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The Impact of Net Impact
Imagine being in a room with 1500 MBA candidates and career professionals
and listening to such speakers as former Vice President Al Gore , V.J. Joshi
(executive V.P., HP Imaging and Printing Group), and Judy Vredenburgh
(president and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America), among others.
Prior to attending Net Impact, I could hardly imagine it, but there I was at
the three-day conference at Stanford Business School, largely thanks to the
sponsorship of The Prudential Business Ethics Center.
The Net Impact Conference boasts speakers with big names and their messages
were ones of substance. Each speaker delivered theirs in a different way: Al
Gore with surprising humor, V.J. Joshi with notable passion, and Judy
Vredenburgh with care and grace. However, the messages of each Net Impact
speaker were aligned with the theme of the conference: “Bridging the Gap:
Leading Social Innovation Across Sectors”. In fact, it seemed that every
conference attendee cared deeply about affecting positive social change by
applying skills they’ve learned from the business community.
Net Impact also had scores of breakout sessions on topics such as
non-profits, philanthropy, leadership skills, corporate responsibility,
international development and environmental conservation. One of my
favorites was called, “Nonprofit-Private Alliances”, where the VP of
philanthropy at Disney and the president of First Book, a nonprofit that
puts books in the hands of inner-city children, discussed their strategic
partnership. Another breakout session I enjoyed was called “Innovation in
Public Education” in which leaders at Teach for America, Leadership Public
Schools, the Broad Foundation and the KIPP Foundation discussed the latest
in public school issues and how nonprofits and foundations are working
together to devise solutions to the national public school crisis. After
each session, students had the opportunity to meet informally with the
speakers, have their questions answered, and network.
Net Impact was not all breakout sessions and speakers; there were evening
activities in downtown San Francisco and wine and cheese cocktail parties
with all the attendees. There was also an all day Career Fair with companies
such as The Gap, Timberland, Teach for America, United Way, Infosys, GE
Energy, National Parks Service, USAID and about 70 others. All meals were
included in the price of the registration, and because part of the
conference focus was environmental preservation, we ate with forks and
knives that were made of corn and plates made of potatoes, all of which
could be composted. We also had our share of organic milk, yogurt and fruits
as well as a good deal of fair trade coffee.
Net Impact draws MBA students from all across the country and from about 12
other countries worldwide. Students from all the top universities were
present, including Wharton, Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Kellogg. This was
the first year that Rutgers was represented and it was a wonderful
opportunity for me to not only experience the conference, but also to
represent Rutgers Business School along with Marilyn Tracz, MBA Candidate,
Class of 2006.
The lasting impact of such a conference is hard to measure. Ultimately, it
taught me that the opportunities to use the skills I have acquired in my MBA
to further the social causes and ethics I believe in are endless. It enabled
me to network with executives who have chosen career paths in nonprofits,
philanthropy and corporate responsibility and better understand the issues
in these industries. It gave me the opportunity to meet 1500 MBAs that are
all striving towards common goals. Last, but not least, I learned that there
is such a thing as a potato fork…not very tasty, but the compost seems to
like it.
- Anna Marie Sykes
MBA Candidate, Class of 2006
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