Reaching Out MBA

Reaching Out MBA, Inc., often abbreviated as ROMBA, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers LGBT MBA students & LGBT MBA professionals to become professionals who will lead the way to equality in business education, in the workplace and throughout society.[1] The organization seeks to educate, inspire and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender graduate business students and school clubs through its year round events. This programming anchored by the annual Reaching Out LGBT MBA & Business Graduate Conference, which is held each year in October and brings together over 1,400 LGBT MBAs & other business graduate students and 86 corporate partners.

Reaching Out MBA, Inc. was first granted non-profit status by the IRS in 2004, though the annual conference has been going on since 1999.[2]

Organization

Reaching Out MBA Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit managed by a full-time Executive Director,[3] two full-time staff members, and overseen by a 9-member independent Board of Directors. The Board of Directors positions include President, Secretary, and Treasurer; additionally there are six other Directors.[4] Each member of the Board of Directors has participated as a leader for a Reaching Out MBA Inc programming.

The organization hosts year-round events anchored by the Annual Reaching Out LGBT MBA & Graduate (ROMBA) Conference, which attracts over 1,400 attendees annually with representation from over 40 business school programs and over 80 corporate partners. The content of the annual Reaching Out LGBT MBA Conference is arranged by a team of 10 current MBA students competitively selected from business schools across the globe.[5]

In 2014 the organization, in coordination with top global business schools, launched the LGBT MBA Fellowship,[6] a scholarship and leadership development program designed to foster the next generation of our business leaders. Each ROMBA Fellow receives a minimum $10,000/year scholarship as well as customized leadership training and mentorship. As of the 2015-2016 application cycle 28 schools participate in the program.[7]

Another key program is the annual Reaching Out MBA School Leadership Summit, which brings together rising LGBT MBA club leaders from business schools around the globe to network, discuss issues they are facing and ideate on solutions.[8]

In late 2015, the organization announced that it would be operating the Friendfactor MBA Challenge program and integrate it into its existing on-campus LGBT MBA club program.[9]

Annual Reaching Out LGBT MBA & Business Graduate Conference

Each year since 1999, the Reaching Out LGBT MBA Conference has been held in a major American city, and has been organized by a team of current MBA students from institutions all over the USA. The conference is planned and executed solely by unpaid volunteers each year.[10] Over the course of the years, the conference size has grown dramatically, with recent years' attendance approaching or exceeding 1400.[11] The conference includes opportunities for attendees to network with peers, learn by attending the panel sessions and guest lectures, and explore career opportunities by connecting with sponsor companies in the career expo. Each year over 80 companies, generally Fortune 500 companies, return to sponsor the conference each year, and use the conference as an opportunity to recruit LGBT MBA talent in the career expo portion of the event.[12][13]

Year Location Dates Additional Information
1999 Boston, MA March 26–27, 1999 Conference founded by members of LGBT student organizations at Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management. Keynotes included Julie Palen and Walter Schubert.
2000 Philadelphia, PA March 24–25, 2000 Theme: Working Out. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Columbia Business School and Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Keynotes included David Steward, Suzanne Levan, and James Hormel.
2001 San Francisco, CA March 30–31, 2001 Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Stanford Graduate School of Business, UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Thunderbird School of Global Management. Keynotes included Andrew Tobias, Kathy Levinson and Cindy Martin.
2002 Chicago, IL April 5–6, 2002 Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Kellogg School of Management, Booth School of Business and Krannert School of Management. Keynotes included Martin Atkin, Zoe Dunning, and Bryan Simmons.
2003 New York, NY April 4–6, 2003 Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Columbia Business School, New York University Stern School of Business and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Keynotes included Allan Gilmour, Shelly Meyers, Reginald Van Lee.
2004 Los Angeles, CA April 2–4, 2004 Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at UCLA Anderson School of Management and USC Marshall School of Business. Keynotes included David Bohnett, Nina Jacobson, and Hilary Rosen.
2005 Boston, MA February 4–6, 2005 Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Yale School of Management. Keynotes included Ted Childs, Jean Dolan, and Lowell Selvin.
2005 Chicago, IL November 17–20, 2005 Conference timing revised to the Fall season to better align with corporate recruiting cycles. Theme: Beyond Diversity - Expanding the Role of LGBT Business Leadership. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Kellogg School of Management, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and Booth School of Business. Keynotes included Judy Teeven, Amy Errett, Kareen Magee, and Brian McGuinness.
2006 New York, NY October 13–15, 2006 Theme: What's Next? Defining LGBT Leadership. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Columbia Business School, New York University Stern School of Business and Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Keynotes included Kirk Snyder, Barry Herstein, and Christie Hardwich Vianson.
2007 San Francisco, CA October 11–14, 2007 Theme: Connect. Build. Achieve. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Haas School of Business. Keynotes included Lisa Sherman, Margaret Cho and Chip Conley.
2008 Washington D.C. October 30-November 2, 2008 Theme: Redefining Human Capital. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at University of Virginia Darden School of Business, McDonough School of Business and George Washington School of Business. Keynotes included Andrew Tobias, Donna Rose, Michael Guest and Doug Coblens.
2009 Atlanta, GA October 15–17, 2009 Theme: Emerging as Leaders. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Fuqua School of Business, Goizueta Business School, Scheller College of Business and Kenan-Flagler Business School. Keynotes included Cleve Jones, LZ Granderson and Carleen Haas.
2010 Los Angeles, CA October 14–17, 2010 Theme: Life on the Q-List. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Columbia Business School, University of Virginia Darden School of Business, New York University Stern School of Business, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Max M. Fisher College of Business. Keynotes included Dustin Lance Black, Brian Graden and Meghan Stabler
2011 Dallas, TX October 13–16, 2001 Theme: Looking Back, Stepping Forward. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Haas School of Business, New York University Stern School of Business, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, Zicklin School of Business, F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, George Washington School of Business and Carlson School of Management. Keynotes included Howard Bragman, Joel Burns (politician), Joe Solomonese and Elyse Cherry.
2012 Boston, MA October 18–20, 2012 Theme: Together, Building Community. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at MIT Sloan School of Management, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and Yale School of Management. Keynotes included Brian Sims, Dan Savage, Julie Goodridge, and Brian Elliot
2013 New Orleans, LA October 17–19, 2013 Theme: Building Visible Leaders, Connecting a Community. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Kellogg School of Management, Booth School of Business and Haas School of Business. Keynotes included Margaret Stumpp, Billy Bean, and David Paltiel of Fab.com
2014 San Francisco, CA October 2–4, 2014 Theme: Progress Through Partnership. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. Keynotes included Trevor Burgess, Kevin Jennings, Kathy Levinson, Jonathan Mildenhall, Janet Mock and Peter Thiel
2015 Chicago, IL October 8–10, 2015 Theme: Intersections of Diversity. Conference organized by members of LGBT student organizations at Kellogg School of Management, Booth School of Business and Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Keynotes included Bruce Rauner, Tim Gill, Laverne Coxl, and Morgana Bailey
2016 Dallas, TX October 6–8, 2016 Theme: Authentic Disruption. Keynotes will be announced in Summer 2016

LGBTQ MBA Fellowship & Scholarship

In Fall 2014 The organization announced the Reaching Out LGBT MBA Fellowship. This LGBT MBA scholarship program was created as a joint effort between top business school programs and Reaching Out to demonstrate that business schools are outstanding opportunities for out LGBT young professionals and their active allies to build their careers. The Fellowship recipients will receive a minimum of $10,000 scholarship for each academic year, and also receive access to various Reaching Out programming, mentoring and LGBTQA leadership opportunities, some of which would be developed specifically for these Fellows.[14]

As of the 2015-2016 application cycle, 28 business schools across the globe were participating. These schools include Booth School of Business, Columbia Business School, Haas School of Business, Kellogg School of Management, McCombs School of Business, MIT Sloan School of Management, New York University Stern School of Business, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Yale School of Management.

Case Library

ROMBA maintains a library of cases dealing with LGBT issues in business. As of Fall 2014, the library includes thirteen cases including the Harvard Business Publishing case on Lisa Sherman taught regularly at business schools worldwide.[15] The annual ROMBA Case Writing Competition provides an opportunity for students, faculty, and/or professionals to contribute compelling cases to expand the library as well.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ http://poetsandquants.com/2013/10/10/too-many-straights-crashing-the-lgbt-party/
  4. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/about-us-2/board-of-directors
  5. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/conference/organizers
  6. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/lgbtmbafellowship
  7. ↑ http://poetsandquants.com/2015/09/17/reaching-out-grants-22-mba-fellowships/
  8. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/leadership-summit-2/2012-summit
  9. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/friendfactor-mba-ally-challenge-is-now-part-of-reaching-out/
  10. ↑ "Recruitment - Sexual orientation: Students reaches out to foster change". Ft.com. 2005-05-11. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  11. ↑ Kitroeff, Natalie (2014-10-03). "The Effort to Get Gay Professionals Out of the Closet, and Keep Them Out". Businesswekk.com. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  12. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2006/bs2006089_3298_bs001.htm
  13. ↑ Jia Lynn Yang, Fortune reporter (2006-12-05). "Gay-friendly companies Reach Out to MBAs - Dec. 5, 2006". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  14. ↑ "LGBT Event Creates Community of Acceptance". poetsandquants.com. 2014-10-07. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  15. ↑ http://www.reachingoutmba.org/resources-2/additional-resources

External links

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