Just Five Questions: Margaret Berger Bradley ’93

Currently, Margaret is VP for Strategic Initiatives at Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, among the nation’s most active seed and early stage investors.  She is on the boards of Benefits Data Trust, the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology (PACT) and ImpactPHL, a regional alliance to support the growth of local impact investing. Since graduating from Yale SOM in 1993, Margaret has lived and worked in Philadelphia where much of her career has been in support of local community investment and economic development.

What’s a global trend you are following where you see an opportunity or bright spot in this challenging macro environment?

It feels so euphemistic to refer to a ‘challenging macro environment,’ doesn’t it? Yet, for the most part, we do each work with our tools and in our fields. That said, in all that we do, we have an opportunity to try to bring our values to the table. In many ways, I’m seeing real opportunity in the world of what is deemed values-aligned investing. As more young people and more women influence more investment decisions, values come to the table. And intelligence has caught up. We can know so much now so fast. It is time for impact investment to shine.

What’s an example of how SOM’s mission informed your professional path?

Since graduation (30 years ago!) I have lived quite firmly in the space that a Masters in Public and Private Management envisioned. Mine has always been a career of combined public purpose and market discipline. There are many ways SOM’s mission has been in my head all the time. Unlike younger alums, it was at SOM that I first had project teams in a school environment. Four or five of us with such different prior experiences, skills and passions had to get to the finish line. I learned project management and team building skills in such a safe space. I have been fortunate to work often with colleagues who similarly bring such a variety of talents and perspectives to the table.

What’s an SOM experience that helped shape the way you understand business and society?

Hilary Pennington ’83, founder of Jobs for the Future, was a guest speaker and woke me up  to some options I had been hungry for. I had come to SOM from the federal government, as I had known there had to be ways of making change other than regulation. Hilary spoke about how her team worked with clients to  tackle equitable economic growth and quality jobs. It was like I saw a new color and couldn’t un-see it. It opened up a fresher way of looking at business and society. Ever since, I’ve found the bridges between the sectors far more interesting than the work that lay within one or another.

What’s a favorite SOM memory, faculty member, mentor or class?

Sharon Oster was remarkable in so many ways. I found her nonprofit management class to be the single clearest sign that SOM was treating the social sector with the same rigor and respect as private enterprise. She was phenomenally candid about how gender figured into her professional life. She modeled loving leadership in the roles she took on, using her political capital and skills to drive SOM through tough times and toward something special. In my experiences, she was never soft but always kind and clear. The week she died, I got to toast her with her dear friend (and our Public Finance professor) Kathy O’Regan and again with the Yale SOM Philadelphia Alumni Club. Alums 20+ years younger shared very similar powerful memories, respect and love. Sharon was a force.

What are you excited about for the year ahead?

Jane Fonda speaks about her third act. Mary Catherine Bateson wrote Composing a Further Life. What do we do with our 60s, 70s and beyond now that some of us are lucky enough to imagine such things? I am imagining.

Just Five Questions is an initiative led by the SOM Alumni Advisory Board. Want to learn more? Contact Lee Race ’93 with feedback, thoughts, and/or questions.