Fall 2022 Georgetown Business Magazine

PHOTOGRAPH: GETTY IMAGES/ LUKCHAI CHAIMONGKON

Climate change is one of many complex issues that require businesses to collaborate across sectors on a global scale.

Business as a Force for Change

A World View

From geopolitical issues to the complexities of global health, the world is facing unprecedented challenges. The inclination may be to retreat within borders, but globalization in business is now more important than ever.

As the world grapples with disruptions to geopolitical realities, including the ongoing effects of global health challenges, businesses are reckoning with changing globalization sentiments. What is the future of business in this new global landscape?

Paul Almeida, dean and William R. Berkley Chair, shares his thoughts on why a global perspective remains a critical component of business even as societies take a more inward view, and why he believes interdisciplinary collaboration holds the key to creating a more just world.

Recent events have stirred a rising anti-globalization sentiment across the world. What is your view on global trends in business?

The convergence of ongoing economic, political, and cultural shifts have inspired new debate on the importance of globalization efforts, but just as these conversations are underway, the world’s biggest problems continue to grow more interconnected and complex. Issues such as climate change, health disparities, and the rapid pace of technological advancement cannot be addressed by any single entity acting alone. Now more than ever, global collaboration is essential in building sustainable solutions to today’s challenges.

With increasing complexity and scale of these global problems, how can businesses play a strategic role in the solutions?

Businesses are uniquely positioned to implement change at a faster rate than other sectors thanks, in large part, to their agility, rate of innovation, focus on results, and multinational scope. In today’s business climate, we are now beginning to see more companies focus on how they can both achieve their economic goals and simultaneously act as good stewards of the world’s resources. Business will always play a pivotal role in shaping the global landscape, but in order to create meaningful change, we must share a collective responsibility to look beyond short-term economic interests and work together for the interest of all. Business can and must be the greatest force for positive change and for serving the common good.

Why is it important for educational institutions, like Georgetown, to focus on building global mindsets?

Since their early origins, the Society of Jesus transcended boundaries in order to live out their mission to promote the common good. These are the values that inspire the work we do at Georgetown. To develop business practices that positively impact our world, we must better understand our global neighbors and see the world through their eyes. It is imperative that our future leaders experience international perspectives firsthand, learn to emphasize collaboration across disciplines, find power in diversity, and view the world’s problems as their own. Only then will we develop leaders who are empowered to reach across continents and shape the future of our world, for the better.

Lisa Thompson (left) and Amanda Laird Cherry founded Ivy Citizens in hopes of making an environmental impact in the not-so-green fashion industry.

can I make a positive impact in this notoriously horrid industry?”

Dean, William R. Berkley Chair Paul Almeida

Associate Dean, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Teresa Mannix

Director of Marketing and Communications Samantha Krause

Director of Alumni Relations Lauren Apicella

Creative Direction 2communiqué

Editorial Direction Dog Ear Creative

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Briefings

Empowering Saudi Women Entrepreneurs

Georgetown’s Custom Executive Edu cation program partnered with the Atlantic Council’s empowerME initiative to support Saudi women entrepreneurs through a new Women Innovators (WIn) Fellowship—an opportunity for 33 women in the Middle East and North Africa to build their leadership and executive capacity and scale their startups. The unique collaboration provides ongoing mentorship and networking opportunities with leading global experts and executives, a tailored executive education program de livered by Georgetown faculty, and profes sional development workshops. The program culminates in a trip to Washington, D.C., where Saudi women have the opportunity to engage in leadership training at Georgetown University and meet with key United States business and government leaders.

Georgetown’s Center for Business and Public Policy Celebrates 20 Years

For 20 years, the Center for Business and Public Policy has remained committed to advancing interdisciplinary discussions at the nexus of business and policy. The center was founded in 2002 by John Mayo, Elsa Carlson McDonough Chair of Business Administration, and has since expanded into a network of nearly 40 senior policy scholars, academics, industry fellows, and affiliates who are exploring critical issues in the areas of competition, regulation, and innovation across a diverse range of industries and economic sectors.

Positioned in the global capital city of Washington, D.C., the Center for Business and Public Policy has become a trusted source for cross-displinary commentary and analysis on key policy issues, including the digital economy, international trade, infra structure, healthcare markets, and behavioral approaches to the relationship between public policy and business, government, and civil society.

Elevating Disability Pride

Tiffany Yu (B’10) is flipping the script on how the world views disabilities through her company, Diversability—an award-winning movement designed to elevate disability pride, foster community, and create a sense of belonging. Yu founded Diversability while studying at Georgetown, which originally started as a student club centered around disability identity and celebrating disability culture. The club has since expanded into a fully fledged business and ecosystem of nearly 60,000 diverse members across eight cities.

Yu also focuses on advancing disability initiatives at Georgetown. Through a generous seed gift from Yu and a crowdfunding effort from the community, Georgetown University established the Disability Empowerment Endowment Fund, launching in 2023.

TIFFANY YU (B’10) ON:

New Flexible Formats for MBA and MSF

To further expand on the reach and flexibility of the Flex MBA and M.S. in Finance (MSF) pro grams, McDonough will offer two new formats: the Flex MBA Online and the Accelerated MSF.

The Flex MBA Online delivers the same de gree as the in-person program with the added convenience of virtual classes. Students will participate in synchronous and asynchronous coursework with two week-long residencies in Washington, D.C., as well as the Global Business Experience (GBE).

The Accelerated MSF shortens the traditional 21-month track of the program in half, giving students the flexibility to complete their degree in just 10 months while maintaining the academic rigor and cutting-edge blended online learning format that defines the Georgetown MSF degree, including the signature GBE.

New Program Makes the Case for Green Business

A diverse and passionate group of 45 students arrived on the Hilltop to participate in a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary degree designed to prepare professionals to make the business case for sustainability. The M.S. in Environment and Sustainability Management program is a joint offering between the Earth Commons Institute, the McDonough School of Business, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences that combines the principles of environmental science with a foundation in business management in order to prepare leaders to effectively address global sustainability goals.

Among the first cohort, 40% previously studied environment or natural sciences and 24% studied business. The class also brings robust international perspectives and represents 20 countries. Women comprise 60% of the incoming class and 25% identify as an underrepresented minority.

“ To lead an organization, you need to see the connections between different disciplines and areas of public policy and business. If you stay curious, you have a tremendous advantage among peers. ”

—PAUL FREEDMAN (L’96), EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUNSEL, AND CORPORATE SECRETARY OF AES CORPORATION, SPEAKING TO STUDENTS IN THE DIKRAN IZMIRLIAN

PROGRAM IN BUSINESS AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS DURING A STANTON DISTINGUISHED LEADERS SERIES EVENT.

THE INTERVIEWER Andrew Chuang (BGA’23) Dikran Izmirlian Program in Business and Global Affairs

Talking Shop

Lessons learned in conversation: how to foster your network.

Andrew Chuang (BGA’23) recently connected with Timothy “Tito” Torres (IBP’21), senior advisor, strategy and external relations at Special Operations Association of America, to discuss their shared interest in business and international affairs, both having been enrolled in joint programs between the McDonough School of Business and the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Can you tell me about your background? How did you end up where you currently are?

I enlisted in the military after high school and spent the majority of my career in the 75th Ranger Regiment. I then served as an exchange officer with a British Special Forces unit. It was during that time that I realized the impact I could have by bringing my on-the-ground experience into a more strategic arena. That drove me to drastically alter my career and pursue the diplomatic roles that eventually led me to Georgetown.

Now that you have a degree that mixes business and international relations, how is that helping you in your career? What I learned in this program, both the material in the courses and what I learned from other students in my cohort, has given me confidence in identifying strategic opportunities I would not have seen a few years ago. My education has directly contributed to numerous opportunities and success since leaving the MA-IBP pro gram. At times I lean on topics I learned at McDonough and at other times it’s leaning on Walsh. The world is becoming more connected and fluid everyday. The world needs broad experts and often it is one project or event that elevates your expertise in the view of others. The squishy zone where all of this collides is where Georgetown University is leading.

LANDING

THE INTERVIEWEE

How important was your network in your journey?

The network is the most important. People are everything, and how you treat people is the key to everything. I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who gave their time to guide and mold me. It is a priority in my life to be the same type of mentor to others. We owe it to the next generation to help them make fewer mistakes than we made. So I try to invest in people when I have an opportunity, as my mentors did for me.

Building a network is about treating people with respect and approaching every new interaction as a chance to help someone. If you are always looking to help others, it is returned tenfold over time.

The last thing I’ll say is that being an undergraduate is a very interesting and exciting position to be in. The George town name and community means a lot to alumni. Any professor or alumnus you are interested in talking to or learn ing from: send that email, make that cold call. I still do this all the time. Intellectual curiosity matched with consistent contact will help you find mentors, collaborators, people, and partners who will change your world for the better.

How can a student succeed in this space? What makes them stand out?

Don’t be afraid to explore both what you want to do and what you don’t want to do. It’s about figuring out what your passion is and things will begin to fall into place. Everyone at George town is talented, so it’s about leveraging what works best for you. We need young professionals in the defense and national security space, and undergraduates sometimes sell themselves short on the expertise and insight they bring. What hard skills or specific path you need to stand out is very specific to where you want to be—private sector, public sector, etc.—but what will always help is the network you build.

What is a question you don’t get asked enough?

I am aware that my background puts me in rooms that would normally be closed to those with less combat experience. That said, what people sometimes don’t understand is how much a warfighter seeks and believes in peace through economic development and diplomatic engagement; not always through conflict. I would love to hear more often: what from your experience can we leverage to better develop economies, diplomatic policy, and private sector engagement so we can avoid ever needing to lead with combat again?

Timothy “Tito” Torres (IBP’21) Senior Advisor, Strategy and External Relations, Special Operations Association of America

BEYOND BUSINESS

Familiar Faces

Dominique Jordan is transforming the traditionally white wealth management industry from within.

When Dominique Jordan (B’13) looked around the financial wealth management field in which he found himself after Georgetown, he hardly saw anyone who looked like or resembled him. Jordan thought about his high school days surrounded by kids of similar backgrounds in Inglewood and South Central Los Angeles, California. “I was one of, let’s just say, 100 people, who had the foresight to see what I could be one day outside of the typical sports or entertainment fields, while others might

not have,” says Jordan, today the vice president and wealth manager with The Jordan Richard Group at First Republic Private Wealth Management.

An historically white industry, wealth management can be a tough fit for people of color. That’s why Jordan says it’s imperative that he lend his voice to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committees and councils at employers like Morgan Stanley, Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, JPMorgan Chase, and First Republic. At the same

time, he says, employees of color often feel compelled to be representatives at that table, and ultimately lose time at the desk of their day-to-day jobs, which puts them behind in client acquisition and experience. So, he asks, do we offer compensation and benefits as a healthy balance between all parties for that important work?

In addition, corporate America needs to be quicker in responding to social justice issues and tragedies like the death of George Floyd and countless others, while balancing corporate shareholder responsibility and compliance, he adds. Corporations don’t realize that slow responses from companies ultimately frustrates clients; creates difficulties for wealth managers working to maintain cli ent relationships; and can result in clients moving their wealth to other institutions.

We’ve made some progress. Compa nies are now thinking more inclusively and creatively about how to both increase diversity within their businesses and cre ate an environment that supports, fosters, and retains talent. Even so, there’s a long road ahead, says Jordan, who sees even fewer Black executives around him than he did at the start of his career.

Jordan doesn’t want that to be the case for the people of color entering the field. So while he uses his positions to weigh in on company culture, talent acquisition, and retainment practices, he also reaches out to younger genera tions through the DJ|JD Foundation, which educates underprivileged and inner-city high school students on financial markets and the importance of goal setting in and outside the classroom. His own goal? Address the talent pipeline that would one day feed the seat in which he sits.

Dominque Jordan, vice president, wealth manager with The Jordan Richard Group at First Republic Private Wealth Management, has shared his experience, knowledge, and concerns about DEI efforts in the financial wealth management field.

Welcome to the Realworld

Undergraduate internship

Worked as an attorney at the law firms of

President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C., Area

Served as chief advisor to

K&L Gates O’Melveny & Myers

Featured speaker at the 2022 Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy conference to connect with

Realworld is a first-of-its-kind, one-stopshop to navigate adulthood. We help the next generation onboard into life after school by simplifying and streamlining tasks across finances, health care, work, and life. Our personalized mobile app helps 20-somethings set up accounts, fill out paperwork, and learn about other “adulting” obligations. We’re working to help organize adulthood by reminding our members to pay rent, go to the dentist, and keep track of real-world things.

William

P. Wood California Corporations

Commissioner

15 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where I worked as senior advisor to

Georgetown University students, alumni, and industry professionals

We initially worked with colleges to build a course that helped launch people into life after school, teaching about cred it, debt, taxes, student loans, and more.

In 2020, we pivoted to build an app directly for our members that includes educational materials through actionoriented “playbooks.” We will continue to make our experience more personalized and integrated, and serve our members through other life moments.

Clayton Chairman

Christopher Cox Congressman SIX DEGREES

Michael Piwowar (MBA’94)

Commissioner and Acting Chairman

FORGING CONNECTIONS

Paul Atkins Commissioner

Mark Uyeda (B’92) was recently sworn into office as a Securities and Exchange Commissioner, becoming the first Asian Pacific American to serve in this role. His path took him from the Hilltop to the Hill, then to a career in law and state government, before he began his tenure at the SEC.

Jay

PITCH DECK

Genevieve Bellaire (MBA/JD’15) Founder and CEO, Realworld

Innovations

What’s In It For Us?

New generations of business students are after more than money these days, so Professor Ricardo Ernst suggests we do away with making money for money’s sake. The idea of ownership, accountability, and shared value in business means we all win.

Ricardo Ernst has been on the faculty at Georgetown McDonough for 35 years.

During most of that career, making money was the foundation of business concepts. “Making money was at the foundation of everything we do in business,” he says.

But something has shifted in recent years. New generations of business students are not satisfied with mon ey-making as the only objective and are expecting more.“They started to tell me that they wanted to give back to society and expected the same from companies,” says Ernst. “That was an interesting perspective.”

Ernst also developed a MOOC course titled “Global Business in Practice.” Of all seven sections in the course, the one that received the most interest was the section on shared value.

These realizations prompted Ernst to co-write a new book with colleague Jerry Haar, professor and executive di rector, The Americas, Florida Interna tional University’s College of Business. In the book, From Me to We: How Shared Value Can Turn Companies into Engines of Change, they argue that the pure capitalistic model of money-making is old hat and requires

new perspectives. Businesses need to incorporate a new way of thinking. Here Ernst shares his thoughts on trading old ideas for new ones.

BUYING:

Shared Value—Through Ownership and Accountability.

Harvard faculty members first introduced the idea of shared value. Their argument incorporates stakeholders as active participants and recipients of the benefits provided by companies. However, for it to be sustainable, shared value should follow a comprehensive business plan. They are all part of the business ecosystem, and should all grow together.

Jerry and I argue that the original idea of shared value is lacking two very important elements—accountability and ownership. Involving stakeholders should be more than a paternalistic view, and recipients should have their fair share of responsibility, which can only be captured by making them accountable and providing them with some sense of ownership.

Think of Uber. The ownership element is explicit because the cars are owned by the drivers. The account ability comes through the star ratings. The higher the ratings, the larger their

share of revenue. The responsibility is not only from the top down, but for every member of the business ecosys tem to make the company successful. With ownership and accountability, everybody wins.

SELLING:

Capitalism for Capitalism’s Sake. Famous economist Milton Friedman argued that businesses needed to concentrate on shareholders. In other words, the first fiduciary responsibility of a company was to make money for its investors.

Today, people recognize that just making money is a myopic approach, and it has evolved into corporate social responsibility, in which companies would give back through philanthropy and other means as a result of their success.

This next generation of business people has evolved even further. In fact, younger generations relate to this shift and are willing to dematerialize their lives. This generation not only wants to help others through philanthropy, but wants the entire group of stakeholders involved in companies to benefit from the success. Money for shareholders alone isn’t enough anymore.

Good Work

The Ethics Project asks students to tackle realworld issues and do some good along the way.

Jason Brennan, Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Professor, created the Ethics Project as a way for students to tackle real-world issues. To bring their ideas to life, student groups receive $1,000 in funding from private foundations and alumni, as well as what Brennan calls “radical freedom and radical responsi bility for their actions.” There are few rules, but one must-do? Create something that provides good to whatever community they’re trying to serve. Here’s how three students (along with their group partici pants) interpreted that idea:

Kenan Dogan (B’23)

Kenan Dogan (B’23), Reid Blynn (B’16), and Molly Evanko (B’25) developed business ideas to help fellow students.

The Problem: It is quite costly for international students to return home for winter break, especially during COVID-19 when travel restrictions and travel requirements that made it practically impos sible for them to return home. We realized that it would be convenient for international students to remain on campus. After surveying more than 100 international students, we found that 69% planned to stay in the United States instead of returning home, and 76% would prefer to remain on cam pus. However, Georgetown did not allow students to remain on campus.

The Solution: After crafting a data-driven whitepaper for the university administration and popularizing

our efforts among the student body, we successfully influenced the university to allow international stu dents to remain on campus in the Georgetown Uni versity hotel for $1,560. We estimated that roughly 30% of international students would like to remain on campus at this price point, and we estimated that we saved students more than $80,000 in aggregate without transferring costs to the university.

Reid Blynn (B’16)

The Problem: iPhone screen replacement from Apple can be costly at $120 a repair. Students commonly couldn’t afford to get their phone fixed.

The Solution: We wanted to provide students a quality, convenient, and affordable iPhone screen replace ment alternative. We repaired about 25–30 phones at a price point that was half of Apple’s fee. During my junior and senior years, I created a team of 10 stu dents from six college campuses promoting Campus Screen Repair. It ran until 2017 when waterproofing and OLED screens came out, which disrupted the business and provided some hefty hurdles. No one wanted to keep it going, so I shut the doors. I don’t regret it—the experience in itself was invaluable.

Molly Evanko (B’25)

The Problem: Students often left loads of laundry well past when the cycle was over, leading to people taking others’ laundry and dumping it either on the floor or on top of the machines.

The Solution: We wanted to clean up the laundry rooms by introducing racks and communal baskets, so if you had to take someone else’s laundry out, you could put it in the basket rather than on the machines or floor. We hoped this would make the laundry rooms more efficient for users and prevent people from having to rewash clothes that ended up on the ground. Today, clothes are cleaner, are no longer thrown on top of washing machines or onto the floor, and so far, none of the baskets have been stolen. To improve this project, we would love to track racks and baskets by asking students to scan their GOCards.

The Happiness Scale

Can material objects make us happy? Or will we make ourselves happier by spending money on experiences? To find the answer, says Rebecca Hamilton, Psaros Chair and professor of marketing, consumers should consider both the material and experiential qualities of purchases.

You recently co-authored a paper that challenges the way we think about measuring our happiness. Tell us about the way it has been measured in the past. For almost 20 years, research has suggested that there is an “experiential advantage,” meaning that when we, as consumers, spend money on experiences, those experiences tend to make us happier than if we spend the same amount of money on material goods. Notably, past research has conceptualized experiences and material goods as two ends of a continuum, meaning a purchase could not be both.

But you argue that a purchase can actually be both experiential and material. We’re suggesting purchases can have both material and experiential qualities or have neither. This allows for more combinations: high experiential/high material; high experiential/low material; low experiential/high material; or low on both. A piece of gold might be low experiential/high material. A trip to an amusement park would be the very opposite. But many purchases have both material and experiential qualities, like a television, swimming pool, a musical instrument, or a car. Thus, we have to measure both material and experiential qualities to know what will make us happiest.

What makes this research relevant right now?

During the pandemic, consumers were unable to do many experiential activities. So people spent much more of their money on material things. The existing literature said this should make people less happy—but that wasn’t necessarily the case. People spent more of their money on home furnishings, remodeling projects, and cookware, and then they spent time enjoying these things. Measuring both the experiential and the material qualities of these purchases helps us understand why some material purchases bring more happiness than others. Material things that you use and enjoy can have experiential qualities.

What advice would you give to consumers who are chasing happiness?

Research suggests that if you have to pick either material or experiential, experiential purchases seem to give you a boost of happiness relative to material purchases. When buying material goods, consider how you’ll use them and engage with them. Making purchases for other people tends to make us happy, and this may be especially true for experiential purchases.

TRENDING

The Bonus of the NFT ID

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around for almost a decade. However, they have become popular only since 2021. NFTs are digital assets that are stored on blockchains so they can be sold and bought online without intermediaries, often using cryptocurrencies. A key distinctive feature between cryptocurrencies and NFTs is their fungibility. Cryptocurrencies are fungible in the sense that they can be traded and exchanged for another. NFTs, on the other hand, have unique identification codes that cannot be replicated. This makes them ideal vehicles to digitally represent physical assets such as art, music, and real estate.

—ALBERTO ROSSI, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, FUTURE OF WORK INITIATIVE

HowIgor

UNDERDELIVERING

Smelyansky has adaptedUkraine’s nationalpostal service to the chaos of war

BY DAN MORRELL ILLUSTRATION BY TIM MARRS

few months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Igor Smelyansky (MBA’05), the head of Ukraine’s national postal service, Ukrposhta, headed to the country’s eastern Donetsk region to help his workers make deliveries. He hadn’t told his wife, so as not to worry her, but the risks were real. The region had been shelled almost constantly for weeks by Russian forces, and Smelyansky and his colleagues sped through the area in an armored vehicle.

But the need was great: 3.5 million Ukrainians rely on regular, cash pension payments and a disruption in distribution could mean catastrophe.

In one of the towns Smelyan sky stopped in that day, a group of 97 people gathered to collect their pension payments. One of the wom en told Smelyansky that the money would allow her to buy her first real meal since the start of the shelling. Another handed him a request to call her daughter to let him know that she was alive.

“I can tell millions of those stories,”

ASmelyansky says. His work is increasingly vital, he knows, and the results tangible.

But as Ukraine continues to fight against the Russian invasion, the challenges are dire for Ukrposhta. They have lost seven employees in the conflicts and over $30 million.

And yet Smelyansky has produced remarkable results under these extreme conditions. He led the service to deliver 87% of pensions by hand in March and has helped open 29 new physical branches and some 500 new mobile branches during the war. He even launched shops on eBay and Amazon, inspired in part by the global interest in a stamp Ukrposhta released that commemorated a now-iconic exchange between Russian sailors and Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island, who famously responded coarsely to an invitation to surrender.

“There is no book about how to manage a company during the war,” says Smelyansky. “I hope no one writes it, because I hope no one else needs it. But we are learning it every day.”

Running Ukrposhta is not the natural culmination of Smelyansky’s career ex perience. An entrepreneur from an early age, selling ice cream as a 16-year-old on the beach in his native Odessa (“probably the most profitable business I’ve had”), he would later open a cafe and fall in love with business. He began reading the work of legendary marketing guru Philip Kotler and the autobiography of iconic American auto executive Lee Iacocca, dreaming of moving to New York City to see how Wall Street worked—and rebuffing invitations to join the young communist movement. “For me, freedom was a big thing,” says Smelyansky. “And having a business—having income, having freedom to do what you like to do, not what you’ve been told to do—was always very important.”

After earning his undergraduate degree in accounting with a minor in law at Pace University in NYC, a bit of Hollywood inspiration led him into mergers and acquisitions. “You know, you watch all those movies like Wall Street, and you get engaged in how cool

Igor Smelyansky, the head of Ukraine’s postal service, Ukrposhta, helped workers make deliveries in armored vehicles during the crisis.

“There is no book about how to manage a duringcompany the war... I hope noone writes it, becauseI hope noone else needs it. But we are learning it day.”every

Ukrposhta

it is,” he says with a laugh. But to be a proficient dealmaker, he knew he needed a deeper background in both business and law, and pursued his law degree at George Washington University and his MBA at Georgetown simultaneously.

The Georgetown experience gave Smelyansky both the deep grounding in strategy he was looking for as well as a strong network. “It’s one of the coolest things that Georgetown is able to do: to get together a group of people who seemingly have totally different backgrounds and totally different expe riences—many from different coun tries—and have a truly unique class.”

His classmate, Andrew Favorov (MBA’05), who spent many hours studying with his fellow Ukrainian, remembers Smelyansky as a highly driven student who thoroughly enjoyed the work. “I don’t know if we could have gotten through it all without his tireless work ethic,” says Favorov.

Taking a job at Boston Consulting Group after Georgetown, Smelyansky almost immediately found himself working in his ideal field of M&A. “There was actually a $1 billion deal in Ukraine that no one knew how to do,” he says. “And they said, ‘You are from Ukraine, and you have an MBA—let’s give it a try.’ In a weird way, that’s how my dream came true.”

But as his career progressed, the work, which included a good deal of M&A consulting, started to lose its luster. “Con sulting teaches you a lot, but oftentimes you don’t see the results,” he says. When he would talk to his two sons about his work, they would ask to see what exactly he had changed. “No, what I did was strategy,” he would tell them. “And often times, strategies don’t get realized.”

When the opportunity to lead Ukrposhta came up in 2016, he saw the chance to make his mark on a public sector organization with a very poor reputation for service. “If I can change the postal service, I thought, the entire country can see that you can do any thing,” he says. “I did not have big plans. I thought, if I can do at least something, it would be a good example for investors, for companies, and for the people.”

But the challenges he encountered were deep-seated and numerous, with infrastructure and corruption key among them. Ukrposhta had 11,000 branches when Smelyansky took over, and only 20% of them had a com puter—and more than half of those computers were over a decade old. The average age of the postal trucks was about 17 years old. Corruption impacted all levels. “Everyone was stealing, starting from the mail carrier, all the way up to the top management,” says Smelyansky. “The situation was definitely worse than I expected.”

There was natural resistance to reforms, but social media was a revelation. “I understood that social media and Facebook were my tools—basically my armor, to fight them. Because from the first day I said, ‘You know what? You come to my office with the bribe, I will

put you on Facebook.’”

Transparency, says former classmate Favorov, is a natural instinct. “You know where he stands,” he says “He has a view and a position, and I find it refreshing in the time when so often leadership is replaced by market testing—when being liked is valued more than being true.”

Smelyansky also found useful con nectivity through social media. He put out calls on Facebook and Telegram to report problems both external, fielding citizen observations and complaints, and internal, discovering and rooting out corruption. He estimates that the worst of the corruption was gone after just six months.

But the hard work of cultural change required more time. First there was a mindset change. “I told everyone that, yes, we work with a long-term perspective, but every day can be our last,” he says. “So let’s try to do something good today.” He also incentivized the carriers, using feedback from “mystery shoppers” to dictate bonus pay and raised salaries to recruit younger workers, while updating IT and infrastructure (“now the average age of our fleet is six years old”) to ensure that they stayed on.

“Igor had to win the game for the best talent,” says Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, head of Ukrainian Railways’ passenger rail operations and Smelyanky’s former COO at Ukrposhta. “As one can imagine, [Ukrposhta] wasn’t the most lucrative place for young Ukrainians to work, but he managed to create a culture that eventually made it one of the country’s most exciting employers,” with its technical specialists actively recruited by top private companies. “Igor succeeded in bringing talent to a state-owned enterprise. Many were coming personally

released a stamp by artist Boris Groh commemorating a now-iconic exchange between Russian sailors and Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island, who responded coarsely to an invitation to surrender, that gained global interest during the current war.

because of him and his charisma.”

The results were significant and sweeping: When Smelyansky took over, Ukrposhta was delivering 46,000 express parcels per year. By early 2022, it was delivering 90,000 express parcels per day—about 700 times more. Former COO Pertsovskyi likes to hold up the example of a typical rural Ukrainian post office. “When Igor started, a typical post office would be a half-decayed old building—in winter, often without any means for heating,” he says. It would be open a few hours a day, a few days a week, and should that underemployed mail worker quit, it would leave the community without easy access to basic services. “After 4 to 5 years of Igor’s and his team’s efforts, this picture is practically gone. Today rural communities in many regions are served by modern, mobile post offices. They are staffed by full-time employees, they arrive on a specified schedule, and bring not only letters and pension payments, but also basic medicine and food supplies right to where people live.”

Smelyansky even defied his own family’s expectations for the position. “My wife gave me six months,” he says with a laugh.

But all of his efforts and all of his progress came to an abrupt halt in the early hours of February 24, 2022.

Smelyansky only sleeps about four hours a night, and he only got about one hour on February 24. He wrapped an investment committee meeting at 3 a.m., discussing plans for new sorting centers and trucks, and got home at 4 a.m. An hour later, he got the call that the war had started, and he headed back to the office.

Smelyansky is proud of the fact that

“We just said,‘We have to do it,let’s do it. Let’s find a way to do it.’”

Ukrposhta was only closed for one day before it resumed operations. But since the invasion, its operations have been continuously disrupted, with routes redrawn in reaction to events on the ground. Standard practices had to be redesigned ad hoc.

The delivery of pensions was a prime example. The payments are usually delivered by Ukrposhta in cash, but getting physical money in those early post-invasion days was impossible, as all of the banks had closed. “So we designed a system where we would get cash from local businesses, like a bakery,” says Smelyansky. “The bakery would give us cash, we would do an online transfer for them, and use the cash to pay pensions. You have to be creative.”

Creative and fast. When Ukrposhta decided to return to using railways as part of its delivery system after more than two decades since last doing so, it allowed the operation to circumvent the nighttime curfews that applied to its trucks, and Smelyansky—working with his old friend and railroad executive Pertsovskyi—had the service up and running in just five days. “No papers, no memorandums, no agreements, nothing,” he says. “We just said, ‘We have to do it, let’s do it. Let’s find a way to do it.’”

He is driven in part by an innate preference for constant progress, no

matter the obstacle. “I don’t like to lose. You know that famous quote by Nelson Mandela? ‘I never lose. I either win, or learn’? That’s exactly what I try to do.”

Consider his idea for building new sorting centers during the midst of a Russian offensive. They would be a natu ral target of Russian rockets, but perhaps, Smelyansky posits, they could hide the operations in old garages, which would be imperceptible from air reconnaissance. “We’ll put new equipment inside it and we’ll sort it there. We won’t advertise it, but we’ll do it,” Smelyansky says. “So you just find a way. Only death is forever, and everything else you can fix.”

Sure, he could have a much easier life as a consultant. “But it’s cool to have the power to help millions of people,” he says. “And I’m sure I’ll enjoy my vacation, whenever that comes.” Not that he’s watching the clock. “I mean, if you sleep four hours a day, you would not do a job you don’t like, right?’”

Plus, there’s the satisfaction of hav ing a deep impact. “Now, when I talk to my kids, they know exactly what I do. They see the results. Even before the war, when we would walk on the street, people would come to me and say thank you for the changes I’ve made. It’s the coolest thing you can have. You cannot buy it.” gb

NORTH TO

in the tribal populations of Alaska by staying right where she was.

Angel Dotomain left her family in their small village in Alaska with dreams of Wall Street. But hearing the Cup’ik language from a young boy taught her that she could make a difference

THE FUTURE

BY MAUREEN HARMON PORTRAIT BY NATHANIEL WILDER

IF YOU’RE TRYING TO GET TO KNOW ANGEL DOTOMAIN (B’99), DIRECTOR OF THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICES (IHS) ALASKA AREA, SHE’LL TELL YOU A CONVERSATION WON’T CUT IT.

“To know who I am,” she says, “you have to know where I come from.”

When you grow up on the lands of Alaska—its beauty and its challenges—the reverberations of each become a distinct part of the lives of the people who call it home.

The Dotomain family—Cup’ik and Inupiaq—grew its roots in the small villages of Alaska. Angel’s grandfather—a reindeer herder and one-time seminary student—married her grandmother in Mekoryuk, and the young couple made their way up the Alaska coast to Shaktoolik, a small Inupiaq village on the west coast of Alaska. Dotomain’s father was born along the way, and the new family settled into the one-street village, quietly adding to its population of just over 200.

When Dotomain was five, her parents moved her and her siblings to Anchor age, but every summer, the Dotomain children headed back to Shaktoolik, to the family fishing camp to spend their days playing outdoors and helping their grandparents fish and collect the berries, greens, and eggs that Alaska offered.

The Dotomains were hard working— Angel’s father, a journeyman electrician, her mother a human resources director. They valued education—the move to Anchorage was an effort to give the Dotomain children an education outside of their rural family village. So when Angel’s acceptance letter to Georgetown came in the spring of 1995, her parents were thrilled for her. But the costs—even with a healthy financial package—would be tough for the family to navigate.

“This is going to strap us, but we’re going to support you however we can,” Angel’s father told her. But that support would come with a few stipulations. “Number one, once you go, you’re there. You are there until you get your degree,” he said. “Number two, you have to pay as much as you can—you have to work while you’re in school and every summer. Number three, you can’t transfer— you can’t drop out. And number four, you must be done in four years.”

Angel shook on it with little thought. But her Georgetown experience didn’t always feel like the dream she had been after. The move was, as Angel puts it, a “culture shock.” More than 4,200 miles away from her family, Angel often thought about the fact that the entire village of Shaktoolik could fit on her dorm floor. For months, Angel would call her dad and beg to come back home—to the indigenous Alaskan people she knew, to the rural village her family called home, to her culture, to her land. “Please just change my ticket.

I can’t do this,” she told him. “Bring me home. I’ll go to work.” But her dad’s response, every night: “We shook on it. You gave me your word.”

Years later, Dotomain learned that her father would hang up the phone and sit with her mother while they both cried. Telling their daughter that she couldn’t come home was pain ful—but they also knew she would be back in four short years with a business degree that could make a difference in her own life—and in the lives of the people around her.

Though individual tribe numbers vary, the overall patient population with which Dotomain and her team work consists of nearly 175,000 people and includes IHS-funded, tribally-managed hospitals in seven areas of Alaska.

THOSE

SUMMERS

IN SHAKTOOLIK WERE happy for Dotomain—comfortable, comforting. But as a child, she didn’t always recognize the challenges such communities faced. The rural land of Alaska was giving—especially in those summer months in the more temperate regions—but it could also be terribly harsh. Accidents are one of the top five causes of death among tribal populations. Access to clean water and sanitation and lack of infrastructure are major chal lenges. Mental health—and resulting substance use and abuse, cancer, and cardiac conditions affect Alaskan tribal populations at much higher rates than those living in the lower 48.

Dotomain can rattle off these stats today. It’s part of her job with the IHS (an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) to know the needs of the tribal populations which either govern or participate in the governance of all the healthcare facilities and programs in Alaska. It is also her job to offer all 228 federally recognized Alaska tribes three paths to work with the IHS: one, receive direct services from the IHS; two, assume responsibility for parts of their own healthcare program and facilities with supporting funds from the IHS; or three, supplement and self-fund programs within their own tribes. “We strongly believe that tribes are in the best position to understand the health care needs and priorities in their own communities,” says Dotomain.

In Alaska, 99% of the IHS budget is transferred using self-governance

agreements made possible through the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which was passed in 1975 to allow tribes autonomy in the governance of their peoples’ healthcare, education, and welfare through contracts and grants with and from the federal government.

“When the IHS alone was running programs, we had kind of a broad worldview of what healthcare needs were,” says Dotomain. “But what’s really great about self-governance is that tribes in specific regions can say, ‘What’s impacting us right now is mental health and behavioral health.’ And they can redirect funds that we give them. Tribes running the programs, and partnering with us, get the opportunity to rebudget, reprogram, and redesign as they see fit.”

Though individual tribe numbers vary, the overall patient population with which Dotomain and her team work consists of nearly 175,000 people and includes IHS-funded, tribally-managed hospitals in seven areas of Alaska, as well as 58 health centers, 160 tribal community health aide clinics, and five residential substance abuse treatment centers.

In some ways, it is a job that only someone like Dotomain can do—some one who grew up fishing and berry-pick

ing with her elders; someone who stud ied international business at Georgetown and earned a an MBA in health services administration from Alaska Pacific University; someone who knows her way around the cities and villages of Alaska just as well as she knows her way around the business of U.S. healthcare and gov ernment. But a larger part of that experi ence may come in Dotomain’s ability to bridge cultural gaps—that culture shock she first felt at Georgetown is familiar to her fellow indigenous people as they try to navigate a healthcare system once built for the lower 48. Sometimes that bridge comes in the form of a tactical transfer of funds from D.C. to a small village program and sometimes it comes in the form of trust.

To explain, Dotomain tells the story of escorting seventh and eighth-grade kids on a field trip to the Alaska Native Medical Center in one of her early jobs with Alaskan healthcare. As they passed a small lake on the campus teaming with ducks and Canadian geese, a young boy announced to a friend in his Cup'ik language that he would like to wring a duck’s neck to take it home to dinner. Though Dotomain couldn’t speak Cup'ik, she could certainly understand it. When she started to laugh, an elder in the group

turned to her. “You’re one of us?” she asked. “I’m glad good people—who are us—are here to run this place.”

Dotomain wasn’t exactly running the place—this early job in Alaska healthcare was just a pit stop on her way to her dream job of working in the Russian oil business for a native corporation in D.C. or New York. But it was in that moment, she says, that she tossed that initial dream aside and decided, instead, to stay right where she was in order to represent her own population in healthcare. “Once tribal health kind of grabs you, it doesn’t let you go,” she says. “And at that point, I realized I could probably make a difference.”

IN COVID THE DIFFERENCE THAT Dotomain and her team at the IHS Alaska Area could make became critical—and it relied heavily on the partnerships she has fostered between the federal government and tribes of Alaska. Just two weeks after assuming her role as director of the IHS Alaska Area, COVID sent Dotomain and her staff home, not just to continue their work, but also to navigate the global health crisis. Like healthcare organizations in the rest of the United States, the IHS’ focus completely shifted to

“

W e strongly believe that tribes are in the best position to understand the healthcare needs and priorities in their own communities.”

the pandemic: finding PPE; education around this global threat; trying to find the pharmaceuticals to help people who were coming down with COVID.

But unlike most areas of the United States with easy access to water and san itation infrastructure, the IHS partnered with tribes to get back to basics. “The way you combat COVID is to wash your hands and stay six feet apart from people,” says Dotomain. “But in most of rural Alaska, those things are hard to do. I mean, we had communities who have not had running water… ever. How do you wash your hands with no water?”

The mission of the IHS and its trib al partners became building bridges to communities to get them the tools they needed to stay healthy. It also meant education—not just of patient commu nities about COVID, but of congres sional counterparts in D.C. about the needs and challenges of Alaskan native people in a pandemic.

“I had to say to my colleagues: ‘I get that we need to get people to wash their hands, but we’ve got to find a way to make that happen.’” In most cases, the distribution of sanitizer was the answer and continuing the important work of

infrastructure around water and sanita tion. “Water and sanitation is a major part of what we do,” says Dotomain. “That’s not something you’re going to find Kaiser doing.” Last year alone Dotomain’s office of 27 negotiated 35 ISDEAA contracts and transferred more than $2 billion to tribes to support COVID efforts and infrastructure projects.

Like many in the United States, the pandemic brought Alaskan people mem ories of other pandemics. “The Iditarod in Alaska celebrates the transportation of medication from one part of the state to another to save a community from dip theria,” says Dotomain, applauding the Alaskan natives’ resilience and innovation in times of crisis. “The Iditarod was going right through my home community at the time that the COVID pandemic first hit. And the tribal elders made the choice to shut the community and not allow outsiders into the village. They ensured that mushers who were coming through the community had what they needed, but there wasn’t the normal mixing of villagers coming to the checkpoint and having that interaction with mushers and others. But the elders did it, specifically, because of remembering what it

was like with the Spanish flu.”

Dotomain watched the resilience and innovation of Alaska tribes again when COVID vaccines were made available. Just as health needs may differ among tribal populations, so too, were the challenges each faced through COVID. “When the vaccine was coming into Alaska there were times where the weather was not cooperating and planes were unable to fly, so our providers were finding different ways to get it where it needed to go,” says Dotomain. “Providers in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta were taking vaccines by snow machine and sleds to rural villages because the weather was too bad to fly. And then, in South east Alaska, we had an island where they couldn’t float planes into their communi ty because of the weather, so instead, they took the vaccine by boat from their hub community to their island. Today that island has a 90% vaccination rate.”

Dotomain and the IHS could provide the vaccines and the funds, but the work of vaccine distribution was governed by tribes who knew best how to reach their people. The essence and beauty of self-governance was on full display throughout COVID, says Dotomain, just as it was when mushers brought diphtheria antitoxin to the small village in Nome in 1925, and when tribal leaders shut villages to outsiders in the Spanish flu, and when they redistribute funds to build new water tanks in rural areas or establish mental health programming for their people. Dotomain gets to be a partner in it all— and she wouldn’t be anywhere else. gb

Being in business today goes hand-in-hand with sustainability—whether that’s the clothes you wear, the coffee you drink, the energy you use, or the community you build. Here, four alumni weigh in on what it means to bring bigger—and broader— value to their work.

BY MAUREEN HARMON | ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN HERSEY

Impact Investments

As the group product manager for sustainable packaging at Starbucks, Surabhi Agrawal and her team make sure everything a customer touches— from the cups to the lids to the stirrers—is brought to them in the most sustainable manner possible.

SUSTAINABLE SIPS

Surabhi Agrawal’s (MBA’16) first sustainability-minded company was a start-up she created at Georgetown called Farm Fresh Trucks. “It was essentially a farmer’s market on wheels to help support low-income neighborhoods in D.C. that were food deserts,” she says. The idea of social enterprise consumed her for an entire semester. Sustainability was part of it, sure, but more important, says Agrawal, was the idea of being a community-driven enterprise, in which the organization was responding to the needs of the consumers. Today, as the group product manager for sustainable packaging at Starbucks, this idea of being a community-driven organization plays an important role in her work. “Starbucks is very community-oriented as our mission states: provide for our neighborhood, one cup of coffee at a time,” she says. “That element of sustainability plays a role because the communities care about it.”

Agrawal started her Starbucks journey in core supply chain sourcing where she continued to make an impact—ensuring the coffee giant was picking the right suppliers and treating them well in order to make an impact on the larger business’ mission. Later, she moved to the coffee division and worked to create a traceability feature for the app so customers could scan a code and trace their coffee from their cup to the farmer who supplied the beans. Eventually she brought all that knowledge to the consumer side of the business. How could she and her team make sure everything that the customer touched—from the cups to the lids to the

stirrers—was brought to them in the most sustainable manner possible?

Agrawal points to the big environmental menace often in the news: straws. Starbucks plastic straws were an issue, she admits, and the company wanted to address the problem. The solution brought forth by the team was a new lid with an updated “sip case,” so a straw isn’t needed. When the customers spoke and requested their straws Agrawal and her team sourced an option: a 100% home-compostable, industrial-compostable BPI straw. “Now customers have a choice: If you don’t need a straw, you can choose a different lid, or if you do need a straw, we have the best available compostable straw that you can have.” Starbucks next big step: a reusable cup. “This is a cultural shift for America, thinking through this concept of not just throwing away everything I take. This is a convenience-first world in which we live, but as a company we want to ask, how can we provide you the best convenience there is and think about being environmentally sustainable at the same time?”

Not only is it good business for consumers who want to shop at companies that are taking sustainability seriously, it’s good for employee fulfillment.

“Why do I work at Starbucks? Because I feel like it’s a purpose-driven company, and I can make an impact at scale,” she says. “I want to feel like I’m contributing to a value-based company. As humans, we spend a majority of our time working, so I want to make sure my work is creating value.”

Sargon Daniel, founder and CEO of Nexus Power Group, started his entrepreneurial career when he created a contract for his parents for his fledgling lawn mowing business.

THE ENERGIZER

When Sargon Daniel (B’04) was 10 years old, he drafted a contract for his parents for his fledgling lawn mowing business. He charged a fee for every square foot of lawn he mowed. “I drafted it so I was paid on square footage milestones,” says Daniel. His dad still has the contract—it was an early indicator that Daniel had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Like all good entrepreneurs he went into his future with a plan: become a lawyer, work in the energy field, but ultimately start his own business. Though he found practicing New York big-law could feel stifling, he knew it was important to start there. “Over time I needed to temper my desire to start something with what I thought was the very real need to actually develop expertise,” he says.

Today Daniel is the founder and CEO of Nexus Power

Group, a Texas-based power company that got its start in solar development—buying and securing the land, hooking the solar plant up to the grid, developing the contracts to sell the power, and then handing the package off to a buyer. Nexus Power Group now develops, finances, and invests in solar, storage, and electric energy assets, like batteries, and has moved from developing a few acres to creating sites that are upwards of 2,000 acres. But Daniel has no plans to move beyond Texas at the moment—there’s plenty of work to be done within the state’s independent grid that makes headlines when temperatures rise and the grid hiccups.

“When it comes to sustainability and renewable energy, the sky’s the limit in the space, and there are a lot of really big companies doing it all over the

world,” says Daniel. “But our view is we want to be really good at what we do in our niche. We’re going to play in a limited number of counties, and we’re going to know our backyard and leverage our relationships right here in Texas. We plan to stay hyper-focused.”

That idea of staying local is part of Daniel’s long-term thinking. Renewables are still relatively new. “We’re moving to a more electrified world and our infrastructure needs to keep up,” says Daniel. “In Texas, our natural gas plants are, on average, 30 years old. Our coal plants are 50 years old. Our transmission system was first thought up 100 years ago. It’s a time of regeneration, and it’s a time of updating in the power markets.” And Nexus Power Group plans to be right there, helping Texas cross that big green bridge.

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

As a businessman, Mo Dewji (B’98) knows the importance of environmental sustainability in any company. As CEO of Mohammed Enterprises Tan zania Limited (MeTL), one of the largest conglomerates in East Africa, he ensures that the company his grandparents started in a small storefront in Tanzania is working toward implementing a carbon credit program and puts money behind products like sisal, a hemplike material that requires little water for production.

But what’s most important to Dewji? Sustainable development for his community. Creating a product or brand with the planet in mind is a wonderful thing, but what good is that product if consumers can’t afford it?

MeTL, with interests in trading, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, real estate, transportation, distribution, and more, is the East African equivalent to groups like Unilever or Proctor & Gamble. But unlike those American companies, MeTL’s consumers have much less to spend on products like cocoa, detergents, oils, cotton, beverages, and textiles. “The challenge was that per capita income in Tanzania was $400 when I took over the business. I’m talking about $400 a year,” says Dewji. “So disposable income is $30, $35 a month.” Those numbers had Dewji asking some important questions: How could MeTL offer quality products at lower price points? And how could he create systems

and supply chains that would bolster the finances of the people in Tanzania?

It started with manufacturing. Dewji saw no need to export manufacturing to places like China, India, and Europe when East Africa had the people and the space to provide for themselves. Take cotton, for example. “We buy the cotton. We gin cotton. We spin cotton. We dye it and knit it into garments,” says Dewji. “At the end of the day, it’s very labor intensive, but you now have a factory that employs 4,000 people; you are using local cotton; and you’re getting foreign exchange for the country.” And the local manufacturing is good for the environment: local production counteracts the negative effects of shipping emissions.

MeTL also invests in longterm crops like tea, macadamia, avocados, and sisal, which allows the 60% to 70% of East Africans relying on agriculture for a living to also use their land for their own food staple crops and sales. “These are businesses that I feel bring the maximum impact,” says Dewji. “They’re not the best businesses in terms of ROIs, but they’re positive in terms of impact.”

It’s a long-term strategy. “Ideally, what we’re trying to do is grow Tanzanians’ purchasing power or disposable income.” That purchas ing power is good for individuals and it’s good for MeTL, which provides just about every product a Tanzanian touches through their day—from the tea they drink to the

bike they ride to the clothes they wear and the detergent they use to wash them. In addition to employ ing business practices rooted in sus tainable development, he also works to provide clean water, education, and healthcare to the East African people through the Mo Dewji Foundation and has vowed to give away at least half of his wealth to philanthropic causes through the Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge.

MeTL has come a long way since that small store that supplied grocery items to locals—and Dew ji’s long-term play ensures that the family business, now worth $1 bil lion with a presence in 12 African countries, will be around for future generations of East Africans.

As CEO of MeTL, one of the largest conglomerates in East Africa, Mo Dewji works to grow sustainable communities by increasing Tanzanians’ disposable income.

MAKING WAVES IN AN INDUSTRY BUILT ON WASTE

In 2013, Bangladesh faced a huge crisis as one of its apparel factories burned down, killing more than 1,000 people. Just two years later, it was a topic of discussion for Lisa Thompson (EML’15) and her classmates studying corporate responsibility at Georgetown. “Georgetown was introducing me to case studies of disasters, and the intentional and unintentional consequences of losing track of your supply chain,” says Thompson. “I was also learning about people doing really good and intentional work with their supply chain.”

The stories made an impact on Thompson. She knew fashion had a long history of being one of the worst industries in the world when it comes to waste and unfair treatment of workers. In fact, the fashion industry alone is responsible for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and has often relied on poor working conditions and even slave labor to turn a profit. Even so, Thompson decided to jump right in. “How can I make a positive impact in this notoriously horrid industry?”

In 2016, Thompson and Amanda Laird Cherry launched Ivy Citizens, an active-wear clothing company rooted in sustain ability and human rights practices. Every piece of fabric, every zipper, every thread for every stitch is sourced to contract with companies that use products with low water consumption like Tencal, sustainable bamboo, and recycled materials. They also

look closely at all fabric and cut and sew supplies to determine proximity for travel to reduce water and air travel. Most prod ucts, for example, are U.S. and Canada-based companies so Ivy Citizens can operate in countries that use renewable energy. In addition, their factories are chosen based on fair wage practices and proper treatment of workers. For Thompson, this isn’t a martyr’s mission. “I think anchoring a business with intentional practices around human rights, impact on the community at large, and on the environment—it’s just good business.”

There are certainly cheaper ways to run a business—all that green thinking can be pricey. “It’s a tremendous investment,” says Thompson. “And yes, there are easier ways to do this, there are more cost-effective ways to do this, but that doesn’t mean those ways are better.” Thompson’s thinking is for the longterm. While these human rights and sustainability issues are important to her, she also knows they matter to her consumers and partners, which include colleges and universities across the country. Consumers, says Thompson, are the ones ultimately running the show—more and more customers opt to put their money behind companies that care about more than the bottom line. As a result, values-based companies are thriving. “I do appreciate that this is where business is heading,” she says. I think it’s really a good sign for humanity.”

Lisa Thompson (left) and Amanda Laird Cherry launched Ivy Citizens, an active-wear clothing company rooted in sustainability and human rights practices.

Connections

PIVOT

From Disney Executive to Author and Food Network Star

Career pivots aren’t always as dramatic as one might think.

The idea of a career pivot for Melissa d’Arabian (MBA’93) isn’t necessarily an epiphanic event. Sometimes it’s made of tiny steps that lead you to a new path. Her steps looked like this. Step one: Cruise ship entertainer as a college graduate in need of cash. Step two: A Georgetown MBA degree and a consultancy job with Andersen Consulting. Step three: Disney executive. Step four: Stay-at-home mom to four daughters. Step five: Help other parents be cost-effective by sharing a video about making homemade yogurt. Step six: Upload video to Food Network Star competition show. Step seven: Win the show and land a Food Network contract. Full pivot: Become a Food Network star and author.

For d’Arabian, each step led to the next—and every lesson she learned along the way informed her next adventure.

One of my core values is that education is always a good investment in myself. Any time there was somebody who said, “I will take you under my wing, and I will teach you this cool thing,” I was game. I’d show up for that opportunity—be it coding at Andersen or working for the CFO at Disney or opting to become a stay-at-home mom

or showing up on the set of a Food Network competition show. I ask the right questions, and I bring whatever it is that I have from my past. I have a spirit of fundamental optimism that there’s an adventure to be had, and I’m going to learn from it.

The decision to leave Disney and become a stay-at-home mom, for example, came with wide-eyed excitement. It was a new world for me. We moved to Dallas for my husband’s job, and I plunged into the experience in a community that really does stay-at-home momdom well. It was in that space that I continued to use my background and my experience from my past roles. I grew up on a tight budget, and I knew how to prepare economic meals—which was really helpful for my growing family operating on a single income. But I was also using the strategic planning, budgeting, and financial analysis skills that I honed at Disney. I started to speak at local groups about money-saving strategies for busy moms. My approach was to show them how much they could save, and then how much that meant they were getting paid an hour. One of the things that people were really drawn to was this idea of how to make your own homemade yogurt without special equipment.

So I made a video to show other moms how to do it, and then I uploaded that video to the audition site for Food Network Star.

It may seem like an odd thing for a former executive to do, but it’s not that far-fetched. I worked in the entertain ment industry for years on the business side. Then I had this theatre background. In fact, in my most recent book, Tasting Grace, I talk about how I tried so hard to make a career in performance in my 20s. It didn’t happen for me then—but maybe I had lessons to learn first.

Perhaps the biggest reason I won Food Network Star was because of my MBA training and my thinking in terms of business strategy. I understood that they were looking for somebody to help create a show that could have long legs.

Finding the intersection of my past experiences has been a hallmark of my career. So while some people might say, “Wait, what? She’s now on Food Network? That makes no sense.” But it makes sense to me, and to anybody who knows me well.

Sure, sometimes life and careers take major, unexpected turns. But career pivoting is often made up of smaller pivots and responding thoughtfully to change.

It may seem like an odd thing for a former executive to now work as a Food Network Star and author, but it’s not that far-fetched, says Melissa d’Arabian.

Class Notes

BSBA

1983

Tony Cheevers (B’83), customer success officer at Researchscape International, is the moderator of a new webinar series hosted by O’Dwyer’s that recently featured GU professor Kerry O’Grady on Overcoming Toxic Culture.

1988

Emily Chen Carrera (B’88) was appointed by President Biden as a Commissioner to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The commission advises the President on ways the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can work together to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for the AA and NHPI communities.

1990

Christopher Bradbury (B’90) is the new CEO of Integrated Home Care Services, Inc., the nation’s leading independent administrator of home health, durable medical equipment, and home infusion benefits.

1992

Kurt McMaken (B’92) is now executive vice president and chief financial officer at The Brink’s Company, the global leader in total cash management, route-based secure logistics, and payment solutions.

1996

Saket Dalmia (B’96) has been named president of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a nonprofit organization in Delhi, India, that acts as a catalyst in the promotion of industry, trade, adn entrepreneurship. He also is managing director of Marble City, which imports Italian marble to India.

1997

Sam Bakhshandehpour (B’97) president of Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup, has been named to the board of Shift4Payments Inc.

2003

Victoria Terheyden (B’03) was named president of the 5 Buckets Foundation, an organization that provides financial literacy education with a focus on those at the start of their personal finance journey. Headquartered in San Francisco, 5 Buckets partners with corporations, schools, and community groups across the country so people have the foundational financial knowledge to build a successful future.

2016

Austen Dixon (B’16) was promoted to vice president at AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense and government services, space, power and utility services, and specialty industrial markets. Dixon, who joined AE in 2019, is primarily focused on financial modeling, due diligence, executing new investments, and monitoring portfolio investments.

MBA 1995

Stefan Saldanha (MBA’95) was promoted to executive officer at Northrim Bank. He joined Northrim as senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary with 26 years of legal and financial experience.

2000

Tom Krueger (MBA’00) was appointed chief financial officer at Qumu Corporation, a leading provider of cloud-based enterprise video technology for organizations of all sizes.

2002

Shaara Roman (MBA’02), CEO and founder of The Silverene Group, recently published her first

book, The Conscious Workplace: Fortify Your Culture to Thrive in Any Crisis. The book provides leaders of every industry the chance to transform their companies by building purpose-led, peoplecentric, and values-driven cultures.

2003

Patrick Gray (MBA’03) was selected by Raines International, a leading executive search and talent advisory firm, to serve as managing director of its new London office.

Gray relocated to London this summer after successfully opening and leading the firm’s Washington, D.C., office since 2020.

2005

Katie Creedon (MBA’05) has been named chief legal talent & inclusion officer for Fish & Richardson, where she is responsible for leading and managing the firm’s legal recruiting, professional development, DEI, and pro bono teams across Fish’s offices in the United States, Germany, and China.

2010 Brooke Ybarra (MBA’10) was promoted to senior vice president of innovation and strategy and head of the Office of Innovation at The American Bankers

—EMILY CHEN CARRERA

(B’88)

“ I ’m honored to be on President Biden’s Commission and work on important issues affecting AA and NHPI communities.”

“The life-changing thing I learned from moving to D.C. was that where I expected my career to go is not where it ended up going,” says Brad Williamson, who now works in legal finance.

Virtual to Reality

Brad Williamson (MSF’16) began the Master of Science in Finance program virtually from his home in Denver, Colorado, while working at his local bank. After two semesters, Williamson felt he was missing a key component of the Georgetown experience: the relationships. “I was really missing that in-person feeling and networking. I decided, it’s time to go ahead, pick up everything, and move to D.C.,” he said. As he began his second year in

the program, Williamson left his job in Denver, moved to Washington, D.C., and embraced the risk.

Williamson immediately immersed himself in campus life. His roommates were fellow Hoyas, he became a teach ing assistant, and he spent his days in the Hariri Building. From making lifelong friends to gaining valuable experiences, Williamson launched his career in finance. “The life-changing thing I learned from moving to D.C.

was that where I expected my career to go is not where it ended up going,” he said. Williamson now works in legal finance, a route he never would have taken—or found—without his experi ences and connections at Georgetown McDonough. “I had a great time, I met tons of wonderful people, and I kickstarted a really great career. All positive things came from me taking that risk.”

—ABBY SHARPE

MY SHOT

“As long as you are open to it and roll up your sleeves, you can say yes to whatever comes your way,” says Inky Son, vice president of licensing at the National Basketball Players Association.

Hoop Dreams

She wanted to work for the NBA, but fashion was the first stop.

Before Inky Son (B’02) was vice president of licensing at the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), she was a recent graduate of the McDonough School of Business searching for her first full-time job. Son accepted her first position as an assistant to the vice president of licensing at DKNY. Beginning her career in licensing, Son was exposed to just how large the industry was and all the educational and professional opportunities it presented. “As long as you are open to it and roll up your sleeves, you can say yes to whatever comes your way,” she said. “That’s how I learned the business and set myself up for the next step.”

Growth is what Son looked for in every position throughout her career, beginning with her first role at DKNY. As a budding assistant and, soon, an experienced leader, Son always looked to see where a role could take her next. Each step was taken with thought and intention throughout her career to get her exactly where she dreamed of being—the NBA. From being the vice president’s assistant to becoming the vice president, Son has one piece of advice for young professionals: “Never take the job for what that role is; you always need to look at where that role can get you.”

—ABBY SHARPE

Association. In her new role, Ybarra will help ABA member banks keep pace with technological innovation by identifying promising startups and emerging technologies that benefit the banking industry. She also will work with members and ABA colleagues to identify and advocate for policies that allow for and promote responsible innovation in banking.

2011

Sean Redmond (MBA’11) recently marked his 10-year anniversary at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and was promoted to vice president in the Employment Policy Division.

2012

Brett McLaren (MBA’12) was selected as a “40 under 40” honoree in the Washington Business Journal. His company MetaPhase Consulting, which McLaren founded in the D.C. area shortly after graduating from McDonough, also has been named a “Best Places to Work” by publications such as the Washington Post, the Financial Times, Washington Technology Magazine, and others.

2015

Mansi Babyloni (MBA’15) was appointed chief people and culture officer for Nigerian fintech company, Flutterwave, where she spearheads the ongoing Graduate Trainee Program that received 11,000 applications from young graduates across the country.

MY FIRST JOB

CORPORATE INTERNATIONAL MASTER’S IN BUSINESS

2015

Ashley Davis (CIM’15) was named to the Top 10 Most Inspiring Women in Business list by CIO Views. Davis currently is the founding partner of West Front Strategies LLC, a Washington, D.C., government affairs firm representing Fortune 500 companies in multiple industries, with a focus on healthcare, energy, homeland security, education, international trade, and government contracts. She also was named one of the 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy by Washingtonian Magazine.

EML

2005

Theresa Kuhns (EML’05) was selected by the Maryland Municipal League Board of Directors as the organization’s new chief executive officer.

2014

Tycely Williams (EML’14) is a 2022 Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business honoree.

MY FEED

The To-Do List

You can regularly find Guy Adami (B’86, P’21,22,23) commenting about financial markets on CNBC’s Fast Money or on his “On

The Tape” podcast with co-hosts Dan Nathan and Danny Moses of The Big Short fame. He recently shared with Georgetown Business the books, podcasts, and playlists that he enjoys during his downtime.

BOOKS

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The dystopian theme of widespread shortages and potential economic collapse struck a bit of a nerve.

Invisible Storm : A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD by Jason Kander

The brutal honesty about depression and embracing, not hiding from, vulnerability is such an important topic in today’s world.

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The secret to success is not necessarily talent, but a combination of passion and persistence... in a word, grit.

PODCASTS

Pod Save America

Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer have their collective fingers on the pulse of politics and all things ancillary.

We invite all alumni to share updates with the McDonough community by emailing us at GeorgetownBusiness@ georgetown.edu.

MUSIC

Guy’s 1st Playlist on Spotify

755 songs ranging from Aretha to Zeppelin and everything in between. A MUST for all ages!

Returning Home

Graduate Business Alumni Reunite on Campus.

More than 250 Hoyas attended McDonough’s 2022 Graduate Alumni Reunion this fall. Festivities included an alumni panel on the topic of Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience, updates from Dean Paul Almeida and other school leadership, and a dinner honoring alumni for their career accomplishments and their commitment to Georgetown McDonough.

AWARD WINNERS INCLUDED:

• Grant Pickering (MBA’97), Dean’s Award

• John Bottimore (MBA’87) and Tara Scalia Quilty (MBA’97), MBA Alumni Advisory Council Award

• David Allen Ammerman (MSF’17), Martin Doyle (MBA’02), and Jessica Grounds (EML’12), Magis Award

• Jennifer Chisholm (MSF’17), M.S. in Finance Award

• Keihan Sedghi (EMBA’97) and Caroline Nielsen Decker (EMBA’16), Committee for Impactful Relationships for C-Level Executives Award

• Sherrie Hughes (MBA’21) and Miguel Cuunjieng (MBA’15), Alumni Engagement Award

• MBA Class of 1997, Reunion Class Participation Award

QUESTION

Design thinking is trending. But what exactly is it?

“Design thinking is an iterative, humancentered, creative problem-solving process that helps individuals and teams leapfrog to new possibilities using empathy, defining extreme users, and expediting creative ideation. I’m often asked if you need to be creative to be a good design thinker. You just need to be curious and a good listener. Great ideas come from empathetically exploring what might help improve someone’s experiences.”

—EVELYN WILLIAMS, TEACHING PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, MASTER’S IN MANAGEMENT

Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

Office of Marketing and Communications 211 Rafik B. Hariri Building 37th and O Streets, NW Washington, DC 20057

MBA students currently enrolled in the Sustainable Business Certificate program. 96 students have graduated with the certificate since its launch.

1 Business of Sustainability Initiative

dedicated to student learning, thought leadership, and convening and outreach to advise and address critical issues related to sustainable business.

39 45 students 1

students enrolled in the Undergraduate Sustainable Business Fellows program.

university-wide Earth Commons Institute comprising interdisciplinary experts, researchers, leaders, and students that is focused on advancing environmental and sustainability innovation.

company projects completed in the last two years on sustainabilityfocused issues.

The Business of Sustainability 76 11 14 33

enrolled in the first cohort of the M.S. in Environment and Sustainability Management program — a joint degree between the McDonough School of Business, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and the Earth Commons Institute.

faculty producing research.sustainabilityrelated courses.