Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative Adds Two New Members To Advisory Board
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BOSTON—The Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative, which engages with the nonprofit, for-profit, and public sectors to generate knowledge and apply managerial disciplines and innovative practices to drive sustained, high-impact social change, announced today that it has named two new members to its advisory board: Gerald Chertavian (MBA 1992), founder and CEO of Year Up, and Joanna Jacobson (MBA 1987), founder and managing partner of Strategic Grant Partners. Composed of HBS alumni and other leaders in the field of social enterprise, the Advisory Board offers guidance and counsel to the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, which was created in 1993 by former Dean John H. McArthur, along with other faculty and staff, and initially supported by the generosity of John C. Whitehead (MBA 1947), the Advisory Board's chair emeritus and former co-chair of Goldman Sachs Inc., former Deputy Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, and former chair of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Gerald Chertavian founded Year Up in 2000. Year Up, an organization dedicated to closing the Opportunity Divide in America, is now one of the fastest- growing nonprofit organizations in the United States. It provides an intensive one-year training and education program that serves low-income youth, ages 18 to 24, to empower them to make successful transitions to careers and higher education. Chertavian began his career on Wall Street. He then co-founded Conduit Communications in 1993 and fostered its growth to $20 million in annual revenues. After selling Conduit in 1999, he turned his full attention to social enterprise. Joanna Jacobson founded Strategic Grant Partners (SGP) in 2002 after holding senior management positions in private industry. SGP invests in leaders who have game changing ideas to improve the lives of struggling individuals and families. SGP has provided a total of $26 million in grants to support people and families in Massachusetts. In addition, it establishes close working partnerships with those it assists, while helping them develop both strategic plans and tactical support for issues requiring implementation. SGP includes 15 family foundations in Massachusetts and has raised a third round of funding to continue to support this work. "We are very pleased to add these two outstanding leaders to our board," said V. Kasturi Rangan, the School's Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing and co-chair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative. "Their expertise, insights, and innovative approaches have led them to extraordinary success in both the profit and not-for-profit sectors. Given the complexity of the societal issues before us, there is a great need for people like Joanna and Gerald who have a passion for helping society and the array of skills that enable them to do it effectively." Chertavian and Jacobson join a distinguished board headed by Thomas J. Tierney (MBA 1980), chair and co-founder, The Bridgespan Group. The board's other members are Nancy M. Barry (MBA 1975), president, Nancy Barry Associates – " Enterprise Solutions to Poverty; David V.B. Britt, retired president and CEO, Sesame Workshop; David A. Dechman (MBA 1987), CEO, Summit Rock Advisors; Steven B. Klinsky (MBA 1979, JD 1981), founder and CEO, New Mountain Capital, LLC, and founder, Victory Schools, Inc.; Stanley S. Litow, vice president, IBM Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs and president, IBM International Foundation; HBS Dean Emeritus John H. McArthur; Steven J. McCormick, president, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Richard L. Menschel (MBA 1959), senior director, Goldman Sachs and president, Charina Endowment Fund; Eliot I. Snider (MBA 1943), president and chairman, Massachusetts Lumber Company and former chair, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Inc.; and Andrew H. Tisch (MBA 1977), co-chair and chair of the Executive Committee, Loews Corporation. The Social Enterprise Initiative at HBS acts as a catalyst for creating social value by serving as a focal point for the creativity and energy of its worldwide community. These efforts have manifested themselves in a number of areas. At HBS, these range from the participation of approximately 90 faculty members in social enterprise research and teaching to the creation of over 500 social enterprise cases and teaching notes by HBS faculty members. Courses that focus on social enterprise are embedded into the MBA curriculum and HBS Executive Education program offerings, reflecting a real-world blending of business and social issues. Beyond the classroom, the Initiative offers career development and community engagement programs designed to support students and alumni who are engaged in the social sector. In 2010, six percent of the graduating class pursued career positions in social enterprise; 94 students participated in the Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship program; more than 500 practitioners attended HBS Social Enterprise executive education programs; and HBS alumni provided more than $10 million in services through alumni club-based pro bono consulting programs. Over the years, research forums and conferences sponsored by the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative have examined a wide range of topics, including Nonprofit Strategy, Business Leadership in the Social Sector, Consumer-Driven Health Care, Global Poverty, Public Education, The Future of Social Enterprise, and High-Impact Philanthropy. Research generated from these forums and conferences has been published in special editions of leading academic journals, books, and other publications. |
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