Kleinman Apollo Fellowship: Launching a Career in Climate Finance
Through a Kleinman Center fellowship, Wharton student Maddie Shenkan spent last summer working at Apollo Global Management, gaining hands-on experience in climate finance. The role sharpened her skills, expanded her network, and prepared her for a career at the intersection of finance and climate action.
When discussing her summer fellowship, Wharton student Maddie Shenkan keeps landing on one word: phenomenal.
“I can’t think of a better word,” she said. “It was truly a phenomenal experience.”
Shenkan, a junior, worked at Apollo Global Management Firm in New York City, positioned within their climate private equity group. This fellowship, sponsored each summer by the Kleinman Center, offers a Penn student an immersive apprenticeship at a leading asset management firm, with an emphasis in climate and energy.
“Everyone was quick to teach and guide me,” said Shenkan of her experience. “I feel incredibly grateful for my mentors. The whole team invested in my growth and gave me the opportunities and trust to go and practice what I was learning.”
One learning opportunity, and a highlight of her fellowship, was participating in a live deal. Shenkan was called upon to help with the due diligence process: evaluating financial models, participating in calls with executives, emailing consultants, developing slide decks, preparing investment committee materials, and making presentations.
“It was really exciting. I couldn’t believe how faced-paced and dynamic the process was”
Maddie Shenkan, 2024 Kleinman Apollo Fellow
Another project was analyzing 300 private equity-backed climate companies. She conducted research on all of them, narrowed her list to 20, and presented her findings to team leaders. The team then selected three to further explore.
“I had a lot of leadership and ownership over that project. It was great practice,” she said.
Shenkan also joined in a charitable project organized for Apollo’s summer interns. They broke into teams, researched non-profit organizations worth investing in, and pitched a worthy non-profit to a panel of judges. Her team’s pitch won the top prize: a $50,000 donation from Apollo to an organization that supports women in STEM.
“A lot of what I learned over the summer is how to communicate your work and point of view,” she explained. Emails need to be concise. Every word on a PowerPoint needs to be precise. “You’re sitting with some of the smartest people in finance. You better believe they’re going to drill down on everything you say or write.”
Beyond the practical skills, Shenkan said the relationships she built at Apollo were invaluable. She is grateful to colleagues and supervisors who connected often with her, shared career advice, lessons learned, and even personal challenges they had overcome along the way.
She was also thrilled to meet each week with executive leaders of the firm. For its summer program, the firm designed a leadership series featuring speakers like Scott Kleinman (C’94 and W’94), Apollo co-president and Kleinman Center founding donor, who shared career insights and answered questions.
“I was so pleased to have Maddie join us at Apollo last summer to help support our climate and energy work,” Kleinman said. “Kleinman Apollo fellows like Maddie contribute so much to our team—with their curiosity, hard work, and fresh perspectives. They return to Penn, and ultimately the workforce, with a close-up understanding of how the energy transition is being financed here in the United States and across the globe.”
Shenkan’s interest in climate finance began with an earlier work opportunity at CalSTRS, a California-based pension fund with $350 billion in managed assets. While there, she spent a large portion of her time with their sustainable investing stewardship strategies team and saw how finance can be catalytic for climate change.
“I was really inspired by the fact that the economy needs $9 trillion dollars of private investment each year to get to our 2050 emission goals. I wanted to be a part of that,” she explained. Climate finance, she said, is the perfect way to combine her interest in finance and social change.
And when you are there: “Be curious. Connect with everyone. Get to know their story.”
Shenkan said that a guiding principle for her own career is doing meaningful work with people you respect and care for. “I had that in spades at Apollo.”
The Kleinman Center recently announced this summer’s Apollo fellow, Sebastian Ortiz Salazar, a sophomore at Wharton who is interested in sustainable finance.
