Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you?

I grew up in a very internationally-minded household, as I was born in Brussels and moved to Kentucky when I was four and my extended family lives throughout Europe. While I have learned a tremendous amount throughout my investment banking and principal investing careers, my career thus far has lacked international scope and social impact. My dream is to develop my international background and combine it with my finance experience to further financial and industrial sophistication in developing and emerging countries. An MBA from Tuck’s world-class program, with its strong emphasis on global thinking, leadership, case method and teamwork, will provide the bridge to my career vision.

My short-term career goal is to shift my investing focus from domestic to global. I hope to spend my summer internship with the US Agency for International Development, underwriting loans to fund infrastructure projects in developing countries, then leverage that experience to obtain a post-MBA position within an emerging markets debt/equity fund (e.g. Darby Overseas, Global Environment Fund). While I have valuable experience evaluating investment opportunities on a daily basis, these positions would develop my international investing acumen and help me cultivate a global network. Ultimately, I would leverage my international investing experience and network to pursue my long-term goal of starting my own emerging markets investment firm. Initially, my firm would operate as a fundless sponsor (with no committed capital, relying on relationships with debt and equity investors to finance investments), and we would eventually leverage our track record to raise a traditional equity fund. Ideally, we would seek to realize aggressive returns through our emerging markets investments yet also complement our lower-yielding developing country investments with a “social return” component.

A Tuck MBA is critical to achieving my career goals because it will not only give me the opportunity to work with, learn from and befriend brilliant people from across the world, but also provide me with the resources to tailor my academic experience and maximize the development of my international skill set. The course, Leadership in the Global Economy, focuses on country risk, cross-border financings and international economic analysis – this aligns with what will be one of my biggest challenges as a global investor: understanding how to accurately evaluate country risk. The CIB Fellows program would further expand my international scope through research projects and exposure to international business leaders. Furthermore, Tuck’s dedication to leadership development would arm me with the soft skills necessary to eventually start and lead my own firm.

In addition to the courses and programs offered, Tuck’s emphasis on case method and group-learning is particularly appealing to me. Analyzing a potential investment opportunity is very similar to analyzing a case; at Tuck, I will learn to apply this same method of analysis to business concepts beyond solely investment ideas. Throughout my career, I have learned that companies favor investors they view as collaborative partners (vs. as owners). Thus, working with diverse study groups would prepare me for a career that revolves around partnering with a diverse range of managers. I have worked in teams throughout my career as well as within my real estate investment partnership, and find that I thrive and learn particularly well when collaborating with others.

Through researching Tuck and reaching out to alumni, I began noticing all the qualities that initially drew me to my alma mater, W&L: a rigorous curriculum; grounded, well-rounded and tight-knit students; a tranquil, outdoorsy setting; a uniquely loyal alumni network; and most importantly, a dedication to molding students into better leaders, better teammates, and better people. My visits to Tuck confirmed all of these notions – I last took an Economics course in 2003, yet I was utterly engaged in Professor Hansen’s Managerial Economics and filled an entire page with formulas and notes; the students made themselves incredibly accessible; and, I felt at home in Hanover. I left with a huge, silly grin on my face and a strong gut feeling that I had found the right place. I spent four amazing years at W&L, and I would be honored to spend two more at Tuck developing into an insightful business leader with the ability to have an international impact.