MBA Fellow Develops an ESG Proposal for Kyndryl
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During the summer of 2022, Kirsten Abel (MBA '23) interned as an NYU Stern MBA Sustainability Fellow at Kyndryl. Read on to learn more about her time there:
Name: Kirsten Abel
Year: 2023
Specialization: Sustainable Business and Innovation
Briefly describe your internship experience (company, department, your focus projects/deliverables).
ESG Strategy Intern with Kyndryl. During my internship I had two key projects. One project related to leveraging Kyndryl’s recently completed Materiality Assessment. I conducted a competitive analysis to identify priority issue areas. I developed a project to have meaningful impact for a material ESG issue. My final deliverable included a proposal of project scope and next steps. My second project expanded on how the UN SDGs could be leveraged to measure and report impact. My final deliverable was a roadmap of potential metrics, communication recommendations, and proposed next steps to implement the metrics.
How will this experience add value to the rest of your time at Stern? How did it prepare you for your future career path?
I learned so much from my summer interning at Kyndryl. Prior to Stern, I worked at a small start-up nonprofit and I knew that I was interested in the intersection of business and sustainability. I wanted an opportunity for my summer internship that allowed me to gain a greater understanding of what roles relating to that would look like, as well as the opportunity to work at a large public company. Working at Kyndryl fit both of these criteria! It allowed me to apply my past work experiences as well as deepen my understanding of concepts I learned as an MBA1. I am now taking this experience into the classroom this year to see further applications of my work. During my internship, I focused a lot of research on Human Rights and decided to add the class Global Markets, Human Rights, and the Press with Professor Posner this fall. Overall, I feel better equipped to pivoting with hands-on ESG experience.
Name: Kirsten Abel
Year: 2023
Specialization: Sustainable Business and Innovation
Briefly describe your internship experience (company, department, your focus projects/deliverables).
ESG Strategy Intern with Kyndryl. During my internship I had two key projects. One project related to leveraging Kyndryl’s recently completed Materiality Assessment. I conducted a competitive analysis to identify priority issue areas. I developed a project to have meaningful impact for a material ESG issue. My final deliverable included a proposal of project scope and next steps. My second project expanded on how the UN SDGs could be leveraged to measure and report impact. My final deliverable was a roadmap of potential metrics, communication recommendations, and proposed next steps to implement the metrics.
How will this experience add value to the rest of your time at Stern? How did it prepare you for your future career path?
I learned so much from my summer interning at Kyndryl. Prior to Stern, I worked at a small start-up nonprofit and I knew that I was interested in the intersection of business and sustainability. I wanted an opportunity for my summer internship that allowed me to gain a greater understanding of what roles relating to that would look like, as well as the opportunity to work at a large public company. Working at Kyndryl fit both of these criteria! It allowed me to apply my past work experiences as well as deepen my understanding of concepts I learned as an MBA1. I am now taking this experience into the classroom this year to see further applications of my work. During my internship, I focused a lot of research on Human Rights and decided to add the class Global Markets, Human Rights, and the Press with Professor Posner this fall. Overall, I feel better equipped to pivoting with hands-on ESG experience.