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Introducing 13 Social Impact Leaders Receiving Loan Forgiveness Awards in 2020

large group of MBA graduates at a commencement ceremony, clapping and smiling

The Wharton Social Impact Initiative is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund for Public Service.

These 13 Bendheim Fellows are examples of Wharton alumni who are using their business acumen in finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and more to solve the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s fellows include leaders in impact investing, social entrepreneurship, nonprofits, healthcare, and government.

Created in 2005 by John Bendheim, W’40, and his son Tom, WG/Lauder’90, and managed by the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, the loan forgiveness fund has awarded over $2 million to close to 100 alumni. These Bendheim Fellows are representative of the growing community of Wharton alumni engaged in the business of social impact.

The funding decisions are made by a committee composed of Wharton representatives (Wharton Social Impact Initiative, MBA Career Management, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Wharton San Francisco, and the Wharton Executive MBA program) and Bendheim Fellows–previous recipients of Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Awards.

The recipients for this year include the following social impact leaders:

  • Claudia Gutierrez is a 2015 MBA graduate who concentrated in Finance. She is an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C., where she supports private sector development in emerging markets by providing and mobilizing scarce capital, knowledge, and partnerships.

  • Timothy Hou earned his MBA in General Management in 2017. He is the Deputy City Manager and Director of Community Development for the City of San Fernando in Southern California.

  • Rashie Jain completed her MBA in 2016 with concentrations in Healthcare Management and Entrepreneurial Management. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Onco.com, a healthcare startup with the mission of connecting cancer patients in developing countries with expert oncologists to receive virtual personalized treatment advice and care management.

  • Dimple Kothari received her MBA in 2018 and graduated with concentrations in Finance and Management. She currently serves as a Business Development Manager at Partners Healthcare in Boston, which is dedicated to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community.

  • Sarah Millar completed her MBA in 2016 with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management. She is a principal at City Light Capital in New York, which is an early stage investor into for-profit social enterprises in the education, environmental, safety, and healthcare technology spaces.

  • Nimesh Modak is a 2015 MBA graduate with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management. In his roles as VP of Strategy & Business Development, Imagine H2O and Director, Imagine H2O Asia, Nimesh supports the organization’s mission to empower promising water technology entrepreneurs with the resources to scale and deploy their solutions to solve water challenges globally.

  • Jaime Najarro earned his MBA in Operations and Management in 2018. He currently serves as a consultant in the San Francisco office of the Bridgespan Group, a social impact consulting firm.

  • Dananjali Ratnayaka received her MBA in 2017 with a concentration in Finance. She is a Divisional Administrator for the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, a global leader in scientific research, health and medical education, and patient care.

  • Ricardo Salinas completed his MBA in 2016 and graduated with a concentration in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management. He currently serves as a Director and the Program Manager for the Portfolio for Impact & Innovation for the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) where he supports their mission to promote private sector-led development in emerging markets.

  • Saba Shafi is a 2017 MBA graduate with a concentration in Management. She is the Commercial Director at the Advocacy Academy, a youth movement working to create a new generation of social-change leaders.

  • Justine Shome earned her MBA in Management in 2015. She is a Program Lead for the Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C., an organization that works across sectors to bring innovative and promising practices that promote healthy families and children.

  • Rachel Wolff graduated from Wharton with an Executive MBA in 2018. She is currently Country Director in Nepal for CARE, the global nonprofit working to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

  • Lorinda Wong is a 2017 MBA graduate who concentrated in Management, Marketing, and Operations. In her role as Project Specialist at the Getty Conservation Institute of the Paul Getty Trust, Lorinda supports the Getty’s mission of advancing conservation practice in the visual arts and delivering knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage.