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One Smart Cookie From Girl Scout to Jack Welch Scholar, Jennifer Hills ’07 always aims to win

—Carol Cambo

Jennifer Hills ’07 is one of several Jack Welch Scholars. Established in 2003 with a $5 million donation from the GE Foundation in honor of Welch, the program offers merit scholarships each year to two prospective UMass Amherst undergraduates. The students receive full scholarships, covering tuition, fees, and room and board. The selection is made entirely on the basis of their high school academic records and involvement in extracurricular activities. JENNIFER HILLS'S FIRST TASTE OF business was sweet: She sold Girl Scout cookies. “I was a top salesperson,” she says, intent on earning a “cookies and dough” patch for selling more than 500 boxes. “I would encourage people to buy extras, because they freeze so well,” she says of her strategy. Hills more than earned the coveted badge; she went on to achieve a Gold Award (equal to the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Award) and serve on a council to help improve the organization. Excelling seems to be in Hills’s DNA; now entering her junior year in the Isenberg School of Management (ISOM), she maintains a 3.9 grade-point average, sits on the Isenberg Honors Council, and was elected president of the newly-formed Women in Business group. Among myriad other networking and leadership activities, she’s interned as an assistant to the vice president of American Express Company and assisted in the law office of Arlene M. Keating ’72—otherwise known as Mom. Hills’s energy and intellect won her a full scholarship to UMass Amherst two years ago, via a $5 million fund to the campus from General Electric in honor of alumnus Jack Welch ’57, the company’s former CEO. “I had already paid a deposit at Boston University when [ISOM Associate Undergraduate] Dean [Dennis] Hanno called to tell me about the scholarship,” says Hills. She’d had a tough time deciding between UMass Amherst and BU; “ISOM had a great vibe,” she says about her admissions visit to Amherst, but BU was closer to her hometown of West Newbury, Massachusetts. The scholarship proved irresistible, says Hills, “and in the end, coming here was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” So was meeting Jack Welch in person. “The whole day was surreal,” says Hills. She attended a breakfast meeting and guest lecture when Welch visited campus last April with wife Suzy; the Welches were promoting their new book, Winning. “The best part was being able to thank him in person for the scholarship,” says Hills. Welch’s comments that day on global economics and work–life balance resonated with Hills who plans to major in finance with an eye toward international business. “He said, ‘China doesn’t have a debate about work–life balance,” she recalls. She experienced foreign work customs firsthand, visiting businesses in Germany on an ISOM trip her freshman year. “Germans don’t socialize much at work,” says Hills, who has studied German for six years and plans to minor in it, “but they also work fewer hours, and have rich cultural lives outside of the office.” Whether her career takes root in the United States or abroad, Hills knows business is the right place for her. “I love the creative process, the problem solving,” she says. She’s interested in finance and marketing, a fitting combination for her people- and results-oriented nature. But Hills knows that successful businesswomen must navigate what’s still a man’s world. In keeping with the Girl Scout motto, “Be prepared,” the Women in Business group aims to buoy ISOM grads by familiarizing them with those choppy waters. “So far, our speakers have been very honest about their careers and personal lives,” says Hills. “Essentially we’re hearing you can have both, but neither will be perfect.” For Hills, UMass Amherst is a working example of striking a healthy balance. “I love UMass because it is so big and you can be anonymous if you want to be,” she says, “but at ISOM, everyone knows your name and there’s a sense of community.” Another reason it’s a good fit for Hills, she says, is the School of Management’s strong social conscience. One of Hills’s first moves at UMass Amherst was to become an advocate/educator on gender and violence issues through the Everywoman’s Center. “A sense of social responsibility pervades ISOM, and all of UMass Amherst,” says Hills. And in this, too, Hills remains true to a tenet of Girl Scout law: May each scout do her best “to make the world a better place.”

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