Camille Sheffield

Like many of her classmates, Camille Sheffield, MA ’17, thought about consulting after graduation. But as she considered it more closely, she realized it wouldn’t be a good fit. “You can do a lot of work, produce this beautiful report, and then see it sit on a shelf because your client doesn’t have enough funding, or there is a change in leadership,” she says. Wanting to invest in human capital as change agents, Sheffield instead ended up working for an executive search firm with a focus on bringing women and people of color into leadership positions in nonprofits, health care and academia. (One of her placements: the only woman of color currently leading a top-30 law school.) A diverse workforce broadens learning across organizations, driving efficiency and creativity. But Sheffield, who graduated from the Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies (POLS) program at the GSE, is more personally motivated by the pursuit of equity. “Underrepresented populations have continually been excluded and marginalized at all levels of our educational system, but especially at the top,” she says. “It’s not until we have these leaders in positions of power that we have potential to see lasting, systemic change.”