Aviva Altmann: The Social Impact of an MBA

By Aviva Altmann (’13)

Reflecting back on my time at UCLA Anderson, I am grateful for the many people and opportunities that helped build my career into what it is today.

I came to Anderson in 2011 after working to improve public education in Los Angeles with Green Dot Public Schools — where I was so positively influenced by other Anderson alumni that I knew that this school would be the right place for me. While I loved working in education reform, I wanted a chance to really hone and improve my management skills to become a better leader. Working for a quickly growing nonprofit organization meant there was little time or opportunity for training or professional development, and there was still so much that I had to learn.

Instantly at Anderson I was motivated by the energy of my classmates and the countless opportunities to get involved in things that I was passionate about, with people whom I today count on as lifelong friends. I threw myself into Net Impact, participated in the Haas Education Case Competition and did an internship with FINCA microfinance. Best of all, I was able to turn that internship into an AMR project that culminated in a trip to Uganda to conduct local market research to evaluate whether to launch a social enterprise. In doing this research, I learned more from my friends and our AMR advisor Gayle Northrop than from anything else I did in business school. This experience forced us to ask a question: “How could a microfinance organization work to solve the health challenges of the most vulnerable populations on a global scale?” And, in trying to solve what seemed like the most impossible problem, we were able to come together to develop and recommend real solutions.

This blue-sky problem solving was so motivating for me that I knew this was what I wanted to do going forward: solve the problems that most drastically affect those living in poverty. It led me to work for a year with Johnson & Johnson on their corporate philanthropy team, and now for the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting firm, where I work with an incredible team to solve the most pressing problems in public education and global development.

Since starting at Anderson, I have built my career by leaning in to my passions and using a methodological approach to problem solving to — ultimately — support and empower others building the field today. I hope that other students have the opportunity to delve into social impact at UCLA. We need more problem solvers out there working on society’s most important problems. Anderson is a community of incredible students, professors, staff members and alumni whom I consider myself very lucky to have in my life.