Career Pathways
The Career Pathway Series was created to showcase the unique and diverse paths that can be taken by individuals interested in pursuing careers in social impact. It is a compilation of profiles of Georgetown McDonough alumni who work in impact-oriented jobs, illustrating their internship, extracurricular, and professional work undertaken, as well as career and personal advice relating to their journey. The goal of the series is to help McDonough MBA students map out a pathway to impact opportunities in the first 5-10 years of their career.
Rhett Smith (MBA ’17)
Industry: Education
Where he works: Roxbury Prep (Uncommon Schools)
Job Title: Director of Operations
Schools are large and complex institutions with business goals directly tied to the life outcomes of students. Uncommon Schools is a network of charter schools on the East Coast that serve tens of thousands of students a year and have seen remarkable results: 82% of their student population is economically disadvantaged, yet they have managed a 99% college acceptance rate over 20 years.
As operations leader at Boston’s Roxbury Prep, Smith focuses on the business side of the school, with wide-ranging responsibilities from hiring to student retention to financing.
Learn more about Rhett’s Career Pathway.
Amie Fleming (MBA ’19)
Industry: Conservation Finance + Impact Investing
Where she works: Quantified Ventures
Job Title: Senior Associate
Conservation finance sits at the intersection of finance and impact. At Quantified Ventures, Fleming oversees and consults on capital investment projects that drive land conservation and economic development. She works with foundations and municipal or state governments to help quantify the outcomes of conservation projects and to develop the business case for investors and public officials to commit their capital. Quantified Ventures also works in the health and social sectors.
Learn more about Amie’s Career Pathway.
Gabriela Prudencio (MBA ’16)
Industry: Nonprofit Management + Healthcare
Where she works: National Alliance for Caregiving
Job Title: Hunt Research Director
One in five Americans are “family caregivers” – meaning they provide assistance to an adult or a child with special needs. Prudencio works at the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), a nonprofit coalition of national organizations focused on family caregiving, where she leads a research portfolio that informs policies and programs to improve the lives of caregivers and those under their care. Her work spans research on healthcare, disability, aging, and long-term care sectors.
Learn more about Gabriela’s Career Pathway.
Genevieve Ryan Bellaire (MBA ’15, JD ’15)
Industry Social Entrepreneurship + Tech
Where she works: Realworld
Job Title: Founder & CEO
High school and college do not prepare people for “real world” skills like finding an insurance plan, paying taxes, or getting a loan. Bellaire founded Realworld, a majority-female owned and operated startup as a centralized platform to help young people navigate major life moments. Her goal is to build “a single sign-on for adulthood.” Realworld operates as a B2B2C company, selling subscription services to universities or other large organizations of young people – who then provide the services to their students and young employees.
Learn more about Genevieve’s Career Pathway.
Kevin Chan (MBA ’14)
Industry: Nonprofit Management + Policy Advocacy
Where he works: Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
Job Title: Senior Social Innovation Specialist
In America, your ZIP code can carry more weight on your health outcomes than your genetic code. Chan works at the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, a nonprofit working to improve the social determinants of health, specifically the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy families.
As an innovation specialist, Chan provides technical assistance to organizations around the country that are building healthy homes programs and exploring innovative ways to finance them. He “outcomes-based” finance projects, coordinates partnerships between policymakers and healthcare providers, develops financial models related to public health, and advises on grant compliance.
Learn more about Kevin’s Career Pathway.
Surabhi Agrawal (MBA ’16)
Industry: Consumer Goods + Retail
Where she works: Starbucks
Job Title: Senior Manager, Coffee Sustainability
Starbucks has a goal to become resource positive and reduce their carbon, water, and waste footprint by 2030. As part of the coffee sustainability team, Agrawal is leading this effort in the coffee supply chain, focused on reducing the footprint of on-farm activities, improving the environmental ecosystem in farming communities, and piloting digital tools to improve farmer livelihoods.
Before this, she launched digital coffee traceability at Starbucks, using blockchain technology to link the data to share the information from bean to cup, with both customers and farmers. Agrawal has been working in Starbucks’ supply chain since landing an internship as a McDonough student.
Learn more about Surabhi’s Career Pathway.
Christine Roddy (MBA ’18)
Industry: International Development + Impact Investing
Where she works: AlphaMundi Foundation
Job Title: Executive Director
Roddy is executive director of the AlphaMundi Foundation, which works to improve the lives of the poor by scaling private investment in social enterprises. The foundation was created in 2016 as a nonprofit sister organization to the pioneering impact investing fund AlphaMundi Group, working to support and de-risk the group’s investments.
As executive director, Roddy leads the organization in delivering business advisory services, impact measurement support, and women’s economic inclusion efforts to small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging markets.
Learn more about Christine’s Career Pathway.
View all Pathways to Purpose profiles.
