A Platform for Service and Leadership: Service Leadership Fellows Program
The daughter of an entrepreneur, Louise Hulme (MBA '03) has always been fascinated by those who create their own companies. Prior to business school, she held several positions in venture capital and consulting firms, hoping to get a sense of what running a business entailed. "I found it a bit hands-off," says the London native. She saw HBS as an avenue for advancing her management skills while exploring two career paths that interested her: starting her own company and working for social good.
Two years after earning her MBA, Hulme has managed to pursue both interests. At HBS, Hulme learned of Endeavor, a New York-based nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Endeavor appealed to Hulme because it seemed to balance the excitement of entrepreneurship with a positive social agenda.
The platform that the SLFP provided has been huge. I now have a real understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurs and funders.
-Louise Hulme (MBA '03)
As she prepared for her job search, Hulme was delighted to see that Endeavor was part of the School's Service Leadership Fellows Program. Like several other nonprofit and governmental organizations, Endeavor has partnered with HBS to place MBAs in high-impact positions in social enterprises. The program provides one-year grants so that the organizations can offer competitive salaries, and it ensures that fellows are placed in positions that take full advantage of an MBA's management and leadership skills.
The role of director of entrepreneur services was ideal for Hulme. "I spent my first four months traveling around the world and meeting and talking with entrepreneurs and benefactors. It was fascinating," she says. "I played the cynic-asking what value Endeavor really offered so I could learn how we could improve our services for entrepreneurs." In addition to gaining exposure to start-up businesses in far corners of the world (including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, and Uruguay), Hulme came to understand how Endeavor functioned as an organization. When she returned to her post in New York, she developed an entrepreneur summit, a periodic event that brings some 200 entrepreneurs in Endeavor's network together to learn from each other.
Toward the end of the fellowship year, Hulme was asked to take on the role of director of finance and administration, a position that provides significant experience in management and operations. "I've gotten so much insight into how a business really works. I report to an incredible board with great experience," she says, admitting that at times she has felt intimidated by the "hotshots" who oversee Endeavor. Ultimately, Endeavor has provided exactly what she wanted in her first job out of HBS: "the right mix of day-to-day issues-accounting, paying bills, legal compliance-and the freedom to get involved with strategic and managerial issues."
After more than two years at Endeavor, Hulme is contemplating her next career move. She intends to pursue private equity in the future. "The platform that the SLFP provided has been huge. I now have a real understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurs and funders." As her career progresses, such an understanding will certainly serve Hulme—and her next employer—well.
Like Louise Hulme, Meredith Weenick (MBA '02) found her one-year Service Leadership Fellowship to be so rewarding that she stayed with the organization once the official fellowship ended. Weenick is now a policy advisor for the City of Boston and is working closely with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
The former director of operations for City Year Boston, deputy director of the Massachusetts Service Alliance, and VP for program and policy for the American Association of State Service Commissioners, Weenick came to HBS with 10 years of nonprofit experience. While the School's Social Enterprise Initiative appealed to Weenick, her primary reason for entering the MBA Program was to gain the business skills that, as an undergraduate English major, she didn't have. "I was very interested in bringing rigor to my formal education, particularly in the areas of finance, accounting, and marketing. These are incredibly important skills that are sometimes lacking in nonprofits."
Weenick was a member of the first cohort of the Service Leadership Fellows Program. "The program appealed to me because it vetted opportunities that were tailor-made for an MBA. All the participating organizations understood what someone with an MBA could bring to the table."
With experience in Boston and an interest in the interplay between the business, government, and nonprofit sectors, Weenick found the Mayor's Office to be a natural fit. She spent her first several weeks meeting people and becoming familiar with how the administration worked. "It's a very entrepreneurial environment here," says Weenick, who quickly immersed herself in a number of projects that captured her interest, such as analyzing the feasibility of living wage and rent stabilization initiatives that the city was considering.
During her fellowship year, Weenick gained wide exposure to several of the mayor's top advisors and worked closely on the city's budget. "It was the first down budget in the mayor's nine years and the first time that budget cuts were required. Figuring out what to cut was a huge challenge facing the city, and all hands were on deck," she recalls. Weenick was able to put the finance and analytical skills she gained at HBS to work and established a track record. While her position has shifted significantly in the two and half years that she's worked for the city, she is still very involved in the budget process.
Weenick now works directly with Mayor Menino on internal management issues and policy development. "The mayor has to worry about everyone and everything," says Weenick. "Public education, poverty, jobs, housing, kids, older people-we have to watch out for society's most vulnerable people." While such work is challenging, it is a challenge that Weenick feels prepared to take on. "The rubber really hits the road when resources are scarce. When what you are doing really impacts lives, you have to be as smart as possible. It's important work."