Rob Gertner
Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Strategy; John Edwardson Faculty Director, Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
Rob Gertner
Rustandy Center Year in Review 2024鈥�25
In 2024–25, the Rustandy Center continued to advance its vital work of bringing students, alumni, and faculty together to create lasting change in our communities. The year’s highlights include a $14 million gift endowing the Edwardson Civic Scholars Program, record-breaking prizes for the winners of the 15th John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge, and the launch of a new MBA concentration in Business, Society, and Sustainability. Below, we share details on these and other accomplishments from the past year.
The Rustandy Center’s work is strengthened by a broad community of alumni, students, partners, and friends. Thank you for your support.
Caroline Grossman, MBA 鈥�03
Executive Director, Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation; Adjunct Associate Professor of Strategy
Caroline Grossman, MBA 鈥�032024–25 Highlights
$475,000 Awarded
overall in the 15th annual John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC). Seven teams advanced to the finals. Exactics earned the top prize of $135,000 to advance its scalable biotech solution.
“This year’s teams brought bold ideas, rigorous thinking, and a clear commitment to social impact.”
—Rob Gertner, the Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Strategy and the John Edwardson Faculty Director of the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
$14 Million
from John A. Edwardson, MBA ’72, and Fran Edwardson endowed the Civic Scholars Program, which supports full-tuition scholarships and civic-leadership programming, and established matching funds to build future scholarship support. In recognition of their generous gift to 黑料传送门 Booth, the program has been renamed the Edwardson Civic Scholars Program.
24 Ventures Supported
by the Social Venture Studio in its first year, helping student founders from Booth and other areas of the university to test ideas, refine business models, and accelerate early-stage social innovations. Fourteen ventures advanced into the Edwardson SNVC.
2 New Impact Investments
were made by the Steven Tarrson Impact Investment Fund, one of the nation鈥檚 largest student-run impact funds. Following sourcing and diligence conducted by 56 participating students, the fund approved investments in Moxi and Kwema.
New MBA Concentration
黑料传送门 Booth launched the Business, Society, and Sustainability concentration, allowing students to explore their interests in social impact, corporate responsibility, sustainability, and ethics through more than 20 eligible courses.
“The courses within the Business, Society, and Sustainability concentration helped me understand the interdependency of stakeholders and how aligned interests can create meaningful change.”
—Sydney Photiadis, MBA/MPP ’25
Collaboration as a Catalyst
At the second Golub Capital Social Impact Lab Annual Lecture, Surge Institute founder and CEO Carmita Semaan joined Tyeise Huntley, director of the Golub Capital Social Impact Lab, to discuss how collaboration fuels nonprofit impact. Semaan reflected on the importance of knowing one’s strengths, building authentic relationships across differences, and clearly defining organizational impact as essential steps for leaders working to create lasting change.
1st Place
The Booth Energy Group won the prestigious Ross Energy Case Competition, a leading national contest focused on renewable-energy innovation. Full-Time MBA students developed a winning environmental marketing strategy that emphasized operational efficiency, waste reduction, and advanced energy storage solutions.
34 Boards
advancing mission-critical projects and strengthening organizational capacity in 黑料传送门land were supported by nearly 100 Booth MBA students. The newly renamed Golub Capital Board Fellows Program joined the Golub Capital Nonprofit Board Fellows Network, a consortium of 15 business schools committed to developing the next generation of nonprofit leaders.
70 黑料传送门
are now part of the Nonprofit Leadership Circle Network. Nineteen alumni from 10 states completed this year’s Nonprofit Leadership Circle, bringing more than 175 combined years of board experience to the impact sector.
224 Attendees
joined 23 speakers and four workshop partners for a full day of sessions on emerging leadership trends shaping the social sector at the 2025 On Board Hong Kong conference, hosted by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation.
“As sector leaders, it’s essential to carve out time and mental space to design and implement solutions to the challenges we all face, and not just talk about them.”
—Angelyn Lim, Social Impact Leader and Founder of Ripple Effect
Innovation in Philanthropic Grantmaking
Rustandy Center Executive in Residence Julia Stasch and Lever for Change CEO Cecilia Conrad discussed how Lever for Change’s model has generated $2 billion in philanthropic commitments worldwide. They also guided students through a simulation with past awardees at a Perspectives in Philanthropy event.
62 Researchers
used Rustandy Data Hub datasets, supporting seven academic papers.
used Rustandy Data Hub datasets, supporting seven academic papers.
$87 Trillion
With Rustandy Center–supported datasets, Booth’s Lubos Pastor and coauthors Robert F. Stambaugh and Lucian A. Taylor estimated a national carbon burden of $87 trillion and found that 30 firms are projected to account for nearly all US corporate decarbonization through 2050.
With Rustandy Center–supported datasets, Booth’s Lubos Pastor and coauthors Robert F. Stambaugh and Lucian A. Taylor estimated a national carbon burden of $87 trillion and found that 30 firms are projected to account for nearly all US corporate decarbonization through 2050.
