Leading through COVID

Josh Geballe ’02, Connecticut’s chief operating officer, explains the state’s controversial decision to switch to age-based eligibility for COVID vaccines—and says it likely saved lives.

Nandish Poluru ’13 discusses the pharmaceutical industry’s unprecedented cooperative efforts to treat and prevent COVID-19.

Dr. Suzanne Lagarde ’14 describes how her federally qualified nonprofit health center is both adapting and expanding to meet new needs in an underserved community.

Bikram Sohal ’97, who began the year leading the Indian office of a global ad-tech company, describes the impact of COVID-19 in India, a country with deep ties to the global economy but where much of the economy is still informal.

A year into his term as governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont ’80 found himself with a new agenda: responding to the state’s outbreak of COVID-19, one of the first and most severe in the country. We talked with him about the partnerships he formed to bring down Connecticut’s infection rate and the risks that lie ahead.

Dr. Frank Ciminiello ’19 explains how his medical practice has reconfigured to safely meet patients’ needs.

David Browning ’99 explains how a nonprofit doing coffee sustainability verification became a source of crucial public health data.

Judy Samuelson ’82, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, explores whether this cataclysm will trigger lasting change.

Matt Walton ’78, an entrepreneur whose emergency management software was used to direct responses to past pandemics, examines the cost of lessons not learned.

Dayo Olopade ’15, a lead for film and television partnerships at Google, discusses the global disruption of production, distribution, and consumption of media around the world.

Richard Kidd ’93, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of the army for strategic integration, explains how the U.S. Army has responded to the COVID-19 crisis and the lessons we can learn from the experience.

Bill Hutton ’83 describes how a U.S. manufacturer is adapting to pandemic lockdowns and seesawing supply and demand across a global supply chain.

Jessica Nymeyer ’16 describes working on the palliative care team at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

Laura Arrazola ’19, a graduate of Yale SOM's Master of Advanced Management program, describes her experiences managing a virtual community that helps hard-hit immigrants navigate the pandemic.

We recently convened a group of Yale SOM alumni, leaders of organizations in a variety of industries, for a conversation about the evolving challenges they have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve been talking with Yale SOM alumni about their professional and personal experiences during COVID-19. Here are a few key ideas that have emerged from these conversations.

Dr. Charles Powell ’19 offers a firsthand account of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Demi Knight Clark, founder of She Built This City, describes how she remade a nonprofit that teaches hands-on buildings skills for a world forced to go virtual.

Deloitte’s Jeff Schwartz ’87 sees agile, empowered teams as the way to move organizations through COVID uncertainty.

John Wang SOM/YLS ’09, founder of the Queens Night Market, describes transforming the community camaraderie and diverse food that made the market a draw into a project to feed first responders.

Crises require creative solutions born of rational and imaginative tools. Amy Whitaker ’01 sees the artist’s capacity to navigate uncertainty as a valuable model.

Seán O’Dowd ’03 of Silvercrest Asset Management, who works with family firms, says that while conservatively managed businesses are well positioned to handle an ordinary crisis, even well-run small-and medium-sized firms need help from the government right now.

The childcare provider Bright Horizons, founded by Linda Mason ’80, has pivoted to open centers for the children of first responders. Mason says that however devastating the impacts of the pandemic, there are reasons for hope and pride in this crucible moment.

Seth Goldman ’95, the co-founder of Honest Tea and chair of Beyond Meat, was opening PLNT Burger, a new chain of plant-based restaurants, as the global pandemic struck.

Venture capitalist Eddie Thai ’12 says that the pandemic is doing economic damage to Vietnam’s globalization-driven tech sector, even as some companies in his portfolio see their valuations grow.

Even when the economy was roaring along, far too many Americans lacked the savings and support to respond to an unexpected loss of income. The COVID-19 crisis has thrown that fragility into stark relief.

Scott Wharton ’95, who leads Logitech’s video collaboration group, sees far-reaching and sustained changes from the remote work explosion forced on us by the pandemic.

Laszlo Bock ’99, CEO of Humu, says that right now, checking in on how your team members are doing is is the most important thing you can to keep your organization productive.