Elif Memet

Elif graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude with a Joint BA in Economics and Mathematics from Columbia University in the City of New York, where she was one of the ten Science Research Fellows of her class. She has cultivated interests in businesses and economic policy. At Harvard, Elif is looking to start a company while advancing her understanding of policy.
At Columbia, Elif researched income inequality with Nobel laureate Prof. Joseph Stiglitz as early as her freshman year, led one of the largest student clubs, Columbia Financial Investment Group, won the Second Prize at the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy competition, taught economics as a Teaching Assistant, was a partner in Columbia’s first student-run fund and served as Columbia College Women’s Representative. For her contributions, she received King’s Crown Leadership in Excellence award twice, for Innovation and Enhancement and Community Building.
In business, Elif was a private equity investor at Apollo in New York (~$550B assets), where she assessed multiple equity and debt investments primarily in technology and closed the $6B carve-out of Yahoo from Verizon, subsequently becoming an Observer on Yahoo’s Board of Directors. Previously, Elif was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs where she helped Carnival access $24B in rescue financing during COVID and advised on the spin-off of 3M’s Healthcare segment.
In policy, Elif was a Delegate in ECOSOC at the United Nations. Originally from Romania, Elif was Chief of Staff to HRH Princess Marina Sturdza, led the League of Romanian Students Abroad – USA, and received multiple national honors including “Ten Outstanding Young People of Romania”. Currently, Elif is advising the Romanian government on a two-year mandate on the Council of Advisers to the Minister of Research and Innovation. Elif engages with international policy through the Young Professionals Program at the Council on Foreign Relations.