Harvard Business School » Social Enterprise » About

About

A Catalyst for Creating Social Value

The Social Enterprise Initiative applies innovative business practices and managerial disciplines to drive sustained, high-impact social change. It's grounded in the mission of Harvard Business School and aims to educate, inspire, and support leaders across all sectors to tackle society’s toughest challenges and make a difference in the world.

Leadership

ShawnCole_square_173px_website-headshot.jpg

Shawn Cole

Initiative Chair; John G. McLean Professor of Business Administration

Shawn Cole is a professor in the Finance Unit and has taught in a variety of MBA courses, including the core first-year Finance courses and second-year elective courses on Business at the Base of the Pyramid and impact investing. He also teaches in various executive education courses and in the PhD development sequence in the department of Economics. Much of his research examines corporate and household finance in emerging markets, with a focus on insurance, credit, and savings. He has also done extensive work on financial education in the US and emerging markets.

AAngella_cropped.jpg

Amelia Angella

Director

Amelia Angella is Director of the Social Enterprise Initiative. Prior to joining HBS, Amelia was the Executive Director of Community Action Partners, a pro-bono business consulting organization of Harvard Business School and Kennedy School alumni working with Boston-area nonprofits and social enterprises. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and prior work experience at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City and John Hancock’s Bond and Corporate Finance group.

MDushin_cropped-300x290-1.jpg

Margot Dushin

Director of Programs

Margot Dushin joined the Social Enterprise Initiative in 1996. Margot plays a principal role in the Social Enterprise Initiative's MBA Program activities, working with prospective and current students interested in social enterprise, leading social enterprise field-based and career efforts, and helping practitioners interact with students in a variety of ways in order to meet their organizations' goals. Before joining Social Enterprise, she worked in the School's Marketing and Communications Office on publishing and technology projects. She holds an Ed.M from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in communications and English literature from Syracuse University.

Erod.jpg

Emily Rodriguez

Associate Director, Alumni Engagement

Emily Rodriguez is the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement. In her role, Emily works to connect alumni to each other as well as to resources and research. She is passionate about leveraging the collective impact of HBS alumni to tackle complex social issues. Prior to joining the team at the Social Enterprise Initiative, Emily spent over 20 years in K-12 education at the classroom, school, and district levels. Emily has a B.A. from the University of Miami and Masters degrees from Queens College and Pace University.

Appleby-e1637702316960.png

Sarah Appleby

Assistant Director

Sarah Appleby manages an array of Social Enterprise Executive Education programs which are designed to provide practitioners with opportunities to enhance their management, governance, and entrepreneurial capabilities and to achieve high performance in their organizations. Prior to this role, Sarah was a research associate with the Social Enterprise Initiative with a focus on social enterprise scaling and impact investing. She has worked as a project manager at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and a program coordinator for the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center and the Jewish Multiracial Network. She holds an MBA in Nonprofit Management from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and a B.A. in education from Hampshire College.

Cortney-photo.jpg

Cortney Robinson Jones

Special Projects Associate

Cortney Robinson Jones is a Special Projects Associate at the Social Enterprise Initiative at Harvard Business School. In her role, Cortney manages the development and execution of a pilot project focused on developing social enterprises that serve Black communities. Cortney has a background in program design and delivery and a passion for supporting leaders in social impact as they solve some of the world’s toughest problems. Prior to joining the team at the Social Enterprise Initiative, Cortney worked at the Rustandy center for Social Sector Innovation at the Chicago Booth School of Business and then in Community Relations at the Chicago Bulls. In both roles she launched programs to help leaders in social impact maximize their work’s effectiveness and growth both domestically and abroad. Cortney attended Spelman College for her undergraduate education in Psychology and Spanish and Pepperdine University where she received a Master’s in Clinical Psychology.