Faculty

Michele Kahane

Professor of Professional Practice, Management

Michele Kahane (MBA and MIA, Columbia University) is a professor of professional practice at Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Her teaching focuses on social entrepreneurship, social innovation and social investment. She leads The New School's partnership with the Ashoka Changemaker Campus Initiative (AshokaU.org), which aspires to improve teaching, research, and student engagement opportunities in social entrepreneurship and social innovation in higher education.

She has more than 20 years of experience in the global business, nonprofit, and philanthropy sectors. Kahane was a banker in emerging markets corporate finance and later practiced social investment at the Ford Foundation for a decade. Subsequently, as a senior executive at the Clinton Global Initiative and at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, she worked with companies, social entrepreneurs, and the public sector to forge innovative partnerships for global development.

She is co-author of the award-winning book Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets (Berrett-Koehler, June 2006), which provides advice to managers on how companies can both implement profitable business strategies and improve conditions in poor communities. Kahane serves on the board of the Criterion Institute, Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future and the Fast Forward Fund. She previously served on the steering committee of the Institute for Responsible Investment, the NY Regional Association of Grantmakers Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, and the NY board of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. She serves on the Knowledge Working Group of the Growth Philanthropy Network.

To learn more about social entrepreneurship and social innovation at The New School, visit the New School's Social Innovation website and the Social Innovation Initiative blog. Learn about New Challenge, our platform for supporting students ideas, here.