School of management

School Notes: School of Management
January/February 2020

Kerwin Charles | http://som.yale.edu

Yale SOM celebrates women at Yale

The school is hosting a series of events as part of the university’s year-long celebration of the first women students at Yale. On September 12, Dean Kerwin K. Charles kicked off the first event, a lunchtime gathering that featured presentations from women students and alumnae about their entrepreneurial ventures, and remarked  that he is “delighted” to begin his deanship at Yale SOM in the same year that Yale is honoring women, because so much of his research focuses on inequality. Student and alumni entrepreneurs introduced the variety of ventures that they have launched, and they thanked Yale SOM for providing such a supportive community. The school’s Program on Entrepreneurship and WE@Yale cohosted the event at Evans Hall.

On November 18, the school hosted “The Pioneers: Celebrating Women Leaders of Yale SOM,”  a panel of trailblazing alumnae who discussed their careers, provided advice to students, and shared tips for navigating pitfalls along one’s career trajectory. Panelists included Linda Mason ’80MBA, chairman and cofounder of Bright Horizons; Jane Mendillo ’80, ’84MBA, former president and CEO, Harvard Management Company; and Sandra Urie ’84MPPM, chairman emeritus, Cambridge Associates.

Food entrepreneurs at Yale SOM

Foodie startups are alive and well at SOM: students and recent graduates working in the food space have found support and encouragement in a growing community of like-minded founders. With opportunities to find funding, a curriculum of entrepreneurship coursework, and informal collaboration with fellow founders in the Honest Tea Entrepreneurship Suite—known as “the bunker”—SOM’s community of entrepreneurs is “extremely strong,” says Meryl Breidbart ’20, cofounder and creative director of Chirps, which is working to introduce cricket flour to the Western diet. Learn more at som.yale.edu.

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