By Paul Connolly, SOM’91

The Winter 2007 issue of the PSE Newsletter has two feature articles from alumni who are in the field of nonprofit consulting, a popular next step for SOM graduates. Paul Connolly gives us the perspective of a seasoned professional, while Kate Greene talks about the experience of staffing a project as a senior associate. –Eds.

My role in consulting to philanthropies and nonprofits has been an experience of great learning and continuous growth. In addition to recounting the unique experiences that led me to my current position, I would like to share some of the insights I have gained from working in this dynamic field, and some notable developments I have observed in the nonprofit arena.

At college, I studied city and regional planning and provided direct services to nonprofit organizations on a voluntary basis. After graduation, I worked for the New York City government in the department that designed and constructed public facilities such as jails, libraries and courthouses. After three years, my role had expanded greatly, but I desired a greater challenge.

Yale SOM attracted me due to its multi-sector approach to management. In the process of completing my MPPM, my interest in nonprofit management developed, especially after taking the course in “Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations” taught by Sharon Oster and Stan Garstka. After graduating from SOM in 1991, I worked as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations for a few years until one of my clients offered me a position. I spent the next three and a half years at the Nonprofit Facilities Fund (now called Nonprofit Finance Fund), a community development financial institution that provides facility-related loans and management assistance to nonprofits.

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By Kate Greene, SOM’06

Earlier this year, Community Servings, a Boston-based nonprofit serving meals to the critically ill, contacted my nonprofit consulting firm, TDC, for help with a prospective earned income venture. In the midst of building a new facility that would double its capacity to make meals, the senior staff wanted to know if there was a viable market for selling meals wholesale to other nonprofits, such as charter schools and senior centers.

This was an exciting project for me to take on—the chance to work with an entrepreneurial human services organization to develop a business plan. At SOM, I had worked on similar projects through the Yale-Goldman Sachs business planning competition and learned about earned income ventures through Sharon Oster’s Strategic Management of Nonprofits course, but I could now apply these skills as a professional, post-MBA consultant.

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By Nadia Gomes, SOM’07

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, SOM’86, was named President and CEO of Women’s World Banking this past September. Heading up a global non-profit organization, Ms. Iskenderian oversees its inspiring mission of supporting economic development for low-income women by providing access to finance, knowledge, and markets.

With over 20 years of experience in development finance and the creation of global financial systems, Ms. Iskenderian previously held several leadership positions with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and the world’s largest investor in emerging markets.

As microfinance continues to gain attention from both private and social sector interests worldwide, the Yale School of Management was pleased to host Ms. Iskenderian as the keynote speaker at the 2nd annual Future of Philanthropy Conference on November 10th, 2006. Nadia Gomes had the opportunity to interview Ms. Iskenderian following her keynote address and delve a little deeper into a field that will certainly play a pivotal role in the future of social enterprise.

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Yale School of Management alumnus Dr. Lawrence Pratt ’93 was honored with one of five 2006 Faculty Pioneer Awards from the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program. The annual awards celebrate MBA faculty who have demonstrated leadership and risk-taking in integrating social and environmental issues into academic research, educational programs, and business practice. Pratt was awarded the External Impact Award, which recognizes positive and visible impact on business or organizational management practices in the areas of social and environmental impact.

Dr. Pratt is professor and associate director for the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development at INCAE Business School in Alajuela, Costa Rica. He is the founder and director of the internationally recognized Ecobanking Project and the Sustainable Markets Intelligence Center at INCAE, and his research focuses on incorporating sustainability into the strategic positioning of countries, industries, and firms.

Candidates for the Faculty Pioneer Awards are nominated by their academic peers and finalists are selected by a panel of corporate judges. This year, eighty nominations were accepted from a dozen countries on five continents.

Pratt received the award from SOM alumna Judith Samuelson ’82, executive director of the Business and Society Program, at a ceremony in New York City on November 10, 2006.

By Fawzia Ahmed, SOM’07

The Program on Social Enterprise collaborated with Stewards of Change (co-founded by Daniel Stein, SOM ’87) to co-host a conference for child welfare professionals, “Technological Innovation: Creating the New Child Welfare Business Model.” The theme of this year’s conference, which took place at the Yale School of Management from November 13th to 15th, focused specifically on technological innovations that could be applied to improving child welfare services and outcomes.

Speakers spanned multiple sectors with the expectation that technologies used in other areas, such as in healthcare, education or the courts, could spur ideas for uses in child welfare. Panel participants included: Terrie Gray from Pearson Learning and PowerSchools, who discussed innovations in K-12 student information systems; Phil Longman from the New America Foundation, who discussed the development of medical records in the Veterans Administration hospitals; and David Schwartz from Q-linx, Inc., who discussed neural networks and their applicability in predictive analytics to assist in identifying children at risk.

Yale SOM professors also gave talks helping to spur ideas. Barry Nalebuff ran a session on creative problem solving, based on his book Why Not?, while Sharon Oster discussed technological innovations across sectors, and K. Sudhir talked about the uses of predictive analytics in marketing.

By the end of the conference, participants had drawn up long lists of ideas on poster boards surrounding the GM Room at the Yale School of Management. These ideas were the culmination of brainstorming sessions in which they debated how to import and adapt technological innovations for child welfare. Stewards of Change will use these ideas as a springboard for further research, and the professionals involved in the conference will take them back to their agencies.

More about Stewards of Change

On September 20, John Weiser SOM’84 presented his new book, Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets. This book is a practical guide for managers on how to buy from, hire from, and sell to underserved markets in ways that create benefits for corporations and communities alike. While previous books have touted business opportunities in underserved markets, Untapped outlines the specific strategies necessary to turn this business concept into a detailed business model.

More on John Weiser | More about Untapped