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Rustandy Center Leadership

The Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation is Chicago Booth’s destination for people tackling complex social and environmental problems. Its leadership blends academic expertise with real-world experience at nonprofits, for-profit businesses, and in government. That mix is required, as the lines separating these institutions are blurring—with for-profits adopting social missions, and nonprofits recognizing that business skills are needed to scale their efforts.

Email the Rustandy Center staff with questions or concerns.

Robert H Gertner

Robert H. Gertner

John Edwardson Faculty Director and Joel F. Gemunder Professor of Strategy and Finance

Robert H. Gertner has been on the Chicago Booth faculty since 1986. His research interests include strategic decision making, corporate finance, organization structure, theory of the firm, and social enterprises.

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Marianne Bertrand

Marianne Bertrand

Faculty Director and Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics

Marianne Bertrand is a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Center for Economic Policy Research, and the Institute for the Study of Labor. Professor Bertrand is an applied microeconomist whose research covers the fields of labor economics, corporate finance, and development economics.

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Christina Hachikian

Christina Hachikian, AB ’02, MBA ’07

Executive Director and Adjunct Associate Professor of Strategy

Christina Hachikian is responsible for leading the center’s work to serve as a destination for people tackling complex social and environmental problems, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to positively impact humanity.

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Caroline Grossman

Caroline Grossman, ’03

Director of Programs and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Strategy

Caroline Grossman leads the center's programming efforts, designed to help students, alumni, and nonprofits make an impact on complex social and environmental problems.

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Liz Jellema

Liz Jellema

Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives

Liz Jellema leads operations and initiatives to enable the center’s growth and impact. Her work aligns strategy with organizational development and marketing to influence social sector innovation.



 

The Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation Staff

Zeynep Aksoy Ata

Zeynep Aksoy Ata

Associate Director, Marketing and Brand Strategy

Zeynep Aksoy Ata develops and leads data-driven marketing strategies to grow the center’s brand. She also supports executing the center’s event and program marketing to generate leads and engage the center's core audiences.

Patience Baach

Patience Baach

Associate Director, Research Initiatives

Patience Baach manages the center’s data hub, which includes supporting the development and acquisition of data sets for academic research on the social sector. She provides project management and research administration and supports the center’s internal monitoring and evaluation initiatives.

Ally Batty

Ally Batty

Senior Associate Director, Marketing and Communications 

Ally Batty leads marketing and communications strategy for the center with a focus on global and strategic initiatives.

Wai-Sinn Chan

Wai-Sinn Chan, MBA ’02, MPP ’02

Senior Associate Director, Social Sector Engagement Programs

Wai-Sinn Chan leads the Rustandy Center’s social sector engagement strategy and programming for students and alumni. She also collaborates with Booth Career Services and other partners to develop new initiatives and resources for alumni interested in leveraging their business toolkit to work in social impact or engage in nonprofit board service.

Iris Choi

Iris Choi

Assistant Director, The Hockey Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation

Iris Choi is responsible for managing the center’s programming in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation.

Lenese Clark

Lenese Clark

Office Manager

Lenese Clark supports the center’s internal operations and initiatives. In collaboration with the director of operations and strategic initiatives, she facilitates the development and implementation of operational procedures related to HR, IT, accounting, administrative support, and team collaboration to promote efficiency across the center’s goals.

Will Colegrove Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation

Will Colegrove

Senior Associate Director, Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program

Will Colegrove is responsible for leading the Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program, including cultivating the pipeline for the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) from across the university. He also leads programming on funding social impact, including impact investing experiential learning opportunities like MIINT, Invest for Impact, and the Total Impact Portfolio Challenge.

Ali Galloway

Ali Galloway

Assistant Director, Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program

Ali Galloway is responsible for supporting the Edwardson Social Entrepreneurship Program which includes the John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) and programs and events that enable students to learn about social entrepreneurship, impact investing, venture philanthropy, and social sector innovation.

Maddalena Grignani

Maddalena Grignani

Research Professional

Maddalena Grignani is a research professional at the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. She is responsible for supporting academic research projects led by the Rustandy Center and Chicago Booth faculty, focused on addressing complex social and environmental issues.

Francis Hon

Francis Hon

Director for Hong Kong Initiatives

Francis Hon oversees the operations of the center’s activities in Hong Kong, and helps to plan and establish a growing presence of the Rustandy Center in Asia.

Emma Kolander

Emma Kolander

Assistant Director, Event and Program Marketing

Emma Kolander manages marketing efforts for the center’s global portfolio of programming, highlighting the growing community of Booth students, alumni, and faculty working to address social issues.

Prentiss Koldyke

Prentiss Koldyke

Assistant Director, Programs

Prentiss Koldyke leads programs related to the area of social sector engagement. This includes student group support, meaningful volunteering programs, and career-related programs and events.

Maggie Li

Jingwei Maggie Li

Research Professional

Jingwei Maggie Li is a research professional at the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. She is responsible for supporting academic research projects led by the Rustandy Center and Chicago Booth faculty, focused on addressing complex social and environmental issues.

Salma Nassar

Salma Nassar

Senior Associate Director, Research Initiatives 

Salma Nassar leads the center’s research initiatives, which are focused on supporting ground-breaking research on the social sector and complex social and environmental issues. She works with Booth faculty and PhD students to develop innovative research partnerships with organizations of all types, including nonprofits, for-profits, and public sector organizations and oversees the center’s social sector data hub.

Erica Phillips

Erica Phillips

Senior Associate Director

Erica Phillips is responsible for managing the external relationships of the Rustandy Center, including community organizations and corporate partners. She also works with Chicago Booth advancement to find engagement opportunities for Booth alumni within the center.

Gina Potthoff

Gina Potthoff

Senior Assistant Director, Marketing and Communications

Gina Potthoff leads content marketing for the Rustandy Center, as well as driving the center’s event and program marketing efforts. She works to highlight the center’s global portfolio of programming and growing community of Booth students, alumni, and faculty working to address social issues.

Cortney Robinson

Cortney Robinson

Associate Director, Global Programs

Cortney Robinson manages the growth of the Rustandy Center’s global initiatives and international partnership efforts. She is responsible for designing and implementing programs in the EMEA region. She helps drive the international strategy of the Rustandy Center, while also serving as a key strategic relationship-builder, particularly in Europe and Africa.

Greg Saldutte

Greg Saldutte

Research Professional

Greg Saldutte is a research professional at the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. He is responsible for supporting academic research projects led by the Rustandy Center and Chicago Booth faculty, focused on addressing complex social and environmental issues.

Rustandy Center
Executives in Residence

Priya Parrish

Priya Parrish, ’09

Impact Investor in Residence

Priya Parrish is managing partner at Impact Engine, an investment firm managing funds for institutions and individuals that target for-profit, positive impact businesses in private markets. Most recently, she was the chief investment officer at Schwartz Capital Group, a leading single family office investing its capital across public and private markets on a global basis. Previously, she was a senior member of the investment team at Aurora Investment Management, a multi-billion dollar manager of hedge fund portfolios. As an impact investor in residence at Chicago Booth, she teaches, mentors, and supports impact investing programs. She earned an MBA from Chicago Booth and a BS from Babson College.

 


Karen Weigert headshot

Karen Weigert

Sustainability Executive in Residence

Karen Weigert is vice president of business strategy and regional operations at Slipstream and a nonresident senior fellow on global cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, where she focuses on climate, energy, and sustainability. She was the first-ever chief sustainability officer for the city of Chicago from 2011 to 2016, and her writings on sustainability have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, CBS This Morning, WBEZ, and Chicago Tonight. In addition to previously serving as an appointee in the Clinton administration focused on global economic issues and agriculture, Weigert has worked at ShoreBank (now Urban Partnership Bank), McKinsey, and Goldman Sachs.

 

Sundeep Vira

Sundeep Vira, ’10 (AXP-9)

Global Social Impact Practicum Coach

Sundeep Vira, '10 (AXP-9), is a Chicago-based social entrepreneur and chief operating officer for the Academy Group. Vira is also scaling sustainable clean water solutions for excess arsenic and fluoride removal with an international consortium of partners in India. Vira serves on the board of Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust (GIFT), advisory board for Sattva Consulting and member of the INREM Foundation. His prior work in the social impact sector spans five years with projects in Cambodia, India, Nepal, and Vietnam. Previously, Vira had a successful 20-year career in financial investment management, including 14 years with Chicago-based Nuveen Investments and subsidiary NWQ Investment Management, three years with Singapore-based Oclaner Asset Management, and four years with Morgan Stanley’s Consulting Group in Los Angeles. Vira has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

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Contact the Rustandy Center

The Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
5807 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60637

773.834.2716
rustandycenter@chicagobooth.edu

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