People people

Headshots courtesy Goler, Kenady, Bock, and Brummel, respectively.

Clockwise from upper left: Lori Goler ’91 (Facebook); Carolyn Kenady ’74 (Yelp); Laszlo Bock ’99MBA (Google); Lisa Brummel ’81 (Microsoft). View full image

Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yelp have a lot in common. Each is a mammoth tech company. Each is headquartered on a West Coast campus. And, curiously, each had a human resources department led by a Yalie (until Brummel retired at the end of 2014). There’s no simple reason why, but all four are certain of Yale’s impact on their career paths. Kenady credits her work as a community organizer in New Haven. Brummel points to Yale’s emphasis on the human connection among its students. “While I loved my coursework at Yale, I believe the people with whom I studied were the ones who truly gave me my education,” says Brummel. “I take that ‘people learning’ to the corporate world today and apply it with each and every encounter that I have.”