Sloan Women In Management
Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) works to increase opportunities for all women at MIT Sloan through networking events, speaker series, professional development workshops, mentorship programs, and community-building events. In addition to its year-long programming, SWIM hosts an annual conference where students can dialogue with today's leading women. The organization’s primary goals are to:
- Create an inviting and supportive community for all Sloan women;
- Advance the careers of current MIT Sloan women through relevant programming and connections with MIT and MIT Sloan alumni;
- Work with faculty, administrators, and the greater business community to increase opportunities for women in business; and
- Attract top-talent female students to MIT Sloan.
MIT Sloan Orientation 2012
Victoria Gutierrez is a member of the class of 2014 for the MIT Sloan MBA program. Most recently, she was working for small companies in the food and beverage industry, including serving as Project Manager at Noise 13 Design and Associate Editor of Drink Me Magazine. Check back often to follow her experience and the experiences of her classmates.
Team Activities at the Warren Center
The Sloan orientation is a carefully crafted week chock-full of team building activities and thought-provoking panels. Through the four very long days, we’re all focused on one thing: establishing meaningful relationships with our ocean and our team of seven that will band together to survive Sloan’s infamous core.
As we made our way through orientation, we kept hearing over and over that these next two years will transform us and change the lens through which we see the world. I fully believe this. But what impressed me most about orientation was that I saw a huge shift in behaviors and attitudes, just in the span from Monday’s breakfast through to Thursday’s Beer Game reception. Continue reading
Transition to MIT Sloan
Hilary Fischer-Groban is an incoming student to the MBA program at MIT Sloan. Most recently, she was a Communications Associate at ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth. Check back often to follow her experience and the experiences of her classmates.
When I was taking the GMAT in Mumbai, interviewing with Sloan admissions in Hyderabad, and meeting up with future classmates in Delhi, MIT was literally and figuratively a world away. I grew up only a few blocks from MIT in Cambridge, but for the past two years I’ve been living in Mumbai, India, working in communications for a corporate foundation. I knew I needed to give myself a long summer break before starting Sloan to transition back to America, and get into back-to-school mode. Continue reading
SWIM Supports Rosie’s Place
MIT Sloan attracts students who care about being “in the world, for the world”. SWIM members exemplified this characteristic with a recent toiletries donation to Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women located in Boston. SWIM brought toiletries left over from our recent annual celebration of women brunch to share with the women of Rosie’s Place.
As Rosie’s Place states on their website, “Through our drop-in advocacy program we are able to distribute clothing, toiletries, and other items to thousands of poor and homeless women each year. We rely on the generosity of individuals, companies, and organizations to provide these essential items.” SWIM is fortunate enough to partner with many companies throughout the year that sponsor our exciting events. We will continue to distribute left over items from these events to the very deserving women of Rosie’s Place. Please visit http://www.rosiesplace.org/ for more information.
Lori McMenemy
VP of Community Service
A Look Back at 2011-2012 and Getting Ready for the Fall
SWIM presidents, past and present with Deputy Dean Yates, longtime supporter of SWIM
It’s hard to believe the school year is already coming to a close. Looking back, we have a lot to celebrate: the C-Function, conference, celebration brunch, and long list of other SWIM sponsored events— community breakfasts, recruiting, workshops, increased relationships with business community, community service, admissions, mentorship, speaker series, and alumnae outreach, many of which were new initiatives this year. We want to give a special thank you to the outgoing co-presidents, officers, and event directors. We truly value your hard work and dedication, and are honored to be taking the reins of the fantastic organization you have created. Continue reading
SWIM Panel: How to Get Into a Top MBA Program
On Monday, May 14, SWIM held a panel event as part of NSUW’s business-school themed events for the spring semester. NSUW (Network of Sloan Undergraduate Women) is a group of undergraduate women who have an interest in pursuing business-related fields after graduation. The SWIM panel helped MIT undergrads address the challenges of applying to business school and offered helpful advice about the application process.
The event kicked off with a number of questions prepared by the moderator, Ankur Nanda. The panelists, Katie Bach, Asha Parekh, and Adina Taylor, had a very diverse set of backgrounds, including work experience with the World Bank in West Africa, a PhD in Chemical Engineering, and consulting at Fidelity Investments. Despite this wide range of backgrounds, however, they all chose to pursue an MBA at Sloan. Their reasons for taking Continue reading
Reflection on SWIM’s annual Celebration of MIT Sloan Women
Thank you again so much for joining us yesterday morning for SWIM’s annual Celebration of MIT Sloan Women!
We were honored to host this special occasion for the MIT Sloan community and its women, and we were excited to welcome the AdMIT Class of 2014. It was our privilege to recognize Deputy Dean JoAnne Yates for her five years of service to MIT Sloan as the school’s first female academic dean and to hear remarks by our own incredible Professor Zeynep Ton. And, we shared our gratitude to outgoing SWIM Presidents Michelle Charnas, Amelia Landberg, and Maryanna McConnell, as well as inaugurated our incoming Presidents Lauren Ankeles, Marine Graham, and Priyanka Ramamurthy. Continue reading
Genevieve Sangudi, MD at The Carlyle Group, speaks about Private Equity in Africa
Genevieve Sangudi, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, speaks about Private Equity in Africa. Moderated by Prof. Caroline Flammer on May 30, 2012
About 50 students attended Genevieve Sangudi’s talk on Private Equity in Africa from MIT, Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School and Hult International Business School.
Genevieve spoke mainly about the environment in which Private Equity has operated in Africa. She highlighted the changes in the last decade in governance and economic factors that have created opportunity for those willing and able to enter the PE market in Africa. Genevieve noted that Africa is a broad landscape with varying conditions, which lead to a rich and diverse range of market conditions. Some plays are possible in large markets like Nigeria or South Africa while others are feasible as regional plays. Continue reading
Announcing 2013 Conference Directors
Thank you Julie and Clara!
We are honored and unbelievably excited to be taking charge of the 2013 Sloan Women in Management conference. Before we start working on the conference for 2013, we want to thank our 2012 Co-Directors, Julie Lein and Clara Brenner, for their 
incredible vision and execution of the conference this year.
Julie and Clara: you did an incredibly job; your hard work is greatly appreciated and your leadership and ongoing enthusiasm for SWIM will be truly missed. Thank you!
The 2012 conference was transformative in many ways, from the record-breaking attendance to the insightful conversations that it triggered. We look forward to building on the momentum of the conference and bringing a new voice to the discussions that women have with each other.
Thanks to the SWIM Conference organizer team for your hard work this past year!
Watch this blog for more updates on the conference as it approaches.
Madeline Ng & Dulcie Madden
2013 Co-Directors of Conference
MBA Class of 2013
MIT Sloan School of Management
Upcoming Event: Female African PE Leader
MIT students and community, please join us on Monday, April 30th for a chat with Genevieve Sangudi, Managing Director of the Carlyle Group in Africa, to speak about her experience in Private Equity investing across Africa. The chat will be moderated by MIT Sloan Prof. Caroline Flammer. Come learn about Ms. Sangudi’s leadership in Private Equity including raising three Africa-focused funds from investors in Africa, the U.S., Middle East, and Europe. Recently named one of the most influential Africans under 40, Ms. Sangudi will have a lot to share about her career journey including tips and practical advice. Continue reading
Reflection on Event with Betsy Myers: Take the Lead
On April 10th, I attended a Sloan Women in Management (SWIM) talk by Betsy Myers. Widely recognized as an expert in the area of women’s leadership and development, Betsy formerly served on the Clinton Administration as the senior advisor on women’s issues and was the COO of the Obama campaign. Most recently, she wrote a book (which I picked up and haven’t been able to put down since) called Take the Lead.
I’ve attended many leadership talks, but Betsy’s had an air of honesty and realism that resonated with me and with others in the audience, which consisted of students and professionals from the Boston area. She spoke at length about the changing face of leadership: it’s becoming more about the people in a system, collectively moving the work forward, than it is about a top-down leader. Betsy shared three key lessons that can help us adopt this new, more collaborative leadership style.
