Babson Magazine Winter 2025-2026

WINTER 2025–2026

Entrepreneurship on the Menu

How Babson Dining is cooking up a network of food entrepreneurs

PAGE 10

Aakash Shah MBA’21, co-founder of High Time Foods

Krish Khemlani ’27, founder of DesiEats

Nadia Liu Spellman ’04, founder of Dumpling Daughter

Babson College is the intellectual capital of entrepreneurial leadership with groundbreaking scholarly research, extensive courses, and market-facing programming. While Wellesley, Massachusetts, is the educational hub, the Babson community of entrepreneurial leaders spans the globe. Our alumni impact economies and societies in more than 125 countries, improving lives everywhere. As this expansive reach increases and our in uence intensi es, the Babson network grows even stronger.

Our recent recognition from LinkedIn as the No. 1 strongest alumni network in the United States illustrates our community’s common bonds. When new families join us on campus, they become immersed in our ecosystem of passionate, supportive entrepreneurial leaders who grow as individuals, lead organizations, and build strong communities. That support often starts with alumni connecting current students with internships, hiring our newest graduates, and sharing their successes with the professors who inspired them to launch their careers, grow companies, and start new businesses.

In addition to receiving our LinkedIn

recognitions—which include No. 1 rankings for most alumni who become founders, most alumni working internationally, and most alumni fueling business development careers—Babson also earned The Wall Street Journal’s distinction of No. 2 Best College in the United States for the second consecutive year.

These stellar acknowledgements provide a clear testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurship—not just as a business discipline but as a catalyst for change. Babson alumni show the world that entrepreneurial leadership is essential in every eld, every sector, and every community. Alumni are exing their networking muscle around the world.

For entrepreneurial leaders, that connection is important. The relationships we make and strengthen on our journeys to success are central to the entrepreneurial process. Connection to family, teachers, friends, mentors, and partners reminds us that our internal compass directs the entrepreneurial leader to improve the human condition.

From the network that helps entrepreneurs cook up and serve new food ventures (Page 10) to the collective research opportunities in the Honors Program (Page 18) to the celebrations of athletic successes (Page 30), Babson’s community building is on full display in this issue of Babson Magazine I hope you nd their stories as enriching as I do. And I hope you take pride in and ownership of our community’s achievements.

Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD

FEATURES

10 The Food Network of Babson Babson Dining helps serve food entrepreneurs.

18 With Honors

The Honors Program marks 30 years of impact.

24 In Her Words: Jane Edmonds On service, storytelling, and lifting up people.

18 24 10

DEPARTMENTS

2 Babson and Beyond

The latest news and updates from campus.

8 Office Hours

Craig Bida helps professionals find solutions.

9 People of Babson

Sharon Sinnott is not afraid of stage frights.

BABSON MAGAZINE STAFF / Vol. 92, No. 3

EDITOR Eric Beato

PUBLISHER Kerry Salerno, chief marketing officer

COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY Danielle Perry

CREATIVE MANAGEMENT Cheryl Robock

CREATIVE ART DIRECTION Cathy Cahill

SENIOR JOURNALISTS Hillary Chabot, John Crawford

CONTRIBUTORS Kara Baskin, Scott Dietz, James Kiley, Erin O’Donnell, Thecla Ree, Mali Reimer, Vannessa Rodriguez, Melissa Savignano, Wendy Schoenfeld, Kevin Wong

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Nic Czarnecki

MULTIMEDIA TEAM Christopher Brown, Paul DeWolf, Maggie McGinnis, Adam Pearlman

30 Athletics Babson’s first national title, 50 years later.

32 Advancement Spotlight

Jeffery Perry ’87, P’23 on alumni giving back.

34 News, Notes, and Nods

Undergraduate, Graduate, In Memoriam

40 Nic’s Parting Shot

A “B”-eautiful view of the Class of 2029.

We welcome your feedback on the magazine. Contact Eric Beato at ebeato@babson.edu On the cover: Photos by Nic Czarnecki

Find out more about what’s happening at Babson College at: entrepreneurship.babson.edu

Babson Magazine (USPS 898-140) is published by Babson College, 231 Forest Street, Babson Park, MA 02457-0310, three times a year, in the spring, summer, and winter.

Copyright 2025 by Babson College. Editorial office: Babson Park, MA 02457-0310. Send address corrections to advancement_services@babson.edu, or call +781-239-4044.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BABSON AND BE Y OND

NO. 2 AGAIN

The Wall

Street Journal Ranks

Babson the No. 2 Best College for the Second Year in a Row

For the second year in a row, Babson College is the No. 2 Best College in America, according to The Wall Street Journal

Babson has excelled in The Wall Street Journal rankings since the publication revamped its methodology to emphasize the impact of colleges on their students’ success. Two years ago, Babson vaulted to No. 10, and last year, Babson leaped again to No. 2. This year, Babson cemented its position at No. 2, just behind Stanford and ahead of Yale, Princeton, and Harvard, which round out the top five.

Among the top 10 schools, Babson ranked first for Learning Opportunities, Preparation for Career, Learning Facilities, and Recommendations. The rest of the top 10 includes Claremont McKenna College, University of California–Berkeley, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Davidson College.

“This ranking continues to demonstrate the tremendous success of our students and alumni and their impact on the world,” said Babson

President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD. “To retain our spot at number two for a second consecutive year, and third straight year in the top 10, amid this heightened focus, is a testament to the consistent impact our students and alumni make across industries around the world.”

Babson was noted specifically as being one of the best colleges for its learning environment, which was one of the factors measured in a survey of about 120,000 students and recent alumni. The survey also measured the quality of teaching and feedback, career preparation, and how likely students were to recommend their school to a friend.

“Unlike other school rankings, this list emphasizes one point: How well did the college prepare students for financial success?” the Wall Street Journal story said. “More than any other factor, it rewards the boost an institution provides to its graduates’ salaries, beyond an estimate of what they could have expected from attending any college.”

»Babson Earns Four No. 1 Rankings from LinkedIn: See Page 6

‘POWERFUL PATH’: Babson Launches New TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship at the Blank School

Long before he became an entrepreneur, Todd Ruderman MBA’99 learned the value of hard work by painting foundations and pulling weeds at age 12. Now, he is helping build something new for Babson College: the TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship.

Babson recently announced the launch of its newest institute—the eighth within the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership—which will prepare the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders to explore real estate as a powerful vehicle for innovation, wealth creation, and community impact.

“The TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship will contribute significant thought leadership to campus and bring new networking opportunities and unique programs to our community,” said Babson President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD.

The TARCO Institute is possible because of the vision and generosity of Ruderman. It is named for TARCO Properties, which he founded in 2002.

“Babson is already a leader in entrepreneurship, and with the TARCO Institute, it now has the opportunity to

lead in real estate as well,” Ruderman said. “My hope is that students will see real estate as a powerful path for innovation and impact, and that Babson will become a top destination for future leaders who want to bring the two together.”

For Ruderman, building has never just been about bricks and mortar. After founding TARCO Properties, he expanded into commercial and selfstorage ventures across the eastern United States, founding Value Store It Management in 2008.

Ruderman’s time as a graduate student at Babson gave him the confidence to take on new challenges. A course trip to Ireland introduced him to global business perspectives, and a consulting project in Australia pushed him outside his comfort zone and proved the value of his MBA education. Those experiences inspired him to support the Glavin Office of International Education’s Global Learning Fund, ensuring that every Babson student can access lifechanging international opportunities without financial barriers.

ERROL NORWITZ: Leading the Kerry Murphy Healey Center

Dr. Errol Norwitz, who has extensive experience as a medical doctor, administrator, academic, and social entrepreneur, has been named the new executive director of the Kerry Murphy Healey Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Babson College.

“Dr. Norwitz brings an extraordinary wealth of experience to the role that spans academia, executive administration, entrepreneurship, and

medicine,” said Donna Levin, the CEO of the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership, where the Kerry Murphy Healey Center operates.

“With nearly 40 years of experience in hospitals and the medical field and more than two decades at the intersection of higher education and medicine, he remains uniquely positioned to lead the Kerry Murphy Healey Center.”

The center, which opened in 2019,

aims to provide cutting-edge experiential learning, research, and advanced education and mentoring to entrepreneurial leaders in the health sector.

Norwitz has held leadership positions at Yale University School of Medicine and at Tufts Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine, where he served as chief scientific officer and department chair of obstetrics and gynecology. Most recently, Norwitz was president and CEO of Newton-Wellesley Hospital from 2020 to 2023.

The new TARCO Institute for Real Estate and Entrepreneurship—the eighth center and institute at the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership—is being launched because of the generosity of Todd Ruderman MBA’99.

ON THE RISE: Babson Dominates BostInno’s 25 Under 25 List

A blockbuster roster of 12 Babson College entrepreneurs dominated BostInno’s 25 Under 25 list this year, highlighting innovative ventures such as a globally celebrated fashion line, customizable dolls designed to reflect real children, and a company showcasing early-stage founders across Greater Boston.

“Seeing so many Babson students and alumni featured on BostInno’s 25 Under 25 is incredible, but not surprising,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Ariel Armony. “Since I arrived on campus a year ago, I’ve been continuously inspired by how driven, caring, and collaborative Babson’s young

leaders are. Our expert faculty and our committed support staff provide students with the framework for academic success and the sandbox to iterate and ideate continuously. Those efforts, combined with our students’ passions for driving change and making the world a better place through their creative ventures and startups, sets Babson apart.”

BostInno named Sanjana Agarwal ’25, founder of ReflectMe; Hurshneet Chadha ’27, founder of CreatorZen; Melissa Chowdhury ’28, creator of Fluent Futures; Alexina McQuilkin ’27 and George Cobi ’27, co-founders of Local Treasure; Jules Deplanck ’25, founder of Genesis Fund; Justin Jin ’27, founder

of Klonos; Enyu Rao ’22 and Sean Robins ’23, co-founders of Launch Yard; Rhesa Teesdale ’23, MSEL’24, founder of Prophet | Envoy; Zainabou Thiam ’28, founder of Sunu Body; and Jolie Wyatt ’26, founder of If The Shoe Fits.

BostInno’s annual 25 Under 25 list honors startup founders and young leaders making an impact in Greater Boston. Babson’s dozen honorees in 2025 is an extraordinary accomplishment—far surpassing the number of founders representing any one college or university in recent years. For comparison, the top school in 2024, Harvard University, had five honorees, and Northeastern University led in 2023 with seven.

Babson trustees, leaders, and dignitaries celebrated the beginning of construction of the new Executive Lodge and Conference Center (ELCC) with a groundbreaking ceremony in October. Scheduled to open in mid-2027, the new ELCC will be a flagship, boutique-style executive lodging facility on the site of the current Babson Executive Conference Center garage to serve Professional and Executive Education programs. Pictured from left to right: Ariel Armony, provost and executive vice president; Katherine P. Craven P’22, executive vice president, administration and finance; Trustee Eric G. Johnson ’72, H’24, P’08; Trustee Warren Cross Jr. P’21, who led the Board of Trustees’ Master Plan and Facilities Committee; Board of Trustees Chair Jeffery Perry ’87, P’23; Babson President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD; Trustee Deborah L. De Santis ’85, P’26; Kelly Lynch, executive vice president; and Edward Chiu, the Governor Craig R. Benson Endowed Executive Vice President for Advancement.

STRONGEST ALUMNI NETWORK: LinkedIn Honors Babson with Top Marks

Babson College once again has been recognized as one of the very best colleges in the United States with a bevy of impressive rankings, including a quartet of No. 1 marks, by LinkedIn.

Babson was ranked No. 1 for the strongest alumni network in the country, No. 1 for the largest share of alumni who become founders or entrepreneurs, No. 1 for fueling business development careers, No. 1 for alumni working internationally, and No. 7 overall in the United States on the LinkedIn Top Colleges 2025 list, which ranks schools based on the long-term career success of their alumni. Babson also was ranked No. 7 for the most new graduates in sales.

Q&A with Jeffery Perry: Page 32

In its inaugural ranking of the best 50 colleges in the country, LinkedIn identified the schools that best prepare graduates for long-term success. The rankings are based on exclusive LinkedIn data analyzing the career outcomes of alumni by a number of factors, including job landing rates and advancement into senior-level positions, as well as alumni who

held an internship as students or started their own company following graduation.

The latest milestones also cap a string of high-profi le recognitions for Babson over the past 12 months, including being named the No. 2 Best College in the United States by The Wall Street Journal.

The LinkedIn rankings also continue Babson’s ascendancy to the company of the best colleges in the United States, alongside the best Ivy League and most prestigious schools. In LinkedIn’s overall rankings, Babson placed in the top seven with Princeton, Duke, Penn, MIT, Cornell, and Harvard.

In addition to being ranked the No. 7 best college in the United States, Babson was ranked as having the No. 1 strongest alumni network, based on LinkedIn data measuring how connected the alumni of the same school are to one another, as well as how connected they are to current students.

Babson topped the alumni network rankings, with Washington and Lee, Dartmouth, Claremont McKenna, and Davidson rounding out the top five.

2025 VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Babson College recently honored the alumni and friends who have risen to serve the community at the 2025 Volunteer Leadership Awards celebration. Babson offers heartfelt congratulations to the winners.

Cruickshank Alumni Leadership Award

» James F. Spencer ’73

Richard J. Snyder Distinguished Service to the College Award

» Ira Disman ’86

» Gregory C. Tufankjian ’88, P’21 ’23

Distinguished Recent Alumni Award

» Dara Behjat ’15

» Alexandra Freeman Leydon ’15

Joseph R. Weintraub Alumni Award for Distinguished Faculty/Administrator Service

» Sharon Sinnott (see Page 9)

John H. Muller Jr. Parent Leadership Award

» Bettina Beckhoff de Longinotti-Buitoni P’11 ’14 ’19

Adelaide Van Winkle Friend of the College Award

» Julie Meyer

29 TIMES: Babson Tops Entrepreneurship Ranking Again

The signs of a new academic year at Babson College repeat every August and September: First-year students move in on campus. Undergraduate students of all kinds return to campus. And, Babson celebrates being named the best college for entrepreneurship.

For the 29th consecutive time, U.S. News & World Report has named Babson College the No. 1 undergraduate school for entrepreneurship.

The familiarity of the honor doesn’t dampen the meaning or appreciation for the Babson community.

Instead, it’s an annual renewal of the College’s leadership and authority in pioneering the study and teaching of entrepreneurship as an academic pursuit and critical skill in developing generations of entrepreneurial leaders.

The latest No. 1 ranking from U.S. News & World Report builds on the recent recognitions bestowed on Babson. In September, The Wall Street Journal ranked Babson the No. 2 Best College in the United States for the second year in a row. And, in its inaugural rankings of the best colleges in the nation based on

the long-term career success of its alumni, LinkedIn ranked Babson No. 1 in four categories—including the strongest alumni network in the country—and No. 7 overall.

“Our continued role as the flagship for entrepreneurship remains critically important to our mission, strategy, and success,” Babson President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD said. “As the early pioneers in entrepreneurship education, we helped the world realize that not only can entrepreneurship be taught, but it must be taught.”

LEADING THE WAY: Wellness Chief Elevates Well-Being in Higher Education

Amid an ongoing mental health crisis and dipping enrollment, Babson’s Ryan Travia believes colleges and universities are facing “a crossroads moment,” which became the inspiration for his new book, Well-Being Leadership in Higher Education

“The toll that the pandemic took on the emotional well-being of so many individuals—most especially our youth—has only served to exacerbate the feelings of anxiety, isolationism, and the overall lack of connection and belonging with which many of our young people grapple,” said Travia, the associate vice president for student success at Babson, who co-wrote the book with Thaddeus Mantaro, the dean of student health and wellness at Dallas College.

“The good news is that college health was thrust into the spotlight in ways that it had never previously experienced. As a result, we have been able to marshal new and additional resources to support the mental health and overall well-being of our students, staff, and faculty,” Travia said.

The book, which is due out in January and includes contributions from student affairs leaders, clinicians, wellness officers, and faculty nationwide, blends

research, theory, and practice into a blueprint for campus leadership to embed well-being throughout campus.

Travia believes it is the first of its kind to focus squarely on the intersection of leadership and well-being—an area underserved in academic literature.

“There are scores of books and academic articles written about leadership,” Travia explained. “And certainly, there’s a lot that’s been said about well-being. But very little exists at the intersection of those two areas. It seemed like there was a gap in the research that we might be able to start to fill and address.”

NEW PODCAST: From Problems to Possibilities

Entrepreneurial leaders know no limits. They’re not constrained by the organizations they serve, the titles they hold, or the problems they encounter as they work to find solutions and create new possibilities. Now, Babson has launched its first podcast focused on entrepreneurial leadership—“From Problems to Possibilities: Entrepreneurial Leadership in Action.” Available on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon, each episode explores how entrepreneurial leaders are solving the world’s biggest challenges—from women’s health care to sustainability in business to mental health—with the unique leadership skills needed today.

Four New Trustees Named

The Babson College Board of Trustees formally welcomed four new accomplished members to its ranks: Rebecca Shaghalian Larkin ’91, Shikhar Malhotra ’04, Sheikha Al-Otaibi ’25, and Patty Pytlik ’11, MBA’25

All four were installed at the board’s annual October meeting. Al-Otaibi and Pytlik are the new recent graduate trustees, succeeding Martha Buckley MBA’23 and Corey O’Neill ’22, who successfully served their two-year tenures. The other trustees who have completed their tenures are Ettore V. Biagioni ’80, Michael S. Lorber ’01, and Amanda G. Strong ’87

Blank School Wins Fire Award

The Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership was honored by the Boston Business Journal in its annual Fire Awards, citing the school’s success fueling new businesses and launching the C. Dean Metropoulos Institute for Technology and Entrepreneurship.

Northern Ireland Honors Spinelli

Babson President Stephen Spinelli Jr. MBA’92, PhD has been named the recipient of the inaugural Ireland-USA Bridge-Builder Award for his longtime support of entrepreneurship education and economic development in Northern Ireland. Spinelli has been engaged with Northern Ireland long before his tenure as Babson’s president. In 1993, he visited the campus of Ulster University while working on his doctorate and would later become a visiting professor at the university. In 2016, he returned to Ulster’s campus to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.

Kelly Lynch Earns AAUA Award

Executive Vice President Kelly Lynch has been named the recipient of the prestigious McInness/Ryan Award for Mid-Career Higher Education Leadership by the American Association of University Administrators. The national honor recognizes Lynch’s contributions to higher education leadership, strategic innovation, and principled management.

Ryan Travia, associate vice president for student success, addresses leadership and well-being on college campuses.

Expanding Entrepreneurial Skills to More Learners

Craig Bida

helps

professionals find solutions as a course leader for

Babson On-Demand™

Craig Bida relishes the role of teacher and mentor, guiding people as they hone their entrepreneurial skills and develop solutions. As a part-time lecturer in the Entrepreneurship Division with his own diverse career, Bida says Babson is an ideal spot for him.

“Being at Babson has been a culmination of multiple threads and interests,” he says. “Disrupting the status quo to get to better solutions motivates me deeply.”

Bida is a course leader for Babson On-Demand™, a new offering that allows professionals and executives to learn at their own pace. Central to this is The Early Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, a course that helps prepare entrepreneurs to launch their own ventures.

“A very small number of people actually get to be here on campus, yet the desire for learning about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking and action is vast,” Bida says. He likes that Babson On-Demand brings these skills and tools to new audiences.

Growing up, Bida “always had an inkling” that teaching would be in his life. His parents were both educators, and his father, also a designer and sculptor, encouraged Bida and his siblings “to read the landscape and be curious. He would ask us, ‘What are you noticing? What are you learning?’ ” he recalls.

Bida’s career began in government in New York City, where he saw the effectiveness of public–private partnerships in creating breakthrough solutions. He earned an MBA from Yale and spent more than a decade at Procter & Gamble in brand management roles across a portfolio of billion-dollar brands. A stint within

FutureWorks, the company’s corporate innovation group, introduced Bida to leveraging human-centered design to develop new products and services and improve innovation success rates.

“Design thinking has always felt so natural, going back to those questions my dad would ask,” Bida says. “Continuous learning is a key aspect of the entrepreneur’s journey. I draw on this constantly at Babson.”

Bida moved on to the agency world, where he worked with leading organizations including FedEx, Disney, the Sierra Club, and American Heart Association. Today, through his purposedriven consultancy, Think Design Disrupt, he works with “organizations across sectors to de ne strategies, tell stories, and activate stakeholders to achieve impact.”

Bida regularly seeks out opportunities

to expand Babson’s reach—including helping develop the multi-sector Future Lab on Mobility, and teaching in B-AGILE programs, the Venturing Out Prison Education Initiative, and Design Justice Studio, an experiential course in community-based, participatory design and action.

“My orientation is deeply practical,” Bida says. He uses real-world examples and encourages students to draw on their personal experience. Seeing students build their entrepreneurial skills and witnessing their energy and ideas makes him hopeful.

“Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® is a powerful force,” he says. “It is satisfying to nd new ways to nourish this mindset and toolkit that people can pick up, carry with them, and use to shape their path forward.”

— Erin O’Donnell

“Disrupting the status quo to get to better solutions motivates me deeply,” says Craig Bida, a part-time lecturer and a course leader for Babson On-Demand™—a new, asynchronous offering for professionals and executives.

Small Talk with SHARON SINNOTT

Public speaking can be a frightening experience. But, as the director of Babson’s Speech Center, Sharon Sinnott knows how to dispel students’ fears in front of an audience. She saves her frights for Halloween. Now in her 41st year at Babson, Sinnott has scared up a lengthy career as an entrepreneur, administrator, speech consultant, and teacher. For 25 years, she ran Sinnott School, a nonprofit that provided free education for professionals and others in need, as well as serving as a private-school principal. Now, in addition to directing the Speech Center, she is teaching Business Presentations and Babson’s signature course, Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship. And, for 36 years, she has hosted Sinnott Hauntings at her home. Last year, more than 700 people visited her haunted trail, where she has 15 to 25 scare actors.

What does the Speech Center do?

“The Speech Center serves undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff, and alumni. There are nine of us, and we help with anything and everything to do with communication, participating in the class, behavioral interviews, research presentations with the faculty, and everything to do with Rocket Pitch, B.E.T.A. Challenge, everything that the Blank Center owns. Babson students have a lot of natural talent, but we take them from wherever they’re at to another level. It’s all transformative. I’m very spoiled, because I get to see such a unique perspective of the Babson experience.”

Why is emphasizing speech and communication so important?

“It’s a life skill, and we’re so appreciative that Babson recognizes that. They invest in that. Very few colleges have a Speech Center, first off. I’ve yet to find another one that’s staffed by communication professors, not students. The Speech Center team is phenomenal. We probably have collectively over 100 years of experience in communication working together. So you’re getting real professionals with real-world experience with real care teaching. We’re in there teaching not telling people what to do, but asking questions. We so value Babson’s commitment to the Speech Center, and it does come out as one of their top skills.”

What is Sinnott Hauntings?

“Sinnott Hauntings is a free event in Hyde Park for the community to come through and have a few scares and a few laughs. I laugh the whole time. From the top of the 10-foot-wall opening, it looks like a carnival with all the flashing lights and tents. It’s a trail walk. When approaching the entrance, each group stops, and my husband will tell scary stories about walking through the trail. Upon entering, you walk down the driveway and down a path I’ve created through different tents with themes. The ending is a tent of clowns. It’s horrifying. There’s absolutely no blood or gore in this. We have ghouls, clowns, but no blood. I don’t like to be scared, but I like to scare people.”

— Eric Beato

network of Babson food

By John Crawford

Food is the focus of many student and alumni entrepreneurs from Babson. Together, they form a loose community of startups and more established ventures seeking to fill bellies and grow their businesses. That food community is fostered with guidance and a helping hand by Babson College Dining.

The food began to run out, and the timing couldn’t have been worse.

Krish Khemlani ’27 had spent months working on his venture, an Indian eatery called DesiEats, a startup that can trace its roots back to his high school years, when he would work on recipes side by side with his mother in the family kitchen.

Khemlani was so focused on starting a venture that he transferred from New York University, after only one semester, to the entrepreneurial campus of Babson College. He says it’s hard to quantify how much time he has spent on DesiEats, which he envisions as a Chipotle of Indian cuisine, offering healthy food made with fresh, quality ingredients.

“I am always thinking about it. I am always working on it,” he says. “It’s a very big part of my life.”

All of that work, all of that planning and dreaming, all of that single-mindedness, had led up to a pivotal moment last spring: a pop-up at Roger’s Pub. The pop-up was an audition of sorts. If it went well, if customers actually showed up and liked the food, then Babson College Dining, which operates

Krish Khemlani ’27 is the founder of the Indian eatery DesiEats, which has set up shop on campus in Roger’s Pub.

PHOTO: NIC CZARNECKI

WINTER 2025–2026 / BABSON MAGAZINE 11

all of the institution’s eateries, was expected to make DesiEats a permanent fixture on campus the next school year. “That’s why it was crucial—to see if people were willing to spend money on the food I made,” he says.

Customers did indeed show up for the pop-up, so much so that the food began to run out. “People were complaining there was no sauce,” Khemlani says. “People were complaining about how little food they were getting for what they paid for.”

Khemlani kept his cool. He and Babson Dining staff rushed to the kitchen and whipped up more food. “We had to deal with those issues on the fly without getting stressed or scared,” he says.

In the end, more food was made, customer feedback was excellent, and DesiEats was given the green light to set up shop on campus this fall, serving patrons every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at Roger’s. To be given such an opportunity is a remarkable achievement for a college junior, and Khemlani is grateful for all the feedback, fine-tuning, and collaboration he received from Babson Dining.

“Babson is so open to helping by whatever means necessary,” Khemlani says. “Without their support, this wouldn’t have been possible. It’s the reason I transferred here.”

Khemlani is just one of many Babson student and alumni entrepreneurs whose focus is food.

Together, they form a loose community of startups and more established ventures seeking to fill bellies and grow their businesses. That community is fostered with guidance and a helping hand by Babson College Dining.

On the Menu: Classic Indian Dishes

John Pagano is plugged into the Babson food community. As the resident district manager of Babson Dining, he networks with alumni companies, purchasing their food for campus eateries and events (see sidebar on alumni food businesses). He also connects with students. Through emails and casual conversations, they are constantly reaching out, seeking input on their multitude of entrepreneurial ideas.

Student proposals run the gamut: restaurants, food trucks, consumer packaged goods, beverages, bakeries,

Orders wait for pickup at DesiEats (above). Krish Khemlani ’27 envisions his eatery as a Chipotle of Indian cuisine, offering healthy food (opposite page) made with fresh, quality ingredients.

agriculture. “The creativity here at Babson never stops surprising me,” Pagano says. Not all of those ideas progress far, but for those that do, Pagano and his staff are ready to help with a slew of needs, including branding, packaging, procurement, product positioning, and food safety. “Whether the venture is large or small,” he says, “the goal is always the same: to provide real-world experience and meaningful support.”

By working with entrepreneurs, Babson Dining also benefits, its staff learning about the types of dishes students and patrons are clamoring for. “We have a better pulse on what is going on,” Pagano says.

While dining operations at other colleges may collaborate with their students and alumni, Pagano believes they don’t bring the same commitment that Babson does. “These partnerships are not performative gestures that check a box,” he says. “They are strategic and built on mutual value, long-term potential, and real revenue.”

An example of that is Khemlani’s DesiEats. Raised in Puerto Rico, a child of parents who emigrated from India, Khemlani has been working on the recipes for DesiEats since high school.

Overweight as a child, Khemlani was obsessed with creating healthier versions of classic Indian dishes such as butter chicken and palak paneer. Early in the morning, before he went to school and his mother, Bhawna, went to work, they listened to music and drank coffee while they tinkered in the kitchen.

Khemlani did taste tests for family and friends, asking if they could tell the difference between the regular and healthy versions of a dish. His sister, Isha, always could. “My sister was the hardest critic ever,” he says.

Khemlani brought those recipes with him to college, and before that critical

pop-up in Roger’s, Babson Dining allowed Khemlani to serve his food three times in Trim Dining Hall. Babson Dining provided all the ingredients, and Khemlani taught dining staff how to cook his dishes.

After each of those three sessions, he solicited feedback from students.

“You get as much feedback as possible to make it better,” he says. “Babson preaches this.”

One of his biggest challenges was figuring out how to scale his recipes. At home, Khemlani might cook for 20 people at most. Now, he needed to feed 400 or 500 at a time. During those Trim sessions, he honed his recipe for such a large crowd. For extra practice, he cooked at a community kitchen at a local church, donating all the meals he prepared to those in need.

Now that DesiEats has earned a permanent spot at Roger’s Pub, Khemlani is looking to open DesiEats at more colleges in 2026. His goal is 10. “There is still a lot more work to do,” he says.

On the Menu: Plenty of Protein

Another company working with Babson Dining is High Time Foods, a provider of a plant-based, protein-rich, and shelf-stable mix that can be used in a variety of dishes.

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, High Time Foods is very much a Babson company. Co-founder and CEO Aakash Shah MBA’21 won the College’s

Babson is so open to helping by whatever means necessary. Without their support, this wouldn’t have been possible. It’s the reason I transferred here.”

PHOTO: NIC CZARNECKI

— Krish Khemlani ’27, founder of DesiEats

THE CULINARY CONNECTIONS AMONG BABSON’S ALUMNI

Nadia Liu Spellman ’04 admits that she was feeling nostalgic as she walked into Trim Dining Hall.

The occasion was the annual Dinner in Green, an event where alumni food entrepreneurs come back to campus to share their dishes. Spellman is one of the many Babson alumni who form a loose food community that’s still involved with the College. “It was a beautiful night. Every station was a different alumni product,” says Spellman, the founder and CEO of Dumpling Daughter, a seller of homestyle Chinese cuisine.

Being in Trim made Spellman reflect on when she was a student, sitting in that very same dining hall, so curious and hungry to learn, wondering where life would take her. Now, she had returned as an entrepreneur. “It was really full circle for me to serve my product where I once was sitting in that cafeteria and thinking, ‘What will I do with my life?’ ” she says. “It truly filled my heart. I am a sentimental person. It truly put a real smile on my face.”

Spellman has lived a busy entrepreneurial life. She opened her first Dumpling Daughter restaurant in Weston, Massachusetts, in 2014. Three other restaurants followed, though Spellman eventually made the difficult decision to close those three restaurants as her food service business and retail offerings (frozen food, sauces, and merchandise) have taken off. “As I grow in my career, you can only do so much in a day,” she says.

Not that she has left behind restaurants entirely. Spellman’s original Weston location remains open, as does a breakfast and lunch café, Heirloom, that she and her husband, Kyle, opened next door. She also has written a cookbook, Dumpling Daughter Heirloom

Recipes, featuring the recipes of her mother, restaurateur Sally Ling. “I think recipes are really heirlooms that you can feel and taste and be comforted by,” Spellman says.

Her days may be full, but Spellman hasn’t forgotten about Babson. She likes to speak to College classes, and her food is often served at campus events. She hopes to inspire student entrepreneurs. “I am proud to say I went to Babson,” she says. “Any excuse to come on campus, I’ll do it.”

She’s not the only one. Beyond Spellman, other Babson food entrepreneurs remain connected to the College in assorted ways, by catering events, supplying the dining hall with products, participating in Dinner in Green, and pursuing partnerships with Babson College Dining.

BUTCHER BOX / A meat and seafood subscription service, founded by Mike Salguero MBA’10

HILLSIDE HARVEST / A seller of hot sauces and marinades, founded by Kamaal Jarrett MBA’12

NEW CITY MICROCREAMERY / A chain of ice cream shops, co-founded by Karim El-Gamal MBA’11 and Michael Kasseris MBA’11

PRESERVE / A creator of household products from recycled plastic (which also supplies to-go reusable containers used in Trim), founded by Eric Hudson MBA’92

RUB SMOKE LOVE / A seller of rubs, snacks, and seasonings, founded by Matt Chatham MBA’11

WASTEWEAR / A textile company that uses recycled materials (and provides tote bags for attendees at Dinner in Green), co-founded by Uddhav Bagrodia ’21

Here are some of the other alumni businesses that make up the Babson food community:

Nadia Liu Spellman ’04, founder of Dumpling Daughter, at her restaurant in Weston, Massachusetts.

prestigious B.E.T.A. (Babson Entrepreneurial Thought & Action®) Challenge in 2021, and he met his fellow co-founder, Damian Felchlin MBA’21, as a student.

Through the years, the company has received critical support from Babson Dining, and even now, even though he graduated several years ago, Shah will pop by Trim and leave food in his usual spot for dining staff to sample. “I go to the freezer and drop it off,” he says. “I know where I can keep my samples.”

Before starting High Time, Shah worked in various positions in the food industry. He ran multiple ghost kitchens, and he was an early employee of a thriving food tech company. He grew up in Chennai, India, and like so many, he relished his mother’s cooking, especially her dosa. “I could eat that every day until the last day of my life,” he says.

Shah has thought much about the problems in the food industry, especially in regard to meat production, which causes significant carbon emissions and yields a product that’s too expensive for many people around the world. “I don’t think protein is only meant for the privileged,” he says. “I want to create protein accessibility.”

That’s why High Time’s mix being shelf stable is so essential. Refrigeration isn’t common in much of the world. “That works in North America,” Shah says, “but if you are in India, or Africa, or South America, infrastructure is not built to sustain frozen products.”

Babson Dining has helped High Time make some key connections. When the College hosted a regional meeting of a large dining services provider for educational

I am always able to go back to (Babson Dining). They are outstanding people to work with. The Babson ecosystem is awesome.”

— Aakash Shah MBA’21, co-founder of High Time Foods

Aakash Shah MBA’21 believes that protein shouldn’t only be for the privileged. He co-founded High Time Foods, which produces a plant-based, protein-rich, and shelf-stable mix that can be used in a variety of dishes.

PHOTO: NIC CZARNECKI

Whether the venture is large or small, the goal is always the same: to provide realworld experience and meaningful support.”

— John Pagano, resident district manager of Babson Dining

Aakash Shah MBA’21 (above, on the right) met his High Time Foods co-founder, Damian Felchlin MBA’21 (left), as a student at Babson. The pair has launched a subsidiary, Street Food Lab, which sells appetizers made with High Time’s protein-rich mix. Those appetizers highlight global cuisine, including Sichuan chili crisp spring rolls, Indian samosas, and Argentine empanadas (photos on left and opposite page).

share his food and his venture’s story with attendees. As High Time staffed a booth at a national conference for collegiate food operators, Pagano stood nearby, vouching for the company.

Babson Dining also nudged High Time to expand its offerings. In a meeting with the College’s chefs, Shah demonstrated how High Time’s mix could be used to make dumplings. The chefs countered that making the dumplings at the scale they needed would be unrealistic for them to do, but if High Time made the dumplings, Babson would buy them.

As a result, High Time started a subsidiary, Street Food Lab, which sells appetizers made with its protein-rich mix. “Babson pushed me to think about this direction,” Shah says.

Street Food Lab highlights global cuisine with its appetizers: Thai spring rolls, Nepali momo dumplings, Argentine empanadas, Italian ravioli, Indian keema samosas, and Jamaican patties.

In its marketing, Street Food Lab

not where that protein originates. It doesn’t want to scare away customers who don’t see themselves as vegetarians.

“We’re not talking about whether it is made or not made with animals. People don’t want to hear about changing their food habits,” he says. “The core message is about people wanting to try these amazing food items from around the world.”

Shah has big ambitions for High Time, which earlier this year completed a $1.2 million seed round of funding. “When someone thinks of a protein company, they should think of us,” he says. “We want to be the largest protein company in the world.”

Just like Khemlani, Shah is grateful for all the help that Babson Dining has given him. It remains a sounding board, a place he can go for honest feedback.

“I am always able to go back to them. They are outstanding people to work with,” he says. “The Babson ecosystem is awesome.” 

ON TAP: Food and Beverage Business Lab

A new resource for culinary entrepreneurs and the Babson community is coming next spring with the launch of the new Food and Beverage Business (FABB) Lab at the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

The FABB Lab will support, connect, and amplify much of the work on campus, in addition to offering new opportunities, to catalyze entrepreneurial leaders in creating food solutions. The lab will collaborate with student clubs and Babson College Dining to support Dinner in Green with programming to highlight alumni-led and local sustainable food and beverage businesses.

The FABB Lab also will provide funding for several Babson initiatives, including research and faculty grants related to food and beverage, career development in the industry, a special award at the B.E.T.A. Challenge, sustainability interns, and scholarships for a short course (A Gratitude Journey for Bananas) focused on marketing innovation and responsible supply chains in Costa Rica in March.

Learn more about the FABB Lab:

With Honors

By Kara Baskin

As the Babson Honors Program celebrates its 30th anniversary, alumni reflect on the importance of their unique research projects and the impact on their personal growth and professional fulfillment.

hat do personal memoirs or spy novels have to do with a business education?

On the surface, not much. But through the Babson Honors Program, highachieving students pursue passion projects such as these through independent research, with outcomes that shape them into entrepreneurial leaders on campus and beyond.

“The Honors Program has a huge impact on students, because it gives them an opportunity to do something outside the standard Babson curriculum that they’re really passionate about,” says Sabrina Stehly, the associate director of the Honors Program. “Babson is unique in that way: We really value the possibilities of undergraduate research.”

The program marks its 30th anniversary this year. It originated as a means for faculty to advise student research. Associate Professor of Accounting Robert Turner P’07, who retired in 2023, formalized the program, which has graduated 562 students to date.

Now, roughly 100 undergraduate students apply and 45 are admitted each year, when they form a tight cohort that bonds through retreats and seminars. As seniors, students also embark on research projects. They earn a total of 10 academic credits for seminars and research combined while collaborating one on one with a faculty advisor. Their diploma holds an honors distinction, and they walk rst at graduation. Stehly and her team look for academic excellence—a 3.4 GPA is

Kaif Bailey ’26 speaks during the 30th anniversary celebration of the Honors Program at Back to Babson.

PHOTO: MICHAEL QUIET WINTER 2025–2026 / BABSON MAGAZINE 19

required—but also seek students who have a burning drive to dig into a specialized topic.

“Our students are high-achieving and want to take on an autonomous project that they can control themselves,” Stehly explains. “We want students to nd a niche, a creative outlet, that they’re not going to get in a typical business class. This really gives them the opportunity to shine academically.”

“Thirty years in, the Honors Program remains one of Babson’s most transformative experiences,” says Krista Hill Cummings, the director of the Honors Program and an associate professor of marketing. “It’s where students discover that research isn’t just about answers—it’s about exploration, courage, and nding one’s voice as a thinker and a leader. That’s the legacy we’re proud to carry forward.”

A Personal Journey

For instance, the Honors Program gave Sukanya Mukherjee ’19 an opportunity to share an intimate story through memoir. The project, “The Bridge Between Us,” recounts Mukherjee’s complex relationship with her older sister, who is deaf and developmentally delayed. She was advised by Associate Teaching Professor Stephen Bauer.

“The level of care and thoughtfulness he had toward teaching me and respecting my story was unmatched. I’d never received that level of investment and support from a professor before,” she says, adding that it was essential because the story was so sensitive.

And, in fact, writing about her sister’s struggles with the medical establishment did shape her business path. Now, Mukherjee is pursuing an MBA and public health degree at the University of California at Berkeley to prepare for a career promoting medication and vaccine access.

“The

Honors Program has a huge impact on students, because it gives them an opportunity to do something outside the standard Babson curriculum that they’re really passionate about.”

— Sabrina Stehly, associate director of

the Honors Program

“My interest in public health comes from my relationship with my sister, learning to be an advocate in her healthcare interactions,” she says. “The program, and writing the memoir itself, helped me process that my sister taught me empathy, to connect with other people, and care for others.”

Sukanya Mukherjee ’19 now is pursuing an MBA and public health degree to prepare for a career promoting medication and vaccine access, based on her research project in the Honors Program.

“Babson was the base that got me into research today.”

— Devakshi Chandra ’11

A Love for Research

In other cases, the program allows students to explore entrenched social dynamics that hold personal signi cance. Devakshi Chandra ’11 came to Babson from New Delhi. Although she already helped to run her family’s polymer compounding and manufacturing business, she was intimidated by the prospect of high-level research. The Honors Program was appealing but daunting.

“In India, we don’t really have that much research in high school. It’s a more structured program,” she re ects.

A weekend brainstorming retreat boosted her con dence and strengthened her resolve: She chose to research the 2008 nancial crisis to see what variables in nancial institutions needed to be checked and kept under control for success, and to examine the early indicators of nancial downturn.

“My inclination was to ask: Could it have been prevented?” she remembers. Her thesis was titled “Bankruptcies, Bailouts, and Buyouts.” Working closely with Virginia Soybel, associate professor of practice in accounting, and George Recck ’82, MBA’84, associate professor of practice, Chandra created a regression model that predicted nancial institutions’ risk for bankruptcy—while she blossomed academically.

“I’d be writing my honors thesis on Friday and Saturday nights, just because I loved it so much,” she recalls, laughing. “It taught me to think on my feet, to think critically, and to be very data-centric. Who would have thought that I could have created a logistic regression model for nancial institutions at 18?”

The experience inspired her to obtain a business doctorate at the University of Cambridge, examining how privilege, social class, and workplace ecosystems affect women’s business opportunities. Chandra hopes her work will inform policy changes and reduce gender disparities, motivated in part by wanting a better environment for her daughter. Before enrolling, she consulted her Babson mentor, Soybel, who retired in 2024.

“I graduated 14 years ago; I’ve been through marriage, a daughter, and an MBA; and she is such an inspiration, still. She was so happy to jump on a call. She was so happy for me,” Chandra says. “Babson was the base that got me into research today.”

Inspired by her Babson Honors Program experience, Devakshi Chandra ’11 currently is working on her business doctorate at the University of Cambridge.

A Global Perspective

A full academic scholarship with the Global Scholars Program enabled Kaif Bailey ’26 to attend Babson from Jamaica. As a rst-year student, he contemplated his international student experience by exploring race, gender, and inequality in the required Foundations of Critical Inquiry class. He resolved to build on that interest with the Honors Program.

Although he is immersed in a business analytics degree, he also is researching the academic motivation and outcomes of second-generation Afro-Caribbean immigrants, driven by his own experiences as an international student navigating sociocultural differences in the United States.

“Students with my background are underrepresented in research and also in general on college campuses,” Bailey says. “Caribbean students face a dilemma where they have to choose between their ethnic identity—Jamaican, Haitian, Trinidadian—and a racial identity. It’s more common to identify just as Black. You’re absorbed into a system that looks at race as one homogenous thing. I’m researching how that can spill into academic motivation.”

Bailey spoke about the rare opportunity to fuse personal experience with academic pursuit at the Honors Program’s 30th anniversary celebration at Back to Babson in October.

“These are themes and issues that are speaking directly to things that I have gone through. That’s part of my motivation,” he explains.

“Thirty years in, the Honors Program remains one of Babson’s most transformative experiences.”

— Krista Hill Cummings, director of the Honors Program and associate professor of marketing

A Global Scholar from Jamaica, Kaif Bailey ’26 is researching the academic motivation and outcomes of second-generation Afro-Caribbean immigrants, driven by his own experiences.

PHOTO: MICHAEL QUIET

A Well-Rounded Education

Today, Benjamin Luippold ’01 is an accounting professor at Babson. But 25 years ago, he was a Babson student who happened to love movies. He wanted to take a lm class, but it con icted with a required accounting course.

Fortunately, he was also part of the Honors Program, which previously had a study abroad component in London. While there, lacking a TV in his barebones residence hall room, he devoured John Grisham novels. His honors thesis examined the narrative theory of legal thrillers, about as far from accounting as a student can get. But Luippold says the experience made him a sharper, more multifaceted professor. He graduated from the Honors Program to become a Babson faculty member and has served on the Honors Council, which guides the program.

“A good part of a faculty member’s job is research. The Honors Program gave me the con dence to ask unique, interesting questions,” he says. “I’m not doing a lot of John Grisham research right now, but the idea behind it—the fact that I could enter a new arena of knowledge—gave me the con dence that, when it was time to really rip the Band-Aid off and pursue a PhD, I could do it.”

Mukherjee, the memoirist now pursuing an advanced degree in public health, agrees. The program gave her a chance to step beyond her comfort zone, with lasting results.

“The Honors Program is a really big testament to Babson’s focus on both liberal arts and business education,” she says. “It helps people gain a deeper perspective on who they are, beyond business. It gives people a chance to show their humanity in a culture that’s really workplace dominant.” 

“A good part of a faculty member’s job is research. The Honors Program gave me the confidence to ask unique, interesting questions.”

— Benjamin Luippold ’01, accounting professor at Babson and graduate of the Honors Program

A graduate of the Honors Program, Benjamin Luippold ’01 now is an accounting professor at Babson.

PHOTO: MICHAEL QUIET

For the past 13 years,

Jane Edmonds P’19 has served as vice president for programming and community outreach at Babson College.

In Her Words

JANE EDMONDS

On Service, Storytelling, and Babson

A civil rights icon in Boston, Jane Edmonds has spent her career— including more than a decade at Babson—working tirelessly to lift up everybody, especially those who need an advocate and a voice.

Q&A with Eric Beato / Photos by Nic Czarnecki

ane Edmonds P’19 always sees possibilities where others see limits. She learned that growing up from the examples set by her father, Thomas A. Center. He would start with the resources at hand, the first step in what Babson College teaches, Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™).

“That’s the way my dad lived,” Edmonds says. “He went to the dump to get wood to try to build tables for us at home. He was practicing ET&A long before it had a name.”

That wasn’t the only lesson she learned from her dad, who taught her the importance of helping others who needed a hand or just needed to be heard. “When I think about lifting people up,” she says, “it goes to the core of who I am and how I was raised by my father.”

A civil rights icon in Boston, Edmonds has spent her life and career working tirelessly to lift up everybody, especially those who need an advocate and a voice.

Now the CEO of Jane & Company LLC, her leadership development and executive coaching business, Edmonds has served in Massachusetts state government in both Democratic and Republican administrations, as well as in key academic and community service roles. And, for the past 13 years, Edmonds also has served as vice president for programming and community outreach at Babson College, where she continues to implement ET&A in her work and endeavors.

Recently, Edmonds has been appointed a Distinguished Public Service Fellow at the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPP) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In collaboration with an impressive cohort of women, she will continue her work, including several important writing and storytelling projects, including possibly an oral history and a memoir.

Edmonds recently spoke to Babson Magazine about her work and perspectives on inclusive excellence and entrepreneurial leadership.

What does the Distinguished Public Service Fellowship mean to you?

“I think of the women who have come before me, names that have individually accomplished amazing things. I know many of them. There are just so many of them, and to be included in that group is both an honor and an invitation to me. It’s the honor of being recognized alongside these remarkable women. And the invitation, to me, is to keep doing the work that I’ve always done, and that is bridging public leadership, justice, and human possibility, but now in a new arena, as a distinguished fellow. … I’ve had a wonderful career up to now, continuing with Babson and doing other things that I do, and I really believe in human possibility. I think you have to create environments where people can thrive and flourish. It’s as simple as that and as hard as that, and it doesn’t mean for some people. If you and I were working together, I’d hope that you as a colleague would care enough about helping to create a work environment where I’d be successful and I would want the same for you. And who knows what that might mean and what we could do for each other, but I’m sure that if we had the opportunity to focus on that, we could do something that’s beneficial to each other and to our team. And that’s sort of how I operate in life.”

What does your appointment mean to Babson?

“When I think about Babson, the appointment, to me, affirms that entrepreneurial leadership doesn’t live only in the marketplace. It thrives in policy, in service, in the power of story to lead change, and it expands Babson’s impact into civic and public life. Babson always talks about the unpredictable world in which we live, and the need to pivot and to lead and to collaborate and to succeed. And so here we now have opportunities for our leaders within

“Leaders of today and the future should lead with guts and grace. They need to be bold enough to act and wise enough to listen.”

— Jane Edmonds P’19

Babson—students—to actually put that to practice and think about, what are their values? What do they care about? How do they want to lead? And how do you do it in a time of uncertainty and unpredictability? So, in a way, I think Babson is perfectly poised for tough times. I mean, I think it’s better poised than any institution I know of. I’ve been around Babson for 13 years, and the people at Babson are just off-the-charts amazing. That, to me, is the strength of Babson.”

Why is storytelling so important to you?

“My expectations with my writing right now are too early to know, because I’m just getting started, but I want to surface stories. That’s why I wrote the two pieces I’ve worked on for the past year, stories that haven’t been heard necessarily, so that I can, in a sense, pass the mic to the next generation of women leaders, or male leaders, who might feel that there’s something beneficial to hear from me. I want people to recognize that storytelling isn’t just decorative. To me, it’s decisive. You have a way of thinking about what you’re going to say, and you can try to get it across in a way that will be heard, without preaching, without lecturing, without yelling. My angle is I’m going to share some things that might be hard to hear but in a way that hopefully you can hear, and that might even make you say that something like that has happened to me, maybe in a different form, so that you can have a greater connection with somebody else. I have simple-minded concepts, but I truly believe they work. I think the easiest way to break down barriers among people is to take the time to really know each other, to see the commonalities that exist.”

How can entrepreneurial leaders help shape a world in which everyone can thrive and flourish?

“For me, entrepreneurial leadership asks, What’s possible? And inclusive leadership might ask, Who’s missing? And, if you put those two questions together,

then you’re going to have a greater ability to unlock real innovation and real justice. That’s one way I think about it: What’s possible, and what’s missing? You can apply that simply to anything you do. If you want to improve your home, if you want to fix your porch, you think about what is possible, what can you do? That leaves a whole string of questions you can ask yourself—whether you need permitting, whether you need a certain kind of wood, or whether you need materials. But, if you ask the next question, what’s missing, you may decide to collaborate and bring in other minds to get additional insights that’s going to make a difference in what you ultimately do with that porch. That’s generally what happens when you are effective in collaborating and using the skills that you bring to the table and joining them with others who have a contribution to make as well.”

Where do you see opportunities today for people to practice that and make a difference?

“I see opportunity in quiet places. Some would say that that’s where people feel invisible or unheard. Of course, I’ve been in many boardrooms where I see somebody’s idea getting passed over and or in a setting where somebody wonders if her voice might matter. I’ve seen that happen. There are so many people who have a lot to say, and there’s a lot of noise being generated from a lot of directions, and sometimes I feel that, are you missing something? I’ve learned through my own experience that part of being able to continue to move forward has had a lot to do with trying to figure out what I’m missing.”

What advice do you have for future entrepreneurial leaders?

“Leaders of today and the future should lead with guts and grace. They need to be bold enough to act and wise enough to listen. I have written before about the need to believe in the power of your own becoming. For all of us, our story isn’t over, so we have to recognize

that no matter what our age is, what our background is, or what setbacks we may have experienced, that we are all still becoming. It’s a reminder for us to stay open and to stay growing and to never count yourself out. They should stay curious. They should stay human. They should not be afraid to be the one who asks harder questions in quieter moments, so they have a greater ability to see other people in other places, because that probably is where change starts, when you have a chance to see something differently. That’s why I think storytelling helps, because storytelling can help create culture change.

“So, being asked to be a fellow, it really is helping me to deepen my own commitment to help other people lead with moral courage. That’s what I’ve taken from the people I admire, and to remind them that legacy is not something that you leave behind, but it’s what you build with others in the moment.” 

Career Highlights:

Jane Edmonds P’19

CURRENT

Babson College Vice President for Programming and Community Outreach

Jane & Company LLC Founder, President, and CEO

Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston Distinguished Public Service Fellow

PREVIOUS

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Chair (1977–1981)

Jane C. Edmonds & Associates Inc. CEO and President (1981–2003)

Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development Secretary (2003–2007)

Northeastern University College of Professional Studies Senior Teaching Fellow (2007–2013)

National Center for Civil and Human Rights Board of Directors

Lahey Hospital & Medical Center Chair, Board of Trustees

EDUCATION

Harvard University Bachelor of Arts (BA), Social Relations

Boston College Law School

Juris Doctor (JD)

Jane Edmonds P’19 moderates a recent discussion at Babson Boston.

GOLDEN GOAL

Fifty years ago, in late November, a group of unheralded men was building something special on the Babson campus. While national powerhouses Brockport and Ohio Wesleyan were already established, the 1975 Babson men’s soccer team was arriving on the scene.

Recording the lone unbeaten season in program history (17-0-1) while outscoring their opponents, 61-5, the Beavers (under head coach Bob Hartwell)

Babson celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first NCAA championship—the unbeaten 1975 men’s soccer team

would not be denied hoisting their rst walnut-and-bronze NCAA national championship trophy.

“Back then, it was more than just being on a soccer team,” says co-captain Steve Balicki ’76, P’08. “It was developing a program. When I came to Babson, I came to a program that was being built. And we had enough success to say that after a number of years we added to it incrementally.”

On October 4, during Back to Babson

weekend, Balicki and several teammates returned to Hartwell-Rogers Field to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the College’s inaugural national title. The team also was recognized at the athletics milestone event the night before inside the Babson Executive Conference Center.

And, on that Saturday, the current Beavers team—led by Balicki’s teammate and current Babson Hall of Fame coach Jon Anderson ’75, P’04 ’08 ’13 ’13— mimicked the 1975 squad by shutting

out Clark, 2-0. The 1975 team amassed 13 clean sheets.

“We could tell something special was brewing my senior year,” Balicki says. “Coach Hartwell, the administration, President (Ralph “Bud”) Sorenson, and others wanted to achieve something that hadn’t been done before. We began steamrolling and said as long as we keep playing well and don’t have anything terrible interrupt us that we should be in good shape.”

In good shape they were, as one of the most decorated squads in Babson history blanked West eld State, 2-0, in the NCAA

tournament opening round before edging Plymouth State, 2-1, in overtime in the quarter nals. Next up was Ohio Wesleyan in the semi nals, and the Beavers won in dominant fashion, 5-0, to set up a bout with defending national champion Brockport.

In a title match that resembled more of a battle eld than a soccer pitch with poor weather conditions, it was a goal by Mark Paylor ’78 in the 42nd minute and a six-save shutout from goalie Shane Kennedy ’76 that proved to be the difference. Paylor and Kennedy would later join Anderson, Franz Grueter ’76,

Francis Pantuosco ’79, and Jim Powers ’76, P’13 as Babson Athletics Hall of Famers.

“That team refused to lose,” Balicki says. “That phrase came from Babson as that group of men would not accept losing. It was one of the craziest victories and loveliest sporting events I ever witnessed.”

The Babson men’s soccer team went on to capture two more national championships in 1979 and 1980. And, Anderson, who graduated shortly after the title game, has now led the program as head coach for the past 40 seasons.

— Scott Dietz

Left: Members of the 1975 national champion men’s soccer team (above) take the field during a celebration at Back to Babson. Top right: Jon Anderson ’75, P’04 ’08 ’13 ’13, who has been the head coach of the team for 40 seasons, joins his former teammates during the anniversary event.

ADV ANCEMENT SPOTLIGHT

By Eric Beato

Among its recent recognitions, Babson has been ranked No. 1 by LinkedIn for the strength of its alumni network. Here, Jeffery Perry ’87, P’23, chair of the Babson Board of Trustees and new inductee to the Weissman Circle of Distinction, reflects on the importance of Babson alumni giving back to the College.

Over the past four decades, Jeffery Perry ’87, P’23 has had a unique perspective on the Babson College experience and its alumni.

Perry first visited Babson as a high school student from Cleveland, attending a weeklong summer program for talented Black and Latino students from around the country. The experience was so formative, opening his eyes to business and leadership opportunities, that he enrolled at Babson as an undergraduate student. During his time in Wellesley, he made the most of the entrepreneurial environment, including serving as president of both the Black Student Union and Cardinal Key Honor Society, and earning the prestigious Roger W. Babson Achievement Award.

After graduating in 1987, Perry went on to earn his

MBA from Harvard Business School followed by a 30-year management consulting career at notable firms such as EY, where he served as a partner. In 2020, he retired from EY to create his consulting firm, Lead Mandates LLC, and build his portfolio as a board director.

Along the way, he has continually given back to his alma mater, serving Babson in a number of roles, including as the chair of the Babson Board of Trustees since 2021. Perry also knows what it’s like to be a Babson parent, with his son, Donovan Perry ’23, graduating

two years ago.

Those experiences have shaped his respect for Babson alumni and giving back to the College. “When I encounter fellow Babson alumni who give back to Babson,” Perry says, “I am struck by the pride they have in the College along with wanting to see Babson continue to amplify its impact and reputation for future generations.”

Perry recently was one of 16 people inducted into the Weissman Circle of Distinction, the highest honor for Babson’s most generous benefactors who have committed $1 million or more in lifetime giving. Alumni and friends from around the world comprise the prestigious circle, named in honor of Robert E. Weissman ’64, H’94, P’87 ’90, G’19.

Perry reflected on the importance of alumni and their support for the College.

Babson has thrived in the rankings the past few years, including the No. 2 Best College by The Wall Street Journal for two years in a row. How much has alumni support, financially and otherwise, helped drive the College’s success?

“Babson alumni’s financial support has been a key element in the College’s success, and it continues to grow every year. Just as important, Babson alumni drive the College’s success by supporting our current students and recent graduates by leveraging their networks, serving as role models, providing internships and career opportunities, all demonstrating their affinity for the continued growth and impact of the College.”

Among the recent recognitions were a bevy of No. 1 rankings from LinkedIn, including No. 1 for alumni network strength. What does that mean to you?

“As an alumnus, parent, and board chair, being ranked No. 1 for alumni network strength from LinkedIn demonstrates that Babson lasts well beyond our four years on campus—it lasts a lifetime. Babson’s strong alumni network is not transactional or short-lived; it is relational and enduring.”

You have served Babson in numerous ways—as an undergraduate student, as an alumnus, as the chair of the board, and as a parent. Why is it important for alumni and parents to give back to the College?

“Alumni and parents have a front-row seat regarding the Babson experience, both on campus and beyond. Based on how so many of our alumni and families achieve a positive return on investment on their Babson experience, giving back validates the value of a Babson education.”

Babson’s Centennial Campaign was a massive success and propelled the current ELevates campaign, impacting every aspect of the campus and student experience. How valuable have alumni donations, especially by small-dollar donors, been to driving that impact?

A A A A A Q Q Q Q Q

“Alumni donations, even small amounts, have a significant impact on the ELevates campaign. Seeing the participation and affinity of donors who directly experienced Babson can motivate other donors to financially support the College.”

The prestigious Weissman Circle of Distinction honors Babson’s most generous donors. What does it mean to you to be a part of the distinguished giving society?

“My first exposure to Babson was as a high school student from Cleveland participating in a summer program on campus. That summer led to me attending Babson and changed the trajectory of my life. Being part of the Weissman Circle of Distinction is the least I could do based on how I have been blessed, along with ensuring that the Babson experience will be available to deserving learners today and for many years.”

As an undergraduate student and alumnus, parent of a recent graduate, and chair of the Board of Trustees, Jeffery Perry ’87, P’23—one of 16 new inductees to the prestigious Weissman Circle of Distinction—has a unique perspective on the Babson alumni network, which has been ranked the strongest in the country by LinkedIn.

NEWS NOTES AND NODS

UNDERGRADUATE

Laurence Fitzmaurice ’59 moved to South Carolina after spending most of his life in Wellesley. Fitzmaurice, who misses volunteering at Babson, congratulated the College on receiving high rankings from several publications, including U.S. News & World Report, LinkedIn, and The Wall Street Journal.

1979

Nancy Foran-Pinzon ’79 was named senior managing director and group director of the Commercial Banking division at Peapack Private Bank & Trust. The PeapackGladstone Financial Corporation is a New Jersey bank holding company with total assets of $7.1 billion, and Peapack Private Bank & Trust was founded in 1921. In her new role, Foran-Pinzon will help expand the bank’s footprint from New Jersey into Long Island and the Tri-State area.

1988

Michael Bayer ’88 was recently appointed to the board of directors at SimSpace, a cybersecurity company based in Boston. Bayer, the executive vice president and chief financial officer for cloud storage company Wasabi Technologies, also is an adjunct lecturer of finance at Babson and steering committee member of the CFO Leadership Council.

Rusty Vanneman ’88 hosted a flurry of Babson-related guests on his podcast, “Invest Well, Be Well.” Vanneman interviewed Jurrien Timmer ’85, the director of global macro at Fidelity Investments, Tom Lydon ’82, a strategic investor at Goldman Sachs, and Dave Lundgren ’88, a founder and chief market strategist at MOTR Capital Management & Research. He also hosted some Babson faculty, including entrepreneurship Professor Joel Shulman P’12 ’14 ’20 and Jack Sharry, an executive in residence at Babson.

Josiah D. Lee ’96 has been working in Hollywood for several years and has a role in the upcoming 2025 action movie War Dawgz. Lee, who went by the name DaeYong Kim when he was attending Babson, also provided voice acting in several animated projects, including the film KPop Demon Hunters in 2025 and “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” a South Korean television series, in 2022.

2005

Renika Sehgal ’05 joined Labviva, an AI-procurement platform for life sciences, as chief operating and financial officer in June. Sehgal’s appointment comes amid a wave of executive leadership hires at the company. Labviva also announced a new marketing officer, vice president of commercial strategy, and a new European general manager as the venture seeks to expand globally.

2011

Matthew Doherty ’11 was promoted to head of underwriting insurance programs at PartnerRe in August, where he has worked for seven years. Doherty previously served as senior vice president and property portfolio manager within the U.S. property multiline division, operating out of the company’s Stamford, Connecticut, office.

2012

Jared Shulman ’12 and the venture he founded, Daylit, raised $110 million to incorporate AI agents that will support accounts receivable. Daylit helps businesses manage their money by addressing day-to-day expenses such as payroll or invoice financing. By using AI agents for accounts receivable, Shulman said, the company can save businesses time and money across working capital cycles.

2025

Calvin Yang ’25 was named among the 2025 NobleReach Scholars. The organization chose Yang to join 27 other recent graduates and early career professionals skilled in essential areas such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Yang, selected from more than 1,200 applicants, will work as a business process analyst for the state of Maryland for the next year. The role is one of many public service technical roles available to NobleReach Scholars at 15 federal, state, and local government organizations. Yang’s group is the second cohort of NobleReach Scholars, whose mission is to attract a diverse group of top-tier talent dedicated to bringing innovation to government.

Kerrie Price Biggins ’88 (far left) celebrated the marriage of her son, Joseph, on August 30 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Biggins’ Babson classmates (from left, next to her) Maryanne Petry ’88, MBA’97, Gail McDonough ’88, and Mary-Beth Donovan ’87, MBA’99 joined the wedding festivities, along with the groom’s grandfather, Charles Price MBA’71, P’88

Charles Gaudet ’99 recently co-founded a supplement company for CEOs and visionary leaders called Founders Fuel. The drink, which Gaudet created for “high-output humans,” is meant to provide focus and clarity. The venture comes as Gaudet continues his role as CEO of Predictable Profits, where he is a leading coach for eight- and nine-figure entrepreneurs.

Isabelle Fournier ’23 and four of her Babson field hockey teammates ran the Boston Marathon in April. Fournier, who has a younger sister with cerebral palsy, was picked to be a charity runner for the Hoyt Foundation. She raised nearly $25,000 to support individuals with disabilities. The marathon was Fournier’s first, and she crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 8 minutes, 49 seconds. From left: Kelsey Low ’23, Meara Hanyon ’23, MSF’24, Emma Bouley ’23, Fournier, and Amber Rose ’23, with Zachary Salvatore ’23 in front.

Dylan Zajac ’25, founder of the nonprofit Computers 4 People, got a major boost from billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith. The founder, chairman, and CEO at Vista Equity Partners announced earlier this year that his firm donated 500 laptops to people from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. “Sometimes, all it takes is one laptop to change the trajectory of a life,” Smith wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the partnership. “These devices will support students finishing their education, individuals launching new careers and innovators taking their first steps into tech, allowing each person to achieve their full potential.”

Rogers ’08,

married

March. Several of his Babson classmates served in the wedding party. Steve Kohart

was his best

were groomsmen. His father, Ron Rogers ’78, P’08 ’08 (inset), also is a Babson alumnus. The nuptials were preceded by a cascade of major life changes, Rogers said. In December 2021, he moved from New York City to Dallas. He met his future wife only four months after moving, and in November 2024, he joined the law firm of Bracewell LLP as a tax partner.

Peter

MSA’08

Valeria Rogers in Mexico City in

’06

man while Brian Cronin ’06 and Will Hurley ’07

Amanda Mason (nee Chin

’13 married

on January 4.

wedding wasn’t complete without their

family. Among the guests were (from left) Bessy Tam ’13, Ben Staples ’13, Yasmin Rajabi ’13, Stacey Han Williams ’12, Matt Williams ’12, Desean Mason, Amanda Mason, Emily

’13, Joanne Louis ’14, Prince Debrah ’13, Alexandre Jainandunsing ’13, and Michael Udensi ’13

Morrissey ’13 and Taylor Welsh ’16 were married April 27 in Oahu, Hawaii. The tropical

was packed

alumni

celebrate the newlyweds.

left: Matt Brazel ’19, Jon Dainesi ’15, Emily Park ’19, Olivia Marino, Ella Overholt ’15, Alex Prentice O’Hara ’15, Nicole Carli ’15, Amanda

’14, Sean Wright ’14, Danielle Brasher ’15, Jamie Zikos ’17, Staci Swallow ’16, Kyle Morrissey, Taylor Morrissey, Zach Golden ’13, Emily Hague ’17, Abby

’14, Leanne Barber ’16, Mauricio Palazzi ’14, Jason Trefry ’19, Mimi Journey ’16, Kevin Dachos ’15, Anne Duval ’16, Nick Rutberg ’13, Gus Barber MBA’18, Zach Willner ’13, Sam Barber ’16, Kevin Webb ’13, Bryan Eger ’11, Jaclyn Quisenberry ’14, and Graham Quisenberry ’16

Yee)

Desean Mason in Jamaica

The

Babson

Loufik

Kyle

ceremony

with Babson

who came to

From

Cioffi

Palazzi

Lauren Zatulove ’23 recently released a book about the life of Chuck Debus, a historic Olympic racing coach who helped place 177 athletes, many of them female, on U.S. teams. Zatulove co-wrote the memoir, titled Allegiance: The Coach Who Revolutionized Women’s Track & Field and America’s Athletic Future, with Debus. Zatulove, who works in real estate investing, was on Babson’s track and field team for four years while earning her undergraduate degree, and she won the inaugural heptathlon title in the New England Women’s and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) in 2023.

GRADUATE 1987

Ken Kellaway MBA’87, P’12, cofounder, chairman, CEO, and president of RoadOne IntermodaLogistics, received the International Maritime Hall of Fame Award in May at the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey Awards Ceremony. Kellaway has been a transformative entrepreneur and pioneer in the intermodal trucking, logistics, and maritime industry for the past 38 years. One of the industry’s most prestigious honors, the award is presented to visionaries who have made a significant impact and are shaping the future of maritime.

1990

Lewis L. (Lee) Bird III MBA’90 was appointed to the board of directors of A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), the company behind the safe-streaming platform Kidoodle.TV. With an expansive career spanning nearly 40 years, Bird has a proven track record in retail, finance, and operational growth. He most recently served as chairman and CEO of At Home Group Inc., and has served in leadership roles at Nike, Gap Inc., and Old Navy.

Rachel Wolfberg ’17 and Ben Wolfberg ’17 married September 27 at the Shining Tides wedding estate in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. Many Babson alumni attended the celebration, including Sam Foster ’17, Sunny Saluja ’18, Will Anderson ’18, Jessamine Von Arx ’18, Ani Hackett ’19, Jordi Batler ’17, Dan Corcoran ’17, Max Barber ’17, Megan Jones ’17, Jason Trefry ’19, Daniel Alexander ’17, Colin Knoedler ’17, Arish Halani ’17, Carter Dowd ’16, Leanne Barber ’16, Sam Barber ’16, Emily Trefry ’17, Vivek Dodani ’17, Kevin Dachos ’15, Shaan Mahtani ’19, and Evan Debiase ’14

1996

Alicia Castillo Holley MBA’96 recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of her boutique investment group, The Wealthing VC Club. The club, which Holley founded in 2020, has made 59 investments since opening and sits in the top 8% of venture capital (VC) funds in terms of results. In addition to offering a cost- and time-effective alternative to both angel groups and VC funds, the club also provides access to a community of savvy investors and a private secondary market, vetted early-stage deals, robust due diligence, and post-investment support. Holley founded the organization with Babson’s entrepreneurial values in mind, and her goal is to continue to empower investors to build generational wealth through community-based investing.

2001

Cory Chambers MBA’01 was named chief commercial officer at Remington Hospitality, a dynamic hotel management company providing genuine hospitality and expertise in property management. Chambers will lead the company’s comprehensive commercial strategy, including revenue management, sales, marketing, distribution, and customer experience. Chambers previously was executive

vice president, chief commercial and analytics officer at Hospitality Ventures Management Group.

2003

Dennis E. Bogdan MBA’03 has been appointed vice president, portfolio relationship manager at BankNewport. In this role, he will work with assigned loan officers to manage new and existing commercial lending relationships. Bogdan brings a strong background in finance and operations, having most recently served as a financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual in Providence, Rhode Island.

2004

Bethany Cavanagh MBA’04 was one of four industry leaders appointed to the board of directors at Addgene, an organization empowering discovery by providing scientists with a vast catalog of expertly curated and quality-controlled plasmids, viral vectors, and recombinant antibodies. The senior vice president of finance at Beam Therapeutics, Cavanagh has expertise that spans commercial launches, clinical and preclinical portfolios, strategic partnerships, and financial systems implementation.

2006

Vice Admiral John Mustin MBA’06 was appointed president of Saildrone Inc., the world leader in maritime autonomy. In this role, he will work alongside Richard Jenkins, Saildrone founder and CEO, to focus on growing the defense business at Saildrone. Mustin joins Saildrone after a distinguished 34-year career in the U.S. Navy. He served as the 15th Chief of Navy Reserve and Commander, Navy Reserve Force, where he led about 60,000 Reserve Component personnel supporting Navy, Marine Corps, and joint forces operations worldwide.

2009

Shelley Bailey MBA’09 was appointed chief revenue officer at Wellgistics Health Inc.—a healthcare infrastructure company transforming the prescription drug ecosystem— among key additions to its executive leadership team and board of directors. With knowledge and leadership in scaling healthcare sales teams and revenue operations across multiple verticals, Bailey previously served as chief strategy officer at Wellgistics, where she combined her specialty pharmacy, government affairs, and supply chain experience to create tailored employer solutions.

2010

Sarah van Hellenberg Hubar-Fisher MBA’10 was named chief executive officer at Bioretec, a Finnish developer of absorbable orthopedic implants. Van Hellenberg HubarFisher, who had served in an interim role that began earlier this year, stepped down from her board positions, including vice chairperson and audit committee member. Her career includes senior roles at Johnson & Johnson, and venture partner positions at Spain-based Nina Capital and U.S.-based Growth Science Ventures.

2012

Katherine Medeiros MBA’12 was named among the Top 50 Women Leaders of St. Louis for 2025 by Women We Admire, one of the fastest-growing professional women’s networks in the United States and Canada. Medeiros—the vice president of growth at LifeGuides.com, a professional mentoring platform—is ranked No. 38 by the organization, which cited her more than 20 years of experience in a tech leadership role. “She prides herself on successfully designing collaborative business partnerships to drive growth,” a Women We Admire article stated.

2018

Akhil Suresh Nair MBA’18 and his company, Xena Intelligence—an AI-centered, e-commerce sales optimization startup—won a $1 million prize at Rally, an innovation conference in Indianapolis. Nair, a former Babson Global Entrepreneur in Residence, is the founder and CEO of Xena Intelligence, which won the software division at the conference, an extension of Elevate Ventures, a state-backed entity that invests in early-stage companies that have a significant presence in Indiana.

2020

Jose Darsin MBA’20 was hired as executive director of global operations at marine salvage company Resolve Marine of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In the newly created role, he will oversee the company’s global operational departments and report directly to CEO Joseph Farrell III. Darsin brings extensive international experience in multisite operations, emergency and disaster response, project management, risk mitigation, and strategic planning. He previously served as chief operating officer at I-4 Mobility Partners.

Robert McCullough MBA’81 returned to Babson as an assistant professor of practice in September after a 25-year career in high technology. McCullough, who previously served as an adjunct professor at Babson for many years, wrote in a LinkedIn post that his return is a “full circle moment. The opportunity to contribute in a more meaningful way is exciting and humbling.”

Cyrus Torrey Cady MBA’12 recently was appointed vice president of manufacturing at Raytheon. The post means that Cady will be leading all factories and the operations function across Raytheon.

Conor Carlin MBA’10 recently addressed the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, during global plastics pollution treaty talks. Carlin, formerly co-president of the Babson Energy & Environmental Club, is the former president and board member of the International Society of Plastics Engineers. “Plastics have transformed the modern world by delivering lightweight, durable, and cost-effective solutions in medicine, food preservation, renewable energy, clean water, mobility and countless other fields,” Carlin told the opening plenary meeting of UNEP INC-5.2 in August. “We are equally aware, however, that the growing volume of plastic waste, mismanaged in the environment, presents urgent challenges that must be addressed with integrity and urgency.”

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Ketan Vishal Agarwal MSEL’23 and his marketing and sales team recently sold 207 homes on the launch day of Shubh Veda, an ultra-luxury development featuring eight high-rise towers in Pune, India. “With strategic planning, teamwork, and passion, we turned a vision into reality,” Agarwal said about the sales record. “A proud milestone in my real estate journey!”

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ALUMNI NEWS is in demand!

To accommodate news and photos from as many alumni as possible, please limit entries and photo captions to 50 words or less.

Babson Magazine has two requirements for Alumni News photos: The submitting alum must be in the picture, and the image must be at least 4 x 6 inches at 300 dpi—no digital alterations, please. We can’t promise that all submitted photos will run, but we’ll include as many as possible. Submit your latest news to the Alumni News Editor at babson.edu/nods

IN MEMORIAM

James David Bailey ’48, of Alexandria, Virginia, July 5

Joseph Champ ’52, of West Palm Beach, Florida, June 16

Aaron Sockol ’53, MBA’64, of Needham, Massachusetts, August 25

Maurice Goralnick ’56, of Simi Valley, California, May 13

Reid Weiner Ruttenberg ’57, P’95, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 7

William Neal Monsen ’60, of Concord, Massachusetts, August 12

Jed Wentworth Bullen ’61, of Grafton, Massachusetts, April 14, 2018

Huntington Blatchford ’63, P’89, G’12, of Yarmouth, Maine, June 23

Joseph Cohen ’63, of Boynton Beach, Florida, June 5

Col. William Page Menefee MBA’65, of Luray, Virginia, August 7

John W. Gobron ’66, P’01, of Naples, Florida, March 23, 2020

George Edwin Schutz ’66, of Newbury, Massachusetts, August 6

William P. Daly ’67, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 19

Paul Michael Zarella MBA’67, P’92, of Westborough, Massachusetts, July 7

John F. Garbarino ’68, of Mystic, Connecticut, June 2

Robert Ernest Erickson MBA’68, of Augusta, Maine, May 24

John George Dickison MBA’70, of Lexington, Massachusetts, June 23

Barry S. Gradwohl MBA’70, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, June 12

Worth D. Murphy Jr. MBA’70, of Natick, Massachusetts, June 29

Neal W. Stone MBA’70, of Wells, Maine, June 8

Robert J. Waddell MBA’70, P’84 ’92 ’94, of Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, May 29

Steven George Landsman ’71, of Potomac, Maryland, August 6

David Morris Waldman MBA’71, of Bonita Springs, Florida, June 1

Col. George Nelson Bentley Jr. ’73, of Kennebunkport, Maine, July 1

Michael J. Nemitz ’73, of Durham, North Carolina, October 4, 2024

John Mitchell McPhie MBA’73, of Edgewater, Florida, July 12

John Lawrence Roberson ’74, of Poinciana, Florida, June 10

Frederick Joseph Curran MBA’74, of Marshall, Virginia, May 27

Jack David Bilodeau MBA’75, of Westford, Massachusetts, August 14

Louis J. Farina MBA’75, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, September 20, 2021

Richard H. Hankel MBA’76, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, June 8

Victor Louis Machunski Jr. MBA’76, of Hopedale, Massachusetts, July 31

John Louis Barbieri ’77, of Natick, Massachusetts, August 4

Dana P. Downes ’78, of Bedford, New Hampshire, June 14

Jeffrey M. Berenson ’79, MBA’89, of Bradenton, Florida, August 20

Richard J. Laramee MBA’79, of Weymouth, Massachusetts, August 14

John A. Pini Jr. MBA’79, of Ashland, Massachusetts, June 14

Jenny E. Noonan ’81, of Block Island, Rhode Island, July 25

Jonathan Charles Cunningham ’82, of Chatham, Massachusetts, August 12

Lorraine Patricia (Farrel) Steele MBA’86, of Boston, Massachusetts, July 19

Heidi Adler Matthews ’87, P’15, of Marlborough, Massachusetts, June 23

Nancy Adele Coderre MBA’87, of Cary, North Carolina, July 24

John Cranwell Downey MBA’87, of Canton, Massachusetts, June 8

Rosemary A. McCrevan MBA’88, of Randolph, Massachusetts, July 25

Matthew Wilson Kovar ’90, MBA’94, of Marblehead, Massachusetts, July 4

Paul H. Marchinetti MBA’90, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, August 1

Patricia R. Murphy MBA’90, of Naples, Florida, August 8

Brijesh Chetan Sangani MBA’21, of Watertown, Massachusetts, June 17

Big B / On move-in weekend for first-year students in August, the incoming Class of 2029 congregated on Park Manor Quad for a “B”-eautiful group photo as it begins its Babson journey at the No. 2 Best College in America, according to The Wall Street Journal

PHOTO BY NIC CZARNECKI

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