By Arial Starks
Evelyn Ward
Evelyn Ward (MBA’24) and Daniel Duarte (MBA’24) are this year’s newly elected leaders of the Owen Student Government Association (OSGA). Ward made Vanderbilt OSGA history as the first Black female student body president and Duarte was elected executive vice president. Get to know the new OSGA leaders below.
Evelyn graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. She jumped headfirst into her career as a Food Microbiologist in Dublin, Ohio. In 2015, she relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, to serve as Lead Microbiologist at the Nestle Stouffer’s manufacturing plant. Shortly thereafter, she relocated again within the company, this time to Itasca, IL, to serve as a Hygienist and Food Safety Leader. Evelyn transitioned to Ecolab, Inc. in 2019 to serve as an Account Manager in the Food & Beverage Division.
She is a first-year MBA candidate at Vanderbilt Business, concentrating in Marketing and Operations & Data Analytics. She is a recipient of the Douglas W. Binns Memorial Scholarship and is a Forté Fellow and National Black MBA Association Fellow. Prior to being elected as president, she served on the Owen Student Government Association Senate and was a part of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Community Affairs committees. Evelyn has also taken a role on the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures Board as a first-year board member and a member of the Marketing and Branding Committee.
“I am most excited to lead the charge in mentoring the next class of MBAs,” she said. “I am looking forward to empowering my team of VPs to use their positions as an opportunity to promote inclusivity and continue fostering an environment of collaboration at Owen.”
Daniel Duarte
Daniel is a proud Phoenician who moved to Nashville to obtain his Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management. He has spent the last 8 years in leadership positions supporting remote and in-person roles. Daniel’s roles and responsibilities have ranged from managing teams of 40 staffers, monitoring, creating, and overseeing crucial KPIs, exceeding sales quotas, and ensuring a white-glove customer experience. He has extensive experience in quality assurance, employee performance management, and assisting others’ professional development to better customer experience.
“When I look around campus or at our closing bells, I feel such a strong sense of community,” said Duarte. “This sense of community is one of the first attributes of Owen that I found a strong tie to. I hope to grow that community and bring together all the programs within Owen’s walls.”
Two of Daniel’s passions include increasing professional club value and improving upon the recruiting process through teamwork, “For me, this looks like supporting our students in their career search by easing the navigation of the recruiting process and delivering professional club experiences that go hand in hand with those roles.” He adds he is also excited for the opportunity to “collaborate with the multitude of great administrators and educational staff within Owen over the next year.”
The OSGA acts as the communication liaison between the Vanderbilt Business administration and the students, helping shape current and future policy matters and strengthening the school’s sense of community. The Owen community includes full-time students and their spouses, alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, and businesses partnered with the business school.
