University of Southern California

Abby Fifer Mandell is the Executive Director of the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL) at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Abby oversees all BSEL staff, academic offerings, co-curricular programs, events, and initiatives. She designs curriculum for affiliated courses and teaches BAEP 499: Social Innovation Design Lab, an undergraduate course in which interdisciplinary teams of students use design thinking to create product solutions to poverty in California’s Central Valley. Prior to joining the Lab staff, Abby served as the Director of Admissions of the graduate school of education at American Jewish University in Los Angeles. As a private consultant for Brailsford & Dunlavey, she designed educational programs and facilities at Duke University, The University of Vermont, Dartmouth University, and UC Riverside, among others. Abby has taught students in every grade from kindergarten to graduate school and her research has been published in ACUI’s The Bulletin, University Business, and NACAS’s College Service. Abby was instrumental in creating LimmudLA, a grassroots, post-denominational, Jewish learning experience in Southern California. She holds a master’s degree in educational administration and received her B.A. from the University of Virginia, where she was student body president.