The ESG Initiative at the Wharton School

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14 Social Impact Leaders Receiving Loan Forgiveness Awards in 2022

The ESG Initiative is pleased to announce the 2022 recipients of the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund for Public Service.

These 14 Bendheim Fellows are examples of Wharton alumni who are using their business acumen in finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more to solve the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s fellows include leaders in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, nonprofits, medicine, and government.

Created in 2005 by John Bendheim, W’40, and his son Tom, WG/Lauder’90, and managed by the ESG Initiative, the loan forgiveness fund has awarded over $2.3 million to 110+ alumni. These Bendheim Fellows are representative of the growing community of Wharton alumni engaged in the business of social impact.

The funding decisions are made by a committee composed of Wharton representatives (ESG Initiative, MBA Career Management, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Wharton San Francisco, and the Wharton Executive MBA program) and Bendheim Fellows–previous recipients of Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Awards.

The recipients for this year include the following social impact leaders:

  • Aaron Cohen is a 2020 MBA graduate who concentrated in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Wharton and International Studies at the Lauder Institute. He is the co-founder of TalkSay, a social discussion platform built for African languages.

  • Jessica Dong completed her MBA in 2019 with a concentration in Healthcare Management. She is a Resident Physician at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, a public hospital with the mission of providing quality healthcare and trauma services with compassion and respect to all patients regardless of ability to pay.

  • William Fields completed his MBA in 2018 with a concentration in Management. As a Senior Advisor to the Treasury Secretary in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, William supports the organization’s mission of enabling economic growth and stability at home and abroad.

  • Patricia Garza de Zamacona received her MBA in 2020 and graduated with concentrations in Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability. She currently serves as Head of Growth at Vinco, a mission-led, female-founded startup dedicated to helping companies empower their workforce via education benefits.

  • Rishika Ghosh received her MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship & Innovation in 2021. She is currently a Senior Associate at the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp., a nonprofit green bank that connects projects to capital to drive a thriving, clean energy market in Philadelphia.

  • Michael Greer received his MBA in Management in 2021. He serves as President and CEO at ArtsFund, a Seattle nonprofit that supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant-making.

  • Trené Hawkins is a 2020 WEMBA graduate. In her role as Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Trené supports the organization’s vision of a “Culture of Health,” where everyone in America has a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being.

  • Brittney Jean-Louis completed her EMBA in 2020. She currently leads expansion projects for high-performing K-12 schools in an effort to offer more high-quality educational opportunities in low-income communities.

  • Jacob Kim is a 2020 MBA graduate who concentrated in Finance at Wharton and International Studies – Spanish at the Lauder Institute. He is currently an Associate Investment Officer as part of the Young Professionals Program at the International Finance Corporation, a multilateral organization that promotes sustainable, resilient, and equitable economic development by catalyzing private sector growth in developing countries. He focuses on infrastructure for the water, waste, and municipal sectors.

  • Saba Shafi is a 2017 MBA graduate with a concentration in Management. She is the CEO of the Advocacy Academy, a youth organizing movement working to create a new generation of social-change leaders.

  • Suzanne Shaw earned her MBA in Finance in 2020. She is an Infrastructure Sector Economist and Project Team Leader in Investment Operations at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which is committed to improving social and economic outcomes in Asia by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors.

  • Ashley Sogge completed her MBA in Finance and Management in 2021. In her role as Chief Operating Officer for Honor the Promise, Ashley advances the organization’s mission of resettling Afghan refugees after the fall of Afghanistan and supporting Afghanistan’s military veterans who have sought refuge in the U.S.

  • Rachel Wolff graduated from Wharton with an Executive MBA in 2018. She is currently Country Director in Nepal for CARE, the global nonprofit working to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

  • Lorinda Wong is a 2017 MBA graduate who concentrated in Management, Marketing, and Operations. In her role as Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Lorinda supports Getty’s mission of advancing practice and delivering knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage.
Learn more about the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund.