Allison Henry is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Kellogg School of Management's Social Impact Program and Director of the Golub Capital Board Fellows Program at Northwestern University. In addition, Alli teache a graduate program in the School of Communications at Northwestern University and teaches occasionally in executive education programs led by Kellogg's Center for Nonprofit Management. She is a recipient of the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award.
Alli’s career has spanned the private, public and social sectors. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of The People’s Music School. She led strategy, finance, operations, human resources, evaluation, and fundraising of the rapidly growing social impact organization. During her tenure, the school experienced 3x growth, became nationally recognized by industry leaders such as Carnegie Hall, and performed with and for luminaries such as Yo-Yo Ma and President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama.
The foundation of her experience was formed at Bain & Company, a global consultancy where she advised Fortune 500 companies across retail, consumer, health care and private equity industries in issues related to strategy, market entry, pricing, and M&A. While at Bain, Alli was selected to extern with the Civic Consulting Alliance, led undergraduate recruiting efforts, launched the local pro-bono Inspire initiative, and managed one of the firm’s treasured assets – the Bain Band.
Since Bain, Alli has specialized in building entrepreneurial organizations with a commitment to social impact. She was the sixth employee at Mission Measurement, a for-profit social enterprise that supports nonprofits, foundations and corporations to measure the impact of their work. She was the first full-time hire at the venture philanthropy fund A Better Chicago, where she led sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management, and launched an early-stage funding competition.
Alli earned her MBA in one year from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and her BA in three years with a double major in Mathematics and Economics from Grinnell College.
This experiential course enables future founders, C-suite leaders, and board members to better understand and practice the leadership skills necessary to make an impact through nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Nonprofits/NGOs strive to meet the most complex challenges of our time. Today, the sector is being profoundly impacted by labor market demands, migrant crises arising from global conflicts, fears of economic recession, and continued calls for diversity, equity and inclusion. Nonprofit/NGO leaders must use all of the management and leadership tools available to them to create strong vision and strategy, partner with a complex network of stakeholders, oversee diverse financial streams, and focus on growth and innovation to effectively achieve the impact they seek. Kellogg graduates will find themselves engaged in the social sector in a variety of ways -- as senior staff members, board members, volunteers and donors. This course helps students better understand the skills required to effectively lead nonprofits/NGOs regardless of their role. Students will engage in case discussions, meet seasoned social impact practitioners, and work in small groups to tackle real-world challenges. The course will cover theory along with practical examples of leadership and strategy, all designed to illustrate how successful business practices contribute to increased social impact.
Students will earn .5 credits in Fall, .5 credits in Spring and receive a grade at the end of Spring Quarter.
The Board Fellows program is designed to prepare students for nonprofit board service and civic leadership through a combination of academic coursework, nonprofit board service, and fellowship. The depth of this experiential learning opportunity is unique among business schools. Its purpose is to arm you with foundational knowledge that will further your understanding of how nonprofits are governed, accelerate the impact of your board service, and ultimately prepare you to become a more effective, socially conscious, and civically engaged leader after graduation. Students must apply in the Fall of their first year to become a Board Fellow. Once selected, they will be automatically enrolled in the two required courses: SSIM 453-5 in the first year, SSIM 471 in the second year. In SSIM 471, students dive deeper into topics introduced the previous year, learning from guest speakers and from each other as they offer their own experiences of board service. Topics include diversity, equity, and inclusion, finding your voice in the boardroom, dashboards and performance measurement, differences between nonprofit and corporate board service, and boards after business school. This course meets for a total of ten weeks, split evenly between the Fall quarter and the Spring quarter. This course is a complement to your ex officio board service. You will add value to class discussions by bringing in examples from your board experience, and you will add value to your board by contributing examples from your classroom experience. Key deliverables include a project or projects of substance for your nonprofit partner, a final paper, attendance at board meetings, and three 1:1 check-ins with the Professor.
