MBAs To Watch: Class Of 2022

When the cheers die down, where do I go?

When your moment passes, what do I do?

Every athlete asks these questions as their career winds down. When the world grows slower and quieter, they stumble around like everyone else. Still, athletes are poised to make a smoother transition.  Away from the spotlight, they’ve toiled away in anonymity. All their lives, they’ve risen early to practice and study, shaking off setbacks and beating back doubts. They know the odds don’t favor them, but dedicate themselves to their vision nonetheless. When time comes to pursue a different path, they can be comforted by a great truth…

When you make yourself great in one area, you know how to become great in another.  

Just ask Michael Hixon. Name sound familiar? He is a two-time Olympic Silver Medalist, who captained the U.S. National Diving Team. He is also a 2022 graduate of the full-time MBA program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School. On the surface, that may sound romantic. Reality is, Hixon spent over 35 hours a week in the pool – on top of classes, recruiting, and extracurriculars – to prepare for the 2021 Olympics. That left little time, he says for anything else.

Michael Hixon, University of Michigan (Ross)

FROM DIVER TO BANKER

“I’m most proud of how I navigated my transition from diving to business school and used that experience to break into investment banking,” he tells P&Q. “I’ve seen a lot of former Olympians and professional athletes fail to set themselves up for a career after athletics. Michigan facilitated a process for me to discover what I wanted to pursue and how to break in. I did not make it easy for myself or the Career Development Office (training for the Olympics in year one, pushing my summer internship to the fall so I could compete in Tokyo and changing recruiting paths from venture capital to investment banking in year two), but I couldn’t be more excited about where I am headed.”

That destination is RBC Capital Markets, where Hixon began his career as a global business investment banker. In his wake, Hixon left an example of tenacity for future Ross MBAs to copy.

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“Many neuroscientists claim that multitasking is a myth, but I doubt they have met Michael Hixon,” observes Imari Love, associate director of Finance at the Ross Career Development Office. “Venture capital summer internships are among the most desired and difficult to obtain but even with classes, and what amounts to a full-time job of diving practice, he found time to secure and work a VC internship after securing his second Olympic medal. It’s even a shorter list of people who are able to earn a full-time offer from a Wall Street investment bank without interning in IB the summer beforehand, but it seems there’s little he can’t accomplish once he sets his mind to it. They say hard work beats talent – but Michael has both. The sky’s the limit.”

McKINSEY AND MICROSOFT LOVE THE MBAS TO WATCH

Ingrid Zagzebski, University of Texas (McCombs)

You could say the same for this year’s 131-member class of MBAs To Watch. To compile the 2022 list, P&Q reached out to 75 top full-time MBA programs. P&Q received 231 nominations, which were split between the Best & Brightest MBAs and MBAs To Watch. In sum, the 2022 MBAs To Watch hail from 70 programs, including the Wharton School, INSEAD, Northwestern Kellogg, and Columbia Business School.  True to form, women account for the majority of MBAs To Watch by a 76-to-55 margin. Non-American students make up a nearly identical margin at 74-to-57. McKinsey & Company was the largest consumer of MBAs To Watch talent, hiring 9 graduates. Microsoft added 7 class members, followed by Bain & Company (6), Boston Consulting Group (6), Deloitte (6), Amazon (4), Dell (4), EY Parthenon (4), and Bank of America (3).

Who makes up this year’s MBAs To Watch list? You’ll find them in every corner of their respective programs. They were coaches, mentors, and club leaders who put in the hours and kept their peers motivated and on track. As COVID razed cultures by separating students and canceling popular traditions, the MBAs To Watch weren’t holed up and hiding out. They were reaching out and finding alternatives. They weren’t clamoring for credit – or even anything in return. For that, they earned their peers’ esteem.

At the University of Texas, Ken Wiles – a finance professor – doles out this high praise to Ingrid Zagzebski, President of the Entrepreneurship Club: “Every time I speak with her, I learn something new, and she inspires me to be better.” Dean Vera, assistant dean at Rutgers Business School, dials his praise up a notch for his star pupil: “The highest compliment I can bestow on him is that I wish I could have 50 Evan Gerbinos in every incoming class.” For Sara Wakefield, associate director of student life at Duke University’s Fuqua School, Iboro Ikene personified leadership when she headed up the program’s 65+ student organizations.

“At times, she has had to deliver nuanced, complex, or disappointing information to clubs regarding updates in policies, sometimes bearing the brunt of frustration for decisions she has little to no control over. Where others might shirk from this responsibility, Iboro embraced the opportunity to stretch herself as a leader, recognizing the opportunity for growth in these moments. During these difficult conversations, she draws her classmates in and makes them allies in solving a collective problem together. She validates and empathizes with their concerns, while sharing critical perspectives to help them understand the context behind decisions.”

MAKING LIFE BETTER FOR IMMIGRANTS AND WOMEN

Xi Kang, INSEAD

Ikene set the bar and reflected the best of the Fuqua culture. You could say the same about the University of Maryland’s Jordan Friedman. At Marriott International, she was considered such a culture carrier and role model that she was responsible for the training of 100,000 Sheraton associates. By the same token, INSEAD’s Xi Kang spent seven years in foreign service, eventually rising to being the assistant policy officer for the Diplomatic Mission of the European Union to China. However, his biggest achievement, he says, involved cleaning up the visa process as an immigration official by making the matriculation and banking rules clearer…particularly for students.

“I convinced my supervisor to support an initiative I led right before the next student season,” Kang writes. “I translated and explained the confusing rules in layperson language, provided examples on how to meet the rules, and got the message out on social media. Results indicate a 60% decrease of refusals on the same ground, approximately equal to a thousand students who have avoided the dismay of life disruption…It shows how empathy can be the key to resolving conflict and bridging differences.”

Ranjana Chandramouli’s crowning achievement also stemmed from a desire for change fueled by an empathy for those in need. A 2022 Wharton MBA, Chandramouli studied chemical engineering before becoming a team leader at Eli Lilly and Company. Here, she chaired the firm’s fledgling Women’s Engineering Network (WEN), where she mapped a pathway for the Eli Lilly to match the progress at employee resources groups for leading firms.

“Together as a team, we more than doubled our membership, greatly increased the number and type of professional and social events, and worked with HR to create a sustainable way to incorporate new women engineers as members to the group. We created from scratch and sponsored a signature, company-wide event to celebrate the accomplishments of women engineers at our company. While the first year was a huge success and got a lot of support through many levels in the company, what I feel most proud of is that the event continued after my tenure and has grown significantly in size and impact.”

A FUTURE LEGEND?

Irewole Akande, Southern Methodist University (Cox)

Impact is exactly what the entrepreneurs among the MBAs To Watch hope to deliver. Take Anou Sewonu, an IMD MBA and Ph.D. in Medical Physics who is building a consulting firm to address MRI safety issues. At the same time, Irewole Akande garnered a Future Texas Business Legend Award from the Texas Business Hall of Fame as an SMU Cox student. The award was recognition for his fast-growing startup, City Health Tech (CHT), a five-year-old firm that uses its Opal platform to provide training on combating diseases to private companies and public institutions. The solution gained greater urgency with the advent of COVID-19, a disease that put Akande on the shelf for several months.

“Once I got better, I threw myself right back into working on my company with a very different mindset—a burning desire to prevent others from experiencing what I had,” he explains. “’Prevention is better than cure’ has a whole new meaning to me. And protecting my community is a vision that now defines me. The future of healthcare is prevention. The future of healthcare is public health. The future of healthcare is technology. Whatever winding path I take, I want to keep building technology to prevent diseases.”

Olivia Qi Zhang covered COVID-19 as part of her beat as the Chief US Correspondent for Beijing’s Caixin Media. While Qi Zhang takes pride in covering issues like American elections and US-Chain trade negotiations, she found her best work came in stories more intimate in scale. “My proudest moment is not when I questioned a high-profile official or went to elite events such as the World Economic Forum, but rather those stories that I wrote through talking to ordinary people to hear their stories and perspectives. Empowering the unheard by giving them a voice was the driver of a lot of my stories.”

“A HAPPY ACCIDENT”

Indeed, the MBAs To Watch boast several cool stories worth reading. As a U.S. Army cadet interning at IBM, Christopher Collar rang the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Kristen Koepsell, a University of North Carolina MBA, is a dog trainer whose pups have competed at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and The National Dog Show. Delgernaran Bayar, an education entrepreneur who earned his MBA from the National University of Singapore, started university when he was just 15-years-old –skipping three grades in the process. If you’re seeking star power, Ohio State’s Adina Allen appeared in a Sara Bareilles music video, while Washington University’s Lloyd Yates has collaborated with one of Kevin Hart’s writers on a movie project.

Speaking of arts and entertainment, Cambridge Judge’s Jorge Velasco Azoños is a fire dancer, while Columbia Business School’s Mo Kamaly has appeared in 20 Shakespeare productions. And the University of Maryland’s Antonia Freire was named the best soloist during the 2016 Battle of A Capellas annual competition. That said, Queen’s University’s Brenda Katwesigye Baganzi has summited Mount Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet), while IIM Ahmedabad’s Shubham Dang has “trekked solo to Everest Base Camp (17,600 ft), Kala Patthar Peak (18,500 ft), Ama Dablam Base Camp (15,100 ft).” Not to be outdone, Yehya Siddiqui (McGill University) and S. Jalal Rahman (University of Pittsburgh) have completed over 150 skydives and 30 marathons, respectively.

Pages 3-4: 131 profiles of the MBAs To Watch (Class of 2022)

And the fun didn’t stop when the Class of 2022 arrived on campus (or in front of their laptops in some cases). At BYU Marriott, Jess Harris, a Goldman Sachs alum, earned the moniker, “The person we go to when the Finance TA’s leave us even more confused.” To reduce stress and build bonds, the University of Virginia’s Grant Guess held a “Happy Little Accidents” painting class – even going so far as dressing up as Bob Ross.

“First Year at Darden is known to be challenging, but the pandemic took it to a whole new level. In an effort to spark joy into people’s days, I worked with second year students Lee Gilbert and Cheyenne Johnson…to host a Bob Ross Paint Night over Zoom. We dropped off canvases, paint, and brushes at school for people to pick up after class and painted some “happy little trees” over Zoom later that night. It was such a hit that we hosted it again this year!”

WINNING IT ALL AS A COMPETITOR…AND A COACH

Alexis Barber, University of Minnesota (Carlson)

For Alexis Barber, the coursework offered some of her favorite memories at the University of Minnesota. These included being taught by the former CEO of Cargill and working with the chief marketing officer of UnitedHealth Group on a consulting project. In contrast, the University of Texas’ Greg Labanowski pursued the Holy Grail of the MBA experience: forming a group who set out to eat at every barbecue joint ranked in the Top 50 by Texas Monthly.

“I’m a huge foodie, and I love central Texas BBQ because of the time and attention it takes to turn a brisket into something really incredible,” Labanowski notes. “We’ve been to Snow’s BBQ, Franklin BBQ, Interstellar BBQ, and others. Each trip normally includes an early morning car ride, time spent bonding while waiting in line on lawn chairs, poker, and throwing the football. Food has a unique way of bringing people together and providing a sense of community, and this has been one of the best possible ways to build deep relationships with my classmates.”

Many MBAs To Watch shouldered heavy lifting with student clubs. At the University of Florida, Jazz Naglee managed 5 club presidents and 2 club chairs, devoting much of her time to professional development and interview prep. “The job search process is such a critical, yet stressful part of the MBA,” she writes. “I hosted several interactive events that helped students hone their interview skills and explore different career paths, including “interview speed dating” and Q&A sessions with second-year students and alumni. I also collaborated with Business Career Services to create a series of mock-interview videos that will allow students to better understand what a good interview response looks like. It has been rewarding to receive positive feedback from my peers that these events contributed to their success, even if that contribution was in a small way.”

Other Class of 2022 members devoted themselves to competitions. At ESMT Berlin, Marie Kober collected three first-place finishes in school-sponsored startup pitch competitions. As a first-year, Christopher Lord was part of the USC Marshall team that won the Deloitte Supply Chain National Case Competition. Returning as a second-year coach, he took the school’s case teams to even greater heights, winning both the ROMBA Case Competition and the UBS International Case Competition.

“I am most proud of when Marshall Pride managed to send two different teams to compete in a pool of 22 teams at the ROMBA Case Competition hosted by Bain (ROMBA Conference is the world’s largest gathering of LGBT+ business students and alumni),” Lord says. “After I trained and coached the teams, they finished first and second, ahead of teams from other top twenty schools and a first in school history. I’ll never forget crying tears of joy during the calls I received from both teams. In fostering a safe space for LGBTQ+ students, Marshall Pride also received its largest number of formal registrations and number of self-identifying LGBTQ+ students during this time, which was incredibly meaningful as President of the organization.”

TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH

Maddie Forman, London Business School

The MBAs To Watch didn’t just take joy in winning – they also relished creating. That’s why many students like Maddie Forman embraced entrepreneurship. When Forman started at London Business School, she expected to leave as a consultant. Instead, she became mesmerized by a fellow student’s ideas about fashion tech. Soon enough, she was hooked and joined her classmate as the co-founder of her venture.

And that’s where the work really began…

“To build this company has required sacrifice and vulnerability,” she tells P&Q. “I’ve had to cut the French classes I had dreamed of taking, the post-class drinks on a Friday eve, and the football training I’d been enjoying to create Vestico. I’ve had to admit to myself that a career in sales account management doesn’t mean I’m an expert at selling fashion software, so I need to ask for help, make mistakes, and learn fast. The fact that I’ll be graduating with a business that I’m proud of makes the entrepreneurial MBA worth it.”

Forman’s takeaway from her two years in business school?

“The people around you at business school are amazing, with ideas and experiences that can change the way you think. The MBA community is full of people who can open a different, unexpected path and the MBA gives you the freedom to follow it and explore.”

IMPACT IN INTERNSHIPS

Georgios Matolis, Warwick Business School

Of course, MBAs aren’t just learning from fellow students and faculty. As a student, Georgios Matolis partnered with hostels and volunteers near Warwick Business School to provide short-term shelter to the homeless – avoiding what he calls “110 nights of rough sleeping.” Along the way, he came across Chris, a down-on-his-luck former administrative assistant whose story changed how Matolis viewed homelessness.

“With little in the way of savings or family support, [Chris] eventually had his home repossessed,” Matolis writes. “It had taken him weeks of rough sleeping to overcome his pride and seek help. By the time we had finished speaking, it was clear to see the relief that came with having been able to speak to someone about his situation. We exchanged contact details and I offered to be a second pair of eyes in his search for employment – my meeting with Chris was a reminder of how privileged I am to have been able to attend business school.”

That privilege extends to summer internships too. At Amazon, SMU Cox’s Karubakee Mohanty boosted her center’s sorter utilization for vendor freight by 97.8% — all while improving freight quality by 66.7%. Not surprisingly, she was hired as a pathways operations manager at Amazon after her internship. Adina Allen designed a strategic roadmap on reinforcing culture and deepening employee engagement during her Cigna internship. Now, she is watching her recommendations being discussed in media coverage of Cigna. And Boston University’s Rachel Hadley, a winemaker before business school, was stunned by the latitude she received during her summer internship at Anheuser Busch InBev.

“I worked across the US, South Korea, and United Kingdom teams to create a pitch for a new brand to go global, and successfully won the support of the global leadership team there,” Hadley writes. “While I’ve certainly had more lasting impact in some of my prior jobs, this internship was a proud moment for me in showing how far my leadership and relationship building skills could go, and realizing how much I can have an impact in this world if I set the bar high for myself.”

A PARTNER, A MENTOR, AND A FAMILY MEMBER

Anurag Anand, University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

One reason for the high bar: Class of 2022 members had someone around who expected the most out of them. In Jeremy Mathurin’s case, that person was his mother, a teacher who stirred his curiosity and hammered home the importance of education.

“She understood that regardless of our economic circumstances, a strong education was essential to living a fruitful and fulfilling life,” writes the Cornell MBA. “My mother also spent most of her career educating students with special needs and has demonstrated how rewarding it can be to help those who need it most. Her warmth and love are abundant, unconditional, and available to anyone who asks for it. My mother molded me into the man I am today, and remains my greatest cheerleader, inspiration, and support mechanism.”

Anurag Anand  credits his uncle, Vivek Prasad, with encouraging her to pursue his MBA at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College. However, Prasad isn’t just any family member. Along with Anand, he is the co-founder f Whizzrd Technologies, a healthcare platform that supports patients in their homes. “He supported me through my journey of establishing and running a start-up, even when things weren’t going perfectly and pushed me to learn through both education and trial and error” Anand explains. “Even though both of us were equal partners in this business and I ran and understood most of the operations, he understood my decision step back from the business in search of personal growth and encouraged me to pursue higher education.”

REFLECTION, REFLECTION, REFLECTION

Melanie Zook’s inspiration came from a former professor. Over dinner, he challenged his former student to think beyond her assumptions about business school. “About two hours into our dinner, I was talking to Dr. Lewis about whether I should get an MPP. He said, “Have you ever thought of an MBA?” I said, “Of course not; I’m not trying to be a banker.” Dr. Lewis laughed and said, “Maybe you should look into it. Some of the schools have a social impact focus.” The seed was planted. A year and a half later, I applied to business school, and here we are [at the Yale School of Management].”

What advice do the MBAs To Watch have for current and prospective MBAs hoping to follow in their path. In real estate, there are three factors behind success: Location, Location, Location. For the Class of 2022, there are also three factors to getting accepted. And it comes down to Reflection, Reflection, (and even more) Reflection.

“I do not settle for telling all the stories about success and failure,” Kang explains. “I dig deep and ask myself a series of questions. Why do I do that and say that? What is the motive behind my decisions? What are the factors I have or have not considered? How does that tell about me? What is something I hold dear to, and what are those I find truly excited about (by which I define as something I am willing to dedicate extra time and effort into)?…It will give you a better sense of who you are and compass you to find your passion in life better.”

Page 3 MBA Profiles: Alliance Manchester to Michigan State

Page 4: MBA Profiles: University of Minnesota to Yale SOM

DON’T MISS:

100 BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAS – CLASS OF 2022

MBAS TO WATCH – CLASS OF 2021

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