School Notes: School of Management
January/February 2026

Honoring a Yale titan’s legacy

In September, SOM convened leading alumni and finance practitioners for a symposium honoring the late David Swensen ’80PhD, who pioneered a new institutional investing model during his long tenure as Yale’s chief investment officer. It was also the first major event hosted by the Swensen Asset Management Institute, a new SOM center that will build on Swensen’s legacy of investment excellence and mentorship, and which recently named investment manager Erin Bellissimo as its executive director. “As investors in rapidly changing markets, it’s more important than ever to have David’s guiding principles,” said Lei Zhang ’02MA, ’02MBA, during the symposium’s closing remarks.

Traversing the globe for new business perspectives

During October break, students traveled around the world for weeklong immersions at leading business schools. The immersions, known as the Global Network Week, are one of the most popular programs of the Global Network for Advanced Management, a coalition of top schools that creates connections among the students and faculty in its 33 member institutions. This year’s Global Network Week programs introduced students to emerging markets in China, social entrepreneurship in Brazil, sustainable development in Costa Rica, and digital finance in Ghana, among other offerings. “One reason I chose Yale SOM was its truly global reach—and that came to life during Global Network Week,” said Malik Dent ’26MBA, who studied entrepreneurial acquisition in Mexico. 

Making dream internships possible

SOM’s Internship Fund has begun its annual work raising funds to ensure that students can pursue summer internships in the public and nonprofit sectors without financial constraints. The first of its kind among American business schools, the fund supports between 5 percent and 15 percent of each SOM class. Its fundraisers, which include an auction night and a talent show, have become some of the SOM community’s most anticipated events. “It has been inspiring to witness the school’s strong tradition of generosity, and to know that our work directly helped classmates pursue social impact careers,” wrote fund leaders Catherine Dai ’26MBA, Cindy Gu ’26MBA, and Libby Liu ’26MBA.