New Profit Welcomes New Chief People Officer
We are excited to welcome Shen to the New Profit team in his role as Managing Partner & Chief People Officer. Shen will lead New Profit’s efforts to recruit, retain, and develop great talent while fostering a community centered on equity and inclusion. Shen brings deep experience in this work from his previous senior human resource roles at City Year and Teach for America. In his most recent role as Vice President of People Operations at City Year, Shen implemented structures to understand the staff experience across lines of difference as well as to foster greater proximity between senior leaders and front-line staff. These efforts contributed to a significant decline in overall turnover while closing the gap between white staff and staff of color.
Shen will also work to build structures that will catalyze talent across New Profit’s portfolio. Shen is already leaning in as an advisor to New Profit portfolio organizations, having held a Q&A session earlier this month with portfolio leaders on organizational talent and culture during the COVID-19 crisis. In the Q&A, he reinforced the importance of developing guiding principles to drive values-driven decision-making, of over-communicating and explaining the “why” behind every decision, and on regrounding your team in your organization’s mission, among other things.
“ There’s nothing more critical to our success, and the success of our portfolio organizations, than high performing teams of great people. Having someone with Shen’s deep experience and expertise in this area will be invaluable to New Profit, and to all the organizations we work with. Doug Borchard, New Profit’s Chief Operating Officer, reflects on what it means to have Shen join the team
Shen’s journey in social justice began as a Teach For America corps member, when he taught social studies to 150 amazing and inspiring fifth graders in rural Mississippi. In addition to his nonprofit background, Shen has experience in the for-profit world through management consulting with the Hay Group (now Korn Ferry) and product development at Fidelity Investments. Shen is a graduate of Harvard University and received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Shen recently became a father and considers himself an expert on changing diapers, but has a long way to go with getting babies to nap. In his spare time, Shen serves on the board of KIPP-Massachusetts and plays violin with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra.