Harvard Business School (HBS) has announced the 2020 recipients of its Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowships. Established in 1998 by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation and Richard L. Menschel (MBA 1959), a former director of the Foundation and a limited partner at Goldman Sachs, to encourage students from the nonprofit sector to attend HBS, these fellowships enable the School to award approximately $10,000 for two years to seven to ten incoming MBA students.
Since 1990, 227 incoming students have received the fellowship. Recipients of the award have served in leadership roles in nonprofit and public sector organizations and demonstrate a strong commitment to continued career paths in these areas. New recipients are invited to participate in events with current and former recipients as well as local social enterprise leaders in an effort to create a network of individuals committed to working in social enterprise.
The 2020 Goldsmith Fellows are:
McKinley Crisp
McKinley’s work in health care has benefitted individual patients and the local community. Her impact has included developing the business plan for a clinic dedicated to LGBTQ+ patients, increasing and retaining African American leadership at the Cleveland Clinic, and chartering a chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) to elevate the quality of services for underserved communities. McKinley said “I am excited to connect with like-minded individuals at HBS, in my pursuit to implement sustainable ideas and operating models in the health care space.”
Drew Keller
Drew was the first employee of Open For Business (OFB), a coalition of global companies dedicated to improving the legal and social situations of LGBT+ people around the world. In his four years at OFB, he helped bring structure to the organization, scale programs, and build thirty corporate partnerships. Drew intends to use his HBS and OFB experience to continue to help companies make a positive societal impact, and said “the Goldsmith Fellows community will expose me to a diversity of perspectives and approaches to social change.”
Peter James Kiernan
Peter has spent the last decade dedicated to protecting others. His service began as Raider in the United States Marine Corps and continued by advocating for veterans and gold star families. Most recently he served in the Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo, where he helped lead the COVID-19 response operations for New York State. Peter said that pursuing an MBA as a Goldsmith Fellow “will provide me with the language to effectively communicate across sectors, and build coalitions to tackle globalized problems.”
Zach Komes
Zach’s career has focused on advancing community economic development. At the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, he launched his idea of the DC Community Anchor Partnership, working across sectors to bring $15 million in new contracts to minority-owned, primarily black-owned businesses. Through the Goldsmith Fellowship, Zach said “I hope to accelerate my impact in my home community of Milwaukee through a career that will spur inclusive business growth, and create living wage jobs and local wealth building.“
Fiona Liao
Fiona has dedicated her career to using evidence-based methods to help people living in poverty. At GiveDirectly, she helped launch the nonprofit's first ever disaster relief cash transfer program, which helped the victims of hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Texas recover from the devastating disasters. In her most recent role as Liberia Field Director, she led a cash transfer program in Liberia to deliver $7.3M to 60,000 Liberians living in extreme poverty. “I’m so thankful for the Goldsmith Fellowship, as it will empower me in my journey towards becoming a social impact leader, capable of helping shift the sector so that being evidence-driven becomes the norm,” Fiona said.
Richard Pettey
Richard comes to HBS with rich experience as a high school Spanish teacher; co-founder of the first charter school in Mississippi; an education policy advisor for the Senate; and as a director of policy and strategy at the U.S. Department of Education, where he managed a billion dollar career and technical education grant program and advised the Secretary on issues related to workforce development, criminal justice reform, and the future of work. Richard said, “The Goldsmith Fellowship will help me continue working to transform communities and improve outcomes for students across the country.”
Danielle Regis
In her role within the US Federal Government, Danielle managed a portfolio of multimillion-dollar contacts, ranging from strategy R&D to mission critical system delivery. At the same time, as Director of Product for LINGO, she developed the first consumer product for STEMBoard, a boutique technology development firm with an arm targeted towards educating underrepresented students in STEM. Danielle said “At HBS, I hope to experience great growth by being surrounded by people who dare to change the status quo for societies at large.”
Devon Sanford
Devon comes from The Global Good Fund (GGF), where she was part of a core team that identified high-potential social entrepreneurs and provided them coaching and capital through a one-year fellowship to accelerate their business' impact. In her three years at GGF, she focused on fundraising, impact investment, and portfolio strategy, as well as thought leadership and organizational development. Through the fellowship community, Devon said she hopes to “refine my approach to impact, and bridge gaps across the for- and non-profit sectors.”
