How has your Harvard Extension School (HES) experience helped you throughout your career journey? How do you expect it to impact your next steps?
Harvard Extension School gave me a rare kind of room: room to think deeply, be challenged, and learn alongside classmates from around the world. The rigor — and the community behind it — built upon my career in information technology and private equity in ways I could apply to sustainability impacts.
And now, earning this degree at 68, I feel less like I’m closing a chapter and more like I’m opening one: using what I’ve learned to focus my time and energy on work that helps shape the world my granddaughters will inherit.
Describe a moment when you realized HES had changed your career opportunities or career path.
After my first course, something shifted: I could feel my definition of “what’s next” getting larger. It felt like both a gift and a responsibility — the chance to choose a different use for my skills and my time.
I stopped long enough to listen and I wrote a 15-year plan. It puts family and community at the center and measures success by impact, not just income. I have four granddaughters; I want to help leave them a more sustainable future. Finishing this degree is the first milestone in that plan — and my commitment to be a good ancestor.
What does earning a Harvard degree mean to you?
I’ve always been a lifelong learner, and I’ve had the privilege of studying at Harvard before. After selling the last company I led, I found myself drawn back — not to a credential, but to the conversation.
Earning a Harvard degree at 68 feels like a beginning. It names a new season of life, one shaped less by ambition and more by purpose.
As a leader in my family, I hope this moment says something simple to my children and grandchildren: keep learning. It’s one of the surest paths to a full and meaningful life.
Describe your Extension experience in one word:
Compelling.
