Scholar Win Chesson Attends Conference for LGBTQ MBA Students

In October, I joined 1,400 current and prospective LGBTQ MBA students in San Francisco at the annual Reaching Out MBA conference. It was a weekend full of workshops, case competitions, networking and job recruitment at some of the most influential companies from Amazon to McKinsey.

Highlights included keynote addresses from:

• Trevor Burgess, one of only two openly gay CEOs of a publically listed company (C1 Bank of St. Petersburg, Florida).
• Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of Arcus Foundation (one of the largest funders of the LGBTQ movement) and co-founder of GLSEN
• Kathy Levinson, Philanthropist and Operational Strategist
• Janet Mock, author of Redefining Realness (who also spoke at the Point Leadership Conference this past summer!)
• Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal
• Jonathan Mildenhall, Chief Marketing Officer of Airbnb

I also had the privilege of presenting a workshop on "Leveraging Your Network for Good" which focused on identifying organizations interested in attracting business students to serve on their boards to help fundraise. I particularly enjoyed this opportunity to share my work over the past seven years fundraising for LGBTQ and HIV immigrants, asylum seekers and binational couples. Additionally, I learned about which causes my MBA peers are interested in assisting with fundraising.

Finally, Point Foundation San Francisco Board of Trustees Chair Aaron Leifer and I connected with numerous students interested in Point's mission and activities at the tabling fair. Several students were delighted to learn of a foundation dedicated to supporting LGBTQ students.  Thank you, Point for this opportunity!