Alumni: Jeff Kutash and Richard Menschel
One vitally important way that our graduates make a difference in the world is through their leadership in social enterprise, as managers and board members of nonprofits and as corporate leaders engaging their businesses in social-purpose activities. Over 80 percent of HBS graduates are significantly involved with nonprofit organizations, and 57 percent are board members. Jeff Kutash (MBA '00) is applying his HBS skills as a nonprofit manager, and Richard Menschel (MBA '59) as a nonprofit board leader.
Jeff Kutash, MBA 2000
Director of Bay Area Operations, The SEED Foundation
I grew up in suburban New Jersey and went to a high school where we had advanced placement classes, great guidance counselors, and most kids had two parents who were educated professionals. It was never a question of whether you were going to college, it was just a matter of where.
Moving to Philadelphia to go to the University of Pennsylvania was my first experience living in an urban environment. It was eye-opening to see schools in the city with basketball rims torn down, crack vials out front, and graffiti everywhere. I immediately wondered how good kids who wanted to succeed could make it in an environment like that. I knew then that I wanted to work to help kids who did not grow up with the same advantages I had to overcome the odds. That has been my passion for the last 15 years.
After college I spent three years teaching math in a public bilingual middle school in the South Bronx through Teach For America. I then became director of programs at the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, a nonprofit that runs educational support services for urban youth. After a year there, I was managing a staff and a $2 million budget. I was running a business, and I had no business training whatsoever. It became clear to me that a business school education would help me learn skills that would allow me to maximize my impact.
I decided to go to HBS almost reluctantly. I was convinced that my classmates wouldn't understand my interest in nonprofit management. I was equally convinced that HBS was the right place for me because it would give me the rigorous academic foundation that I wanted. I was very wrong on the former assumption and very right on the latter. My classmates were an amazing collection of individuals, many of whom had social enterprise interest or experience. And although throughout Corporate Financial Management I wished the classes weren't so rigorous, I truly appreciate-and use-the academic skills I gained at HBS.
After earning my MBA, my goal remained to work in the social sector on behalf of
kids, but I thought that it was important to hone my business skills in the
private sector first. After two years at McKinsey in San Francisco, I joined The
Bridgespan Group and spent a
fantastic year doing nonprofit consulting.
Today, I am the director of Bay Area operations for The SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that opened the nation's first urban public boarding school in Washington, D.C., in 1998. The SEED School is built on a proactive model of helping high-risk urban youth who need a change in their home environments to succeed academically and personally. Our first class-in D.C.-will graduate this year and almost all are going on to four-year colleges prepared for success.
My role is to open a SEED School in the Bay Area. As the lone wolf in this region, my job entails everything from building community support for the project, to identifying public and private funding streams, to locating and developing a facility. Every day I am using skills that I gained at HBS and in the business world. My job is extremely rewarding, entrepreneurial, and challenging. If everything goes well, we'll enroll our first students in September 2006.
My advice to people who work in nonprofits and who are considering going to HBS
is, don't get scared off by the "B" in HBS.
The School teaches leadership, management, and the core basics of business-so
critical in running a successful social enterprise. I am grateful that I have
been able to use that business education to have a deep impact on urban youth
and their education.
Richard Menschel, MBA 1959
Senior Director, Goldman Sachss
I have always believed in seeking out opportunities to apply my skills not only to my career but also to my involvement in the social sector. It was during my time at Harvard Business School that this belief really took shape. HBS gave me confidence and also helped broaden my reach and perspective to see the
potential to have impact on people's lives.
I graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in economics and finance in 1955, and went immediately into the Air Force, stationed in Turkey. In 1957 I decided to apply to business school, and I only applied to Harvard. I had an interest in publishing as well as investment banking, and thought business school would be a positive transition from my time in the military.
Immediately after HBS, I went to Goldman Sachs, and I like to tell people
that I never got promoted! I literally stayed with it my entire
career, heading up what is one-half of what we now call the Equity area of our
business. I became a partner at the end of 1968, went on the management
committee at the end of 1980, became a limited partner at the end of 1988, and
am now senior director. These days I keep
an office at the firm, serving as a "psychiatrist" to people who I
used to work with, meeting with newer people when issues come up, and, now and
then, introducing business to the firm. Most of my current professional
involvement is serving on boards of nonprofit organizations.
Through my role on nonprofit boards, I feel that I'm also having an impact by doing meaningful work in important fields that interest me, such as education, public health and medicine, and a bit in the arts. My first nonprofit involvement was in the very early 1960s with the Harvard Business School Club of New York; then in the 1970s, I joined the board of the Joffrey Ballet when it was in New York. I've been involved with a number of foundations, particularly the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, which gave me the opportunity for exposure to many nonprofit organizations. I've looked for organizations that are unique, have strong executive directors, and offer an opportunity to make a difference in fields that interest me. My board involvement has included the Hospital for Special Surgery, for which I was chairman for 11 and a half years; Morgan Library; Storm King; New York City's Panel for Educational Policy; the Vera Institute for Justice; Harvard School of Public Health; and Harvard Business School. For each, I've tried to be innovative, tried to bring a new voice and a little twist to things. I've attempted to get a greater sense of the organizations and what their specialties are, and I've also met an interesting cross section of people.
As I mentioned, I think my time at HBS helped to set the tone for my involvement in the social sector. For this reason, I continue to stay involved with the School through the Social Enterprise Initiative Advisory Board and support programs that help students make nonprofit career decisions. I think it's important to have Social Enterprise at HBS to expose leaders to these issues at an earlier age. Many of these organizations are complex, with very large budgets, and nonprofit managers or board members can have high levels of responsibility early in their careers. Our graduates can help guide these organizations, and yet run them with heart, too.
Finding balance is so important. I often say to young people that you've got your vocation, your avocation, and your personal life-and that each is of the utmost importance. But they're all not perfect at the same time, so applying yourself to each area helps to make you whole.