Faculty

Michele Kahane  has more than three decades of experience in the global business, nonprofit, philanthropy and higher education sectors.  Her teaching and professional practice interests have focused on strategic design and management, social innovation, social impact entrepreneurship, and social finance.    She is currently Professor of Professional Practice at The Milano School of Policy, Management and Environment at The New School and the Director of the Parsons Masters Program in Strategic Design in Management. Since joining the New School in 2009, she has also served in several leadership roles, including Associate Dean of Educational Innovation and Social Engagement at the Schools of Public Engagement.  She has co-founded and co-led multiple university-wide initiatives including the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative and Collaboratory.  Currently she is focused on organizing the CareLab, a research and innovation lab focused on building new practices and models of care and mutual aid in communities, organizations and cities.     Prior to her faculty appointment at The New School, she worked in executive positions at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Ford Foundation and the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.  Across these institutions, she worked with companies, social entrepreneurs, and the public sector to forge innovative cross sector collaborations to create inclusive and sustainable economies. Earlier she was a Vice President at Chemical Bank focused on corporate finance in emerging markets and started her career in humanitarian disaster relief with Catholic Relief Services.   She continues to have an active engagement in her fields of practice including, for example, as a founding board member of Criterion Institute, which works on changing the systems of finance, and as a strategic advisor to many non-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs.  She is also a founding member of the Ashoka U Changemaker Network.She is co-author of Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets (2006). Michele has an MBA and a Master's in International Affairs from Columbia University.   

Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets (2006)