MICHELLE DESAUTELS Research Assistant Office of Development University of Massachusetts

Michele Desautels is a student of the dual master’s degree program between the Center for Public Policy (CPPA) and Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

She is a research assistant in the Office of Development where she helps build a women & philanthropy network. Michele devotes much of her time to improving the status of women and girls, especially around technology and small business development. Prior to attending graduate school, she spent about 10 years in high technology companies in various roles of program and project management, financial management, operations administration, quality control, budget forecasting and workflow management.

Most recently, she worked in a relationship marketing role where she developed a citizenship framework in line with sales team priorities in addition to holding several program management and customer facing positions in her five years at Microsoft.
Her career started as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan where she focused on women’s small business development.

Michele is a recipient of an American Association of University Women Educational Foundation Career Development Grant and Center for Public Policy Alumni scholarship.

She decided to go back to school to become a leader in corporate social responsibility, by learning how to develop and implement public policy and communication models where corporations play a leading role in the effort to solve important and complex problems in our society.