How and Why American Voters Are Divided and What It Means For The Future

Join us for an evening with Diane Hessan, Entrepreneur, Investor, Board Member & Columnist (MBA ’77) who will discuss the findings of her 4 -year extensive research project, conducted to understand the American Voter.  With a panel of 500 voters from all ends of the political spectrum, she collected nearly 7 million pieces of data and wrote over 50 Op-Eds about her insights for The Boston Globe.

In this non-partisan session, we will hear Diane’s perspective and learnings from her research on where and why we are divided, how Trump voters and Biden voters were thinking about the world, and how it will impact the future of our country.

Webinar Information

HBS Association of Boston Member - Complimentary

Non Member - $15 

Diane Hessan (MBA '77)

Entrepreneur, Investor, Board Member & Columnist

Diane Hessan is a successful entrepreneur and seasoned board member, with deep experience in go-to-market strategy, digital transformation, and disruptive innovation. She has been part of the founding team of 3 companies, most notably Communispace, where she was CEO, leading the company through 14 years of exponential growth. Communispace was the first company to apply social media to market research, when no one knew what social media was. She led the company’s sale to Omnicom in 2011, and went on to lead several other organizations. A serial entrepreneur, Diane has consolidated all of her investment and advisory work into a new company called Salient Ventures, which will help accelerate the next generation of growth companies in tech. 

Diane serves on the boards of Eastern Bank, Brightcove (BCOV), Tufts University, Mass Challenge, CoachUp, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and is Special Advisor to Datapoint Capital, a leading early-stage venture firm. She also served on the board of Panera (PNRA) until its sale to JMB in 2016.  In 2017, the Boston Globe appointed her to its Editorial Board. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.A. in Economics from Tufts University.

She co-authored the book Customer-Centered Growth: Five Strategies for Building Competitive Advantage, a Business Week best-seller that is published in 11 languages.  Over the last 5 years, she has keynoted at over 50 events, focusing on leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation and customer centricity – and has been a frequent guest on national news programs.

Diane has received many honors, including the Pinnacle Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Most Admired CEO award and Boston Power 50 awards from the Boston Business Journal, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year (National Finalist), the Northstar Award from Springboard, the Great Boston Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year, and a range of Best Boss citations.  In 2014, she was inducted into the Babson Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs and she received the Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship from Brandeis.  C Space also won many major awards – both for innovation, technology and impact -- in the market research arena. In 2018, Diane received honorary doctorates from Bentley University and the New England College of Business.

She has 2 grown daughters, and is also founder of The Sound Bytes, an a cappella group that sings about business.

Ivy Jack (MBA '04) [Moderator]

Head of Equity Research - Northstar Asset Management, Inc.

Ivy Jack is head of equity research for NorthStar Asset Management, a Boston-based wealth management firm that specializes in socially responsible investing, through shareholder engagement, impact investing, and selecting publicly traded securities via negative and positive screens.  Ivy currently sits on the board of governors for the HBS Association of Boston and the board of directors for the Harvard Business School African American Alumni Association.   In addition, she sits on the board of directors for Brookview House, and she is a member of YW Boston’s finance committee.