Pictured above: During the Fall Term Jim Weber T’86 (right), former CEO of Brooks Running Company and author of Running with Purpose, returned to campus to speak about authentic leadership and values-based business.
Tuck’s Alan Smith D'52 T'53 Visiting Executive (VE) Program brings leading executives from across industries to Hanover to share their experiences and connect with MBA students. Below, four VE Fellows reflect on their time with visiting executives and the lessons that stayed with them.
Sasha Greer T’26
“It’s often in those moments of uncertainty where real growth happens, and outcomes are shaped by the choices people are willing to make.”
The Visiting Executive Program has become one of the most meaningful parts of my Tuck experience because it brings together connection, reflection, and vulnerability in a way that’s not easily found elsewhere. Hearing leaders speak openly about difficult or defining moments sets a tone of honesty that shapes the rest of the conversation. These discussions offer a window into how decisions take shape in real time and how people navigate situations without clear answers. It’s often in those moments of uncertainty where real growth happens, and outcomes are shaped by the choices people are willing to make.
Marvena St. Agathe T’10 of Bank of America brought this perspective to life when she reflected on arriving at Tuck as Lehman Brothers, her former employer, was collapsing. The emphasis was not on the instability itself, but on what that moment made possible. She described a period that called for deeper self-belief and a willingness to keep moving forward without clear signals. In her telling, uncertainty became a setting where growth depended on how one chose to respond.
Bain’s Kate Stein T’16 and Michael McKay met with Tuck students to discuss their careers in private equity.
A similar idea surfaced in a different setting during a dinner with Sarah Burley Reid T’00 and George Craft T’12 from Spencer Stuart. Their reflections centered on exploring paths that had not initially been part of the plan, along with the hesitation that can come from stepping away from more traditional post-MBA roles. With time, those decisions proved to be defining because they created access to opportunities that would not have been visible otherwise. The MBA experience provided the foundation to navigate those choices with confidence, and what once felt uncertain ultimately opened the door to work that more closely aligned with their strengths and interests.
A lunch with Ola Peter Gjessing of Norges Bank Investment Management offered another perspective through a career shaped by multiple pivots before arriving at Norway’s sovereign wealth fund. His path spanned politics and journalism before investing, underscoring how varied experiences can broaden how someone sees the world and approaches complex problems. Rather than following a linear track, his career reflects how different environments can build a wider lens over time.
The true value of the Visiting Executive Program lies in the honest, open conversations it makes possible. Having leaders share the unfiltered realities of difficult turning points offers a clearer view into how those moments are actually navigated. I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for how these inflection points unfold and how much judgment is built in the middle of them.
Sam Baughan T’26
“Through sharing his background and the reasoning behind his career moves, he left us reassured about our own paths.”
Dwight Poler T’93, CEO and founder of ACCELR8—an early-stage climate technology fund—described his career path in three acts: learn, earn, and return. The detailed roles were never planned but the arc of evolving priorities was a north star from early on.
Dwight has built an impressive and diverse career: M&A at Morgan Stanley in New York and Tokyo, consulting at Bain & Company, and 24 years at Bain Capital, including opening and running the London office where he deployed over $10 billion across four funds. What surprised me was how many of the specific outcomes he attributed to serendipity rather than strategy. The key was “creating options and then being flexible enough to take risks when opportunities fit the arc.” He spoke candidly about the role coincidence plays in any career, and was clear that hard work alone does not produce success. Through sharing his background and the reasoning behind his career moves, he left us reassured about our own paths as long as those are grounded in intellectual curiosity, personal motivation, and an open, humble mindset.
A moment that stuck with me was Dwight’s description of moving to London in 2000 to open Bain Capital’s European private equity business. He took a significant risk in leaving an established platform in Boston to build something from scratch in a market where Bain Capital had no real track record or brand. The single most important decision he made was not a deal; it was who he hired in those first few years. In a new office with no institutional memory, the team he built effectively became the culture, the investment judgment, and the reputation of Bain Capital in Europe. Intentionality around getting those early hires right, and a self-reinforcing culture, compounded success over the next eighteen years.
We generally tend to think about leadership as what you do once you have a team and a defined role: how you set direction, give feedback, and make decisions. The discussion with Dwight shifted this view, as so much of the leadership leverage came from the upfront hiring and training decisions. What looks like great leadership later is usually the compounding of good hiring and culture building years earlier.
The insight I will carry forward is Dwight’s approach to investment judgment: keep it simple. Understand the few most critical things really deeply. Know why a company is actually performing if it is doing well. Focus on the key risks and leverage points (highest impact/uncertainty) and be honest when something does not fit. He was clear about lessons learned after a career of investing across decades in various stages and industries: avoid capital-intensive, cyclical, and opaque businesses (which bring incremental compounding risks), and focus on a smaller number of high-conviction ideas where the underlying logic is clean enough to explain in a sentence. Dwight was equally candid about the challenges of impact investing, where the added dimension of measurable social outcomes makes investment judgment even harder. That incremental complexity, with the need to better incorporate pricing of both positive and negative externalities, is very hard but represents the key challenge for next generation investors to get right.
Katherine Dutile T’26
“These conversations open doors and broaden minds as it relates to life and career post-Tuck.”
The Visiting Executive Program has been one of the most rewarding and impactful initiatives I've participated in during my time at Tuck, both as a Host Fellow and as an event participant. Sitting down to share a meal in an intimate setting allows students to ask personal questions of or request advice from accomplished leaders genuinely interested in supporting students. These conversations open doors and broaden minds as it relates to life and career post-Tuck.
This interest and investment in the future generation of Tuckies was evident during a lunch I hosted with Asheesh Gupta T’03, managing director at Audax Private Equity. As the meal began, rather than fielding questions from attendees, Asheesh asked each student to share a bit about themselves, following up with pointed questions specific to their experience and career aspirations. As the conversation progressed, it was clear that Asheesh wanted to make the most of this time to impart advice tailored towards those in the room. Despite his busy schedule for the day, Asheesh offered to extend the lunch and shared his contact information to continue conversations after the event. It’s moments like these that demonstrate the caliber of Tuck network and the commitment to support each other beyond the two years on campus.
Tuck MBAs connected with Todd Liker T’00, portfolio manager and co-head of real estate at Oaktree Capital Management, during a lunchtime discussion.
Lunch with Lauren Day, Group Head of Communications & Corporate Affairs at Allianz, changed the way I look toward my future career. Despite her title and influence (she found time to visit Tuck amidst her busy travel schedule attending Davos, the Winter Olympics, and the Munich Security Conference), she admitted she never imagined herself in her current seat. Rather than climbing a linear career ladder, she focused on building relationships, identifying mentors, and taking opportunities even when they may not have made sense on paper. Looking back now, there are multiple threads connecting the seemingly random turns her career took, eventually leading her to the global executive role she has today. This lesson was particularly impactful for me and other attendees embarking on new career paths post-MBA. I value the time Lauren put into sharing her story, and plan to leverage her advice and the uniquely supportive Tuck network to chart my own career path in the years to come.
Stephen Richlen T’26
“Good leadership is not about pretending to have all the answers. It’s about knowing yourself, being honest about what you do and do not do well, and building a team you trust.”
One of the best parts of Tuck is how intentionally it creates opportunities for real connection. The Visiting Executive program is a great example of that. It gives students the chance to spend meaningful time with leaders in a setting that feels personal, informal, and honest. Through the fellowship program, those conversations become even more special because they create space for curiosity, reflection, and the kind of dialogue that is hard to replicate in a classroom. It is one of the clearest examples of what makes Tuck unique, and why students should take full advantage of the community and access that exists here.
At a dinner I hosted at Pine in Hanover with Jesse LaFlamme, CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Eggs, what surprised me most was how authentic he was. From the moment he sat down, he seemed genuinely interested in each student’s story and stayed engaged through the entire time. I was especially struck by the way he described stepping into the CEO role. Rather than trying to control every part of the business, he quickly identified where he could have the greatest impact and where he needed to hire great people to fill his gaps. That self-awareness clearly served him well from day one through the eventual sale of the business.
Spending time with Jesse shaped the way I think about leadership because he made humility look like a strength, not a weakness. His story reinforced that good leadership is not about pretending to have all the answers. It’s about knowing yourself, being honest about what you do and do not do well, and building a team you trust. That mindset also came through in the way he engaged with us, not as if he was performing as a CEO, but as someone who genuinely enjoyed the conversation and cared about the people around the table.
One insight I will carry forward is how lasting Tuck relationships can be. Jesse shared that he attended the Tuck Business Bridge Program while he was an undergraduate at Bates, and during that experience he was introduced to a mentor. At the time, Pete and Gerry’s was already his family business, but he was not involved in it yet. More than twenty years later, he still keeps in touch with that mentor. I found that story especially meaningful because it showed that the Tuck community is not just something you experience while you are here, it is something that can stay with you for decades.
What made the night so special, though, was the feeling around the table. The conversation bounced from Tripod Hockey crashes to negotiating with bankers on an exit to the politicization of egg prices, and somehow it never felt forced or formal. Everyone was engaged, smiling, and clearly enjoying the chance to just sit with someone who had led with both ambition and authenticity. Nights like that are exactly why the Visiting Executive program is so valuable at Tuck—they create the kind of honest, memorable conversations that stay with you.
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