From New York City to Nicaragua, nine members of the Class of 2003 are headed to nonprofit and public-sector organizations as part of the year-long HBS Service Leadership Fellows Program (SLFP).
Attracted to SLFP for a range of reasons – the expansion of career possibilities, passion for an issue, exploration of the challenges and opportunities in nonprofit and public management, and application of MBA skills to make a difference – Fellows will learn and contribute at very high-levels in the organizations.
The Service Leadership Fellows, selected from a group of nearly 90 applicants for 2003-2004, bring strong experience from both the private and social sector as they apply their MBA skills to effect positive change in a variety of ways.
Profiles of 2003-04 Service Fellows Program
Katherine Cunningham
Teach for America
SLFP position: Working with Teach For America’s COO and President, Katie will serve as Director of Special Projects. She will take on high-impact initiatives that further the organization’s progress toward its goal of building a movement among the nation’s most promising future leaders to address the gap in academic achievement between students in low- and high-income areas.
Work experience: Before HBS, Katie spent four years at American Express in Strategic Planning and new product development. Last summer, she worked with Teach For America to enhance the model used to select corps members to better predict future corps member performance, and she evaluated the applicability of the Teach For America model for other countries.
Why SLFP? One of my primary motivations for coming to HBS was the school’s involvement in social enterprise issues and its support for students intending to pursue careers in the nonprofit sector. I am interested in building a career in nonprofit management and am particularly passionate about education reform. I feel that the SLFP will provide an excellent opportunity for me to begin pursuing my professional goals. Participating in the SLFP will also allow me to stay involved in social enterprise initiatives at HBS and to help expand the range of opportunities available to students with interests in this area.
Louise Hulme
Endeavor Global, Inc.
SLFP position: Louise will work with the CEO and other senior executives at Endeavor Global to help institutionalize its U.S. and Country Affiliate Entrepreneur Services Program. The position was created to prepare the organization to effectively scale its Entrepreneur Services operations from the current five Latin American countries toward future expansion into new regions around the world.
Work experience: Louise’s pre-HBS experience was focused on hi-tech and media at Monitor Company, Granada Media, then GeoCapital Partners venture capital firm. During her summer internship at the National Kidney Foundation Singapore, she conducted research into the Foundation’s relationship with the Singapore Media Industry and the Foundation’s opportunity to provide internal training courses to other nonprofits.
Why SLFP? In choosing my next position the decision was not for profit or nonprofit, but where could I learn the most, do I like the people and what will lead to the most exciting career. SLFP gives me the chance to test not only working with Endeavor, but also my capacity for general management and my ability to really make a difference.
Lee Koffler
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
SLFP position: Working alongside the President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, Lee will address strategic planning initiatives, especially pertaining to the redevelopment of what is arguably the world’s preeminent producer and presenter of high-quality performing arts events.
Work experience: Lee’s consulting experience at McKinsey & Company led to a one-year consulting project with International Rescue Committee before coming to HBS. His 2002 summer internship at Lincoln Center centered on the $1.5 billion redevelopment and long-term planning.
Why SLFP? Lincoln Center’s Redevelopment will be a pivotal time in the history of the institution and for New York in general. I am going to work at Lincoln Center so that I can be a part of this historic event. My experiences this summer – both in Lincoln Center’s offices and in its performance halls – greatly expanded my appreciation for the arts. I want to work at Lincoln Center as it becomes a place where long-standing patrons feel renewal and those who have had little or no exposure to the arts begin to become involved.”
Andwele Lewis
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
SLFP position: Andwele will join the City Advisory Practice (CAP) of ICIC, a national force in inner city economic development. Through CAP, ICIC advises cities on inner-city business development and works with a broad constituency of leaders to develop tailored strategies for business growth. As a part of the CAP team, Andwele will be advising local leaders on how to create jobs in Brooklyn, New York.
Work experience: Andwele focused mainly on telecommunications strategy projects during his three years at McKinsey & Company, and spent the summer of 2002 in marketing at Procter and Gamble.
Why SLFP? Growing up in the Detroit, Michigan, I witnessed the deterioration of what was once one of America’s most prosperous cities, due primarily to the decline of the American auto industry and poor race relations. Back in high school, motivated by the many abandoned buildings in downtown Detroit, I made it my life goal to be a part of Detroit’s economic redevelopment. I wanted to bring jobs back to a city rich in human capital and retail back to a community that does most of its shopping in the surrounding suburbs. I believe that working with ICIC provides me with an excellent opportunity to learn how different cities deal with the challenge of creating jobs and attracting retail. I hope to use my experience to better inform myself about how I can best use my career to stimulate inner city economic development not only in Detroit, but also in other urban centers around the world.
Maria Rivas,
President of Nicaragua/PRONICARAGUA
SLFP position: Maria will be working closely with the acting CEO of PRONICARAGUA, a promoter and facilitator of key and visible functions related to FDI/investment promotion, competitiveness, and business climate improvements in Nicaragua. Maria will serve as Executive Director of the new Research and Policy Division to achieve significant improvements in the microeconomic competitiveness of the country.
Work experience: Maria has four years of advertising background from McCann-Erickson advertising in Latin America and the U.S., and was a summer intern at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals developing plans to launch new drugs and social programs with the Ministry of Health in Venezuela.
Why SLFP? Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, and SLFP offers me a unique opportunity to have a direct impact on the country’s economic development. I want to contribute to improving the living conditions of Nicaraguans and the SLFP will allow me to do so in the short-term. I will have the opportunity to work with government officials and business leaders, which will add a different and very important dimension to my professional experience. I am very excited to work in Nicaragua and make a concrete contribution to my country’s development.
David Schlendorf
Federal Bureau of Investigation
SLFP position: David will serve as a Special Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer of the FBI to assist with initiating and fully implementing current reform efforts. These important reforms are a direct result of the FBI’s new mission and priorities based around prevention of terrorist attacks and include a substantial upgrading of its information technology and financial systems infrastructure.
Work experience: David has an investment banking and private equity background, having spent two years each with The Beacon Gr
oup and Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co.
Why SLFP? The SLFP program was very attractive to me because I have wanted to transition into the government sector for several years. This program not only helps to make that choice economically more attractive, but also offers the unique opportunity to work directly with the senior management team of an organization such as the FBI.”
Stacy Schwartz
Hospital for Special Surgery
SLFP position: At Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, the most highly rated specialty hospital in orthopedics and rheumatology, Stacy will assist the CEO and other executives in new business, fundraising and marketing-related activities. Special focus will be given to new venture ideas outside the U.S.
Work experience: After working at The Advertising Council on public service advertising, Stacy joined the launch team of Internet marketing firm DoubleClick, where she stayed for five years. While at HBS, she held a summer internship as a market analyst with Boston Cure Project, an entrepreneurial nonprofit dedicated to curing Multiple Sclerosis.
Why SLFP? Throughout my life, I’ve been searching for that elusive job that could satisfy both my head and my heart.”
Stephanie Snitow
Phipps Houses
SLFP position: In her role at The Phipps Houses Group in New York City, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit group with 750 employees dedicated to strengthening less-advantaged communities by providing affordable housing with related community services, Stephanie will work with the President. She will work on a broad range of projects ranging from structuring partnerships to executing a strategy to preserve existing affordable housing.
Work experience: Stephanie has three years of finance experience at Goldman Sachs, and spent the summer working on a growth plan for venture philanthropy fund, New Profit, Inc.
Why SLFP? Fundamentally, I believe in the importance of low-income housing, since it fulfills the basic human need for shelter, and has proven instrumental in breaking the cycle of poverty by affording economic opportunity to less advantaged people. The SFLP position itself is a unique opportunity to engage in high impact work for this cause, by working alongside the President, an HBS graduate himself. Finally, the SLFP position provides a first hand view of what it takes to run a large, prestigious nonprofit, and allows me to focus the energies and skills gained at HBS toward a worthy cause.”
Jesse Souweine
City of Boston, Mayor’s Office
SLFP position: Jesse will work closely with Mayor Menino and his team to bring superior management, analytical and fiscal skills to Boston’s policy planning and implementation, developing innovative strategies for managing government and delivering public services. The skills Jesse brings will be especially critical in the face of both an economic recession and unprecedented new demands on city services.
Work experience: Before HBS, Jesse worked at La Bodega de la Familia, a neighborhood based drug crisis center in New York’s Lower East Side; and Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit criminal justice research and demonstration organization. Last summer, she was part of a team chosen by HBS and McKinsey to work with Boston Public Schools.
Why SLFP? I was attracted to the position with the Mayor’s Office because it gives me the opportunity to apply my experiences in the nonprofit sector and business school to the public sector. I hope to learn how to translate traditional business skills to have an impact on the problems facing urban areas. The position also allows be to move between sectors, something I hope to continue throughout my career.”
