Initiative Puts Business Leadership in Focus
For Yale Law School students interested in careers in business, “nontraditional” is a powerful watchword.
This past fall, the Michael S. and Alexa B. Chae Initiative for Private Sector Leadership, part of The Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School, hosted lectures, speakers, and networking events that emphasized the range of career possibilities in private sector leadership.
During Business Leadership Month in October, students attended a lunch talk with Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach ’05 titled “Leading a Company from Founding to IPO.”
Leach spoke of his journey from Yale Law School to U.S. Supreme Court clerk to litigation partner, before pivoting to starting his own business — a company he came up with from observing how people kept track of their receipts.
Tom Glocer ’84, former CEO of Thomson Reuters, moderated a conversation with former CEO and current Morgan Stanley Executive Chairman James Gorman. Gorman spoke about the difference between managing and leading, the importance of an organization’s culture, and the challenges of leading through crises.
The speaker series tackled social entrepreneurship with a talk by Nick Gulino ’18, founder and CEO of Recover, a start-up company that leverages technology to help people suffering from addiction to find their path to recovery. New York Times bestselling author Daniel H. Pink ’91 also visited campus to speak about harnessing the power of regret in nontraditional careers.
Also in the fall, Chae Fellows visited New York City’s Queens Night Market, where they met with founder and CEO John Wang ’09, and sampled some of the open-air market’s wares.
The series often touched on qualities that can help law school graduates become effective leaders across a range of industries.
For Chae fellow Alyshia Laidlaw ’26, Leach’s talk was a standout.
“He started his own business that has been profoundly successful, and I found that inspiring,” said Laidlaw. “He had a lot of advice about how to approach law school as someone who is more interested in business than law and how to stay on your own path.”
The Chae Initiative’s emphasis on nontraditional career paths after law school is bolstered by a powerful network of alumni who are willing to offer support, Laidlaw added.
“The Chae fellowship has cultivated such a vibrant community of students, faculty, and alumni excited about tackling stubborn, systemic problems through innovation,” said Matt Post ’25. “Between the program's many speaker events and the immersive New York trip, I've really enjoyed seeing the full range of meaningful work you can apply your YLS legal education to.”
Mary J. L. Herrington, co-head of The Tsai Leadership Program and executive director of the Chae Initiative, said that the speaker series and Business Leadership Month serve as a springboard for students to begin thinking about their career aspirations and how they might chart their own paths.
“This year, we are broadening the aperture to a wider array of business roles — from ones involving the leadership of global brands, to one that went from scrappy start-up to a listing on the NYSE, to one that is within the food industry of New York City. We ultimately hope to show students that there are many roles in business and aim to demystify what they are.”
This spring, the Chae Initiative will host a presentation on franchise entrepreneurship and a workshop titled “Entrepreneurship: How to Pitch to Investors,” as well as additional speaker events with CEOs of tech and software businesses, a speaker event with former Merck CEO Ken Frazier, and other events. More details about upcoming events can be found on the program’s website.
