Story - Karen Weigert
Accelerating social impact in Chicago
A new social impact fund at Quinlan will deepen the impact of the Baumhart Scholars MBA.
When Chicago was recently named the most climate resilient city on Earth by AlphaGeo, a company that forecasts geographical risks, the news received a lot of media coverage. Among the leading commentators was Karen Weigert, director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business.
Her take: Chicago was merely in the least bad position relative to climate change and much still needs to be done. Reporters reached out to Weigert because of her deep knowledge of sustainability, gained in part during her time as the city of Chicago’s first chief sustainability officer and in other sustainability leadership positions. Some of the programs she led helped Chicago earn its top billing in global climate resilience.
Today, Weigert is the director of the Baumhart Scholars MBA program, an innovative cohort program built around social impact and sustainability. "In the Baumhart Scholars MBA program, we serve changemakers from all sectors as they’re looking for that inflection point in their career," she says.
“In the last five cohorts, more than 90 percent of Baumhart Scholars have stepped into new roles or earned promotions across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors after they began the program.” Karen Weigert, Director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility
Funding impact
The Baumhart Center will soon launch the Baumhart Impact Fund to support early-stage, mission-driven startups advancing social and environmental impact. As part of a required MBA class, scholars will analyze potential funding recipients and gain valuable experience in assessing and evaluating financial returns, as well as social and environmental impact. They will present their analysis in class for final evaluation.
“It’s creating a distinctive educational experience for all of our scholars,” Weigert says. “It will help them strengthen their leadership and accelerate their opportunities as changemakers, regardless of the sector they land in.”
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Read how AI is not always the best choiceAccording to Weigert, the investments from the Baumhart Impact Fund will be meaningful, as they will range from $25,000 to $50,000 per company.
“In other words, it’s not just a hypothetical or theoretical exercise. There will be positive impact in our communities and to our environment thanks to the work of the Baumhart Scholars,” Weigert says.
Strengthening professional networks
The Baumhart Scholars MBA also helps its students develop the networks they need to make an impact in Chicago and around the world. The “Reboot Your Network for a Better World” series of events brings Baumhart Scholars together with social and environmental impact leaders from across Chicagoland.
The biannual Reboot events, sponsored by more than two dozen corporations and organizations, and hosted by corporations including Northern Trust and Morningstar, give scholars in-person networking opportunities to connect and establish relationships with hundreds of people from local for-profit and nonprofit organizations.
“It’s an intentional effort to build community and connection for individuals who will be working to address the great challenges of our time through their careers.” Karen Weigert, Director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility
Building careers
Tayo Adelabi Hill (MBA ’25) recalls a different event that led to her earning a coveted position at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), where she is director of culture and operations. Weigert brought Adelabi Hill and other Baumhart Scholars to a global presentation by TNC where Adelabi Hill met two key leaders of the organization, Executive Vice President Matt Brown and Chief Investment Officer Bola Olusanya.
“The Nature Conservancy had just released its first-ever Endowment Impact Report on its investing. It was very relevant and of particular interest in the work we were doing in Karen’s ESG [environmental, social, and governance] class at the time,” she says. “By happenstance, I ended up talking to Matt, and he was telling me about the work that TNC does on a global level in terms of conservation. It was obviously really impressive.”
Adelabi Hill was hired by TNC while still a Quinlan MBA student and today plays a major role in the operations of the organization.
Through the Baumhart Scholars MBA program, “you can get an MBA, but also practice and lead for good,” she says. “I think that it’s particularly important, especially right now, because so much is changing in the world and the dynamics of how businesses are doing their work is changing. I do believe, having gone through this program, that there is a way for profit and purpose to intersect.”
In her classes, Karen Weigert, director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility, connects profit and purpose.
A legacy of ethical leadership
For Weigert, the content of the Baumhart Scholars MBA curriculum, the connection to the community, and thought leadership are qualities that make the program stand out.
“It’s a distinctive educational experience,” she says. “We're working to support thriving communities in an inclusive economy on a healthy planet. And we're looking at how we can create the biggest impact for the most people for the longest period of time.”
This focus on social responsibility and business ethics is not new for the Quinlan School of Business. In the 1960s, Father Raymond Baumhart, S.J., who later became Loyola University Chicago’s longest-serving president, taught a course on business ethics at Loyola, helping spark an entire field of study.
“We are honored to be helping carry Fr. Baumhart’s legacy forward 60 years later through the Baumhart Scholars MBA, Baumhart Impact Fund, and everything the Baumhart Center does,” says Weigert.