Five Alumni Named 2026 Donaldson Fellows

Jill Bauman ’87 

Founding CEO, Amplifi

Ms. Bauman is an impact driven seasoned entrepreneur and business executive. She is the founding CEO of the non-profit social enterprise Amplifi (formerly Imagine LA), home of the Benefit Navigator. Jill began her career in technology, then did a stint in investment banking, launched three for-profit companies, sold one and then pivoted 20 years ago to become a social justice entrepreneur and more recently a “tech for good” creator.

Ms. Bauman has become an expert and trusted leader in family homelessness, poverty, benefits access and human centered technology issues. She is a sought-after speaker and thought leader who is often asked to weigh in on panels and policy discussions.

Starting in 2006, focused on ending family homelessness and poverty, Jill led Imagine LA’s creation of the nationally recognized Family Partnership Model, an innovative and impactful whole family wellness and economic mobility model. Imagine LA’s economic mobility work highlighted the challenge and barriers service providers and households experience when trying to navigate the complicated web of public benefits and tax credits and find pathways out of poverty. This challenge currently leaves between $80-120 Billion annually in untapped critical benefits and tens of millions of families mired in generational poverty. In 2022, after robust research with USC Center for Social Innovation, the Benefit Navigator solution and Imagine LA’s pivot to become Amplifi emerged.

Amplifi is a social enterprise non-profit venture that co-designs tools to simplify the complex process of connecting people to needed and available resources.  The Amplifi team is a passionate team of social service experts and leading-edge technologists. Amplifi is the creator of the Benefit Navigator, an easy‑to‑use platform of digital tools that help case managers and their clients quickly and confidently identify and access federal, state and local benefits, tax credits and local resources. In addition, it provides unprecedented transparency to show changes to income affect benefit levels – revealing when “benefit cliffs” exist.

Designed for case workers by case workers and their clients, the Benefit Navigator saves time and headaches, as well as maximizes benefit take-up, recertification and wage growth by providing trusted up-to-date information and tools (e.g. to confidently navigate new HR1 SNAP and Medicaid complexities) – helping social service providers address systemic barriers in public benefits access and economic mobility. It also tracks benefit identification, application, recertification and awards as well as wage changes, providing unprecedented visibility and impact data for management use as well as for policy evaluation and systems change.

Amplifi’s sustainable business model utilizes philanthropy, leading edge technology expertise (including Agentic AI and memory), and strategic partnerships to fuel the creation and piloting of its growing suite of benefit access tools. The Benefit Navigator was developed and piloted extensively in Los Angeles with generous funding from philanthropy led by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. To propel scale and sustainability, the Benefit Navigator is now expanding throughout California and nationally via low-cost Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model.

Jill resides with her husband John Bauman in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. Together they seek and enjoy the company of their two adult children, James and Isabelle, as well as family and friends along with great food, cultural experiences of every type, hiking, skiing and competitive tennis. Jill earned a MPPM/MBA from the Yale School of Management and BA in Economics from Smith College. She recently served as Chair of the Yale SOM Alumni Advisory Board. Jill is also an advisor to the Livable Communities Initiative and the Ebell Women’s Club of Los Angeles.

PS. On the second night of the LA Wildfires, Amplifi was asked by philanthropy and the Mayor of Los Angeles, if they could create a Disaster Navigator to help traumatized fire victims easily find and utilize the cascading lists of resource lists/links that were emerging.  Jill then led in a 24/7 effort by Imagine LA and Better Angeles to create the LA Disaster Relief Navigator; which has now been recognized as an unprecedented tool for navigating the first 30-45 days of a major disaster. 

Anna Blanding ’09

Chief Investment Officer, ConnCORP

Anna Blanding is a Chief Investment Officer, institutional capital strategist, and governance leader redefining how capital can create long-term value for both institutions and society. Her career has been defined by a belief that foundations, endowments, family offices, corporations, and other long-term investors can generate exceptional financial performance while expanding economic opportunity, strengthening communities, and building enduring prosperity.

Anna serves as Chief Investment Officer of ConnCORP, where she leads investment strategy, capital formation, and strategic finance initiatives supporting transformative economic development. She is helping lead First Haven in Dixwell, a $200MM catalytic mixed-use development in historic New Haven that is demonstrating how innovative public-private partnerships, strategic investment, and robust community leadership can create community wealth and economic mobility while expanding access to housing, workforce development, entrepreneurship, healthcare, food access and cultural opportunity. This initiative is poised to catalyze over $1B of investment and create 700 jobs.

Anna serves as a Trustee of The Kresge Foundation and is on the Investment Committee and Social Investment Committee. She is a trustee of Casey Family Programs, where she chairs both the Investment Committee and the Audit Committee. Anna is also a Trustee of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund and the RISC Family Foundation. Across these roles, she helps oversee nearly $10 billion dollars in institutional assets while shaping governance, investment strategy, and the responsible deployment of capital in support of long-term institutional missions.

Previously, Anna served as Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Choate Rosemary Hall and as an Investment Officer at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where she managed private capital investments and helped build one of the nation's leading mission-aligned investment portfolios. Her investment experience spans private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real assets, public markets, and innovative approaches to mission aligned investing

Anna has been recognized nationally for her leadership in institutional investing and governance. She was named to Blueprint Capital Advisor’s 2026 Power 100 Allocators, received The Unlocked Foundation and Tiffany & Co.’s Catalyst for Inclusive Capital Award, and was nominated for Pensions & Investments' 2026 Influential Women in Institutional Investing.

Anna earned both her Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and her MBA from Yale School of Management. She is Trustee and Investment Committee member of Yale University’s Dwight Hall and is a Fellow of Ezra Stiles at Yale University.

John Conley ’85

Entrepreneur in Residence, Yale SOM and Investor & Board Member,
LaunchPad Venture Group

John Conley is a Board Member and Investor at Boston’s Launchpad Venture Group, the largest angel investor group on the East Coast, and serves on the boards of its healthcare portfolio companies. He was a co-founder of the RNA-interference therapeutics company Alnylam Pharmaceuticals where he held the position of Vice President, Strategy and Finance and CFO through to its successful 2004 IPO (NASD: ALNY). Over ten years at Biogen he served in several marketing, business development, sales and finance positions, including Country Manager - United Kingdom and Ireland, and Treasurer. He was a Manager at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company.

He has been the Chief Operating Officer of Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), a nonprofit accelerating economic and social impact through fostering entrepreneurship in under-resourced communities. He previously served as Board Chair of the Greater Boston YMCA. For over a dozen years has been a Director of the national YMCA of the USA and is currently its Chair Elect, slated to become its Board Chair in 2028.

John currently volunteers at Yale Ventures, Yale's Program on Entrepreneurship and Harvard's Innovation Labs. He graduated with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was a 2014 Fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Kalil Diaz ’14

Managing Partner, Amergent Capital

Kalil Diaz is an entrepreneur and investor who founded Amergent Capital, an investment platform focused on developing and growing enduring companies in the Dominican Republic.

His entrepreneurial journey began at Yale SOM, where he launched the school’s first search fund. After graduation, he returned to the Dominican Republic backed by US-based investors (including leading support from Tom Matlack SOM ’91) and spent two years searching for a business he could acquire, lead, and grow. In 2017, Amergent Capital acquired Contact Centers Dominicana, then a 200-person call center. As CEO, Kalil transformed the business into CCD Health, a leader in technology-enabled patient access services for U.S. healthcare organizations.

Under his leadership CCD Health grew to more than 1,500 employees, created high-quality career pathways for Dominican professionals, and helped healthcare providers improve access and service for their patients. Today, CCD Health schedules over 5 million appointments per year and is a top 50 national employer in the Dominican Republic. GeBBS Healthcare Solutions acquired CCD Health in 2024, successfully completing the search fund exit.

Kalil’s approach to “Doing Well by Doing Good” is closely tied to Yale SOM’s mission. Today, through Amergent Capital, Kalil partners with entrepreneurs and operators to build businesses that combine commercial excellence with meaningful societal contribution. He also serves on the board of ANJE, the Dominican Republic’s national association of young entrepreneurs. Kalil earned a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University and is a Yale SOM MBA from the Class of 2014.

Pam Farr ’78

Partner, Muirhead Holdings

Pamela Farr was elected to the Board of SOMAA in 2011. She was the President of the Board and also served as Co-President of the New York Chapter from 2010-2013 and served on the YAA Board of Governors from 2016-2019.

Pam devotes substantial time to community service and philanthropy, most significantly with the American Red Cross. She served as National Chair of Finance, the volunteer partner to the CFO from 2004-2008, and in 2008 she was appointed National Chair of Volunteers by Gail McGovern, CEO. In that capacity, Pam represented some 700,000 Red Cross volunteers at the national level. Prior to that she was Board Chair of the Greenwich Connecticut Red Cross Chapter from 2001-2004, and held many other leadership positions in that chapter starting in 1996. She has been involved with national and state initiatives including the 9/11 Recovery Program Advisory Group, the Tristate Metropolitan New York Disaster Response Design Team, and the Connecticut State Service Council. She recently received the American Red Cross Harriman Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service, the highest honor given to a volunteer at the national level.

In addition to her Red Cross volunteer work, Pam is currently on the Board of Directors of the Old Globe Theater and a member of the Executive, Finance and Audit Committees, San Diego, California and Theatre Forward (formerly National Corporate Theater Fund), New York City. She served on the Board of Directors of the National Dance Institute, New York City, where she was Board Chair for eight years, the Washington Performing Arts Society, Washington, D. C., was a member of the President’s Council of the American Lung Association and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Convent of the Sacred Heart School, Greenwich, Connecticut.

In her professional life, Pam has been a partner in Muirhead Holdings, a private equity firm in Greenwich, Connecticut and served as Chairman of Amerigives, a multimillion dollar philanthropic outsourcing business. Her background includes ten years as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she served a variety of Fortune 500 companies. As an entrepreneur, she founded and developed two businesses: Banyan Homes, a real estate development, design and construction firm, and Best & Company, a manufacturer and retailer of children’s clothing and accessories. Pam was also a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco based Dresdner RCM Global and Capital Funds.

She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.