The Impact, Value, and Sustainable Business Initiative is pleased to announce the 2026 recipients of the John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund.
Now in it’s 21st year, the loan forgiveness fund has awarded over $2.7 million to 135+ alumni. The fund created by John Bendheim, W’40, and his son Tom, WG/Lauder’90, and managed by Wharton Impact, supports Wharton alumni who are using their business acumen to solve the world’s most pressing issues.
These 10 Bendheim Fellows receiving loan forgiveness are representative of the growing community of Wharton alumni engaged in the business of social impact. This year’s fellows include leaders in nonprofits, social entrepreneruship, and government across healthcare, technology, the arts, news, and more.
The Bendheim Family shared, “Nonprofits and socially driven enterprises urgently need Wharton-trained leaders to navigate shrinking funding and tightening regulations. The Bendheim program’s loan support lowers barriers for graduates to step into leadership roles, empowering them to serve those in need and drive positive societal change.”
The funding decisions are made by a committee composed of Wharton representatives (Wharton Impact, MBA Career Management, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, and the Wharton Executive MBA program) and select previous recipients of Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Awards.
The recipients for this year include the following social impact leaders:
Dr. Esther Ajari is the Founder of The TriHealthon Development Network, an NGO promoting health equity in Africa via its Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative, its End Childhood Malnutrition and Diarrhea Initiative, and its Global Research Initiative. She has also participated in several impact based fellowship programs such as the Dalai Lama Fellowship, the Obama Young Africa Leader Fellowship, the Clinton Global Initiative Fellowship, and the TEDx Johannesburg Fellowship. Also, she has worked as a researcher for the Council of Europe, and the China Global South Project, and was the African Union’s sole delegate to the 2019 G(irls)20 summit held at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.
Michael Greer is President and CEO of ArtsFund, where he leads one of the nation’s most influential arts and culture funders serving Washington State. He oversees strategic planning, statewide grantmaking, advocacy, and partnerships that strengthen the nonprofit arts, cultural, and creative sector. Under his leadership, ArtsFund has expanded its grantmaking, data-driven research, and policy engagement to advance equity, sustainability, and access to the arts. Greer is deeply engaged in civic and philanthropic networks, working with corporate, nonprofit, and public-sector leaders to elevate the role of arts and culture in economic and community development. His background as a professional artist, arts administrator, and international roles in both manufacturing and financial services has contributed to sector-wide collaboration and long-term impact.
Rupesh Jeyaram received his MBA in Business, Energy, Environment and Sustainability from Wharton in 2024. He is the CEO and Founder of Revise Robotics, a startup automating the $85B refurbished electronics market. While at Caltech, he studied computer science and explored his twin passions for sustainability and engineering. With the goal of starting a startup, he earned his MBA at Wharton while also working at a robotics startup called Renovate Robotics, where he built the computer vision system for a robot that installs roofs.
Youssef Kalad received his MBA from Wharton in 2023, graduating with Honors in the Entrepreneurship & Innovation major. While at Wharton, Youssef joined AlleyCorp, one of New York’s oldest and most-active early-stage VC funds, to help create its Economic Infrastructure venture portfolio. At AlleyCorp, Youssef backs founders building companies that matter for the world, especially those rethinking how Americans learn, earn, access care, and interact with the government. He also works on Nonprofit ENG(INE), AlleyCorp’s philanthropic commitment to placing AI/ML, engineering, and product experts in leading nonprofits like Planned Parenthood, Recidiviz, Upsolve, mRelief, and Mobile Pathways. Prior to Wharton, Youssef led teams at Uber and in city and state government. He’s a proud immigrant and son of working class parents.
Armin Zaman Khan, WG’24, is Co-founder and CEO of Romoni Services Limited, Bangladesh’s pioneering beauty-tech platform empowering women micro-entrepreneurs. Since founding Romoni in 2017, she has scaled the venture to serve over 100,000 customers while enabling women beauticians to triple their incomes through structured training, digital tools, and access to working capital. After completing her Wharton MBA and working at Tesla on AI transformation programs, Armin returned to full-time leadership of Romoni in 2025 to accelerate women’s economic mobility during Bangladesh’s historic period of social reform. She is an Acumen Fellow and continues to mentor Wharton students from emerging markets exploring entrepreneurship and social impact careers.
Ignacio Marchionna, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, grew up in a multicultural environment that shaped his global perspective early on. He studied economics and accounting at Universidad del CEMA and began his career in management consulting, working across Latin America in industries ranging from fintech to logistics, both in the private and public sector. He later joined Mercado Libre’s (NYSE: $MELI) Business Transformation team before founding startups in hospitality, which were heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Ignacio is helping build the Latin American startup ecosystem through Draper Startup House, where they run equity-free programs supporting early-stage tech founders from Latin America, and the U.S.
Moira Moynihan is a 2023 graduate of the concurrent Wharton and Harvard Kennedy School MBA/MPA program. At Wharton, Moira majored in Organizational Effectiveness and was active in WGA as the Vice President of Social Impact for her cluster. She currently works at the United States Postal Service, where she oversees the organization’s leadership programs as a part of the larger corporate succession planning strategy. Moira began her career as a Teach for America corps member in Nashville, TN. Moira taught and was a school based leader in Title I schools for seven years before enrolling at Wharton.
Dan Petty completed his executive MBA at Wharton in 2022 with majors in finance and strategic management. He is the director of audience strategy at ProPublica, a non-profit, independent news organization that investigates abuses of power and betrayals of the public trust. He leads a team focused on growing the reach, engagement and loyalty of audiences to ProPublica’s journalism, published across a variety of platforms.
Shrinidhi Rao is Chief of Staff at the Burning Glass Institute, where he leads initiatives to expand economic mobility and opportunity for all. As Chief of Staff, he managed the Institute’s thought leadership and research around a broad portfolio of topics, from skills-based hiring to the impacts of generative artificial intelligence on the workforce. He has also spearheaded flagship initiatives including the American Opportunity Index—a corporate scorecard assessing worker mobility at large U.S. employers—and the Credential Value Index, which brings clarity to an opaque credentials landscape. His work has been featured in major media outlets, informing national discussions on the future of work.Prior to joining the Institute, Shrinidhi spent time at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ashley Sogge is the Director of Global Operations at Hala Systems, where she leads global teams delivering technology solutions in complex, high-risk environments. With nearly two decades of experience across the U.S. military, humanitarian operations, and technology sectors, she brings a disciplined, results-oriented approach to organizational leadership, operational scale, and risk management. Her career includes service in U.S. Army Special Operations and senior leadership roles in humanitarian technology, where she has overseen large, cross-border programs in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen. Ashley’s work integrates strategic planning, financial management, and execution, informed by her MBA from The Wharton School in Finance and Strategic Management. Her career focus reflects a deep commitment to ethical leadership, operational integrity, and the responsible use of technology in service of vulnerable populations.