Career Conversations

Allyson Fish ’08 is a food scientist and P&L executive with over two decades of leadership in nutrition, sustainable solutions, and industrial biotechnology. She has worked at ADM, serving as chief commercial officer of the company’s precision fermentation unit, and at DuPont, where she led the food enzymes and food protection unit. (After this episode was recorded, she moved to the food ingredients company IFF, where she now serves as senior vice president of life sciences.) Prior to attending SOM, Allyson managed restaurants and earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston College. 

Mary D’Onofrio is an venture capital investor, board member, and thought leader. She co-founded and led the growth investment practice at Bessemer Venture Partners. She has also worked in equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley and held roles at Apple and the U.S. Department of Treasury. Prior to attending SOM, Mary earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.

A conversation with Ifeanyi Okafor, a lead product manager at Wand AI, where he helps push the boundaries of generative AI and reasoning. He previously spent five years at Amazon Web Services, working with AI-driven services like CodeGuru and DevOps Guru. At SOM, he co-founded the African Graduate and Professional Students Group, and served as the president of the Africa Business Club. 

A conversation with Amanda Turner Ege, an executive director at the Elea Foundation for Ethics in Globalization. At Elea, a philanthropic impact investor that works to alleviate poverty through entrepreneurial means, Amanda leads initiatives that emphasize collaboration across the investment continuum. Previously, she worked at a nonprofit in Latin America; the United Nations Development Programme; and the fair trade agricultural developer, Fairtrasa. In addition to holding an MBA from Yale SOM, Amanda earned her BA in history from Yale College. She serves as a board member of multiple companies operating in emerging economies. 

A conversation with Ed Woodcock, a senior expert at McKinsey & Company. Ed spent over 20 years at McKinsey, specializing in the transformation of corporate business functions such as finance and human resources. His expertise spans shared services strategy, enterprise cost reduction, and function benchmarking; he has worked with Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, and public-sector organizations. In addition to his client work, he serves as a McKinsey recruiting lead at Yale SOM, providing valuable resources to students exploring consulting careers.

A conversation with Rahul Bhide, a vice president at impact-oriented venture capital and private equity firm Impact Engine. Rahul specializes in economic opportunity investment sourcing, diligence, and support. Before joining Impact Engine, he worked on the strategy and impact team at the philanthropic organization Omidyar Network India. He’s spent time in the United States fintech industry and started his career as a strategy consultant at Bain.

A conversation with Logan Dish, a strategy and analytics associate at Google. At Google, Logan works on the Planning, Analytics, and Insights Team in PeopleOps and is doing a product management apprenticeship with Google Maps. Logan joined Google in July 2021 after completing an MBA internship there the summer prior. Before SOM, he worked for five years as a senior analyst at Analysis Group in Washington DC, working to create financial and economic models to value technology products and patents in litigation. 

A conversation with Parag Jalan, director of Government Relations at Teach for India. Parag is a social sector leader with 12 plus years of experience in public health, education, and philanthropy across multiple countries in the Global South. Parag is an ex-McKinsey consultant who has worked with BlackRock, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and One Acre Fund.

A conversation with Nate Heller, a Yale SOM alum with over two decades of experience in international social enterprise and development, including stints with the Peace Corps and the UN. Nate has spent 12 years building innovative distribution and finance channels for poor consumers in West Africa. Nate co-founded PEG Africa, a distributed renewables FinTech that revolutionized access to clean energy, touching the lives of over a million people. His recent venture, MoPhones, aims to make high-quality mobile phones accessible.

A conversation with Will Brackenheimer, a managing director at Guggenheim Partners. His uniquely diverse leadership experiences include transaction execution, client management, recruiting, training, and staffing to help Guggenheim’s middle market investment banking effort in Chicago.