GLG Social Impact Nonprofit Fellowship – Social Sector Young Leaders
April 29, 2014
GLG Launches Social Impact Fellowship – World’s Largest Membership for Professional Learning and Expertise Now Open to Top Social Sector Young Leaders
Inaugural Class of 12 Nonprofits and Social Enterprises Spans Causes and Geographies Will Receive Unlimited Access to GLG’s 375,000 Experts and Mentors
Missions Include Community Health, Global Poverty, Entrepreneurship, Volunteerism, Disaster Recovery
Los Angeles, California, April 29, 2014 — Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc. (GLG), the world’s largest membership for one-on-one professional learning, today launched the GLG Social Impact Fellowship (glgsocialimpact.com) to give twelve promising nonprofit leaders access to one-on-one learning from 375,000 experts and thought leaders, without cost. These creative problem-solvers have already demonstrated that they are among the most promising and gifted social sector leaders and are ready to move beyond the advice and mentorship typically provided by board members and donors. GLG made the announcement from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, a gathering of business, political, philanthropic, and intellectual leaders from around the world to discuss and confront the biggest global challenges.
This nonprofit fellowship allows these Fellows to join GLG’s community of leading investors, entrepreneurs, corporations, and consulting firms, who learn every day from academics, current and former C-suite executives, scientists, policy specialists, former public sector leaders, and other professional leaders. Fellows and their teams will work collaboratively with GLG professionals to leverage the breadth and depth of this network to inform their strategic decisions and increase their impact. GLG’s total in-kind donation to the Fellows and their organizations is estimated at $1.4 million.
“Our mission is to transform the way the world’s top professionals share expertise, learn, and make decisions. This vital one-to-one learning has been available to top professionals across the private sector, and now we’re making it available to the best and brightest innovators in the social sector, where the need for learning is particularly acute, and the opportunity for innovation especially rich,” said GLG President and CEO Alexander Saint-Amand. “These curious and innovative Fellows, already having a big impact, are the future of the social sector. We’re thrilled to partner with them as they scale their missions.”
The 2014 Fellows were chosen from a diverse group of leading early-stage and growing nonprofits and social enterprises invited to apply and interview. The competitive selection process, which will occur annually, was based on organizations’ missions and models and on applicants’ articulation of how GLG’s resources would help them increase efficacy and scale at key moments in their organizational growth.
The Fellows and their organizations tackle a range of social challenges around the world – from community health and entrepreneurship to extreme poverty in Africa and disaster response in the U.S. They are:
Jen Field, GLG Director of Social Impact, oversees the Fellowship. She explained, “Our first class of Fellows is an incredibly diverse group of social sector all-stars. They are energetic, dynamic, and deeply curious leaders of innovative and growing organizations. They present big ideas, face critical inflection points, and demonstrate sincere commitments to continuous learning and improvement, personally and professionally. We couldn’t be prouder to welcome them and to support them.”
The Fellows are eager to learn from the world’s leading professionals, from GLG, and from each other. “The scale of our organizational ambitions require not only resources and coordination, but meaningful expertise and experience,” said Manmeet Kaur of City Health Works. “The GLG Fellowship will give us access to specific expertise just when we need it. We will be able to make smarter decisions faster, and make a bigger difference for people in need.”
Zack Rosenburg of St. Bernard Project said, “I’m honored and excited to be among this elite class of GLG Fellows. The group’s diversity and range of missions combined with the breadth of GLG’s membership should lead to unexpected and inspiring exchanges and collaborations that will benefit the people we serve.”
Saint-Amand added, “We hope that having GLG at the table will help these young social sector leaders scale their impact and change lives. I believe they will find immense value in GLG and its network. Our teaching members have a lot to offer curious professionals across fields, and we are proud to now include these innovators who are changing the world.”
Brief bios of our Fellows and their organizations follow. Further information is available at www.GLGSocialImpact.com/fellows.
2014 GLG Social Impact Fellows
Rachael Chong – Founder & CEO, Catchafire; New York, NY
Rachael Chong is the Founder and CEO of Catchafire, the world’s leading skills-based volunteer platform, which connects professionals with nonprofits on projects that create positive social impact. Rachael has been named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, and received the NYC Venture Fellowship and the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award. Before Catchafire, Rachael helped start the US affiliate of the BRAC, the largest poverty alleviation organization in the world. To build her business acumen, Rachael worked at UBS Investment Bank after graduating from Barnard College. She has an MPP from Duke University and lives in New York.
- Helping Your Cause—and Career – Lindsay Gellman (Wall Street Journal, 5/27/2013)
- Most Creative People 2012: 56. Rachel Chong – Chuck Salter (Fast Company, 4/27/2012)
Aaron Fishman – Founder & Director, East Bali Cashews; Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
Aaron Fishman founded East Bali Cashews after his experience volunteering with an NGO in rural northeast Bali in 2011. While Aaron taught the public health staff about wound care and nutrition, they taught him about cashews, and told him that this impoverished region ships their cashews to India and Vietnam for processing. Within a few months he garnered the support of four local investors and launched East Bali Cashews to process the cashews locally. Aaron believes that community development is best achieved and sustained through empowering people, especially women. So far, the company has produced 500 tons of cashews, providing 210 new jobs and employing an 85% female workforce. EBC recently opened the region’s first preschool, a community early learning center for 60 children adjacent to the factory. He lives in Denpasar, Bali.
- How KKR helped create jobs for impoverished villagers – Dan Primack (CNNMoney, 10/23/2013)
- In Bali, An Entrepreneur Builds An Eco-Friendly Workers’ Paradise – Anne Field (Forbes, 11/10/2013)
Christina Lewis Halpern – Founder & President, All Star Code; New York, NY
Christina Lewis Halpern is a social entrepreneur and award-winning journalist who is the founder of All Star Code, a nonprofit education organization that attracts, prepares, and places young men of color in the technology sector. Christina is a board member of the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation. The White House recognized her as a 2014 Champion of Change for STEM Access.** **She has been profiled in Domino and Vanity Fair and her work has been published in The New York Times Magazine among other publications. She graduated from Harvard College and lives in New York City.
- How All Star Code is Getting More Young, Black Males into Tech – Christina Chaey (Fast Company, 10/1/2013)
- Giving Black Boys a Chance to Run the Tech Industry – Keli Goff (The Root, 11/23/2013)
Jake Harriman – Founder & CEO, Nuru International; Palo Alto, CA
Jake graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and served over seven years as an Infantry and Special Operations Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps. He led four operational deployments and was awarded the Bronze Star for actions in combat. From his experiences, Jake came to believe that the “War on Terror” wouldn’t be won on the battlefield alone: the contributing causes of terrorism – disenfranchisement, lack of education, and extreme poverty – must also be eradicated. Jake left his military career and enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to build an organization focused on tackling extreme poverty, Nuru International. He lives in Palo Alto.
- A Marine’s Mission to Fight Poverty, Combat Terrorism – Angel Canales & Arthur Niemynski (ABC News, 1/15/2014)
- Linking Extreme Poverty and Global Terrorism – Jake Harriman (The New York Times, 3/13/2012)
Leila Janah – Founder & CEO, Samasource; San Francisco, CA
Leila Janah founded and leads Samasource, a nonprofit connecting underserved and underemployed people living in developing regions to microwork – computer-based tasks that build skills and generate income, and now part of the broader field of impact sourcing. Samasource moved 3,800 workers and their families over the poverty line in under five years and introduced a domestic program, SamaUSA, in 2013. Samasource received the Templeton Freedom Award, the Secretary’s Innovation Award from Hillary Clinton, and the Prix Netexplorateur from the French Senate. Leila received the inaugural Club de Madrid Young Leadership Award, presented by President Bill Clinton. In 2011, Leila co-founded Samahope, a crowdfunding site for medical treatments in developing countries. She received a BA from Harvard and resides in San Francisco.
- ‘Rising Star’ Leila Janah on Fighting Poverty – Visi R. Tilak (The Wall Street Journal, 11/29/2012)
- Leila Janah’s ‘microwork’ – power to many – Daniel Scheffler (SFGate, 12/30/2012)
Leticia M. Jáuregui Casanueva – Founder & Executive Director, Crea Comunidades de Emprendedores Sociales; Mexico City, Mexico
Leticia Jáuregui founded Crea Comunidades de Emprendedores Sociales (CREA) in 2008 to support Mexican female-led micro enterprises, focusing primarily on the manufacturing sector of food and handmade products and accessories. She has presented her work about remittances and micro entrepreneurial development at the Wharton School of Business, the Institute for Mexicans Abroad, the Organization of American States, and the OECD, among others. Her recognition since then includes the StartingBloc and Opportunity Collaboration Cordes Fellowships in 2010; being named an “Architect of the Future” by the Wazdell Institute in 2009, and the Echoing Green Fellowship in 2008. Leticia has two bachelors’ degrees from ITAM and two masters’ degrees from the University of California Davis. She lives in Mexico City.
- Money is Never Enough – Leticia M. Jáuregui Casanueva (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2013)
Manmeet Kaur – Founder & Executive Director, City Health Works; New York, NY
Manmeet Kaur has worked in New York to improve the working conditions of “unregulated” workers, in India to stabilize the livelihoods of construction laborers at LabourNet, and in South Africa to help HIV+ individuals create employment with Mamelani Projects. Before launching City Health Works, Manmeet was an advisor to the Earth Institute’s One Million Community Health Worker Campaign. In launching City Health Works, she sought to apply innovations from developing countries to the U.S., providing support for individuals and families struggling with chronic diseases in the East Harlem community. Manmeet holds a B.A. in History/Anthropology from Barnard College, where she was selected as a Third Millennium Human Rights fellow, and an MBA from Columbia University. She lives in Harlem.
- The Wages of Health – Paul Hond (Columbia Magazine, Winter 2013-14)
Oliver Libby – Chair & Co-Founder, The Resolution Project; New York, NY
Oliver Libby co-founded The Resolution Project in 2007, in order to create a unique pathway to action for aspiring young social entrepreneurs. Undergraduates often hear that they are leaders of tomorrow – rather than leaders of today. Resolution identifies young leaders through Social Venture Challenges, empowering them through Resolution Fellowships to implement their ventures and to develop as socially responsible leaders. With Fellows on all six inhabited continents, working in fields such as education, healthcare, human rights, water, energy, and sustainability, Resolution is building a generation of leaders with a lifelong commitment to social responsibility. Oliver is also a co-founder and Managing Director of Hatzimemos / Libby, a global growth catalyst firm focused on energy and advanced technologies. He is a Trustee of the Harvard Club of New York Foundation and lives in New York.
- Young Wall Street Bankers Flex Their Philanthropic Muscles – Max Abelson (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 2/6/2014)
- Creating a Pathway to Action – Oliver Libby & George Tsiatis (The Huffington Post, 1/31/2014)
Ben Powell – Founder & CEO, Agora Partnerships; Washington, D.C.
Ben Powell is the Founder and CEO of Agora Partnerships, a nonprofit increasing the flow of social, human, and financial capital to entrepreneurs solving social and environmental problems across Latin America. Ben started a miniature golf business in Mexico before earning an MSFS from Georgetown and completing a Presidential Management Fellowship at the Office of Management and Budget. In 2005 he earned an MBA from Columbia, where he won the inaugural alumni social innovation award and where he launched Agora, working initially with entrepreneurs in Nicaragua. Since then, he has been named a Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Entrepreneur, a BMW Foundation Young Leader, an Ashoka Fellow, and one of the top 40 under 40 development leaders in Washington D.C. Ben is an alumnus of Haverford College and a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He lives in Washington, D.C.
- Agora Partnerships: “Optimism and Purpose are the World’s Most Important Resource”– Rahim Kanani (Forbes, 9/20/2011)
- Is Philanthropy Ready for System Change? – Ben Powell (Forbes, 8/30/2013)
Zack Rosenburg – Co-Founder & CEO, St. Bernard Project; Chalmette, LA
Zack Rosenburg is the CEO and Co-Founder of St. Bernard Project, a long-term disaster recovery organization working to ensure that disaster-impacted citizens and communities recover promptly, efficiently, and predictably. Zack directs the strategic vision, marketing, partnership development, and fundraising for the organization, which he co-founded following Hurricane Katrina. Before founding SBP, he was a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. Prior to his defense work, he founded Linking Communities for Educational Success (LINK), a nonprofit organization that provides tutoring, mentoring, and after school education and enrichment services to at-risk junior high school students in Washington, D.C. Zack, a Belmont, Massachusetts native, is an alumnus of Ohio Weslyan University and received his J.D. from American University and an LLM from Georgetown University. He lives in New Orleans.
- 10 Service Groups that are Making a Difference – Cathie Gandel (US News & World Report, 10/27/2010)
- Unlikely Partners Unite After Natural Disasters – Alan Scher Zagier (Associated Press, 3/12/2012)
Eugenie Teasley – Founder & Chief Executive, Spark+Mettle; London, England
Eugenie Teasley is founder and CEO of Spark+Mettle, a youth aspirations agency that builds character strengths, skills, and networks for less privileged young people. She holds degrees from Oxford University and UC Berkeley. She has taught in south London and has lived and worked in San Francisco. She speaks and writes on topics that center around flourishing, entrepreneurship, feminism, and youth development. She blogs for The Guardian about her experience as a Clore Social Leadership Programme Fellow. Eugenie lives in Brighton, England.
- What Toddler Tantrums Can Teach Charity Leaders Eugenie Teasley (The Guardian, 2/20/2014)
Andrew Yang – Founder & CEO, Venture for America; New York, NY
Andrew Yang is Founder and CEO of Venture for America and the author of Smart People Should Build Things. Venture for America places top college graduates in startups in low-cost U.S. cities for two years, generating job growth and training the next generation of entrepreneurs. Andrew previously worked in startups and early-stage growth companies for more than twelve years. He was the CEO and President of Manhattan GMAT, a test preparation company acquired by Washington Post/Kaplan; co-founded an Internet company; and was an executive at a healthcare software startup. Andrew was named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2011 and one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2012 and 2013. He graduated from Columbia Law and Brown University and lives in New York.
- No Six-Figure Pay, but Making a Difference – Hannah Seligson (The New York Times, 7/13/2013)
- Why grads should choose a start-up over Wall Street – Ezra Klein (Washington Post, 6/15/2012)
About GLG/Gerson Lehrman Group
GLG is transforming the way the world’s top professionals share expertise and learn. GLG curates custom learning experiences among professionals and thought leaders across fields, within a rigorous compliance framework. GLG scales one-to-one learning through conversations, mentorships, small group convening, surveys, and other interactions with its network of more than 375,000 experts. Global, technology-driven, and nimble, GLG is the world’s largest membership for professional learning and expertise. Its 850 employees work in 21 offices in 12 countries. To find out more, visit www.GLG.it and follow @GLG.
About GLG Social Impact
GLG Social Impact connects social sector organizations with experts across industries and geographies for perspectives and expertise to accelerate the impact of their work, including through the GLG Social Impact Fellowship. GLG Social Impact partners with leading social sector organizations around the world, including the Clinton Development Initiative, Endeavor, the Bridgespan Group, and the Julliard School, among others. To find out more, visit www.GLGSocialImpact.com.
Contact: press@glg.it