Tepper Fellows: Social Enterprise Law Research Assistants
The application period has closed for the 2026-2027 Tepper Fellows: Social Enterprise Law Research Assistants.
Social Enterprise Law Tracker Co-Founder and Tepper Fellow Advisor
Rob Esposito
Mr. Esposito is a Managing Director and Senior Counsel at Apollo Global Management, Inc. He joined Apollo in 2020 in the Legal Department. Prior to that, Mr. Esposito was an Associate in the Private Funds Group at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, and was an M&A and Private Funds Associate in the New York offices of two international law firms. Mr. Esposito previously served as a Jacobson Fellow in Law and Business at New York University Law School, and as a Professional Lecturer in law on the adjunct faculty at The George Washington University Law School. Mr. Esposito received his AB from Dartmouth College, his JD from Wake Forest University School of Law, and his LLM, with highest honors, in International and Comparative Law from The George Washington University Law School.
“When we co-founded the Social Enterprise Law Tracker (SELT), we were driven by an academic interest in the intersection of emerging corporate law and cutting edge technology. The interactive SELT website was a product of that combined interest. I am honored and grateful to NYU Law for embracing its stewardship and maintenance of the SELT website since its founding, and am delighted to continue participating in its evolution as an advisor to the Tepper Fellows and the Grunin Center.” - Rob Esposito
Hannah Yang
Hannah is a Corporate Associate at Morrison Foerster. She represents publicly and privately held companies in a variety of corporate and securities law matters. She advises on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, securities regulation, governance matters, and securities offerings. Hannah her JD from New York University School of Law, where she was awarded the White & Case Award in Law & Social Entrepreneurship. While there, she served as the articles editor for the NYU Environmental Law Journal and as a research assistant at the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship. Hannah received her AB in chemistry from Princeton University.
2026-2027 Tepper Fellows
Vanna Chen ’29
Vanna is from Houston, Texas and earned a BSA in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She explored human-robot interaction as a research assistant for Texas Robotics and analyzed economic policy for the Innovations for Peace and Development think tank. Before law school, Vanna was a software engineer at Atlassian in San Francisco, where she built AI skills for the Rovo Agent to improve team collaboration and product delivery. Outside of work, she chaired fundraising committees for the Junior League and the Spinsters of San Francisco to address homelessness, food insecurity, and education in the Bay Area. She was a campaign volunteer for Lily Franklin for Virginia State Delegate and has been a research volunteer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas of Surveillance project. At NYU Law, Vanna is a writer for the Law Review and is interested in exploring how regulatory frameworks impact the decisions and structures available for mission driven founders.
Tanya Das ’29
Tanya is a 1L at NYU School of Law. She graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a BS in Economics and Mathematics. Before law school, she worked in private equity at Brown Brothers Harriman and in early-stage venture investing with Neythri Futures Fund, experiences that made her curious about how capital can help ideas become enduring businesses. That question took on a different dimension in Odisha, India, where Tanya led a World Bank-funded initiative and worked alongside more than one thousand women entrepreneurs building small businesses and greater financial independence in their communities. She has also been involved in climate advocacy since her teens and previously founded and led an environmental education nonprofit. At NYU Law, Tanya is interested in emerging companies and venture capital and, more broadly, in how law shapes which ideas get financed, how companies grow, and the impact they have along the way. She is particularly drawn to the places where entrepreneurship and technology meet questions of social and environmental impact.
Niko Randos ’29
Niko holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University (’23). Prior to law school, Niko worked as a paralegal and Assistant Vice President of Operations & Strategy at Hamilton Clarke, LLP, overseeing a wide range of cases from civil rights litigation to corporate and transactional work. He then returned to his home state of New Hampshire and took over as Policy Director for the State Senate Democratic Caucus, devising its policy platform and staffing state budget negotiations. His background in law and policy sparked his interest in social impact and entrepreneurship, specifically on how to deliver real, long-term solutions that more creatively and cost-efficiently meet community needs.
Shelby Hobohm JD ’27
Shelby grew up in Dallas, Texas, and earned her BA in government, BS in mechanical Engineering, and MSE in nuclear engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to law school, she worked as an applied research engineer studying radiation effects on electronics while completing the coursework portion of her in-progress PhD in Nuclear Engineering. At NYU Law, Shelby is co-chair of the Social Enterprise and Startup Law Society and a clinician in the International Transactions Clinic. She is interested in exploring the ways that the law can incentivize sustainable business practices, the connection between emerging technologies and social entrepreneurship, and sustainable investing practices. Shelby spent the past summer as an IP Litigation Summer Associate at Latham & Watkins in Austin, Texas. She will spend the upcoming summer as an Energy & Project Development Summer Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, DC.
Mary Grace Babbo JD ’28
Mary Grace earned her BA in the program of liberal studies, music and Italian studies from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to law school, she served as chief of staff to the CEO at Diligent Corporation, a governance, risk and compliance software company; worked in business development and operations for Universal Music Group’s eCommerce division; and was a business strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she also held a fellowship with the McKinsey Global Institute, the firm’s business and economics think tank. At NYU Law, as a Jacobson Leadership Program in Law and Business Scholar, she is interested in how law and business together can drive long-term value for companies across their customers, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.
Previous Tepper Fellows
2025-2026
- Shelby Hobohm JD ’27
- Casey Martin JD ’27
- Van Tran Schneider JD ’27
- Mary Grace Babbo JD ’28
- Morgan Duffield JD ’28
2024-2025
- Josh Badzik JD ’26
- Andy Guan JD ’26
- Shelby Hobohm JD ’27
- Casey Martin JD ’27
- Van Tran Schneider JD ’27
2023-2024
- Matt Kuhlik JD '24
- Walla Elshekh JD '24
- Christelle Mazloum JD '25
- Andy Guan JD '26
2022-2023
- Elise van den Hoek JD '25
- Matt Kuhlik JD '24
- Walla Elshekh JD '24
2021-2022
- Wolfgang Jorde JD '24
- Matt Kuhlik JD '24
2020-2021
- Sydney Forrest JD '23
- Nadia Greggs JD '22
- Hannah Yang JD '21
2019-2020
- Dan Brown JD '20
- Hanna Downing JD '20
- Hannah Yang JD '21
- Ahmed Yacout JD '21
- Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz - Founding Executive Director
2018-2019
- Dan Brown JD '20
- Hanna Downing JD '20
- Ava Haghighi JD '19
- Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz - Founding Executive Director
2017-2018
- Alice Thai JD '18
- Margaret Suh JD '20
- Riley Jones JD '20
- Flynn Coleman - Inaugural Grunin Center Fellow