Georgetown McDonough Welcomes First Kramer MBA Entrepreneurship Fellows
This fall, Georgetown McDonough selected two first-year MBA students to be the school’s inaugural Tivia S. and Richard L. Kramer MBA Entrepreneurship Fellows. Both Ananya Das (MBA’21) and Alexander Williams (MBA’21) will have the opportunity to become engaged in the operations of Georgetown Entrepreneurship, a faculty-run initiative at McDonough that offers programming to all Georgetown University students, supports the successful growth of alumni ventures, and leverages the power of entrepreneurship to make an impact in the world beyond Georgetown.
As part of the fellowship, each student will receive a $20,000 per year scholarship for a total of $40,000. MBA applicants applying for Fall 2020 and beyond are automatically considered for the fellowship.
“We are excited about being part of the Georgetown University community and expanding the school’s entrepreneurial development program and objectives,” said Richard Kramer, who established the fellowship with his wife, Tivia, this year. “Our future leaders will benefit from the skills and exposure this will offer.”
Das previously worked at a social enterprise in Singapore focusing on environmental sustainability strategy and education. As an environmental sustainability strategy consultant, she worked with organizations seeking to incorporate sustainability into their operations by developing short- and long-term roadmaps for them. While she was based in Singapore, her projects were scattered across Southeast Asia and India.
“It’s an extreme honor and also a great platform for me to engage more students across both McDonough and Georgetown and to be a part of the entrepreneurship family,” Das said.
Before arriving at McDonough, Williams was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy, most recently stationed at Surface Forces Atlantic as an enlisted manning officer. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, he completed his undergraduate degree at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Williams decided to apply to McDonough because he “fell in love with Georgetown after attending an information and class session last year. I embraced the global aspect of the program and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the experiences and cultural norms of the many international students and, in turn, how their experiences affected their different viewpoints on issues that were debated in class.”
After earning an MBA, Das hopes to use her experience in entrepreneurship to create social change. For Williams, the entrepreneurship fellowship is the first step to starting his own business after Georgetown.
The Kramer Entrepreneurship Fellowship is made possible by the generosity of Tivia and Richard Kramer (P’22). Tivia is a former senior credit officer at a major Japanese bank who presently is active in numerous charities and community efforts including Greenwich Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital, and the Kennedy Center. Richard is chairman of the board of the Republic Family of Companies, whose primary focus is the development, management, and ownership of investment-grade real estate. He has been a managing general partner, co-managing partner, or general partners of more than 100 real estate partnerships and has more than 40 years of experience in the acquisition, development and management of over $7 billion dollars in real estate projects throughout the country.