Alicia Polak

Alicia has 15 years of experience driving operations and building and scaling organizations, with a focus on meeting business objectives while addressing such issues as societal change, employability, and sustainable development. She specializes in change and project management, marketing, organizational development, supply chain, and logistics, and has worked for Merrill Lynch and BlackRock. She also teaches social entrepreneurship at The Wharton School, founded Kreate Advisors to advance social entrepreneurship, and founded The Khayelitsha Cookie Co., one of South Africa’s longest, continuously running social enterprises. A Fulbright Scholar, Alicia received a B.A. in journalism from New York University, an MBA from the University of Cape Town, and an MPA and MBA from the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Alicia has been hired as a Code Enforcement Executive Fellow (FUSE Fellow). Alicia responsibilities will be focusing on assessing how the department’s land-use management system, Accela, can be modified to improve code enforcement workflows, case management, and data record keeping, and furthermore, how it can support the needs of relevant departments as well as the public in providing transparency.

Work experience

• FUSE Corps Advisor & Lead Project Manager | City of Oakland | Proactive Rental Inspection | Racial Equity
• University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School Guest Lecturer on Social Entrepreneurship
• The Bread Project Executive Director
• The Khayelitsha Cookie Company CEO & Founder
• BlackRock Vice President
• United Nations Intern in Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch International Private Client - Product Manager

Education

• NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service MPA/MBA at Wagner/Stern
• Graduate School of Business - University of Cape Town Master of Business Administration - MBA
• New York University BA Journalism