Kellogg announces 2016 Youn Impact Scholars

2/1/2016 - Five Kellogg students and six alumni have been named this year’s Youn Impact Scholars, a select group of students and alumni recognized for launching new enterprises, influencing policy decisions and leveraging the private sector for positive social change. 

Considered the gold standard of social impact honors at Kellogg, the 2016 cohort brings the scholar network to a total of 30, creating the critical mass intended when the program was created through a gift from Northwestern Trustee Christopher Combe (WCAS70) and Courtney Combe, and named after One Acre Fund founder Andrew Youn ’06.

This May, the newly minted scholars will have a chance to connect and exchange ideas with their 2014 and 2015 counterparts at the program’s first biennial event during Reunion weekend.

A call to action

For Bobby Powers ’16, “being named a scholar is really an inspirational call to action to do more to follow the example of other scholars.” Powers is the co-founder of sharEd, a social venture that provides affordable learning and teacher training materials for early childhood education through a subscription-sharing model.

As Powers begins the process of scaling up sharEd, he’s counting on other Youn Impact Scholars to share their wisdom. “Funding, team building and measuring outcomes are all huge challenges for social impact startups,” he says, “but I couldn't have a better network to learn from than the Youn group.”

Duda Cardoso ’16, president of Kellogg’s Net Impact Club, a national organization dedicated to promoting social impact in business, echoes Powers’ excitement about joining a group of like-minded social entrepreneurs. “If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the field of social impact, it’s that partnerships are essential to creating lasting change,” she says.

Exchanging ideas

For the first time, members from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 cohorts will gather at Kellogg during Reunion this May. It’s an opportunity for all Youn scholars — both students and alumni, living and working both domestically and abroad — to join forces and exchange ideas. “Coming together increases the power of this group to realize and extend their vision beyond their own capabilities,” says Sheila Duran, senior director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative (KPPI).

Jamie Jones ’09, a 2016 scholar and co-founder of Impact Engine, an accelerator that addresses social and environmental issues, looks forward to meeting student scholars at the biennial event and helping them realize their full potential. “Their energy is contagious. Their ideas are inspirational,” she says. “It's rewarding to help them think through pathways to see their ideas take shape and impact individuals, communities, countries and our world.”

Here’s the full list of the 2016 Youn Impact Scholars:

Alumni:

• Tom Aiello ’02, MARCH Marketing
• Patrick Fisher ’04, Creation Investments
• Jamie Jones ’09, Impact Engine, RTI International 
• David Milestone ’07, USAID
• Mandy Taft-Pearman ’03, The Bridgespan Group
• Agustin Vitorica ’99, GAWA Capital

Students:

• Duda Cardoso ’16
• Ashima Gupta ’16
• Sharanya Jaidev ’16
• Jamie Lu ’16
• Bobby Powers ’16