Student Leadership and Ethics Board
The purpose of the center's Student Leadership and Ethics Board is to foster a culture and safeguard a tradition of principled leadership throughout the Columbia Business School community. The Board fulfills its purpose by developing, implementing and monitoring programs that cultivate leadership, build character, and promote ethical decision making, which, in turn, enable Columbia Business School students to become productive, moral, and caring participants in their companies and communities.
Each year, first- and second-year Columbia MBA and EMBA students are selected based on an interest in these areas, demonstrated leadership skills, and past academic and work experience.
Working with the faculty, staff, alumni, and other students, members of the Leadership and Ethics Board develop, support, organize, and market such center events as high-profile speakers and experiential learning activities. In doing so, Leadership and Ethics Board members have the opportunity to interact closely with distinguished speakers, panelists, and professors and to contribute to the MBA experience.
Members of the Leadership and Ethics Board also take part in the center's faculty dinners and interact with Bernstein Faculty Leaders.
Board Members for 2013–2014
Morris Cox ’13 — MBA Co-Chair
David D. Chait ’13 — MBA Co-Chair
Shirley Deutsch EMBA ‘13 — EMBA Chair
Vikas Agarwal EMBA ‘14
Qais Al-Kharusi '14
Donnel Baird '13
Terence Battle '14
Alice Eaton EMBA ‘13
Elizabeth Elston '14
Michael Esser GMBA ’13
Jane Hwang EMBA ‘13
Kalyani Iyer '14
Kairus Kavarana EMBA ‘13
Jordana Kier '14
Aaron Koffel GMBA ’13
Dan Love '14
Laura Markley EMBA ‘13
Mark Minutaglio '13
Silvia Padilla '14
Sebastian Rodriguez ’13
Natalie Rubin '14
Sascha Rubin '14
Lauren Ryan '14
Sonal Shah '13
Alia Smith '13
Katerina (Kat) Vorotova EMBA ‘14
Brooks Weilbacher EMBA ‘13
Matt Wilson '14
Board Members’ Biographies
Vikas is the Global Head of Analytics at Goldman Sachs. Prior to Goldman, Vikas led Regulatory Analytics at Ernst & Young. Vikas has spent his career working with Chief Compliance Offers and Audit executives at leading banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms. Specifically, he assists in the development of analytical controls and strategies to tackle a wide range of regulatory issues such as insider trading, money laundering, trader fraud, market manipulation and suitability of investments to customers. He earned an undergraduate degree in Finance from Case Western Reserve University.
Qais is born and raised in the Sultanate of Oman. He graduated first in bilingual schools nationwide and received a full scholarship from the Ministry of Higher Education to complete his undergraduate studies in the US. He graduated with BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor. Upon returning to Oman he worked as a Key Account Manager at Shell Oman Marketing. After a year he moved to the Omani SWF -State General Reserve Fund- where he had several responsibilities including economic and market research, manager selection, business strategy and asset allocation. Qais has passed all three levels of the CFA and is a CAIA chart holder.
Donnel Baird studied American history at Duke University, with an emphasis on Populism and the American Civil Rights Movement. He spent three years building a community network to identify at-risk families in Brownsville, Brooklyn, as a community organizer with Common Ground, the nation's largest supportive housing developer. Donnel served as a field director in seven states for Obama For America 2008, starting in the South Carolina primary and ending as one of six senior staffers in the Pennsylvania general election campaign. He most recently helped to manage the Home Performance campaign of the Laborers International Union of North America, an initiative that convened Mayors, utilities, banks, community-based organizations, labor unions, and the federal Department of Energy to develop plans to utilize American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to finance residential and commercial energy efficiency retrofits across 20 states. Donnel helped to develop a policy for the District of Columbia that successfully incentivizes energy efficiency firms to hire "hard to employ" District residents for entry-level energy efficiency jobs in exchange for superior workforce training, clean energy financing, and tax incentives.
Terence graduated summa cum laude from Marist College in 2009 with a degree in business administration. After graduation, he spent three years working with IBM in various finance capacities. Prior to attending CBS he held the position of finance coordinator for the Enterprise Content Management software brand. In this role he managed the P&L of a $1B global software brand and integrated two multi-million dollar acquisitions. Terence believes that through educating youth we can foster a new generation of value-based leaders and has served as a board member for a youth organization promoting diversity.
David D. Chait '13- MBA Co-Chair
David Donner Chait is a second year at Columbia Business School, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Travefy, an online group travel tool. David most recently served as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). At the SBA David focused on key policy issues including the small business economic and credit environment and international trade among other topics. Prior to joining the SBA, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company in its New York City office helping Fortune 500 companies, governments, and non-profits to define strategies and improve operations. David graduated with honors from Columbia College with a B.A. in Economics-Political Science, served four terms as Class President, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association.
Morris Cox ’13- MBA Co-Chair
Morris Cox studied mathematics and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following MIT, he joined the finance division of NERA Economic Consulting in New York City where he worked on securities litigation consulting involving structured credit products, hedge funds, and mutual funds. Morris returned to the Boston area as a co-founder at a clean tech start-up focused on commercializing an automated construction technology. After filing a provisional patent, raising an early stage investment, and building a prototype, Morris returned to finance and consulting in New York at Real Capital Analytics. These diverse experiences led to Columbia Business School where he is focused on using finance as a tool to create value for growing business ventures and to develop emerging technologies.
Shirley Deutsch currently serves as Assistant Vice President at GEMS Americas, an Education Management Organization that provides turnaround management services to under-performing district and charter schools, and establishes and manages international private schools in the US. Shirley has worked in a variety of departments at GEMS America including Business Development, Project Management and Performance Management. Prior to joining GEMS Americas, Shirley worked as Brand Strategy Manager at Sesame Workshop, the organization behind Sesame Street and other educational programming. Her work focused on new and established international markets including Southeast Asia, Latin America and Europe. Shirley earned a BA in Art History and Communications from Tel Aviv University and an MA in Media, Culture and Communications from the Steinhardt School of Education and Human Development at NYU. Her studies and research have focused on educational media, globalization and conflict resolution. She has been a volunteer at the Clinton Global Initiative annual event since 2008 and is a member of the NYC Chapter of the Acumen Fund. A native Israeli, Shirley has lived in Germany, France and Italy before moving to New York. She is fluent in Hebrew and proficient in French, German and Romanian.
Alice Eaton is the Program Associate at the Mai Family Foundation where she manages all of the Foundation’s grant making activities in program areas including the arts, education, mental health, public policy, poverty alleviation and social entrepreneurship for the US and South Africa. Prior to joining the Mai Family Foundation in 2009, Alice was a Program Officer at WaterAid Ethiopia in Addis Ababa focusing on monitoring and evaluation of water, sanitation and hygiene education projects. Alice also held positions at WaterAid’s headquarters in London and at WaterAid America in New York., Alice holds an undergraduate degree from Barnard College, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and serves on the Board of the Young Members Circle of the Museum of the City of New York.
From 2008 to 2012, Elizabeth worked for the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera), a nonprofit organization in New York City that provides research and technical assistance to government agencies. As a Planning Analyst, she studied the outcomes and operations of New York City’s child welfare system and laid the groundwork for key reforms to improve its fairness and efficiency. At Vera, she also helped plan the operations of a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to people in immigration detention, and co-authored a report detailing the role of the child welfare system in reducing chronic truancy among teenagers. Prior to her time at Vera, Elizabeth interned with a legal services nonprofit organization in Durban, South Africa, where she conducted research in support of a class action lawsuit to ensure adequate school infrastructure for rural students. Elizabeth graduated cum laude from Yale University in 2006 with a BA, and majored in cultural anthropology.
Jane Hwang works in the field of corporate social responsibility and supply chain management. She is Senior Manager of Corporate Programs & Training at Social Accountability International (SAI), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving social and labor standards throughout global supply chains. At SAI, she oversees advisory services for corporate clients as well as training and technical assistance for auditors, suppliers and buyers. Advisory services include the development and delivery of strategic initiatives, multi-stakeholder partnerships, training and tools aimed at improving social performance and supply chain management related to social and labor standards and other corporate/industry codes. She serves on various international working groups and has published several technical handbooks with organizations such as the World Bank IFC. Prior to joining SAI, Ms. Hwang worked in medical and legal research, and volunteered for various human rights and development NGOs.
Kalyani Iyer is originally from Singapore. After completing her Master’s degree in Public Policy and Economics, she started her career in the Microfinance industry in China as one of the first foreigners to work with China’s largest MFI. Subsequently, she headed the New Business Initiatives for India’s second largest commercial MFI, where she piloted new financial products and consumer goods, such as solar products and water-purifiers with over four million clients across India. More recently, her work has involved using mobile technology to create financial access in various across countries as part of a Gates Foundation-funded initiative. She has also worked with a range of social entrepreneurs in the clean energy and mobile money space in India and E.Africa to raise investment capital.
Kairus is currently a Manager within Ernst & Young’s Financial Services Advisory practice in New York City where he primarily serves banking and capital markets and asset management clients. While at EY, he has advised senior executives on a variety of projects, ranging from formulating strategic growth objectives to leading enterprise-wide business transformation projects in the U.S. and internationally including organizational design, performance management strategies, regulatory restructuring, finance operating models, and process optimization. He also actively contributes to the development of junior staff and new hires as a mentor. Kairus founded and serves on the board of the Food for Savings Program, a nonprofit promoting social and economic development in India. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Kairus graduated from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University with a dual degree in Finance and International Business.
Jordana Kier comes to CBS from New York City Opera, a world-renowned performing arts organization, where she served as Manager of Artistic Planning. While there, Jordana worked closely with General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel as the company left Lincoln Center in 2011 and throughout its contentious seven-month collective bargaining negotiations with the musicians’ unions. Jordana is interested in thought leadership, corporate social responsibility, building sustainable nonprofit organizations, and the increased presence of women in positions of power. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2008.
Aaron Koffel is a commercial lawyer based in Sydney, Australia, specializing in international transactions and advising multinational companies on corporate structures. He holds a Masters in International Law and a Bachelors of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science, Sociology, and Social Science. Aaron was previously an Officer in the Australian Defense Force (ADF) with secondment to AKMIL Java, Indonesia, following the independence movement and intervention of ADF forces in East Timor. He has particular interest in CSR issues, qualified to audit companies to SA 8000, standard based on the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child and various International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions.
Dan Love is first year student at Columbia Business School. Most recently, he was an Analyst at the Robertson Foundation, which was established by Julian Robertson and is responsible for ~$100M in philanthropic investments annually. Previously he worked as an Analyst in the Corporate Strategy and Ventures group at The Advisory Board Company, a mid-sized healthcare research and analytics firm. Prior to this, Mr. Love spent a year in Chile where he conducted research as part of a Fulbright Fellowship and worked at Acción Emprendedora, a microfinance organization. He has also produced and directed six documentaries, on subjects ranging from the Holocaust to the Civil Rights movement. His work has aired nationally on PBS affiliates and earned such distinctions as the CINE Golden Eagle. Mr. Love holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Duke University.
Laura Markley studied literature and accounting at William & Mary, and went on to receive a Master of Financial Accounting before starting to work as a CPA in New York City. Laura began her career at PricewaterhouseCooper, providing auditing and financial services to international bank clients. She then transitioned to Ziff Brothers Investments, a private wealth management firm. She is currently an EMBA at Columbia Business School and an active blogger. Having traveled to 28 countries and spent significant time volunteering abroad, Laura continues to pursue an interest in community service through New York groups Redeemer Presbyterian and The Bowery Mission.
Mark Minutaglio studied Business, Organizations, and Society with a concentration in Corporate Social Responsibility at Franklin & Marshall College. After his undergraduate studies, Mark joined his family business, a landscape contracting company based in New York. Mark initiated the company’s Green Committee, helping the company earn the Industry’s Sustainability Award. In 2009 Mark served a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, volunteering with United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area. He worked with United Way to develop the strategic plan to address financial stability for individuals in the greater New Orleans Area. Upon completing AmeriCorps, Mark teamed up with a startup micro-lending organization, also based in New Orleans, called Rebirth Financial. Looking forward, Mark plans to expand Rebirth Financial’s operations in NYC and eventually return to his family business, John Mini Distinctive Landscapes.
Silvia Padilla has 8 years of work experience and expanding levels of responsibility. She has become proficient and knowledgeable in Latin American markets and has attained a deep understanding of the home appliances world industry, as well as beverage and consumer goods industries. At the same time, she has acquired significant work experience and academic background in marketing, from execution to strategy. Her career began as an intern and later as assistant brand manager of Oral-B. At Heineken, she led the trade marketing strategy implementation for point-of-sales segmentation, increasing POS presence more than 20% in the first year. She was awarded “Best Regional Execution” for implementation of the UEFA Champions League sponsorship promotion, and also designed Heineken Colombia’s Drink Responsibly program. Her five years at Whirlpool also include significant achievements. Recognized as a “Top Talent” (5% of total employees), she worked in all 4 Latin America business regions, for the two major brands KitchenAid and Whirlpool, increasing sales more than $78 MM dollars and developing new markets and segments, with a consistent growth rate above 20% during the last two years, while also completing her Master in Marketing. The next step of her career development is to become manager of one a complete business units or a general management consultant, while also extending her global horizon beyond Latin America.
Sebastian Rodriguez wasborn and raised in Bogota, Colombia. Upon high school graduation, he decided to leave his hometown to seek an education in the U.S. After attaining his undergraduate degree from the University of Miami in 2005, he wanted to pursue his passion for understanding the inner workings of organizations and how executives’ decisions truly impact enterprise cultures and profitability. For this reason, he decided to join the Public Accounting practice of Deloitte & Touche, where he served for six years. Today, he is a proud member of the Columbia Business School community, and will be joining the 2012 J.P. Morgan summer associate program after having been granted the firm’s Launching Leaders Scholarship.
Natalie Rubin comes to CBS after five years in the nonprofit sector. While at Brown University, she became General Manager of WBRU-FM, a commercial radio station with a listernship of 200,000 and a nonprofit learning workshop. This experience helped cultivate a strong interest in social enterprise and small business strategy which she applied as an Enterprise Development Advisor in Senegal with the Peace Corps. She advised women’s collectives on improving their operations. She then joined a large international development NGO and focused on Afghanistan where she helped to grow the company’s mobile phone based monitoring services.
Sascha Rubin graduated magna cum laude from Boston College in 2007 with a double major in Philosophy and German Studies. After graduation, she spent one year in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar researching the validity of international legal norms, which led to the completion of an MSc in Political Theory at the London School of Economics in 2009. After LSE she moved to Mexico City where she became project manager of a value chain program at the Walmart Foundation to help transform smallholder farmers into formal suppliers of large supermarket chains. Her experience at the Foundation was fundamental to her decision to come to CBS and pursue a career as a consultant for multinational companies entering emerging markets.
Lauren studied International Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis on Peace and Conflict Studies. She spent three years working for a consultancy analyzing hospitals’ revenue cycle with insurance companies in order to allow hospitals to maximize their revenue. During this time, Lauren volunteered as a Knowledge Management Intern with TechnoServe, a non-profit organization working to facilitate empowered small business creation in developing countries throughout the world. Lauren is convinced that ethical and socially-minded business leadership - whether for a non-profit or for-profit enterprise - has a unique ability to affect lasting societal change.
Sonal Shah, is a Management graduate, with a Finance Major. Apart from being a distinguished rank-holder in the undergraduate programme, Sonal is also a Certified Financial Planner. At the age of 19 years, Sonal founded her first venture, Aleson Holdings, which specialized in premium real estate marketing for companies like MetroCorp. Prior to business school, she worked in her family business as a Chief Operating Officer and has successfully diversified the traditional textile business into angel funding and ecommerce.
Alia Smith spent seven formative years working in a successful urban charter high school in Boston, first as a member of an intensive academic residency program embedded in the school and most recently as the director of that program. A graduate of Spelman College, Alia is passionate about improving the American public school system to ensure that every student receives a quality education. As such, Alia has advised several educational programs around the country, including the Apollo 20 program in Houston and the Great Oaks Charter School, newly founded in Newark. She still maintains strong ties to her students and is looking forward to seeing them become college graduates over the coming years.
Katerina (Kat) Vorotova EMBA ‘14
Katerina Vorotova is responsible for strategic and financial planning for European branches of Weight Watchers International. Previously she worked in an internal strategy consulting group at Thomson Reuters, where she helped to define 3-5 year growth business strategies, including global expansion plans. Katerina holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Columbia University, with a focus on Russian, French and German literature. Passionate about women’s leadership, Katerina sits on the Executive Board of Columbia College Women, the alumnae organization of Columbia College, as part of which she has helped to raise funds for an undergraduate scholarship for current female students.
After graduating from college and working overseas, Brooks Weilbacher was recruited to work for the FBI, which was experiencing rapid growth after 9/11. During her six years there, the Agency’s budget has grown from $5 billion to more than $9 billion- a growth she directly contributed to with assignments in budget formulation and as the FBI’s Appropriation Liaison with Congress. Today, working for the CFO’s office, her job is to help preserve FBI funding levels by ensuring that resources are well-spent. Since 2010, she took lead as the international finance liaison with foreign agency partners, reporting to the CFO on mutually beneficial projects (cost-savings, efficiencies, etc.). In this role, she implemented a formal partnership and annual conference, bringing together CFOs and Chief Operating Officers from five nations to share best practices. In late 2011, she took on a temporary assignment overseeing the FBI’s 90-person Financial Manager program.
Matt graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a major in electrical engineering and a minor in economics. After graduation, he was commissioned as a submarine logistics officer in the United States Navy. During his submarine tour of duty, he led a team of sailors through deployments to the Middle East and underneath the ice caps of the North Pole. In 2010 he attended the Defense Acquisition University where he studied Department of Defense contract valuation and negotiations. In his final military position, he served as the contract negotiator for submarine sonar systems at the Navy’s Washington D.C. procurement headquarters. Matt is a passionate Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentor and is actively involved in Columbia’s veteran community.