On the evening of February 28, 2019, 30 HBS alumni gathered at the home of Sarah Perry (MBA 1995) and Tony Kingsley (MBA 1991) for a Business and Society “Jeffersonian” dinner, one of an inaugural series of alumni conversations focused on broader societal issues that HBS alums are uniquely positioned to impact. Modeled after dinners Thomas Jefferson held at Monticello and the White House, these dinners are taking place across the country as a way to build connections and share conversation. For our table, guests were given the following topic primer along with some reading prior to the event: [...]

On Friday, May 18th, from dawn until dusk, 75 HBS alumni gathered in Google’s Community Space overlooking the San Francisco Bay to “hack” an issue causing growing anxiety all around us: the future of work. As we all witness on an almost daily basis, the world of work is constantly changing at an ever-increasing pace. Technological breakthroughs are upending traditional work everywhere—from grocery store self-checkout stands to software automating bookkeeping—and causing both displacement and new opportunities for workers. Many see it as an inevitable brewing storm.  [...]

Over the course of its inception two years ago, the Social Enterprise Initiative’s Alumni for Impact program has focused on connecting alumni within geographies and within subsectors of the social sector (the impact investing alumni group is an example) as well as developing platforms that enable knowledge sharing from faculty to alumni and from alumni to alumni (in the form of our quarterly newsletter, this blog, alumni webinars, and HBX). [...]

Social Enterprise, founded in 1993, was the first established Initiative at Harvard Business School. SEI came to later serve as a model for the School to address topics that sit at the intersection of business and society and do not fit neatly within traditional academic disciplines. Today, there are a total of eight Initiatives at HBS that cover a range of topics from sectors of the economy to societal issues. [...]

For 30 years, HBS Association of Northern California’s Community Partners has mobilized more than 800 Bay Area alumni to help over 300 non-profit organizations through pro bono consulting engagements and brainstorming sessions. – from the Exploratorium, to #YesWeCode, to the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation. Recently, HBS Community Partners has witnessed HBS Association of Northern California Community Partners has recently witnessed widespread alumni interest in volunteering their business skills and expertise not just to non-profits, but also to local government. [...]