Sloanies Talking with Sloanies

Michael Autery, SFMBA ’26, a United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer with fifteen years of active service, joined host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, on Sloanies Talking with Sloanies to discuss his journey from active duty to entrepreneurship. Coming from a working-class background and skeptical of the business world, Autery enrolled in the MIT Sloan Fellows program not knowing what came...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, speaks with Adela Jamal, SFMBA ’22, and Sebastian Barriga, SFMBA ’22, co-founders of MileMark Capital, about their journey from diverse global careers to launching an applied AI-focused venture fund. They reflect on how their time at MIT Sloan—particularly during the transitional post-pandemic period—brought th...

In this Sloanies Talking with Sloanies podcast, host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Nelson Repenning, PhD ’96, (School of Management Distinguished Professor of System Dynamics and Organization Studies) about his 2025 book There's Got to Be a Better Way , co-authored with Donald Kieffer (Senior Lecturer, System Dynamics). A system dynamics expert who started at MIT as a PhD candidat...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Dr. Sreenivas Koka, EMBA ’13, about how his multicultural upbringing and MIT Sloan experience transformed his approach to dentistry and leadership, emphasizing empathy and value-based care. Starting his academic journey at 19 at the University of Michigan’s School of Dentistry, Koka earned multiple d...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Yurui (Rui) Tong, MBAn ’21, a graduate of the MIT Sloan Master of Business Analytics program. Tong, reflects on her educational and professional journey through a personal lens of self-discovery and curiosity. Though passionate about logic and reasoning, she shares her early struggles with math, even...

In this episode, Snejina Zacharia, SF ’13, a 2013 MIT Sloan Fellow from Bulgaria, transformed a personal insurance frustration into a $500 million business by founding Insurify, the "Kayak of insurance." After a minor car accident during her time at MIT caused her premiums to spike, she discovered the absence of a comprehensive insurance comparison platform and spent over a year convinci...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert sits down with Raafet Azzouz, a 2024 Sloan Fellow at MIT Sloan, to explore his remarkable journey from a small town in Tunisia to global finance and entrepreneurship. Raafet shares how his early love for mathematics and humanities shaped his academic path through France, ultimately leading to senior roles at major financ...

In this episode from 2019, Christopher Reichert, MOT ‘04, sat down with David Schmittlein, former Dean (2007–2024) and Professor of Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management, to discuss many topics, including where he found inspiration in his personal and professional life. Support the show Thanks for listening! Find more episodes on the Sloanies Talking with Sloanies website. Learn more abo...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , Christopher Reichert interviews Henna Karna, EMBA ’18, who reflects on her academic and professional journey. Karna discusses how Sloan’s blend of quantitative and qualitative learning has shaped her approach to innovation, emphasizing engineering new patterns over relying on existing use cases. With a PhD in applied mathematics and a career span...

In this special episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, sits down with two distinguished guests: Admiral Thad Allen , SF ’89, former Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, and Frank Finelli , SM ’86, a senior advisor at The Carlyle Group and founder of the MIT Sloan Veterans Fund . Together, they discuss their experiences at MIT Sloan, the complexities...

In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Stephen Boyer , SDM ’08, co-founder and chief innovation officer at Bitsight . The conversation reflects on the evolution of cybersecurity, including the complexity of cyber threats and the challenges companies face in managing risks. Boyer shares insights from his career, discussing the importance o...

In this special episode of the podcast, Andrew Husband (Senior Writer & Editor, Office of External Relations) briefly assumes hosting duties to discuss five years of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies with host-turned-guest Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04. Reichert reflects on some of his most cherished and memorable conversations with MIT Sloan alumni and faculty—including the late Ed Roberts, SB ’...

Join host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, in a candid conversation with Jawad Ahsan, MIT Sloan Executive MBA alum, as they discuss the transformative power of an MBA, Ahsan's career growth from GE to entrepreneurial ventures, and the role MIT Sloan played in shaping his path. Discover how System Dynamics and MIT Sloan's collaborative ethos inspired Ahsan to pursue a portfolio career, bala...

On this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Ian Barkin, MBA ’06, co-founder of 2BVentures.  Barkin discusses his experience at MIT Sloan and how it influenced his career in consulting and outsourcing. He also talks about the concept of robotic process automation (RPA) and its role in intelligent automation. Barkin shares insights from his book...

A conversation with Yda Bouvier, MBA ’98, on her new book, Leading from the Right Brain , gleaned from her studies in applied physics, and years of coaching executives seeking to strengthen and transform their leadership style. Yda discusses how many leaders are especially capable in left-brain functioning, which serves them well in building strong strategic, problem solving, and goal-achievement...

A conversation with Shawna Young, EMBA ’15, on her experiences from North Carolina to Cambridge, from teaching high school to reinvigorating the Scratch Foundation at MIT and advocating for her community.  A graduate of Howard University, Shawna tells us about being in a space where her classmates could be themselves, “unapologetically black and ambitious.” It set her on a path to focus on the acc...

A conversation with Alexander Borschow, SB ’06, MBA ’14, on his journey from Puerto Rico to MIT undergraduate studying chemical biological engineering in Course 10B, then on to New York as a banker at BNP Paribas. On a trip in 2011 to northern Argentina, Alexander had a life-changing realization that the global food system was not sustainable. He returned to MIT Sloan for its strong program in sus...

A conversation with Roberto Rigobon and Juan Pablo Armas, on the 10th Anniversary of the MIT Sloan Latin America Office.  Professor Rigobon and Juan Pablo share the experiences of creating and building the Latin American office, the first of its kind, the challenges of creating a unified and impactful venue for sharing ideas on such a large continent, with disparate economies, education systems, a...

A conversation with Ricard Huguet, MOT ’04, from his start as Director of Innovation for the City of Barcelona, to following his vision of leveraging LEGO robotics for innovation in STEM education in both classrooms and executive suites. Ricard speaks about listening to his customers for ideas, the pivot he made in his company in 2008—in the face of the global economic downturn—and the latest addi...

Naji Gehchan, EMBA ’22 joins Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, to talk about the life experiences that led him to study medicine, and eventually start Sohati , a comprehensive website in Arabic that provides information about the health medical field, and informs his oncology work at Eli Lilly.  Naji talks about his chronic condition, which he calls “Impatientitus” and how he balances purpose with sp...