Four MBAs Receive 2026-27 Skip and Carrie Gordon Scholarships
Business+Impact (B+I) is pleased to announce Aaron Brodkey (MBA ‘27), Abigail Alpern Fisch (MBA ‘27), Mariana Chapouto Lopes (MBA/MS ‘27), and Licieli Olivo (MBA/MS ‘27) are the recipients of the 2026-27 Skip and Carrie Gordon Scholarships for outstanding commitment to impact. The award comes with $7,500 for each recipient. Gordon Scholars serve as B+I Student Ambassadors for the 2026-27 academic year.
Learn more about each of them by reading highlights about them:
Aaron Brodkey, MBA ’27
Aaron Brodkey wants mission-driven founders to have the capital and support to succeed. At Big Idea Ventures, he evaluated startups building a better food system as a senior analyst. He later co-founded Theo’s, a vegetable snack company sourcing from regenerative organic farms. Operational setbacks taught him that sustainability requires financial discipline and rigorous execution. At Ross, he serves as Co-Director of Deal Flow at the Wolverine Venture Fund and as an Applebaum Impact Design Fellow mentoring startups through the +Impact Studio. He hopes to back founders whose ventures deliver on the triple bottom line.
Abigail Alpern Fisch, MBA ’27
Abigail Alpern Fisch is passionate about empowering emerging leaders to create positive change. At Tufts University, she mobilized students, faculty, and alumni to advocate for the Peace and Justice Studies program. She later used nonprofit storytelling and leadership development training to amplify public service careers and strengthen public servants’ skills. At Ross, she serves as President of Net Impact and launched the inaugural Impact Investing, Consulting, and Philanthropy Summit. Through her leadership of the Social Venture Fund and internship at the Rockefeller Foundation, she explored financing strategies to expand economic opportunity. She hopes to strengthen mission-driven organizations and mentor future changemakers.
Mariana Chapouto Lopes, MS/MBA ’27
Mariana Chapouto Lopes sees environmental progress and social opportunity as inseparable. In Brazil, she taught environmental science to children from low-income families and helped implement waste management technology across fifteen municipalities. Working with waste pickers showed her that innovation must benefit communities receiving essential services. At Ross, she leads the International Investment Fund, developing impact investing education and broadening student participation. Her work in sustainable finance and renewable energy has deepened her understanding of the barriers preventing communities from acting. She hopes to mobilize investment in underserved emerging markets through development finance institutions and public-private collaboration, connecting local priorities with financing and partnerships that turn promising solutions into lasting improvements.
Licieli Olivo, MS/MBA ’27
Licieli Olivo grew up on a farm in Brazil, where a drought that hit her family showed her how fragile farmers’ lives can be. After immigrating to the United States, she worked in finance at a racial and economic justice nonprofit. At the Erb Institute, she focuses on sustainable sourcing and regenerative agriculture, and she leads the Food, Beverage & Agriculture Club. An internship with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers showed her that sustainability means little if it leaves workers behind. She hopes to help food companies source more sustainably while protecting the people who work the land.