Past Winners
Kiana Rahni
MBA Candidate, Class of 2025
As I entered my final semester, my anticipated full-time employment role was postponed due to economic pressures and lack of headcount, leaving me faced with beginning my student loan repayments without the secure employment I had planned for. Beyond providing essential breathing room to complete my studies without financial anxiety, this award has preserved my ability to remain true to my academic and professional mission of pursuing a career in the global health field. While the global health funding landscape becomes increasingly uncertain and roles become increasingly competitive and fewer in number, this award has given me an opportunity to continue my passion for social impact work without fear of covering my immediate financial obligations. This support has not just funded my education, it has protected my values and ensured that my academic journey can culminate in meaningful work that serves a greater purpose, free from the compromises that economic pressure might otherwise have forced upon my career trajectory.
As a first-generation college student currently pursuing a dual MBA/MPH at UC Berkeley, my passion for serving others was shaped by an unwelcome but transformative experience of serving as my father’s caregiver, an opportunity that showed me firsthand the complexities and inefficiencies of the U.S. healthcare system. This experience ignited my commitment to serving communities who encounter similar obstacles in accessing and affording the resources they need to thrive. Now, through my dual degree program, I’m passionate about exploring systematic solutions to ameliorate the suffering and burden on patients, families, and healthcare systems across the country and around the world. As I look to transition from the consulting field into the global health sector, I’m drawn to leveraging research to identify areas of opportunity and using advocacy and lobbying to inform policymaking that ensures lasting change. My future goals center on breaking into this new sector while bringing together my skill sets, interest in public policy, and deeply rooted desire to serve something bigger than myself, ultimately working to create sustainable improvements in healthcare access and equity for underserved communities.
Matt Fergerson
MBA Candidate, Class of 2025
The Award impacted my life significantly. It allowed me to confidently pursue my internship without worrying about making enough money over the summer to pay for my upcoming second year of business school. Without it, I would not have had the ability to work for a start-up making an impact in Kenya by providing affordable clean cookstoves across the country.
I graduated from Michigan with a Mechanical Engineering degree and worked in consulting before moving into strategy at a Series D technology company. I came to business school to pursue my passion to help solve our climate crisis in an equitable way. I am planning to continue to work with the start-up from the summer and hope to continue to pursue entrepreneurship by either founding a company or joining a climate & impact focused seed stage start-up when I graduate. The summer opened my eyes to the work that is required to help ensure the global south is not left behind in the energy transition and so I would love to more specifically focus on that region with my entrepreneurial efforts.