By Summer Intern Poojan Zalora
Prior to applying to the Pension Boards internship, I had no knowledge of the organization. However, throughout the interview process, I quickly realized this was a place I wanted to be. They have been so welcoming and are always wanting to help me in any way possible.
Throughout the internship, I had the opportunity to work on multiple projects and my manager made sure I was exposed to different areas of work, like the Accounting team. It was really good to see how interconnected all the different teams were. The Pension Boards is the definition of collaboration. Everyone knows how important it is to collaborate with one another.
By Summer Intern Krishika Jain
This summer, I got the opportunity to intern at the Pension Boards-United Church of Christ (PBUCC) as an Information Technology (IT) intern. The one thing that drew me to this internship is how the organization operates at the intersection of faith and finance. I enjoyed working here and gained valuable experience that will be useful in my personal and professional life. I would like to thank the Pension Boards for this incredible experience.
By Summer Intern Madeleine Lessard
This summer, I had the opportunity to intern with the Pension Boards’ Investments team. It was truly an amazing experience, and I was able to learn so much about the organization and what it takes to be successful in investments.
The main project I was assigned to was helping to develop metrics that showed the impact of our new best-in-class Sustainable Balanced Fund on various environmental, social, and governance factors. I did so by analyzing our external investment managers and identifying their key portfolio exposures to different sustainability risks.
The Rev. Elena Larssen became the new Minister for Volunteer Engagement for the United Church of Christ in May 2021, following eight years of service as Senior Minister of First Congregational Church of Long Beach, California. She also serves Vice President of the United Church Board for Ministerial Assistance (UCBMA).
How would you describe your role at the UCMBA?
I have served as a UCBMA director since 2010 and was asked to join the board at the time of the formation of Next Generation Leadership Initiative (NGLI). I’ve been engaged in strategic planning, the capital campaign, extensive leadership development and program evaluation, and have served on the NGLI Steering and Selection Committee. One of the most important projects is being simply true to my place in the church, as one of the relatively small demographic population of clergy in their 40s.
By Summer Intern Rachel Jacobs
After a hard and long 2020, the importance of digital marketing and communications has grown exponentially, such as the use of social media to promote and market products like never before. Knowing this, I wanted to gain real-world experience outside the classroom in creating marketing materials, so I applied to the Pension Boards’ Summer Internship Program as a Communications and Marketing Intern with the hopes of doing just that. When I was offered the internship opportunity, I was ecstatic at the idea of expanding my skills and helping such a great organization come up with successful marketing campaigns.