The Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the Wesleyan Career Center present
Post-Wes Journeys in (Social) Entrepreneurship
Friday, September 27
12 noon
Judd 116
Beezer Clarkson ’94, Kagiso Bond ’01, and Erica Gersowitz ’01 will speak about their lives after college. Like many Wesleyan alumni, parts of their work can be called “social entrepreneurship.” Beezer managed investments in the microfinance sector and advises a Wes-founded social enterprise that provides accounting and credit scoring tools for micro-borrowers in developing economies. Kai has made a career out of researching, funding, advising, incubating, and accelerating tech startups – many in the gaming industry, but with crossovers to the ‘tech for good’ sector. Erica has used her law degree to work for improvements in the criminal justice system, finding innovative ways to have lasting social impact.
The talks will begin promptly at noon and end by 1 p.m. Beezer, Kai, and Erica will be available for private drop-in sessions immediately after. Lunch will be served for those who register by September 26.
REGISTER NOW
Elizabeth “Beezer” Clarkson ’94
COO & Managing Director, SAP Ventures
Beezer is responsible for the worldwide operations of SAP Ventures and leads investment activities for the SAP Hana Real Time Fund, which is focused on early stage venture capital. Most recently she was a Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson where she managed the DFJ Global Network, which consisted of 16 venture funds around the world representing some $7B of capital under management and over 400 active portfolio companies. Prior to this, she was an Investment Manager at Omidyar Network, a boutique impact investment firm, where she focused on technology investments (both direct and fund investments) in emerging markets for the microfinance industry. At Hewlett Packard, Beezer led business development negotiations with leading Internet services companies for placement on desktop and notebooks world-wide. Beezer began her investment career 18 years ago in Morgan Stanley’s Global Infrastructure Group. Beezer majored in Government at Wesleyan and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She currently serves on the Wesleyan Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board of InVenture, a for-profit social enterprise founded by Shivani Siroya ’04 and Bonnie Oliva ’04.
Kagiso Bond ’01
General Manager, Samsung Accelerator
Kagiso Bond is a General Manager at Samsung Accelerator in New York. Prior to joining Samsung, Kai was a GM at Hatch Labs, the Founder and CEO of CashPlay Games, a mobile game studio, and a co-founder of SwitchGames, a community and secondary marketplace for gamers. Kai has also held roles in corporate development and product strategy at Microsoft, IAC / InterActiveCorp, Oberon Media, Rave Wireless and the Gerson Lehrman Group.
Erica M. Gersowitz, J.D. ’01
Criminal Justice Manager, Laura and John Arnold Foundation
As a member of the Laura and John Arnold Foundation‘s criminal justice team, Erica works to create substantial, widespread, and transformational change in the criminal justice system. The Foundation’s Criminal Justice Initiative seeks to create this change by finding innovative ways to use data, analytics, and technology to increase public safety, reduce crime, and ensure that the criminal justice system is operating as fairly and cost-effectively as possible. Prior to joining the Foundation, Erica was an attorney in the New York office of Kaye Scholer LLP, where she represented individuals and companies in federal and state criminal investigations, developed corporate compliance programs for Fortune 500 companies, and represented a New York State Senate special investigative committee. She has also served as a staff member to the New York Attorney General’s Criminal Justice Transition Team. Before law school, she was a grant writer at the Exploratorium museum, in San Francisco, California. Erica holds a J.D. from Fordham University, where she was a member of the Stein Scholars Program for Public Interest. She majored in History at Wesleyan.