Decio Nascimento ’20

I co-founded a sustainability-focused asset management firm in 2016. I needed an executive MBA program where I could learn everything new that was happening in the space of asset management and sustainability, and Yale is very clearly in the forefront.

A lot of the developments in sustainable investing are happening at the university level. In the past, asset managers led change, and academia followed, but this is very different. A lot of the research, and the people who are pushing the agenda, are in universities. There’s a lot of impact investing being done in the private markets, but there’s not a lot of very robust or diligent work integrating sustainability issues into traditional financial analysis. That’s where Yale really brings a lot, because you have people here who are the leaders in the field, and you work directly with them. Dan Esty, who’s a professor at Yale, is on our board of advisors, and we work very closely together.

One of the reasons that I think people are drawn to Yale SOM is that we’re building leaders for business and society. I believe the asset management model we see most often is broken. People understand that there’s something missing. Today, it’s no longer about just being a greater asset manager or making more money. It’s really about your impact on society, whatever kind of job you’re doing. How can you be a better leader? How you can contribute to society? Yale does a great job at integrating this through the curriculum and teaching us how to make it work in real life.

My classmates are phenomenal. Everyone in the program is excellent in what they do. They might not do the same thing that you do, but they’re excellent in their own field. In healthcare, we have a pediatric heart surgeon in our group. He’s not necessarily going to be the expert in doing a company evaluation, but he is an expert in what he does, and when we discuss cases, he points out things that I’ve missed.

The world today is very siloed. But the way that Yale structures the executive MBA program brings together people from so many different backgrounds. If you’re looking to be a leader, whether your industry is finance, or sustainability, or healthcare, this program is for you.