Brian L. Trelstad

Brian L. Trelstad

William Henry Bloomberg Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Joseph L. Rice, III Faculty Fellow

William Henry Bloomberg Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
Joseph L. Rice, III Faculty Fellow

 

Brian Trelstad is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School in the General Management Unit and the Faculty Chair of the Advanced Leadership Initiative. He teaches elective courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change and Investing for Impact, and the first-year required courses on the Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) and Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA).  His research focuses on social entrepreneurship, systems change, impact investing, and the role of business in society. 

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Brian L. Trelstad
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(617) 495-6963
Publications Research Summary Teaching Awards & Honors
Overview
The focus of my research is on the systems of social innovation. How small groups of individuals come up with new products and services targeting important problems; how they finance these initial efforts, and convert prototypes into viable organizational strategies; how they fund the growth of a new organization (for profit, non profit, or hybrid); how that organization seeks to scale to solve the social problem, initially acting directly and alone, but eventually in concert with other actors in the relevant field; how leaders effectively catalyze a field to work collectively, and how we think about measuring the effect of their efforst.
Keywords: (General) Management; Social Business; Non-profit Management; Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Entrepreneurial Finance; System Dynamics; Non-profit; Evaluation; Impact Investing; Venture Philanthropy; Social Enterprise Initiative; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Civil Society or Community; System; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry; Health Industry; Energy Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Public Administration Industry; Service Industry

 

Brian Trelstad is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School in the General Management Unit and the Faculty Chair of the Advanced Leadership Initiative. He teaches elective courses on Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Change and Investing for Impact, and the first-year required courses on the Social Purpose of the Firm (SPF) and Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA).  His research focuses on social entrepreneurship, systems change, impact investing, and the role of business in society. 

Brian is also a Partner and Board Member at Bridges Fund Management, an impact investing fund that invests in health, education and environmental services business.  Prior to Bridges, Brian was the Chief Investment Officer of Acumen, where he oversaw investments in South Asia and Africa. Brian is a founding board member of Impact Capital Managers, a national membership association of impact investors in the United States and a founding board member of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Prior to Acumen, Brian worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, was a lead environmental staff person at the Corporation for National Service. He has been involved in a range of non-profit and for-profit start ups.  Brian serves on the boards of Candid, the Global Development Incubator and Digitals Commons and is both a Kauffman Fellow of the Center for Venture Education and a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

Brian has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and an MA in City & Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley. From 2012 to 2019, he taught a graduate course in social entrepreneurship at Princeton University’s School for Public and International Affairs.  

Cases and Teaching Materials
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
Research Summary
Overview
The focus of my research is on the systems of social innovation. How small groups of individuals come up with new products and services targeting important problems; how they finance these initial efforts, and convert prototypes into viable organizational strategies; how they fund the growth of a new organization (for profit, non profit, or hybrid); how that organization seeks to scale to solve the social problem, initially acting directly and alone, but eventually in concert with other actors in the relevant field; how leaders effectively catalyze a field to work collectively, and how we think about measuring the effect of their efforst.
Keywords: (General) Management; Social Business; Non-profit Management; Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Entrepreneurial Finance; System Dynamics; Non-profit; Evaluation; Impact Investing; Venture Philanthropy; Social Enterprise Initiative; Advanced Leadership Initiative; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Civil Society or Community; System; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry; Health Industry; Energy Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Public Administration Industry; Service Industry
Teaching
Short Intensive Program (SIP): Effective Strategic Philanthropy
Non-profit organizations and social enterprises play an important role in every country in the world: as laboratories for social innovation, as the delivery system for critical goods and services at scale, as the stewards of our cultural heritage, and as advocates for a more just and inclusive society. About 12% of HBS alumni currently work full-time in the social sector, and about 85% will serve on a non-profit board at some point, and almost all of you will be donors to, investors in, or volunteers for a rich diversity of social sector organizations over the course of your lives. This SIP will take a closer look at how to be an effective and strategic partner to the rapidly evolving social sector, be that as a philanthropist, impact investor, board member, employee or corporate partner. Whether you plan to invest your money or your time (as a volunteer, board member or employee), the SIP will use a mixture of readings, role-plays, and class discussions, combined with perspectives from a range of alumni active in the philanthropic and social sectors to help you define your own strategy for effective engagement and prepare for the field's rapidly evolving future.
Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Combining the tools of philanthropy, business and advocacy (or mission, margin and mandate), social entrepreneurs have tackled long-standing societal issues like teacher training, college access, global public health, renewable energy and sanitation.  Social entrepreneurs seek to maximize social impact while sometimes satisfying a financial return; some use purely charitable approaches while others build attractive for-profit ventures.  And yet others rely on the government to scale up through advocacy or political change. These hybrid organizations are blurring traditional organizational boundaries while reshaping a diverse number of fields. But who are these social entrepreneurs?  What’s in their DNA? Are the organizations they start traditional non-profits, but just bringing business discipline into their management?  Or are they traditional for-profit companies that have spotted new markets and opportunities in the delivery of social or environmental benefits? Or, are they something entirely new?  And what kind of capital-from grants to guarantees to social venture capital-is being used to fuel these nonprofits, companies, and campaigns as they grow from early stage ideas to national or international demonstration models?
Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizations; Social Enterprise; Civil Society or Community; System
Related Link: http://www.hbs.edu/coursecatalog/1585.html
Field Course: Social Innovation Lab
Co-taugh with Prof. John Kim
This course provides students an opportunity to use the discipline of entrepreneurial management, innovative design thinking as well as business tools and techniques to address social innovation topics that attempt to improve the quality of life of low-income and poor individuals and households anywhere in the world (including USA). For example a past year’s team explored a potential business model to deliver nutritious and affordable groceries in poor neighborhoods. The course will also accept projects that attempt to solve a strategic problem for a client organization in the social sector. For example a past year’s team developed a national scaling strategy for an urban youth services organization. Topics on education, impact investing, financial technology, among others are all topics which previous teams have worked on.
Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Social Enterprise
Related Link: http://www.hbs.edu/coursecatalog/6582.html
Overview
My teaching focuses on innovation and effectiveness in the social sector. My principal course is on Social Entrepreneurship & Systems Change, and it tries to understand how small teams launch new initiatives to solve big, global, systemic problems. I also teach Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA) in the required curriculum.
Awards & Honors
Selected for the Henry Crown Fellowship Program at the Aspen Institute in 2010.
Selected for the Kauffman Fellowship Program in 2009.
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