The Lauder Institute

During the University of Pennsylvania Reunion Weekend in May, Lauder Institute alumni came together to reconnect and celebrate lifelong friendships forged across cultures, continents, and generations. This year was especially meaningful as we welcomed back members of Lauder’s inaugural Class of 1986 for their 40th reunion. Thank you to everyone who returned and helped make the weekend unforgettable. 🌎✨

The Wharton School

It’s Campus Quest 2026 and AI has entered the chat. Our new Lauder students made their mark on iconic sites around the University of Pennsylvania campus: Ben Franklin has forsaken his perch, the button is brutalized, and there is unprovoked dangling at the bookstore. Will Penn ever be the same again?

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We’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Jacobson Global Venture Awards—Lauder’s flagship pitch competition for student entrepreneurs. This year’s winning ventures each receive $15,000 and mentorship from alumni entrepreneurs to scale their startups. Learn more: bit.ly/jacobson26

2026 Winning Ventures:

🏆 Élan (Sonia Alb)
• Premium heels engineered for all-day comfort—redefining footwear through a slow-fashion philosophy and intentional design.

🏆 Kala (Maitreyi Menon, Rowa El-Tohami)
• A music royalty management platform for African artists, enabling transparent tracking across broadcasting platforms and automated, auditable payouts.

🏆 EruBase (Long Pham, Long Phung)
• A multilingual SaaS platform that helps global universities recruit students from emerging markets by connecting potential applicants with university ambassadors.

🏆 Bellwether (Chad Williams, Ari Brown)
• Predictive maintenance for electrical grids using acoustic analytics + machine learning to detect transformer faults early and prevent outages.

Congratulations to our winners! With special thanks to Marina Kunis Jacobson (G93, WG93), Andrew Jacobson (WG93), Sudev Sheth, and our distinguished alumni judges.