A Community Driving Changes

Our students join the program with a wide array of professional experience, including work in the nonprofit sector, sustainable development, government, and education — as well as in traditional business fields.

The broad range of experiences is also reflected in what SI-MBA graduates do next. Our alumni can be found working to change business as usual in fields as diverse as impact investing, sustainable development, mission-driven marketing, supply chain management, nonprofit management, and other socially responsible business functions.

Meet us in your city!

Join us on the road at a city near you and learn about how you can use business as a force for good with a Sustainable Innovation MBA (SI-MBA) from the University of Vermont's Grossman School of Business.

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Advice to Future Changemakers:You can't be in this business.  This business has to be in you.

Diane Abruzzini '17 Co-Founder and COO Rigorous Technology• Biggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: I entered the program to increase my business education and expand my career opportunities. In addition to that, I finished the program with a new understanding of myself and confidence that I could balance more than I thought was possible.

• Advice to Future Changemakers: Take your time, even when you don't think you have any. Consistency is valued more highly than enthusiasm.

Watch an interview with Diane about the SI-MBA program.

Harry Greene '16 Co-Founder Chief Research Officer Propogate Biggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: Understand your own personality, and what you're good at. Emotional intelligence opens doors; delivery and follow-through create value. Balance both. Sit back and listen before speaking. Assume that you may be wrong. Ask questions to the quiet people, because air time and substance are often at odds.

• Advice to Future Changemakers: Find a specific problem that you'd like to see resolved in your lifetime, and dive into it. Pick a leverage point or an approach that's slightly more daunting than you feel comfortable with, and then develop a value proposition that's economically-viable enough to cover your own overhead.

Aditi Datta Brand Lead BreefBiggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: Feedback is a gift. [Special Advisor] Joe Fusco imparted this wisdom during a leadership seminar and it has stuck with me ever since. Feedback is scary to give and receive but it truly is exceptionally valuable. I learned so much during my year of SI-MBA (SEMBA at the time!) but what I've carried with me is that when things are challenging, one of the best things you can do is seek out feedback. This has helped me understand how to be a better employee, leader, coworker, partner, friend, etc. And especially in the world of sustainability, the change we seek to make is impossible if we can't accept feedback, iterate and lead with grace.

Advice to Future Changemakers: Find a specific problem that you'd like to see resolved in your lifetime, and dive into it. Pick a leverage point or an approach that's slightly more daunting than you feel comfortable with, and then develop a value proposition that's economically-viable enough to cover your own overhead.

Watch an interview with Aditi about the SI-MBA program.

Taylor Ralph 17 Product Impact Lead Burton SnowboardsBiggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: By whatever means necessary. If I need to learn math to make the world a better place... so be it.

Advice to Future Changemakers: Question it all. You'll encounter long-standing systems that have not been returned to, revised, questioned. Don't be afraid to ask why and know that the world wants you to speak up. It's why you're here!

Lauren Frisch 20 Climate Trust Lead Patch• Biggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: SI-MBA gave me the tools to holistically understand how I can best position myself to create change, and how to advocate on behalf of myself and the problems I want to solve.

• Advice to Future Changemakers: Try something new! Your year in the SI-MBA program is a great opportunity to explore different career tracks, network with people across industries, and see what type of problem solving makes you most excited.

Melina Harris '21 Data Analyst and Capital Access Coordinator Philadelphia Anchors for Growth and Equity

Biggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: Everything matters! Business is a multidisciplinary subject. You may think that a class or assignment is irrelevant, and it's absolutely fair and important that you prioritize your passions over the things that don't light you up. But SI-MBA taught me that every aspect of the organizational organism is critical to its success or failure; think optimization over maximization. A firm's impact is cultivated by its people, daily activities, and culture, not simply its output.  By understanding a bit of everything, you can be much more effective at creating change within your organization and outside of it. Valuing your relationships with your coworkers, your stakeholders, and your own integrity will get you incredibly far.

Advice to Future Changemakers: Almost everyone deals with imposter syndrome. But working in this new frontier of business, you really can begin to adjust your mindset from "faking it until I make it" to "innovating new solutions and absolutely making a few mistakes along the way". If you are continuously learning and realizing what you can do better on the next project or with the next client, you know you're on the right track. Be bold and be proud of yourself when you challenge those around you to think differently. But always balance that with a healthy dose of humility. You are a channel unlocking and unfolding a new consciousness throughout our ecosystem. Remember to listen and learn from the folx that have been doing this work outside of the business sphere for decades before the rest of us. That wise voice lives deep within you as well, listen to her.

Alyssa Stankiewicz '19 ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR  SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH  MORNINGSTAR RESEARCH  SERVICES, LLC.

• Biggest Takeaway from SI-MBA: Focus your energy on the problems that you can change and that have the greatest potential for downstream impact. In our Systems Thinking course, we learned to accept how complicated systems truly are and to identify leverage points within those messy systems. It takes creativity, patience, dedication, and energy to effect real change, so focus on the things that matter most to you and that have the greatest potential (however you measure that) for lasting improvement.

• Advice to Future Changemakers: Be diligent about re-evaluating what you're doing and where your energy is going. Protect your time, and don't go on autopilot with your career; you have too much to give. Also, read Diane Abruzzini's advice (elsewhere on this page).

SOME OF THE PLACES WHERE OUR ALUMNI ARE CREATING IMPACT

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