Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95, started her career with Morgan Stanley in 1989 and was the first Bangladeshi woman investment banker on Wall Street. After stints with various organizations including the Nobel Prize-winning Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Shahnaz went on to set up Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), the world’s first social stock exchange, in 2009…Read More
It was 2007, in Botswana, when Lauren Cochran had the epiphany that changed her life. She was working on the ground with William J. Clinton Foundation Health Access Initiative to help Sub-Saharan African nations fill the gaps in the diagnosis, care and treatment of children living with HIV. “I was sitting with…Read More
Matthew Stephenson, WG’11, was on the precipice of a lucrative career on Wall Street when he realized his job in risk management – protecting an investment bank from credit losses – wasn’t personally fulfilling. “As exciting as my job was, my skills weren’t actually helping people,” he says. Public service was…Read More
When I was in undergrad, I read an article in the student newspaper that changed the trajectory of my life. The story told of a successful entrepreneur who sold his business and moved with his wife to the Philippines. They bought a large colonial mansion, but not for themselves. They…Read More
“I grew up in Hong Kong in a very different education environment, where you aren’t asked to be creative or solve problems, but to memorize,” says Vikki Tam, C’92, and WG’98. “Coming to the U.S., my big questions were ‘Can I be successful here? What kind of career can I…Read More
Like many of today’s Wharton students, getting into social impact finance “was not an epiphany” for Durreen Shahnaz, WG’95—it was something very much a part of her life’s journey. The 1995 Wharton graduate was born and raised in Bangladesh, a country “where women do not receive much opportunity to pursue a career in finance, let…Read More
Chris Marvin, WG’11, was serving as an aviation platoon leader and Blackhawk pilot, deployed to combat operations in Afghanistan, when his helicopter crashed. During his recuperation stateside—which involved 10 surgeries and thousands of physical therapy hours—he received a letter from an organization, thanking him for his service with a $5oo…Read More
Barry Mattson, WG’08, is a recipient of the Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund – a program designed to ease the burden of student loans for selected Wharton MBA graduates who are pursuing careers in the nonprofit and public sectors. Below, Mattson describes his work fighting poverty in Ethiopia. As an MBA student, I had…Read More
Wharton alum K. Robert “Bobby” Turner is a man on a mission – a mission to make a positive difference in the world and to inspire others to do the same. And when it comes to inspiring others to make a difference, he’s starting at Penn. His message? You can make…Read More
For a landlord, the economics of running an urban apartment complex can be dismal. Tenants without a sense of home ownership may damage the property, and with an average turnover of 100% every two years, losses from vacancy are high. Tenants also suffer. Constant turnover may leave the community vulnerable…Read More
