Alumni Achievement Awards 2021

15 Jun 2021

Alumni Achievement Awards 2021

Recipients of the School’s highest honor talk about the challenges, decision points, and takeaways that make a successful career—and a life well lived

Re: Ray Dalio (MBA 1973); Ndidi Nwuneli (MBA 1999); Mezuo Nwuneli (MBA 2003); Terry Virts (GMP 11); Deborah Winshel (MBA 1985)

Topics: Career-Awards Leadership-General

Photographed by Susan Young
Edited by Julia Hanna

Ray Dalio (MBA 1973)

Founder, Co-CIO, and Chairman, Bridgewater Associates

I always had little jobs. I had a paper route. I would shovel driveways. And then I started caddying. This was the 1960s, when everyone was talking about the stock market, and the market was hot. I got $6 for every bag and when I’d saved $50, I’d buy some stock.

The first stock I bought—Northeast Airlines—was the only one I had heard of that was selling for less than $5 a share. I figured I could buy more. There’s obviously no sense in that, but I tripled my money. I said hey, this is great. I got hooked in a bull market.

My basic nature is that I’m scared of being bored more than I’m scared of an adventure. I started Bridgewater in 1975 out of a two-bedroom apartment. I figured if it didn’t work out, I could always get a job. Then in 1981 and 1982, I crashed.

I could not have been more wrong about the market. But that mistake changed my whole approach to decision making. It made me want to get the smartest people I could find who disagreed with me so I could stress test my opinions.

I used to think there was making money and there was philanthropy. Then I realized there’s just, What do you want to do? One of my biggest passions is ocean exploration. It’s an entire world that needs to be understood and is incredibly valuable to our existence. So that excites me a lot.

This last year prompted me to think about the arc of life and death. I lost my eldest son in a traffic accident. It's the greatest loss imaginable. We raise our children feeling every skinned knee and caring so much about their well-being. Our family found our way through it. I believe it is important to talk about these things.

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H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA 1933)

Posthumous award
HBS Distinguished Service Award, 1987

Courtesy Howard University archives

One of the first African American graduates of HBS, the late H. Naylor Fitzhugh overcame numerous racial barriers in a career that spanned academia and the private sector. Born in Washington, DC, in 1909, he earned a scholarship to attend Harvard College at age 16 and graduated cum laude despite being denied on-campus housing because of his race.

Fitzhugh hoped to go into sales and marketing, but companies at the time had little interest in hiring an African American. While working as an independent print salesman in Washington, he helped lead a movement against discriminatory employment practices, which resulted in an offer to teach at Howard University. There, Fitzhugh created a marketing program and organized the school’s Small Business Center, in addition to introducing generations of black students—including HBS’s first female African American graduate, Lillian Lincoln Lambert (MBA 1969)—to careers in business.

“He taught by the case method, and made sure we had real-life experiences,” Lambert says, recalling a field trip to General Motors in Detroit. “Professor Fitzhugh saw business as a way for the black community to control its own destiny.”

After a 30-year career at Howard, Fitzhugh joined Pepsi in 1965, where he developed the first marketing efforts directed at African Americans. Credited with creating the concept of targeted marketing, he also attracted and mentored black executives and created two programs that introduced high school students to business through hands-on education.

Honored annually at the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Conference—the yearly gathering of the HBS African American Student Union and the HBS African-American Alumni Association, an organization he cofounded in 1978—Fitzhugh, who died in 1992, is also celebrated through a named professorship at HBS that attracted nearly 300 individual donors in addition to a number of companies and other organizations.

“I knew the measure of whether I’d lived up to the chair wouldn’t be how many books I wrote or my scholarly reputation,” says David Thomas, the chair’s first incumbent, “but instead how many people I could mentor. That’s what [Fitzhugh] devoted his life to, and that’s what still inspires many of us today.”

“I think of Naylor Fitzhugh as an incredibly bright star and business innovator,” adds Tsedal Neeley, the chair’s current holder. “He was also an extraordinary activist who remained optimistic about the future, carving a path for himself and others despite the obstacles and racism all around him. He was the leader of leaders. His legacy fuels my work.
—Deborah Blagg

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Mezuo Nwuneli (MBA 2003)

Managing Partner, Sahel Capital Agribusiness Managers Ltd.
Cofounder, AACE Foods

I have always been passionate about creating change through building businesses on the African continent. A defining moment for me was partnering with friends in 1999 to start an internet café in the neighborhood I grew up in in Lagos, and the realization that I was excited not by the traction the business got in the market but by the number of people we were able to employ.

In 2009, while I was working in Senegal with a private equity firm, Ndidi and I noticed that a huge amount of the packaged food in stores was imported—stuff we could grow and produce locally. This dynamic was the same across the entire region, and we soon realized there was a huge opportunity. In 2010 we returned to Nigeria to set up AACE Foods, and subsequently Sahel Capital, which provides capital and technical support to agribusinesses within the region.

We had a steep learning curve building AACE Foods and navigating the various challenges of scaling an agri-business enterprise within the region. As one example, I don’t think Ndidi and I realized how difficult it would be to work together. We sought out an older couple who had worked together for 30 years who told us to have defined roles so that it’s clear who does what and why. And after that, stay in your lane.

Due to COVID-19 lockdowns there were no domestic flights, and you had to have special permits to travel by road. We had to think through the logistics of how to operate companies around Nigeria in a safe manner. We had teams that worked one week on, one week off, and in the case of our poultry farm, slept on the farm for days at a stretch to improve biosecurity. It took quite a bit of commitment to distribute food and products across the country, and so many went above and beyond.

We’re both quite passionate about being in Nigeria. It’s very rewarding to do well and see the range of lives we’re impacting—not just in Lagos, but across the country. Ultimately, that’s what keeps us here through the challenges.

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Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli (MBA 1999)

Managing Partner, Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition
Cofounder, AACE Foods
Founder, LEAP Africa

At 16, when I moved to the United States to complete high school and start college, I was shocked to learn that Africa's global face was a hungry child. I recoiled against this stereotype, and it propelled me to devote my life to changing this narrative about Africa.

At HBS, I actively engaged in building the Africa Business Club and ramping up the Social Enterprise Initiative. This period really shaped my career focus and propelled my desire to return to Nigeria. Over the past 20 years, I have worked with a range of partners to establish and scale social enterprises focused on fostering entrepreneurial development, creating jobs for young people, and transforming Africa’s food and agriculture landscape.

LEAP Africa, which I established in 2002 to inspire, empower, and equip a new cadre of leaders with skills and tools for personal, organizational, and community transformation, currently works in six African countries. We challenge our youth to channel their rage into starting positive change projects. One participant in our Youth Leadership Program addressed the high rates of unemployment in Northern Nigeria by establishing Outsource Global, which currently engages over 1,000 young Nigerians.

AACE Foods sources from 10,000 farmers and processes spices, seasonings, and complementary food for local markets and export. We want to ensure that Africans have access to nutritious, affordable, locally sourced food. It’s been catalytic because we’re removing the middlemen and creating jobs at the same time.

Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition partners with governments, funders, and private companies to shape policy and implement new ventures. For example, we founded Nourishing Africa, a funding, knowledge, and data hub for one million Agri-Food Entrepreneurs. We are currently supporting entrepreneurs in 34 African countries to scale their businesses.

Changing narratives and driving transformation is a complex process. However, I am most inspired by the young African entrepreneurs who are leveraging innovation and technology in the food and agriculture ecosystem. Through our collective efforts, we are repositioning African food globally and building more bridges between Africa and the rest of the world, breaking stereotypes and biases, and ultimately enabling a deeper appreciation of our connections as humans.

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Terry Virts (GMP 11, 2011)

Retired NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander

The first book I read in kindergarten was about the Apollo astronauts who went to the moon, and I was hooked. Growing up, I had posters of airplanes and galaxies and rockets. Being an astronaut is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid.

When I was younger, I thought engineering, math, and science were most important and that the rest didn’t matter. Now I realize exactly the opposite is true. Engineering is important if you want to make something; but if you can’t communicate it, then it doesn’t matter.

One of the most important career lessons I’ve learned is to not tell yourself no. Everyone told me I’d never get picked to be an astronaut, that I was too young. I was very lucky. But if you don’t put your name in the hat, you’re not going to get lucky. If you have a dream, you have to go for it.

Making A Beautiful Planet was the most important thing I did as an astronaut, because so many people have seen it as an IMAX movie and will see it in the future. I came away from that experience thinking, you know, all is not lost. Earth is beautiful. But we need to take action to keep it that way.

I came away from space with the perspective that unless you get your politics right, life on Earth is not going to be good. We have to make some big course corrections in this world for the good of humanity.

I went from being a fighter pilot to an astronaut to an author and filmmaker. I just finished writing a screenplay, something I never would have had time for if I was traveling like I did before the pandemic. You have to be able to reinvent yourself. Darwin said it’s not the strongest who survive but those who are most able to adapt, and that’s 100 percent true today.

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Deborah Winshel (MBA 1985)

Managing Director, Global Head of Social Impact, BlackRock

An MBA from Harvard is a powerful, gender-neutral door opener. I went to HBS for credibility in the social sector, and it’s provided an outsized credential for the work I care about: helping those most in need. It’s also given me a platform to be both a mentor and an advocate for professional women.

Twenty years ago, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to hire an investment banker for the newly created role of CFO, it was risky, for both of us. JPMorgan, in its wisdom, suggested a leave of absence just in case it didn’t work out. But it was just the window I wanted. The outgoing CIO said, “They’re not looking for someone like you,” so of course I made it my mission to get the job.

After a full stint at the Met, I got the call that the Robin Hood Foundation was looking for someone to bring a similar strategic approach to its operations. It was everything I had been looking for professionally—social impact, rigor, and an opportunity to build. Robin Hood pioneered what came to be known as venture philanthropy, using private dollars to take risks and back new approaches to tackle outsized social challenges.

When I joined BlackRock in 2015 to launch their impact investing platform, it involved taking my experience from the nonprofit side and thinking about how to measure social outcomes and drop that into an asset management framework, which was an exciting challenge.

At Robin Hood, when faced with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we spent a lot of time thinking about how the stages of disasters unfold: the early needs of immediate relief and then the longer-term needs of recovery. At BlackRock, COVID added an additional layer of complexity—and of need. The pandemic laid bare so many issues that already existed, like food insecurity. People who had never been food insecure were lining up at food banks.

I think the next generation of leaders won’t make the distinction between financial and non-financial impact, but will understand the interrelationships between business and the world in which we operate.

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