ABOUT THE TEAM

The 21st Annual Social Enterprise Conference (SECON), presented by students at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, will bring together top leaders, practitioners and students on March 27-28, 2021 to engage in dialogue, debate, and expression around Social Enterprise.

Carolyn is currently pursuing her Master in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. She built her professional foundation in strategy, management, and finance at VF Corporation and Goldman Sachs. Alongside her full-time roles, she worked on a start-up seeking to support refugee owned and run businesses in the Boston area. She is passionate about creating more sustainable and innovative solutions to public issues.

Carolyn Cannella

Conference Co-Chair, MPP
Laura is a first-year student at HBS. Laura was born and raised in Colombia. She has prior experience in consulting and a personal interest in Education and Sustainability. Laura enjoys living in different places and has worked on 3 different continents. Regarding the Social Enterprise area she is interested in companies upskilling the workforce or tackling sustainability issues.

Laura Bermeo Rincon

Programming Co-Chair, MBA
Rohan from New Delhi, India, is a second-year in the MPA/ID program. Prior to HKS, he set up and led the India operations of the International Innovation Corps (IIC), a development consulting program based at the University of Chicago. At the IIC, Rohan worked closely with government departments, social enterprises, and funders across India on implementation projects. He was also a part of the founding team of the Brookings Institution’s India Center and was Chief of Staff to a Member of the Indian Parliament. He’s interested in political strategy; the interaction of politics, state capacity, and public service delivery; and addressing the gaps between the producers and consumers of knowledge.

Rohan Sandhu

Programming Co-Chair, MPA/ID
Nicole is the HKS Financing Chair for SECON 2021. She is a first-year student in the Master’s in Public Policy program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Nicole is focused on education issues within the United States particularly early education, and is passionate about understanding how the field directly relates to women’s empowerment and social mobility, specifically for women of color. Prior to HKS, Nicole worked in state government at the Massachusetts State House for five years as a legislative aide and later a research analyst for the education committee.

Nicole Venguer

Finance Co-Chair, MPP
Richa is an educator and social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Labhya Foundation, a nonprofit that enables over 2.5 Million children from low socio-economic backgrounds with the necessary skills to cope with the ill-effects of poverty & become lifelong learners through Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs, at scale. Additionally, in 2019, Richa was chosen as the 2019 Country Ambassador (India) to the 10th G(irls)20 Summit in Japan and been recognized by the Takeda Foundation as the ‘Best Entrepreneur 2019’. Richa also serves as a board member for UNICEF India. Currently, Richa is a Master's candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she also serves as an Equity & Inclusion fellow and a Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program Fellow.

Richa Gupta

Programming, MA
Saty likes to say he’s from New York, India - he grew up in New York City but has continued to travel back to India regularly in his adult life. Informed by his cross-border experience, his professional interests are centered around creating more equitable, accessible global healthcare delivery systems. Currently pursuing an MPA at the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Saty has previously worked in corporate advisory, investing, and policy roles, with increasing focuses on health & wellness and digital innovation. His personal interests include film, photography, disco music, eating well (and, unfortunately, cooking poorly), and New York sports.

Saty Rao

Programming, MBA/ MPP
Tim is a first year MBA at HBS. He is from Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea. He went to Penn where he studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics). He then worked at LEK Consulting in Boston for 2.5 years focused on Retail/Consumer. He then switched careers to Bridgespan (nonprofit consulting) where he primarily focused on impact investing clients and impact measurement/evaluation. He also spent 6 months in Bangladesh working at a tech startup (Pathao - transportation “super-app”). He is passionate about impact investing / venture philanthropy and hopes to shift more capital into the impact sector.

Tim Cho

Programming, MBA
Madeleine is a joint MBA/MPP passionate about the intersection of government, technology and public policy. At HKS, she is involved with the Cross-Harvard Study Group on the Future of Work, the Belfer Center’s Technology and Public Purpose Project, and working part time in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Innovation & Strategy Unit. Previously, she worked at Covalent, a tech startup born out of HBS and addressing the skills gap in industrial manufacturing by capturing real-time workforce proficiency data during on-the-job training processes. Before that, she spent 3 years at Mark43, a startup equipping law enforcement agencies with tools to better manage the lifecycle of a 911 event, from call receipt to report writing and case management. This summer, she interned at the Police Executive Research Forum where she brokered open, 'off the record' conversations between police chiefs and sheriffs in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Madeleine Smith

Programming, MBA/ MPP
Drew is a first year MBA student at HBS from Pennsylvania. He started his career consulting at McKinsey & Co before leaving to run Open For Business, a coalition of companies advocating for LGBT+ rights around the world. He is passionate about working with businesses to be champions for human rights, both in their operations and in the societies they work in.

Drew Keller

Programming, MBA
Anand is an HBS Partner, proud Californian and AI entrepreneur that has spent the last 10 years applying Artificial Intelligence and Data Science to traditional sciences. Most recently Anand was the co-founder and CEO of Datmo, an AI consulting and software infrastructure company which was acquired by One Concern, an AI social enterprise solving climate related resilience. Currently he leads One Concern's Global Solutions efforts and in his free time runs, plays piano, produces music, and interviews high-growth social enterprises aiming to Do Well by Doing Good. Anand graduated from UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and holds multiple MS’s from Stanford and UC Berkeley. Fun Fact: While in college, I once played Juliet's father in an 8-minute Bollywood-style Romeo & Juliet Dance show.

Anand Sampat

Operations
Mike is a joint JD / MBA at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Mike was born and raised in the Washington D.C. area, and studied economics and government at Harvard College before working in finance in New York City. While on campus, Mike serves as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and enjoys studying how legal regimes shape business decisions.

Mike Klain

Marketing, MBA/ JD
Kyungla is currently pursuing an MPP(Harvard)/ MBA(Dartmouth). Before grad school, she worked at the IMF, focusing on fiscal policy and public and private debt. During this period, she started an online magazine covering social and political issues in South Korea that provides the younger generation with more unbiased and engaging content. She is interested in increasing female labor force participation and future workforce development in South Korea.

Kyungla Chae

Conference Co-Chair, MPP/ MBA
Kara is a first-year student at HBS. Before school, she worked as a software engineer at Airbnb, first on the policy product team where she built products for regulatory compliance and interfaced with local and national governments to create responsible home sharing regulations. On Airbnb’s social impact team, she worked on a program to facilitate free temporary housing for disaster relief and response, medical travel, and refugee housing. She is passionate about racial and economic justice and hopes to continue to explore the social impact ecosystem during her time at school.

Kara Shen

Programming Co-Chair, MBA
Born to a biologist mom and an economist father, Rodas and her one and only younger brother, were raised within an orthodox tradition that valued collective thinking. As an architect and business professional for over 15 years. She is married to and lives with a man who pushes her to excellence, two courageous kids and two gorgeous dogs. She loves art, traveling, yoga, hiking, African dances and is an innovation enthusiast! Rodas loves chocolate, thrill seeking (done sky diving) and would one day love to visit the tigers in Myanmar.

Rodas Seyoum

Operations Chair, MPP
Ankita is a 1st year MPP student at HKS. Prior to graduate school, she lived in Mumbai where she supported small to mid-sized social enterprises across India to scale, through structured capacity building workshops and one-on-one engagements. Most recently, she was an RA at HBS where she conducted research around hybrid (for-profit/nonprofit) governance models and value chain partnership arrangements in the social enterprise world. Currently, she is a consultant with MIT D-Lab, where she conducts research around advancing gender lens impact investing practices in India. At HKS, she also supports a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy with research around the economic and mental health impact of Covid-19 on survivors of human trafficking.

Ankita Panda

Engagement Chair, MPP
Vanessa is a first-year MPP student from Toronto, Canada. Prior to HKS, she worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse. She also worked on the Sexual & Reproductive Health Global Markets Team of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a global health NGO. At CHAI, she worked with pharmaceutical companies, donors, and governments to increase access to reproductive health commodities in low and middle-income countries.

Vanessa Hung

Programming, MPP
Ken is pursuing a joint MPP/MBA degree with HKS/HBS, and is currently in his RC year at HBS (Section D). He is passionate about unlocking human potential and has worked in various roles related to education entrepreneurship and management. Highlights include, standing up a new liberal arts university in Vietnam (Fulbright University Vietnam), supporting a variety of education clients through BCG’s education practice (e.g., Atlanta Public Schools, Gates Foundation, UNICEF, Georgia State University), and helping to launch Teach For Japan. He grew up in Tokyo, Japan.

Ken Watari

Programming, MBA/ MPP
Dre is a first year MBA student at HBS. Prior to HBS, He spent four years at General Mills in Minneapolis, MN working in corporate finance. At General Mills, he led the financial analysis of new product developments for brands such as EPIC Provisions, Yoplait, and Cascadian Farm. A passion of his is to engage communities to drive business and social action. During his time in Minneapolis, he served the local community as an active board of trustees member at the Minneapolis Foundation, a community foundation with $700M+ in assets.

Dre Cunningham

Programming, MBA
Matt is an MC/MPA who has spent much of the past 20 years living and working in developing countries and serving as a technical consultant or program lead for USAID programs in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, South Africa Nigeria, and Ghana. Matt has a Masters from Thunderbird School of Management. He lives in Washington DC and is passionate about improving lives and livelihoods in developing country contexts.

Matt Weber

Programming, MC/MPA
Siham is a first year MBA student at HBS from Atlanta, Georgia. Passionate about the intersection of business and social impact, she began her career in strategy consulting at Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) where she focused on education projects spanning public and private sector in the US and in the Middle East. Prior to beginning her MBA, she took a leave of absence from BCG to serve as the Assistant Director of Strategy for The Academy Group, a Chicago-based education start-up focused on closing the opportunity and wealth gap for underrepresented students. Siham received her Bachelors of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering with highest honors from Georgia Tech.

Siham Adous

Programming, MBA
Ashley is the founder and CEO of The Convoy. She is an engineer by degree (University of Pittsburgh ‘16) and a proud CPG alum. Prior to HBS, Ashley spent 6 years in r&d where she most recently led the raw materials sustainability strategy at General Mills. She is a non-profit leader and longtime personal development coach. She was awarded in 2019 to the top 50 Women in Business List for Minneapolis/St. Paul. With over a decade of life and career coaching experience her team set out on a mission to personalize happiness through The Convoy. While at General Mills she was pivotal in launching, innovating and renovating products for multi-million dollar brands such as, Old El Paso and Cascadian Farm. In 2019, she was awarded as a General Mills Emerging Young Leader, General Mills Volunteer Champion of the Year and named to the 50 Women in Business List of the Twin Cities. When she is not working or serving you will find Ashley playing with her dog, Sarabi, or relaxing with her Fiancé, Ronnie! (and most likely enjoying an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race)

Ashley McCray

Operations, MBA
Tim is a first year MBA student at HBS. Originally from Sweden, he studied pure mathematics at the University of Glasgow and UC Berkeley before starting his career in finance in London. Before business school, Tim spent 1.5 year working on his own venture - an investment platform that facilitated investments into off-grid solar assets in Africa. On the side of his work, Tim has also been involved in Breaking Barriers, a non-profit helping refugees in the UK gain stable employment, and has also helped set up Shaper Impact Capital - a social network sprung out of the World Economic Forum that connects impact driven entrepreneurs with investors globally.

Tim Backstrom

Finance, MBA
Cyril is a first year (RC) at HBS. He grew up in Atlanta, GA before heading west for undergrad at Stanford University (Class of 2016!), where he studied Management Science & Engineering, International Relations and German Studies. Since graduating Stanford, Cyril has spent the past few years working for Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm, in their Dallas office. At Oliver Wyman, Cyril worked across industries, with a focus on strategy and transportation, hospitality & services. Cyril is hoping to use his time at HBS to pivot to work at the intersection between commercial real estate and community development, specifically addressing ways to further foster investment and development in the US South in a more inclusive, non-gentrifying manner.

Cyril Straughn-Turner

Conference Co-Chair, MBA
Ava is a HKS/HBS joint degree student from Toronto, Canada. She’s worked in a variety of roles in social enterprise, including as Chief of Staff for SunCulture, an agtech start-up in Kenya, and as a Fellow for Endeavor, an accelerator for high-impact start-ups in Chile. She was previously a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She’s excited to keep exploring how social entrepreneurship can advance economic empowerment and financial inclusion in emerging markets.

Ava Zhang

Programming Co-Chair, MBA/ MPP
Ayako is first year(RC) at HBS. She was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan and studied political science at Waseda University in Tokyo. Then Ayako joined Sumitomo Corporation, a Japanese conglomerate, and worked in the steel industry. After working in Tokyo headquarters for four years, she was seconded to the steel processing factory invested by Sumitomo in Hanoi, Vietnam. There, she saw the current business model as “taking advantage of the people in the area where the wages are relatively low”, and hoped to change it to a new business model which realizes both profits and benefits to all stakeholders including employees. At HBS, Ayako wishes to find the direction toward this goal.

Ayako Oguchi

Marketing Chair, MBA
Sara Asad is an MBA/MPA-ID ’23 candidate at the Harvard Business School (HBS) and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). At HKS, Sara is a Rubenstein Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership and serves as the MPA-ID Representative on the Kennedy School Student Government. Prior to graduate school, Sara was a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and was a member of the firm’s Public Sector practice in Washington, D.C. Since joining BCG in 2017, Sara led projects across a variety of topics to enable governments and agencies to maximize public-policy outcomes. Her recent project experiences include defense, healthcare, procurement, and development strategy. Sara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biomedical Engineering cum laude from Harvard College.

Sara Asad

Marketing, MBA/ MPA/ID
Lauren is a second-year student at HKS where she is studying digital government and technology policy. While at Harvard, Lauren has worked with the Air Force’s Kessel Run, the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, the City of New Haven, Connecticut, and the State of New Jersey to enact digital government solutions. Previously, Lauren was a Senior Data Scientist for Digital Products at Nielsen. A California native, Lauren has experience working in California state and local politics.

Lauren Lombardo

Programming, MPP
Courtney Irwin is a first year MBA candidate at HBS. She studied mechanical engineering and worked in the energy industry for 5 years prior to business school. Alongside her career, she led projects to deliver clean, reliable water in Mayan communities in Guatemala.

Courtney Irwin

Engagement, MBA
James is a first year MPA/ID student at the Harvard Kennedy School. Originally from Hong Kong, James has spent his professional life split between the US and the greater China region. Prior to school, James worked at Y Analytics, where he applied economic research to advise capital allocators on investments with maximum social impact. He was also a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he completed a research fellowship at the McKinsey Global Institute in Shanghai, and advised international retail and consumer goods companies. Outside of work, James is a huge fan of literature, film photography, and pop music. James hopes to use his time at HKS to explore new ways evidence can be applied in important decision making contexts.

James Bien

Programming, MPA/ID
Kenza is a first year MPA/ID student at HKS and is pursuing the joint degree with HBS (MBA). Originally from Morocco, she is passionate about how economic development can be catalyzed through improved access to education and workforce development. Prior to HKS, she worked with the impact measurement team at Generation, a fast-growing education-to-employment NGO that recruits, trains and places talent into meaningful careers in 12 countries. She started her career as a consultant in McKinsey & Co., working with organizations across the US, Mexico, Canada, Egypt and Morocco. She is interested in using data science to tell stories and writes regularly on the subject on Medium.

Kenza Bouhaj

Programming, MBA/ MPA/ID
Nikhil is a first year MPA/ID candidate at HKS from India. Nikhil is passionate about using measurement and analytics to improve social impact. Prior to joining HKS, he worked at the measurement team at Pratham Education Foundation, an education-based non-profit in India, where he designed measurement frameworks for Pratham's large scale education programs, and worked on creating an ecosystem of data-based decision making across the organization. His interest in technology and analytics were inspired by his undergraduate degree in engineering, where he led the robotics club of his university. Being a former Teach for India Fellow, teaching Grade 7 and 8 students in an under-resourced school in India, he continues to be passionate about teaching.

Nikhil Swaminathan

Programming, MPA/ID
Catherine Wan is a first-year MBA student at HBS from Los Angeles, California. Before business school, she was in a Leadership Development Program at an animal protein company, rotating through Sales, Operations Finance, Marketing, and Sustainability. Catherine is passionate about sustainable food systems and is currently working at a startup that uses blockchain to help organizations track every instance in their supply chain and prove claimed ESG certifications.

Catherine Wan

Marketing, MBA
Michael is a Master in Public Policy Candidate at Harvard Kennedy School and concurrent MBA Candidate at Dartmouth Tuck. Prior to graduate school, Michael spent six years in the Public Finance Department of Citigroup in the New York and San Francisco offices. At Citi, Michael facilitated the issuance of $10 billion of municipal bonds supporting infrastructure projects for state and local government clients nationwide including airports, seaports, toll roads, mass transit, public universities and water and wastewater utilities. After Citi, he worked for a social impact startup and U.S. Treasury certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in San Francisco, Aura, which has made over $850 million of small credit-building consumer loans to the underbanked. At Aura, Michael led capital markets and treasury strategy, raising the funding for Aura’s primary loan product. His accomplishments include facilitating the issuance of $145 million of social impact bonds (asset backed securitizations) as well as leading the transaction process for a $40 million debt capital raise.

Michael Sanduski

Engagement, MBA/ MPP
Maha is an MBA student at HBS (Class of 2022) from Egypt. Prior to HBS, she spent four years in New York working in policy consulting at Endeavor, a non-profit that builds networks and support for entrepreneurs worldwide. She conducted research projects on entrepreneurial ecosystems to understand what makes them successful and develop strategies for improvement in different cities. Before moving to New York, she studied Economics and Political Science at the American University in Cairo and worked briefly as a journalist in Egypt. Maha is using her time at HBS to explore the intersection between data and social impact and is hoping to pivot into mission-driven tech after HBS.

Maha Abdelazim

Conference Co-Chair, MBA
Mariya was originally born in Russia and grew up in Maryland. After studying Finance and Information Technology at the University of Virginia, Mariya worked in healthcare consulting where she focused on digital transformation and new product development. Prior to HBS, she transitioned to product management at a smart home security company and she looks forward to exploring innovative tech opportunities that serve a social good.

Mariya Balakirskaya

Programming Co-Chair, MBA
Zach is an first-year MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School and SEC's Finance Lead. Originally from Milwaukee, Zach is passionate about equitable economic development strategies that drive good job and wealth creation in underinvested places and communities. Prior to graduate school, he founded the DC Community Anchor Partnership (DCAP), a public-private partnership of major corporations to expand their procurement power with DC-based minority-owned businesses. Since 2017, DCAP has tripled its corporate members’ annual spending with DC black and brown-owned companies, shifting $15+ million in new contracts, creating 85+ jobs, and changing institutional practices and policies to advance economic inclusion. With work experience in policy research and advocacy, impact investment financial services, and nonprofit program leadership, he is particularly interested in business, policy, and collective impact strategies that advance business attraction, small business development, and workforce development. He holds a BA in Economics from George Washington University. He enjoys hiking, trying new cuisines, political dramas, and scuba diving.

Zach Komes

Finance Co-Chair, MBA
Luisa is from Medellín, Colombia. She is an engineer by training, with experience working in the social and public sectors around rural education, economic development and financial wellness. She is a second year student of the Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and interested in social entrepreneurship. She is currently starting a venture to show the bright side of our country to Colombian kids.

Luisa Gomez

Programming, MPP
Caitlin is a student in the MBA class of 2022. Before HBS, she worked at the Boston Consulting Group focusing on pricing strategy across various industries. She is most interested in the role of business in the future of capitalism, specifically the intersection of business, policy, and nonprofits in furthering social missions and creating shared value. Caitlin graduated from Georgia Tech with an MS/BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Caitlin Leksana

Programming, MBA
Osas is a first year MBA student at HBS. She is English by birth but Nigerian by heritage. Osas spent the last 6 years at JPMorgan primarily working with public sector and corporate clients across Africa to invest, mitigate risks to, and develop more expertise in the management of their financial assets.

Osas Idubor-Williams

Programming, MBA
Andrea is a joint MBA/MPP candidate at HBS/HKS passionate about strengthening public-private partnerships to foster entrepreneurship, improve education and leverage technological innovation for public good. With experience across the public, private and social sectors, Andrea has most recently worked at Generation You Employed in Spain, the fastest growing global social venture in the youth unemployment space. Prior to this, Andrea was a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Toronto and a Consultant and Intern to the Under-Secretary General of the Department of Global Communications at the United Nations in New York. Andrea holds a BA&Sc in Economics and Psychology with Distinction from McGill University, where she co-founded a social enterprise. At Harvard, Andrea is a recipient of the David M. Rubenstein Fellowship and the Real Colegio Complutense Fellowship.

Andrea Boza Zanatta

Programming, MBA/ MPP
Elle is a 1st year MPA/ID /MBA(Stanford) from Seoul, South Korea. Most recently, she was Program Manager at Google.org, where she started its impact measurement practice. Previously, she was the Head of Growth at Alter Global (emerging-market focused VC firm) leading expansion to new markets and growing its fellowship program and a consultant at McKinsey & Co, where she helped start its global Social Responsibility team. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in India, where she researched the impact investing landscape. She cares deeply about creating economic opportunity through technology and entrepreneurship.

Elle Kang

Programming, MBA/ MPA/ID
Erika is a dual MBA/MPP student at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Kennedy School. She currently works as an Education Team Consultant for Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where she helps manage EdTech product development and policy advocacy. Prior to graduate school, she focused on education policy research at Annenberg Institute for School Reform, where she co-authored academic publications and developed strategic partnerships between school districts and university researchers. She also managed a nationwide text-messaging program that sent teachers and parents weekly texts with tips on how to improve their child's learning in the classroom and at home. Erika graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University in 2017.

Erika Byun

Operations, MBA/ MPP
Alice is a current MC/MPA student at Harvard Kennedy School. She is also the Chief Operating Officer at World Education Fund and a board member for various nonprofit organizations. In addition, she was a Partner at Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund and a Partner at Yardy Ventures. She acquired an MBA from University of Southern California, a BS in Management Science and a BA in International Studies from University of California, San Diego.

Alice Zhang

Marketing, MC/MPA
Teresa is a dual degree student pursuing Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy and MBA from Stanford GSB. Before HKS, Teresa was the Business Leader of Data Science at Nielsen’s San Francisco office, where she advised local TV stations and led media industry transformations. A private and non-profit sector leader, Teresa has served on the board of iMentor and invests in women and non-binary entrepreneurs through SheEO.

Teresa Chen

Engagement, MBA/ MPP

March 27-28, 2021

Virtual Harvard Business School &
Harvard Kennedy School