Team Rubicon Wharton 2011
Team Rubicon is thrilled to continue its partnership with the Wharton School to address business challenges critical to Team Rubicon and to give Wharton students an opportunity to shape disaster response through business expertise. Wharton’s newest course, “Management of Crisis Relief Preparedness and Response” provides the setting for this years collaboration.
Wharton’s Disaster Response Offering
From 2000-2010 natural disasters affected (displaced, injured, killed) nearly 3 billion people around the world. Additionally, during this time, irreparable disasters have struck numerous high profile corporations and organizations from Enron to more recently BP.
Natural disasters, business failures, and organizational upheavals are some of the most pressing challenges faced by today’s leaders. This course is an opportunity for business school students to learn crisis management skills, but more importantly to learn how to implement systems to prevent and mitigate the impact of potential crisis. Students will develop an understanding of how a disaster impacts various institutions from developing countries to for profit corporations. In addition to completing course readings and attending lectures, students will utilize their talents to assist organizations dedicated to mitigating the effects of disasters. The curriculum is designed to leverage the talented Wharton community (students, faculty, and alumni) to improve the lives of disaster victims through a well-coordinated strategic response.
Business Challenge
Team Rubicon ‘s mission is to respond to natural and man-made disasters around the world and deploy small, self-sustaining, highly skilled teams to these areas. Consequently, Team Rubicon has to employ extensive risk management practices throughout the organization prior to and during the deployments of these teams. These practices include performing all-encompassing due diligence, developing and managing relationships with domestic and international organizations, conducting threat vulnerability assessments, and establishing contingency plans for their teams.
Key Deliverables
Team Rubicon is excited to pair with Wharton for the second year in a row as the organization continues to gain recognition and fill a critical gap in aid response. This year’s project includes assessing and further refining Team Rubicon’s risk management strategy and practices. Key deliverables include:
- Assessing and defining the overall Risk Management Strategy and developing an action plan for Team Rubicon teams worldwide.
- Building relationships with other non-profits and intelligence organizations to identify best practices and create model threat vulnerability assessments for TR.
- Develop briefs , mission risk mitigation templates, and a knowledge retention strategy to be used by TR prior to, during, and post missions.
Impact on Organization and Community
Team Rubicon seeks to bridge the critical time gap between large natural and man-made disasters with conventional response, this project would enable TR to use business practices to successfully perform this mission and mitigate the overall risk to TR teams in the field around the world.
Shannon Malone is a student in the Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizational Leadership program at the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked on several reconstruction projects in New Orleans, LA and Houston, TX after Hurricanes Katrina and Ike with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. She has also worked in Education in Puerto Cortes, Honduras. She obtained a BA in English in 2008 from Tougaloo College in Mississippi.
Anthony Crawford is a second year law student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He honorably served 11 years in the United States Marine Corps as a CH-53E helicopter pilot deploying several times including tours in Iraq in 2003 and again in 2006. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Christopher DePizzo is a second-year law student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a certificate candidate at The Wharton School. He graduated from Saint Peter’s College in '09 where he majored in Political Science and History. While at Saint Peter’s,Chris participated both in the Division I Football and intercollegiate debate, where he was twice a national semifinalist. Before law school, Chris worked in the national headquarters of a United States presidential campaign and spent time with an international law firm. Last summer he worked at Patton Boggs LLP and this summer he will be working with Jones Day.
Lauren Dana Rosenblatt is a first-year MBA student at the Wharton School pursuing a degree in Finance, Strategy Management, and Decision Processes. Lauren has previously worked as a Computer Scientist and Project Manager. She holds an MSE in Computer Science and a BS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics with an Entrepreneurship Minor from Johns Hopkins University.
Fernanda Mattar is a first year Wharton MBA student. Prior to business school she studied Production Engineering and worked in strategy consulting for Accenture in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her experience includes project in growth strategy and strategic implementation in retailers, durable goods, telecom and banks. She also worked as pro-bono consultant to micro entrepreneurs in Brazil.
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