September 2021

“Define what success looks like for you and decide on your why.”

"Success is not a circuitous process, so be okay with the detours. Leverage where you are right now.”

“Be in an environment where you can comfortably be yourself.”

“Your identity and how you show up – that is the one thing that is constant even if you lose everything.”

Keisha Rivers graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 with a BA in Elementary Education. She initially matriculated into The Wharton School with an intended concentration in Marketing but transferred to a budding sub-matriculate elementary education program under the Graduate School of Education after an inspiring class. Since her time at Penn, Rivers has been passionate about educating, empowering, and advocating on behalf of those who did not know how to use their voices quite yet. Today as the founding Executive and a Corporate Learning Leader at her own firm, The KARS Group LTD, her work revolves around equipping people to authentically embrace and manage change with the goal of creating safe spaces where people can be themselves.

Rivers was the first in her family to have an opportunity to attend a four-year university. She only applied to the two best ranked undergraduate business schools at the time; Rivers was aiming for high income opportunities and a solid foundation for a strong career because she wanted to do something that gave her the freedom to be creative. However, Rivers soon realized that being micro-managed and adhering to unwritten rules did not align with her professional style. While taking an elective course teaching children’s literature, her experience helping a group of 6-year-olds get their “ah-ah!” moments inspired her to get involved in education. During Rivers’ undergraduate junior year, she switched her major to Elementary Education and worked incredibly hard to graduate on schedule with her peers.

In an unfortunate contrast, Rivers vividly remembers a classroom experience that shaped her view of education and fueled her passion for her later work. An avid reader at the age of four, an older white female teacher discouraged Rivers from helping her classmates with their literacy classwork by picking her up by her arms, forcefully sitting her in a chair, and taping her mouth. Rivers presents this incident as a pivotal moment in her 2021 book “Equipped for Change: Doing the Deep Work for Transformations”. She urges us to “find, hold on to, and cherish our voices” and “not [to] let others’ voices become yours nor forget to champion your own voice.”

Fueled by a passion for education and a strategic mind for business, River’s career was everything but linear. Initially, she planned to do a marketing internship during undergrad with AT&T in Spain, but her switch to elementary education turned her trajectory towards starting her own consulting firm. Rivers worked as an educator and teacher for twelve years in elementary, gifted, and special educations; served on several school district committees to support curriculum development and summer school programs; co-hosted Sports Radio Talk Show in New Orleans and served as General Manager at a minor league soccer franchise.

The birth of her firm KARS Group LTD began with a decision to make between competing offers. During her tenure with the soccer franchise, Rivers went from providing initial consulting on the curation of a marketing internship program for the franchise to being named its General Manager where she generated over a quarter of a million dollars in sponsorship support. When she resigned her position after a year, River’s success had caught the attention of presidents, team owners and GMs and she was heavily sought after by several organizations who wanted her to be their new General Manager. To avoid relocating, she decided to offer her services in a remote management consulting format. Since then and long before the pandemic made working-from-home necessary for many, she has been working primarily remotely from home for over 16 years.

Since the start of her consulting firm, Rivers has achieved her goal of being an international speaker and corporate learning leader; her methods and books are popular in New Zealand, Japan and China, and she has been the keynote speaker for several conferences. Now, Rivers looks forward to “world domination” by scaling her firm, hiring talent, and working on strategic partnerships with several organizations (including a firm based in Switzerland). At this point in her career, she realizes she is standing amid goals she set for herself; and she urges us to engage humbly in those moments as well and consider what we each want to aim for next.   

Her approach to facilitating organization-wide change involves laying a foundation of growth & change mindsets, educating clients by exposing them to something new, and asking them, “What is your mind-movie of success?” A mind-movie is an exercise: “Close your eyes and envision yourself at the pinnacle of success, being profiled for a prestigious news outlet and they send a camera crew. What, in detail, are they going to see?” This is a useful goal-setting strategy that Rivers periodically writes for herself and encourages us to try. Once the goal has been imagined, what steps and resources are needed to make that happen? This becomes your action plan and roadmap to follow.

Before entering the working world, Rivers’ time at Penn began with the Pre-Freshman Program (PFP). She then spent much of her first two years at Penn in DuBois College House where she and her friends would watch The Cosby Show and A Different World every week together. She remembers hanging out at Pixie – a safe space for Black culture - for skits, plays, and rap battles and gathering at Bodek Lounge for the parties! Rivers valued having an environment where she could be herself within the greater culture at Penn. In addition to her membership in Black Wharton, Gospel Choir was another important extracurricular experience for Rivers; she sang with an amazing group of people for three years at practices and performances.

Throughout her journey, Rivers still finds time to speak to youth groups, provide mentorship and

share her experiences with others. She volunteers on the Penn Alumni Interview Council and

uses it as an opportunity to connect with and pour into high school freshmen embarking on their

college journey. Remembering the importance of community, Rivers remains in touch with

those she met at Penn. More recently, the Network of Executive Women, where Rivers is now a board member as Partnerships Officer, and The Society of Diversity are additional peer groups that Rivers relies on for support. Rivers does not take for granted her group of friends, fellow professional Black women, who identify with professional challenges like balancing being steadfast in her opinions and avoiding the ‘angry Black woman’ stereotype. Rivers hopes that we can find groups of our own that we can authentically trust and rely on for our journeys.

July 2021

“Remember what the people before you sacrificed so you can value what opportunities you have now.”

“You’re at Penn to learn but also to build a network of people – build a diverse one.”

“Don’t be afraid to be the ‘first’ in something.”

“Life’s not a dress rehearsal so excel at what you’re doing now, and opportunities will unfold”

Kenna Wyllie Baudin graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a BS in Economics concentrated in Management and a minor in Spanish. Baudin was determined then, and still is, to make an impact in other peoples’ lives and connect people with opportunities that help them along their journey.

While Baudin is not a first-generation college student, Baudin learned from her grandparents’ experiences, sacrifices, and perspectives and how those created opportunities for her parents to attend college, and ultimately Baudin herself. Her Clark-Atlanta-educated maternal grandmother taught Native American and Mormon children in Arizona for low-pay and worked as a maid at night, even for some of her own students, to make ends meet. Her paternal grandfather was a letterpress printer who wanted his son to have the opportunity to work with his brain not his hands, like the businessmen in suits who visited and chatted in the store. Baudin urges us to “remember what the people before [us] sacrificed so [we] can value what opportunities [we] have now”.

Throughout her career, Baudin has collaborated with senior management teams on deal execution and human capital projects related to strategic, financial, and operating issues. Currently based in New York at Egon Zehnder, a management consulting and executive recruitment firm, Baudin has been the Head of US Private Equity since 2014 where she focuses on portfolio-company and investment professional executive searches. In January 2020, Baudin became the first and only Black female Partner at Egon Zehnder in its 57-year history, and affirmed her experience as Board and CFO Specialist through her continued role as Head of US Private Equity. “Do not be afraid to be the ‘first’ in something”, Baudin says, especially when you deserve and have earned it.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Baudin served as Head of Private Equity at J. Safra Asset Management and was a Director at 3i plc, an international investment firm where she was a founding member of the US team. Baudin was previously a Principal at Solera Capital and began her career as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in New York.

Before joining BCG upon graduation, Baudin began her time at Penn as a Ben Franklin Scholar in the College until she later transferred to Wharton. Similar to our current State of Black Penn programming, one of her favorite events during undergrad was one that brought all Black organizations together for fascinating and reflective discussion on each person’s experiences being Black (eg. the “African-American” identity for those not from the U.S., growing up in Black countries versus growing up in the U.S., etc). In addition to Black Wharton, Baudin’s on-campus involvements included: Kelly Writer’s House, the LEAD program, Onyx Senior Honor Society, and an award for Academic Achievement by the African American Association of Administrators.

While at Penn, Baudin built a diverse network, from beloved Howard Haskins who connected her to an Investment Banking internship at Goldman Sachs to friends of the Jewish faith who later helped connect her to career opportunities. Baudin emphasizes to us the importance of taking advantage of the diversity at Penn to meet people who are different from us and develop those natural relationships while we are still here. Every position of hers came from somewhere Penn-affiliated until her current role at Egon Zehnder.

During her first year at Penn, Kenna Wyllie (at the time) met her future husband, a student in the Masters of Engineering program, at Hill Dining and now they have an 14 year old son and 11 year old daughter together. In addition to her day-to-day work, Kenna has served as an alumni interviewer for Sponsors for Educational Opportunities, Vice-Chair for the Board of Trustees for the University Heights Charter School, and on the PSPA (Parent's Association) Nominating Committee at The Pingry School. She currently serves as the President of the Greater Essex County Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc., Co-lead of the Pingry Parents of Black Children Association, Member of the Collective of Concerned Black Professionals and as an Alumni Interviewer for Penn. As someone who is not a big long-term goal setter, Baudin motivates us by sharing this final advice: “Life’s not a dress rehearsal so excel at what you’re doing now, and opportunities will unfold.”

Kenna Baudin, W’98

Partner, Head of US Private Equity, Board and CFO Specialist at Egon Zehnder