Students

Kiersten Abate (SOM ’16) graduated from Boston College in 2011 with a B.A in Sociology and Environmental Studies. Before SOM, she worked at Affirmative Investments, Inc., a mission-driven economic development consulting firm. As Assistant Project Manager, Kiersten worked with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to pull together tax credit financing for deals across the US including Boys and Girls Clubs, charter schools, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and affordable housing.
At Yale, Kiersten leads the Economic Development Club and is an advisor to Net Impact. Her focus is on innovative financing and her areas of interest include workforce development, health, and education. Kiersten also consulted for a Brazilian social enterprise through the Global Social Enterprise class as well as a nonprofit in Connecticut through Outreach Nonprofit Consulting.
Kiersten spent her summer at Social Finance, a social impact bond intermediary and nonprofit in Boston. As Summer Associate Director, she spent a large part of her summer working on the deal development team on a project in Michigan focused on improving outcomes for first time mothers and their children. After SOM, she will be completing a Fellowship with USAID’s Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact.

Ethan Geiling (SOM ’16) graduated from Northwestern University in 2010, where he majored in Economics. After graduation, Ethan worked at the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) in Washington, D.C., a national nonprofit with the mission of expanding economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income Americans. In his role as a Program Manager for Policy & Research, he drove policy change by providing policy expertise, technical assistance, and strategic advice to advocates, legislators, and reporters. He presented poverty data and policy solutions at conferences and events across the country. Through his work on the applied research team, Ethan researched solutions that promote access to safe and affordable financial services for underserved consumers. He also provided expertise and guidance that helped nonprofits use behavioral economics to improve the effectiveness of their programs.
At SOM, Ethan led the Economic Development Club, led Out Of Office (the LGBTQ club), and consulted for a B Corporation in Brazil through the Global Social Enterprise course.
Ethan came to SOM to learn how to envision, design and market high-quality and scalable financial products for low-income and underserved consumers in the United States. After SOM, he will be working at Chase, doing marketing and product development on the consumer and community banking team.

Shira Beery (SOM ’17) graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with a B.A. in International Relations. Prior to Yale, she spent six years working at a nonprofit consultancy, a foundation, and an economic development nonprofit in the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, Shira was on the fundraising and communications team at Trickle Up, which helps women living on under $1.25/day build sustainable livelihoods in India, West Africa, and Central America. She spent the summer of 2015 with Trickle Up in eastern India working on a strategic partnership assessment. This summer, she will intern at Deloitte Consulting in the Strategy & Operations practice. Shira hopes to pursue a career in cross-sector partnerships for large-scale social impact.