Alex Wirth, Class of 2015
Alex Wirth is the Cofounder and CEO of Quorum, a public affairs software platform that enables organizations to launch grassroots advocacy campaigns, manage stakeholder engagement, and monitor dialogue in Washington, Brussels, all 50 states, and thousands of cities around the U.S. Quorum was named the top DC startup to watch in 2016 and 2017 and is used by Walmart, Coca-Cola, Apple, General Motors, Toyota, Lyft, Atena, and the United Nations. Alex was named by the Washingtonian as one of D.C.’s Top 100 Tech Leaders and sits on the Government Relations Executives Council, the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO, the Board of Directors of The Public Affairs Council, and the Board of Directors of the Forum for Youth Investment. Alex has spoken at the United Nations, Clinton Global Initiative, World Forum for Democracy, SXSW, and TedxFoggyBottom. Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Alex graduated from Harvard with a degree in Government and Economics and worked in the White House and U.S. Senate before starting Quorum.
Jenny Le, Class of 2014
At work, sometimes I’m asked what I studied at Harvard, and when I reply Government, people look a little confused since they cannot connect the dots. “Shouldn’t you be working for the government or in law school?” they’ll ask. I’ll crack a smile and tell them, “No. It’s a liberal arts concentration and helps me in consulting every day.” At Harvard, I studied Government with a secondary in East Asian Studies. Studying Government has opened a wide range of opportunities for me at work since I’ve learned how to think critically and work with individuals from other cultures. I currently work as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney, and my projects range from creating a 3 year e-commerce strategy for a mass merchant retailer to designing a new organization for a grocery retailer. Prior to consulting, I worked in a leadership rotational program at General Mills. Through my political psychology class (Gov 1372), I learned about the contributors to human bias in multi-national corporations and effective strategies to decrease the use of heuristics. Through understanding East Asian culture and history (Gov 1982 and Gov 94IA), I’ve been able to create a marketing strategy for Asian products (e.g. Pocky or shrimp crackers) in American grocery stores. At work, I’ve always had at least one international team member either from Australia, India, Japan, or Belgium (etc) and it’s been a boon to my confidence that I have studied comparative politics and can relate and understand other cultures. Studying Government will open a world of opportunities for you as well.