Career Conversations

Linhang Ren is a first-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022. He is a co-chair of the Internship Fund at SOM, and a co-founder of a new food startup that’s part of the Tsai CITY Accelerator program at Yale. Prior to SOM, Linhang was a serial entrepreneur who has founded several tech/travel start-ups. His most recent start-up was Touchtrips, a B2B travel tech company that enabled hotel guests to instantly book POI in their hotel room or on their hotel app. Linhang is interviewed by Pascal Su, a first-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2022. Pascal is an elected Senator for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) at Yale, and a leader of the Data Analytics Club at SOM. Prior to SOM, Pascal was an investment professional at a $70B private equity fund of funds, where he managed assets on behalf of institutional clients.

Grace Bergin has spent her career in the arts working in music education and as a conductor for choirs, orchestras, and opera. She is an MAM student at Yale SOM and has completed her MBA at UCD Michael Smurfit Business School in Ireland. Grace is interviewed by Natasha Nair ’21, and they speak about how creating and conducting music connects to business.

Adhi Murali is a second-year full-time MBA student in the Class of 2021. He interned in investment banking this past summer and is leading the Finance Club this Fall. Adhi talks about the recruiting process for investment banking and the role played by Yale SOM's Finance Club. Prior to SOM, Adhi worked for VMware helping Fortune 500 clients solve their most challenging technology problems using VMware solutions.

Tanmay Manohar ’16 is the Vice President for People Analytics & Workforce Planning at ViacomCBS. He started the people analytics function at the company as a way to use information in a more intelligent way to solve HR problems. He uses predictive analytics for hiring, improving diversity and inclusion, succession planning, employee engagement and career development. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21.  

Nancy Pfund ’82 is the founder and managing partner of DBL Partners and a pioneer in impact investing.  Pfund worked at JPMorgan and Hambrecht & Quist before founding DBL Investors, a venture capital firm that invested with the aim of achieving both financial returns and social or environmental impact. In 2015, the firm joined with the clean tech practice of Technology Partners to form DBL Partners. Pfund has made successful investments in such firms as Tesla, SolarCity, and Pandora.

Louise is the Chief News Strategist and Chief Product & Technology Officer at The Wall Street Journal. She is also a filmmaker and investigative reporter, having previously worked at the New York Times for 11 years. At the Wall Street Journal, she built and runs a large unit there called Digital Experience & Strategy (DXS), which includes the Journal’s product engineering, design and product management teams that work across the business as well as including the newsroom’s content strategy, data science, community and audience development teams. She oversees the daily news report in a rotation of senior masthead editors and has set forth major parts of the news strategy. Louise graduated from Yale in 2003 and Yale School of Management in 2006 as a Silver Scholar.

Matt Chmura ’18 is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Boston Bruins. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21 and Amy Kundrat ’21.

Crystal Yates, a member of the Executive MBA Class of 2021, is the deputy fire commissioner for the city of Philadelphia, overseeing the city’s EMS system. She serves on an interdepartmental team tackling the city’s opioid crisis. Crystal Yates is a recipient of the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership at Yale. The fellowship, created by Yale SOM in collaboration with the Commonwealth Fund and endowed by a gift from Robert C. Pozen, was created to give healthcare practitioners the leadership skills and the deep understanding of teams, markets, and organizations necessary to tackle major inequities in the U.S. healthcare system. Crystal is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21 and Amy Kundrat ’21.

We kick-off our third season with Seth Goldman ’95, one of SOM's most impactful alumni entrepreneurs whose ventures have explored the ways in which business can be a tool for creating social and environmental change. He is co-founder and former CEO of Honest Tea, Chair of the Board at Beyond Meat, and Chief Change Agent at Eat the Change. Seth is interviewed by Jenn Burka ’21 and Amy Kundrat ’21.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Oscar Licea Perez ’21 interned at Morgan Stanley in the investment banking division for Latin America. Before SOM, he founded his own micro-lending group, working as its CFO until he was invited to work for the central bank of Mexico.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Julia Frederick ’21 is an MBA/MPH candidate at Yale and is the SOM student government president. This summer she is interning with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Before SOM, she worked in government and politics, most recently for Senator Elizabeth Warren.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Diane Somlo ’21 is an MD/MBA candidate at Yale. She is spending her summer at Geisinger, a hospital and health center comprised of thirteen hospital campuses, two research centers, a college of medicine and a health plan serving more than three million residents in central, south-central and northeast Pennsylvania. Diane discusses the choice to pursue an MBA after having started her MD, her summer projects at Geisinger, and the ways in which the health care system is evolving.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Ezra Nelson ’21 is an intern at the Robin Hood Foundation this summer. He discusses the organization's evolving mission focusing on social mobility and his experience working on the learning and tech fund team focusing on school readiness.  At SOM, Ezra is a member of the Design and Innovation Club, Data Analytics, and served as the director of finance for the Education Leadership Before coming to Yale SOM, Ezra joined Teach for America and taught high school math in Boston where he also taught the robotics team and served as a school-based representative for a mentorship program for young men of color.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Daven Hines ’21 is an intern at YouTube this summer. He discusses what it's like to work as a product marketing intern at YouTube, his love of the SOM series Voices, and what he is watching and reading this summer.

This episode is part of a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Snigdha Rao ’21 is an intern at the National Park Service this summer. She discusses what it's like to work at the organization, her hidden talent for improv, and what she looks forward to in her second year as a full-time MBA student including her involvement in Student Government and Women in Management.

This is our first episode in a special mini-series of Career Conversations focused on MBA summer internships. Ann Boyajian ’21, Emily Kling ’21, and Edward Kusell-Ziglmann ’21 MBA interns at CariClub this summer. They discuss what it's like to work at the start-up, the pros and cons of a virtual internship, and their big takeaway from their work at the social impact-focused organization.

Frances Symes, a 2014 graduate of Yale SOM, is a manager in the Workforce Transformation group of Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. She has been with Deloitte for 5 years, and has served clients across multiple industries in leading large scale change efforts as well as conducting talent and learning initiatives. Frances has built expertise and a passion for a broad range of organizational and people topics—including upskilling and reskilling the workforce, change leadership, and the Future of Work. She is trained as a Greenhouse Lab manager and facilitator and loves designing and facilitating client workshops and “breakthrough” sessions.

Dennis Tseng is a 2014 graduate of Yale SOM. He works in Google's Hiring Innovation department, helping the tech giant hire nearly 25,000 employees each year in a more effective and equitable way. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’21.  The views and opinions expressed in this episode are of those of the participant and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer.

Andrew Messick ’91 is the CEO of IRONMAN Group which runs the iconic IRONMAN® series of events, the largest participation sports platform in the world. IRONMAN Group is part of Wanda Sports Group, a leading global sports events, media, and marketing platform. He is interviewed by Reeve Harde ’20. 

Michael Barker ’10 is the managing director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’20 Prior to the Westport Country Playhouse he was the managing director of Marin Theatre Company, the general manager of Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, and managing director for the Los Angeles classical theater ensemble, The Antaeus Company. Before moving to California, Barker was associate managing director at Yale Repertory Theatre and managing director of Yale Summer Cabaret, and produced the first annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays. He was Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 2008 Managing Director Fellow. Barker holds an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management. At Yale, he was the recipient of the Daniel and Helene Sheehan Scholarship for theater management and a Kosciusko Scholarship for outstanding students of Polish descent. He served on the Yale School of Management Alumni Advisory Board, and is a current Association o