Rebecca (Becky) Duane is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and developed ‘Data and AI Strategies for Social Impact Organizations’. She is passionate about using data and technology to catalyze social impact outcomes. During her career, she has driven initiatives that leverage the power of data and technology to address poverty in low-income communities and continues to champion tech for social impact at IBM.
In her current role at IBM, she drives strategic partnerships, M&A and the AI for Social Good initiative for the Data and AI business. She previously led business development for IBM Blockchain. Becky joined IBM as a senior consultant where she worked on social impact engagements with IBM Corporate Social Responsibility along with other strategic projects for IBM Watson and the Systems business.
Prior to IBM, she spent a decade working in financial services starting in private wealth management at a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. She then moved to the social sector focusing on advancing economic opportunity and financial inclusion. She has led strategic initiatives with United Way, NYC’s Office of Financial Empowerment under former Mayor Bloomberg and The Robin Hood Foundation through a partnership with McKinsey & Co. Becky established a consulting practice to advise senior executives, government agencies, nonprofits and foundations on designing and implementing financial empowerment strategies. She codified these learnings and experiences in a social enterprise SaaS platform, Change Machine, that provides organizations with tools for measuring outcomes and quantifying impact. She was responsible for product development, strategy, design and go-to-market efforts.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of social entrepreneurship and innovation as a set of promising pathways to drive social change across sectors using a systems-led approach. Students will delve into understanding complex social and environmental problems at a systems level, equipping them to contribute to long-term, sustainable solutions. The course looks at different approaches to creating and implementing social change within systems and through startups, corporate environments (intrapreneurship), nonprofit organizations, and the public sector. Students will explore social entrepreneurship from its origins to present-day practices, examine what differentiates effective interventions, and contemplate the challenges of social entrepreneurship. The course fosters a practical and reflective approach to designing and leading initiatives that create lasting social impact. Students will develop the skills to align social impact ideas with community needs and market opportunities, analyze root causes, map existing solutions in an ecosystem, and practice using tools to operationalize their ideas. By weaving critical thinking, practical tools, and real-world examples throughout the course, students are prepared not only to understand the role of social entrepreneurship as part of a toolkit for social change, but also to engage as social entre(intra)preneurs and innovators capable of navigating and influencing complex social systems.
Data plays an increasingly important role in powering today’s enterprises, governments and society as a whole. With the rapid pace of innovation, data science, advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly central and critical to business today. Over time, social impact organizations will deem these tools as core to achieving their mission.
This course will enable future social sector leaders to leverage these powerful tools along with an organization’s data footprint and external data sources to accelerate their organizations’ impact. This course aims to develop students’ understanding of what it takes to propel organizations along their journey to advanced use of data and AI.
New organizations may look to proactively build a culture of data from the start, while many established organizations may be navigating their digitization journey by putting new tech practices in place such as replacing paper systems with digital records, implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or establishing Marketing Technology (MarTech) stacks to more effectively and efficiently communicate with stakeholders across different social channels.
Students can play an important role in enabling organizations to meet the challenge of leveraging their digital footprint. This will help them more effectively communicate with stakeholders and funders, expand their donor and investor base, improve service delivery, innovate on products and program models, derive new insights to inform policy agendas, and leverage data for advocacy efforts.
Couples with CAP-GP.3302
As part of the core curriculum of the NYU Wagner Masters program, Capstone teams spend an academic year addressing challenges and identifying opportunities for a client organization or working on a pre-approved, team-generated project in which they develop a business case or prototype to create social impact or launch a social enterprise.
Data plays an increasingly important role in powering today’s enterprises, governments and society as a whole. With the rapid pace of innovation, data science, advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly central and critical to business today. Over time, social impact organizations will deem these tools as core to achieving their mission.
This course will enable future social sector leaders to leverage these powerful tools along with an organization’s data footprint and external data sources to accelerate their organizations’ impact. This course aims to develop students’ understanding of what it takes to propel organizations along their journey to advanced use of data and AI.
New organizations may look to proactively build a culture of data from the start, while many established organizations may be navigating their digitization journey by putting new tech practices in place such as replacing paper systems with digital records, implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or establishing Marketing Technology (MarTech) stacks to more effectively and efficiently communicate with stakeholders across different social channels.
Students can play an important role in enabling organizations to meet the challenge of leveraging their digital footprint. This will help them more effectively communicate with stakeholders and funders, expand their donor and investor base, improve service delivery, innovate on products and program models, derive new insights to inform policy agendas, and leverage data for advocacy efforts.
Couples with CAP-GP.3302
As part of the core curriculum of the NYU Wagner Masters program, Capstone teams spend an academic year addressing challenges and identifying opportunities for a client organization or working on a pre-approved, team-generated project in which they develop a business case or prototype to create social impact or launch a social enterprise.
Data plays an increasingly important role in powering today’s enterprises, governments and society as a whole. With the rapid pace of innovation, data science, advanced analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly central and critical to business today. Over time, social impact organizations will deem these tools as core to achieving their mission.
This course will enable future social sector leaders to leverage these powerful tools along with an organization’s data footprint and external data sources to accelerate their organizations’ impact. This course aims to develop students’ understanding of what it takes to propel organizations along their journey to advanced use of data and AI.
New organizations may look to proactively build a culture of data from the start, while many established organizations may be navigating their digitization journey by putting new tech practices in place such as replacing paper systems with digital records, implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, or establishing Marketing Technology (MarTech) stacks to more effectively and efficiently communicate with stakeholders across different social channels.
Students can play an important role in enabling organizations to meet the challenge of leveraging their digital footprint. This will help them more effectively communicate with stakeholders and funders, expand their donor and investor base, improve service delivery, innovate on products and program models, derive new insights to inform policy agendas, and leverage data for advocacy efforts.