Sloanies Talking with Sloanies is a conversational podcast with alumni and faculty about the MIT Sloan experience and how it influences what they're doing today. Over the course of this podcast, you will hear from guests who are making a difference in their community, including our own very important one here at MIT Sloan. Sloanies Talking with Sloanies is hosted by Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, and produced by the Office of External Relations at MIT Sloan School of Management. For more…
Michael Autery, SFMBA ’26, a United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer with fifteen years of active service, joined host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, on Sloanies Talking with Sloanies to discuss his journey from active duty to entrepreneurship. Coming from a working-class background and skeptical of the business world, Autery enrolled in the MIT Sloan Fellows program not knowing what came…
Adela Jamal, SFMBA ’22, and Sebastian Barriga, SFMBA ’22: Building milemark, Applied AI, and the Power of Global Perspectives
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, speaks with Adela Jamal, SFMBA ’22, and Sebastian Barriga, SFMBA ’22, co-founders of MileMark Capital, about their journey from diverse global careers to launching an applied AI-focused venture fund. They reflect on how their time at MIT Sloan—particularly during the transitional post-pandemic period—brought…
In this Sloanies Talking with Sloanies podcast, host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Nelson Repenning, PhD ’96, (School of Management Distinguished Professor of System Dynamics and Organization Studies) about his 2025 book There's Got to Be a Better Way , co-authored with Donald Kieffer (Senior Lecturer, System Dynamics). A system dynamics expert who started at MIT as a PhD candidate at…
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Dr. Sreenivas Koka, EMBA ’13, about how his multicultural upbringing and MIT Sloan experience transformed his approach to dentistry and leadership, emphasizing empathy and value-based care. Starting his academic journey at 19 at the University of Michigan’s School of Dentistry, Koka earned multiple…
Yurui (Rui) Tong, MBAn ’21, on Tackling Hard Problems, AI in Practice, and the Power of Storytelling
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, interviews Yurui (Rui) Tong, MBAn ’21, a graduate of the MIT Sloan Master of Business Analytics program. Tong, reflects on her educational and professional journey through a personal lens of self-discovery and curiosity. Though passionate about logic and reasoning, she shares her early struggles with math,…
Snejina Zacharia, SF ’13: From MIT Classroom to Insurance Disruptor
In this episode, Snejina Zacharia, SF ’13, a 2013 MIT Sloan Fellow from Bulgaria, transformed a personal insurance frustration into a $500 million business by founding Insurify, the "Kayak of insurance." After a minor car accident during her time at MIT caused her premiums to spike, she discovered the absence of a comprehensive insurance comparison platform and spent over a year convincing…
Raafet Azzouz, SFMBA ’24: Stories, Strategy, and the Strength of the Immigrant Experience
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert sits down with Raafet Azzouz, a 2024 Sloan Fellow at MIT Sloan, to explore his remarkable journey from a small town in Tunisia to global finance and entrepreneurship. Raafet shares how his early love for mathematics and humanities shaped his academic path through France, ultimately leading to senior roles at major…
In this episode from 2019, Christopher Reichert, MOT ‘04, sat down with David Schmittlein, former Dean (2007–2024) and Professor of Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management, to discuss many topics, including where he found inspiration in his personal and professional life. Support the show Thanks for listening! Find more episodes on the Sloanies Talking with Sloanies website. Learn more…
In this episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , Christopher Reichert interviews Henna Karna, EMBA ’18, who reflects on her academic and professional journey. Karna discusses how Sloan’s blend of quantitative and qualitative learning has shaped her approach to innovation, emphasizing engineering new patterns over relying on existing use cases. With a PhD in applied mathematics and a career…
In this special episode of Sloanies Talking with Sloanies , host Christopher Reichert, MOT ’04, sits down with two distinguished guests: Admiral Thad Allen , SF ’89, former Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, and Frank Finelli , SM ’86, a senior advisor at The Carlyle Group and founder of the MIT Sloan Veterans Fund . Together, they discuss their experiences at MIT Sloan, the complexities…
