2023 Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board Nominees

The slate of proposed nominees to join the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board includes a broad range of highly accomplished individuals with careers exemplifying leadership in business and society, and with demonstrated service and commitment to Yale SOM. The nominees were selected following an open call for nominations from the broader alumni community, followed by a thorough evaluation process by the Alumni Advisory Board.

The proposed nominees to join the Yale School of Management Alumni Advisory Board are:  

• Bukky Akomolafe '14 MBA, Country Manager, Travelstart
• Jonathan Kim '00 MBA, Senior Vice President, Zanbato Securities, LLC
• Dorothy Liu '92 MBA, Founder & Principal, Resonant Strategies, LLC
• Paige MacLean '98 MBA, Lecturer in the Practice of Management and Fellow, Program on Social Enterprise, Yale School of Management
• Preeti Sinha '97 MPPM, Executive Secretary, United Nations Capital Development Fund

Please vote on the confirmation of the slate of nominees to the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board for a three-year term beginning in June 2023.  You may either approve the appointment of the full slate of nominees, withhold your approval from the entire slate of nominees, approve only some of the nominees, or abstain.

Thank you for participating in the confirmation of our new Alumni Advisory Board Members.

The nominees’ statements of interest are included below.

To learn more about the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board.

To contact the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board, please email: somalumniadvisoryboard@yale.edu

---

Bukky Akomolafe '14 MBA

It has been almost eleven years since I arrived in New Haven and nine years since I graduated from Yale SOM. But the people I met, the places we visited, case studies we discussed, meals we shared and events we attended are still fresh in my memory like it all happened yesterday. The feeling of gratitude for Yale's impact on my life and the desire to pay it forward to others is why I want to be on the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board.

After graduation, I lost my father in 2014, my Yale girlfriends, known as the SOM Belles, rallied around me in my tiny New York apartment and provided much needed comfort. When I got married in 2017, 14 Yalies including their spouses flew to Lagos, to support me as I walked down the aisle. When I was stressed at work in 2019, it was a Yalie wedding turned reunion in Italy that reminded me that there is more to life than the up and down line of a sales report graph. When COVID struck in 2020, and the world came to a standstill, my rapport with my classmates did not! It was the scheduled calls, messages on Instagram that transcended the thousands of miles that we could not physically travel to check on each other. The Yale SOM support did not end there. When I started a pig farm in Nigeria with my mother in 2021, it was a Yalie that kept me motivated to pursue this unusual side business. Her daughter's constant reminder to send pictures of the piggies was always a joy to receive. Last year after I gave birth to my son, it was the conversations with my best friend (also an SOM'er) and SOM Belles, most of us young mums, that kept me sane during many many sleepless nights.

These stories and more are indicative of the strength of the network and support system that Yallies have access to locally and abroad. At the time of one's enrollment, an MBA Candidate at Yale is guaranteed to graduate with a world-class degree. That is known, but what can rarely be put into words is that a graduate will also gain meaningful global experiences shared with newly found lifelong friends.

I am proof of this. I left Yale SOM with so much more than I could have asked for. This is what drives me to be on the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board. I consider it a privilege and an opportunity to give back by working with other alumni to select the next generation of Yallies. I am particularly interested in seeking out other intellectually curious future leaders from non-Western countries. With my unique background (Nigerian, British, American trained) coupled with my over 14 years of work experience, I will bring additional insight to the discussions and decisions that the Board is looking for. I will not only provide ethnic diversity but also diversity of thought and service. Alumni can serve in additional ways outside of monetary contributions such as through acts of service to fellow classmates and alumni, ranging from simple phone calls, recruitment prep, career or business support, to organizing a community event for Day Service etc. I look forward to spearheading and executing these ideas in my role as Board Member.

Jonathan Kim '00 MBA

Given my long-standing relationship with and service to SOM, as well as my experience with other advisory boards as detailed below, I believe I would be a valuable addition to the AAB. 

I.     Volunteer Service to SOM and Yale 

Currently, I serve in several roles as a volunteer for Yale.   

• YAA:  I have been an Assembly Delegate to the Yale Alumni Association (YAA) since 2016.  As such, I look forward to returning to New Haven each November as I am a Connecticut native and visit my retired parents there regularly.  My family has strong ties to Yale given the graduates in our ranks, including both my brothers (YC ’90 and YC ’92), my sister-in-law (YC ’93), her father (YC ’64), and several cousins.     

• SOMAA:  I support the Miami SOMAA regional chapter (led by Mario Rivero ’05) via my role with the Yale Club of South Florida (YCSF) and would like to be more involved again with the NYC regional chapter as my wife and I split our time between Miami and Brooklyn.  Previously, I served as an advisory board representative and Treasurer of the New York City SOMAA regional  chapter (2002-2004).  I have also served as a fundraising co-chair of my SOM class reunion committee.   

• YCSF and SOM:  I am the current President of the YCSF and served as the Club’s VP from 2016- 2021.  The YCSF Received an Excellence Award for Programming by the YAA at its most recent Annual Assembly in New Haven.  In my role as President, I interact regularly with members of the YAA Board of Governors (YBOG), most recently via a dinner here in Miami with Weili Cheng (YC ’77), Executive Director of the YAA, and members of the YBOG Executive Committee.  I am also facilitating more events involving SOM, including an upcoming visit to Miami in March by Development & Alumni Relations for SOM (per my suggestion to Eric Stoddard), with A.J.  Wasserstein, the Eugene F. Williams, Jr. Lecturer in the Practice of Management at SOM as the featured speaker.  I also continue to refer prospective candidates to SOM, including Peter Shi (SOM ’23), now a full-time MBA candidate in the Asset Management program.   

• YLAN and SUBE:  I serve on the Board of Directors of the Yale Latino Alumni Network (YLAN).  I have also been serving as an advisor to the leadership of SUBE, the Yale Latinix Business and Leadership Student Association.   

II.     Unique Skills and Perspectives 

I believe I would bring a broad and deep range of strengths, interests and abilities to the AAB.  This is due to the many advisory roles I have held professionally and in volunteer capacities over the past three decades.  At various points I have been recruited to serve on or advise boards as a result of my: 

- prior board service, both corporate and not-for-profit 

- maturity and judgment 

- professional background (legal, financial, consulting, and operational management), including substantial time abroad (14 of the past 20 yrs.)

- expertise in governance matters and best practices for boards 

- communication skills 

- ability to add diverse perspectives to a governing body 

- crisis management experience 

- fundraising experience (professional and NFP) 

I consider the following areas of my background noteworthy: 

a) DE&I 

My heritage, educational background, and professional careers have all been very diverse and broad based.  I am a dual U.S./Italian citizen via my mother’s side with a Korean American heritage via my father.  A product of public schools at the K-12 levels, I received my BA in English and American Literature from Brown, my JD from Georgetown—including study in EU law at the European University Center in Florence, Italy—prior to earning my MBA at SOM in Strategy and Finance.     

I have been fortunate to have worked in some of the most diverse and inclusive settings, from a Wall Street corporate law firm in NYC, to one of the first global Internet Agencies in London, to the offshore world of risk and asset management in Bermuda, to the bustling melting pot that is 21st Century South Florida.  As a result, I have interacted with colleagues and SOM classmates from an incredibly broad spectrum on a continuous basis.     

b) Volunteer and Other Board Leadership  

As a former General Counsel of various start-ups and three publicly listed companies, and as a director on both corporate and NFP boards, I have spent decades advising and serving on boards of many stripes.  My advisory work at the Millstein Center at Columbia Law School (which was originally founded at Yale) focused on emerging roles for boards of directors of large public companies, primarily in the area of corporate governance.   

In the alumni context, previously, I have the alumni board of governors for the Brown Alumni Association (BAA) and was a recipient of the Brown Alumni Service Award for my volunteer service to that university.  Former volunteer activities include roles as a director on the board of the Center for Supportive Schools (f/k/a the Princeton Center for Leadership Training) and as an advisory board member for Answer, based at Rutgers University, both education-related/focused NFP organizations.   

III.    How Would I Contribute to the AAB? 

If invited to join the AAB, I would expect my contributions to be an extension of work I am currently doing and have done in the past “out in the field” for SOM, Yale, and other alumni organizations.  Work in the field—especially at the Class, Club and regional Alumni Association levels—has involved my serving as an intermediary between graduates of SOM and Yale young and old and other local alumni who may be in regular touch with the school, or who may have been “out of the loop” so to speak but interested in  contributing to SOM or Yale in some financial and/or volunteer capacity.   

At the AAB level, I also envision my contribution as serving as an emissary between such groups and New Haven on an even more active level.  Anything from hosting local dinners and speaking events involving visits from SOM Faculty and Administrators to educating the AAB on best practices learned in the field that might be applied by SOM world-wide. 

Dorothy Liu '92 MBA

I am expressing my interest in joining the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board 

The traditional way of doing things has never been my way. I remember seeing the words on the Yale SOM brochure when I started my journey to graduate school. On the cover it said: experiential-collaborative-multi sector approach. It was nothing like any other program I had seen. All I could think was, “This is me.” 

The mission of the Alumni Advisory Board aligns with my desire to make a direct impact and comes at a time in my life where I feel I can make a meaningful difference. I have made a career of creating spaces for people to test their ideas and bring them to life, to support them overcoming their limitations or empower them to create a resonant solution aligned with who they truly are. To give back to the institution that enabled me to codify that thinking would be an honor. 

Why I make a difference: 

• Possibility excites me. Nothing lights me up more than to see that moment when someone knows their life just changed. I’ve always taken on roles, businesses or campaigns that had a steep hill to climb, even failing and finding a way to recast them into successes. I’ve created new market entry strategies that grew from a few million dollars to multi-billions over time. I’ve taken products from last place to first and helped companies evolve their organizations through multiple acquisitions. If I don’t see it, I create it. Even if it’s good now, I want that marginal point of greatness still not found. And if it’s chaos, I want to calm it. I’m keenly interested in how the School can and will evolve in the next generation 

• I’m a believer: The SOM approach wove itself throughout my career not just for my day to day job but my advocacy for women in the male dominated technology space. I left the corporate world and created and sustained a consultancy with a professional workforce that was 95% female. The business model enabled them to balance all of life’s priorities–career, family, children, community, self while earning lucrative incomes. It remains one of my proudest achievements. I was able to think broadly and connect dots between people and functions that weren’t necessarily on a corporate org chart. 

• Belonging matters: In my second year, I took Group Relations and Organizations with David Berg which remains a cornerstone to my work today. It was in this class where I experienced first-hand the interplay of identity, perspective and validation as a few other Asian American students and I tried to explain the  concept of othering to our Western classmates as well as classmates from our ancestral countries. It would be decades before I learned there was a term for it: Asian Diaspora. That one class provoked me to ask questions about power, privilege, race, and what it meant to be a minority. And broadened my awareness on how we lead. Now, in my third career chapter, I am a leadership coach and equity consultant. I apply my experience across industries and sectors, including technology, healthcare, on Capitol Hill and with non-profits. I am a trusted advisor at every level of the organization from the C-Suite down. Almost all my clients identify as people of color or other marginalized groups, and they share my belief in social transformation. And my approach is grounded in what I learned in David’s class. 

I offer my energy and abilities to strengthen the ties between alumni and the critical functions of the school by expanding the sense of community and cultivating a greater voice from those who stay on the margins. Lived experience is an excellent teacher and the Alumni Advisory Board plays a critical pathway in surfacing those voices to develop the ability of the School to deliver on its mission and promise. For me, the prospect of being part of that process of connection and to give back a fraction of what the School has given me brings me full circle. I am ready to roll up my sleeves if granted the opportunity to serve. 

Paige MacLean '98 MBA

Since graduating from SOM I have been involved with the school as a volunteer in a number of ways. As someone who has been involved in for-profit consulting, nonprofit consulting, social entrepreneurship, I regularly speak with current students about my career path and help them think through their next steps upon graduation. I have also supported a number of students after graduation as they launch their ventures, most recently Stephan Bauer at Marker Learning. I have participated regularly as a visitor to the nonprofit strategy class, first run by Sharon Oster and now by Judy Chevalier. Last year, I spoke with Professor Chevalier about creating an elective course on philanthropy given its central role in creating and influencing civil society. She agreed to work with me to develop it, and this fall we co-taught the course (80% me /20% Professor Chevalier). The intent of the course is to give students an overview of the many forms of philanthropy and to wrestle with the current critiques of the philanthropic sector. We did this through lectures and case studies, but also drew heavily on my contacts in the philanthropic world, inviting guest speakers to a large percentage of the class so students could hear directly how things operate in the real world. The plan was for me to offer the course in future years, assuming it was well received. Having just completed it, I can say that it seems to have been a real hit! Many of the students said it was their favorite class and strongly encouraged me to offer it again, as well as to consider how this might be offered to the EMBA Program. Finally, I have been active in both the Education Conference in pre-Covid times, and this year in providing advice to students about the development of the Philanthropy Conference which will be held in February 2023. I also plan to stay connected to the school during the spring term (when I will not be teaching) through involvement in the Program on Social Enterprise led by Tony Sheldon. 

The unique perspectives I hope to bring to the AAB include extensive experience in both advising nonprofit leaders and as well as having been a social entrepreneur myself, starting an organization and growing it from a $200K to a $6M budget over 11 years. The wide number of contacts I have in the philanthropic sector have informed the course I teach, and I think would provide a valuable perspective to the board. Additionally, because I am in direct contact with students, and the SOM faculty community more generally as I have lived in New Haven since graduation, I have a sense of the culture of the school as it is today, particularly as we continue to return from Covid times to (hopefully) more normal times.

Preeti Sinha '97 MPPM

Yale University's School of Management (SOM) has a long and proud history of producing some of the world's top leaders, thinkers, and entrepreneurs. It was the right and best school for me when I came there in 1995. The socially responsible business ethos inspired me, and I am so proud to see alumni in great positions now helping make it a better world. 

As a prospective member of SOM's Alumni Advisory Board (AAB), I bring to the Board 30-years of experience as an Investment Banker and Development Banker. In particular, I currently serve as the Executive Director of the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in New York. UNCDF is a unique hybrid development finance fund of the UN investing in the 46 least developed countries. In this role, I am also close in distance to Yale SOM as I live in Pelham Manor in Westchester County.  

I have contributed to Yale School of Management SOM wherever I have lived and worked over 4 Continents of Asia, North America, Africa and Europe. I was a Class Captain in 2-3 of my international locations. Now I am a Swiss Citizen. 

I hosted Professor Tony Sheldon and the class on Social Entrepreneurship in New Delhi. The Social Entrepreneurship course is of particular interest to me as I believe these social enterprises can help tackle development challenges. I hosted Dean Anjali Jain when he was serving as the Dean for an Admissions Roundtable in Mumbai. This gave me an opportunity to interact with alumni and prospective students about 20 years after my graduation and to see the perspectives on SOM among these potential students. 

If selected to serve on the AAB, I will bring several unique skills and perspectives that can benefit the school in numerous ways. First, my background in finance provides me with a deep understanding of strategic decision-making processes which can be used when evaluating potential projects or investments for the school. Furthermore, my background in donor relations and resource mobilization will come in handy when advocating for initiatives related to fundraising or alumni outreach efforts. Lastly, my experience as a mentor has given me invaluable insight into how best to support students as they navigate their academic journeys at Yale University School of Management SOM. 

Overall, if selected to serve on the Alumni Advisory Board at Yale University School of Management SOM, I am confident that my past volunteer involvement coupled with my unique skills and perspectives will help ensure that the school remains one of the leading business schools in the world. 

I hope this Statement of Interest provides an overview of my motivation and why I believe that I am qualified for this position and why it would be an honor for me to join such an esteemed group of people who share similar goals and values regarding education excellence at SOM.  Thank you for your consideration.