“In tech,” Henry Tsai (MBA 2017) says, “it’s ingrained in you to ask, ‘Where can I be impactful?’” After a summer internship serving in the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, Henry’s target location came into view. “Of all the different levels of government, cities are the closest thing to a business. Strategically, it made sense to look at public sector service at the city level.” [...]

While Mizuho Kanai (MBA 2018) was fulfilling her summer internship at NPR, her manager recommended that she read an HBS case study about how the Sesame Workshop CEO, Jeff Dunn (MBA 1981), was changing the institution. “I was blown away,” she says, “by how Jeff and his team were bringing business rigor to the institution.” [...]

The Leadership Fellows Program at Harvard Business School is based on University Professor Michael Porter’s vision of developing a network of HBS graduates with cross-sector experience who are committed to addressing societal issues throughout their careers. The Fellowship is a two-way commitment in which graduating students are offered once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to experience high-impact management positions in nonprofit and public sector organizations for one year at a competitive salary. At the same time, the hiring organizations leverage the experience, energy, and strategic and analytical skills of MBAs in roles that produce immediate results and build long-term capacity. [...]

The goal of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Harlem. It offers a tightly woven pipeline of wraparound, cradle-through-college services to children, families, and the community, all within a 97-square-block zone in Harlem. Currently, HCZ has 861 students in college, a 97% college acceptance rate, and 20+ programs that serve over 13,000 students and over 14,000 adults in Harlem. My role is as an advisor to the COO (who is an HBS/HKS grad). Under his guidance, my projects have included working on a strategy to support coordinated enrichment efforts across seventeen afterschool sites, piloting a STEM initiative for elementary and middle school classrooms, and providing strategic recommendations to strengthen our academic case management model, which has supported thousands of students on the path to college and career readiness. [...]

During the year, we’re connecting with some of our 2017-18 HBS Leadership Fellows, to hear about their backgrounds and their experiences in the Fellowship year. Read on to learn more about Verdell Walker’s (MBA ‘17) experience at Sesame Workshop. [...]