meir, our VP of HBS-Wide MyTakes, for launching this alongside Meg.
Close of Business Happy Hours (COB HH)
Take a break from prepping from cases or running your start-up to enjoy a beverage and hors d’oeuvres on the HBS Student Association. Come mingle with students and faculty members, unwind, and enjoy Spangler Lawn (when it’s not freezing) or one of the beautiful indoor spaces on campus. Big thank you to Anastasia Istratrova, VP of COB HHs, for leading this.
Eat and Engage
Three nights a week, EC and RC students are invited to sign up for small group dinners to discuss a thought-provoking topic facing the world today, from social issues to innovation to personal growth. The SA will cover the cost of these dinners, and we hope they will be a meaningful way to build the HBS community and start a tradition for years to come. Keep an eye out for the SA Newsletter to sign up for a September dinner. Thank you Grace Feenstra, VP of Eat & Engage, for getting this awesome initiative off the ground.
Of course, there are our incredible, traditional HBS events from Holidazzle to Newport Gala planned by Meghan Kenny. You’ll hear much more about these over the course of the year. ECs – we can’t wait to see you all at the EC Welcome Back on Thursday, September 13 at the New England Aquarium.
Our Team
As Dean Nohria shared during his Class of 2020 Welcome Address, the essence of leadership is creating a better world through service. This is the crux of the SA. From jumping on conference calls in the middle of their internship to arriving back on campus early to run RC START, our SA Team has been working tirelessly throughout the summer to serve our HBS community. We are so grateful to have such a passionate, driven team.
We want to hear from you. Reach out to us anytime with thoughts, feedback or ideas about how we can best serve HBS. Catch us in the hallway, send us an email, or talk to anyone on our executive team.
Get ready – it’s time for an amazing year at Harvard Business School.
For HBS,
Triston Francis & Sana Mohammed (HBS Co-Presidents)
2018-2019 Student Association Executive Team
Co-Presidents: Triston Francis & Sana Mohammed
Chief Operating Officer: Emily Sillari
Academics: Drew Johnson, Jillian Cohn, Ninad Kulkarni, Erica Segall
Admissions: Sam Salazar, Jon Alle, Brandon Monteith
Career: Diana Chen, Dave Anderson, Jason Chang, Patrick Duff, Whitney Staples
Citizenship & Social Impact: Begum Agca Okutgen, Chloe Ho, Apoorva Pasricha
Community: Meg Williams, Kyle Emory, Grace Feenstra, Alex Fleming, Anastasia Istratova, Tiffany Le, Marissa Meir, Graham Thomas
Diversity & Inclusion: Ceená Beall, Tulika Gupta, Jorge-Luis Leon, Brandon Rapp
Family & Partners: Michelle Anderson, Rachel Lewis, Narda McCarthy
Financial: Oosman Bashir, Shreesh Naik
Events: Meghan Kenny
International: Noga Ratner, Aimmy Asavatevavith, Gayathri Ramkrishnan
Marketing: Jordan Richard-Craven
Orientation: Ashiana Jivraj
Section Presidents: Michael Thomas, Lauren Bosco
Strategy: Matt Piltch
Technology & Information: Clay Cook, Paul Jun
Theater: Ellen Thuy Le
Wellness: Dilan Gomih, Ian Cahn-Fuller, Vivek Kartha, Kate McLaughlin
“We Are HBS” Podcast: Madeline Keulen, Brett Neustadt, Imola Pinter, D.R. Rockwell, Tim Shi
2018-219 Student Association Senate Team (RC SA Senators will be elected this Fall)
Head SA Senator: Dan Cooper
Academics: Max Haug
Budget & Oversight: Michael Reichard
Capital Planning & Activation: Noa Torok
Career: Patrick Duff
Clubs: Tim Pianta
Elections | Housing: Shannon Wood
SA Senator: Mohamad Rabie
Technology: Anthony Tayoun
University Affairs: D.R. Rockwell
