Philadelphia, October 1, 2014 – In the latest effort to connect students with leading business, social impact, and nonprofit visionaries, Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII) is pleased to host visiting social impact practitioner Bill Clark, W’74, former executive director of Philabundance, Philadelphia’s largest hunger relief organization.
- Bill Clark, W’74
“Our work at Wharton Social Impact involves blending research, experiential learning, and real impact,” says Managing Director Sherryl Kuhlman, WG’01. “Having Bill available for our team, and our students’ needs, means that we will be adding very valuable practitioner experience to our offerings.”
As the first visiting practitioner, Clark will share his experience in social enterprise and nonprofit leadership with students and impact-focused organizations, through one-on-one sessions and group meetings. As an expert in food and hunger issues, Clark’s current research focuses on societal challenges such as hunger, obesity, long term sustainability and waste management – areas that WSII is interested in exploring.
After graduating from Wharton, Clark led a successful career in the food and nutrition industry, including 13 years as the president and ED of Philabundance. During his tenure, the nonprofit grew to nearly 200 employees and over 35 million pounds of food distributed yearly; it also expanded to new areas such as job training programs for under-served communities, and the opening of Fare & Square, the nation’s first nonprofit supermarket serving the community of Chester, PA.
Over the next year, Clark will be available to share insights, consult, and advise students and other organizations.
“My current study interest is how social enterprise can be applied to dealing with wicked problems – the social or cultural problems that must be dealt with, but are extremely difficult or near impossible to solve due to the large scale interconnected nature of the systems in which they are embedded, “says Clark.
He is available for one-on-one or group sessions during office hours at WSII by appointment.