2018 MBAs To Watch: Reemon Silverman, Georgia Tech (Scheller) - Poets&Quants

Reemon Silverman

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

“I’m intrigued by people and their stories.”

Age: 28

Hometown: Calais, Maine

Fun fact about yourself: As a teenager, raking blueberries during summers on a local farm in Maine inspired my pursuit of education.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Bachelor and Master of Laws, Bar Ilan University, Israel

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? I was an attorney at Fischer Behar Chen Well Orion & Co., specializing in commercial law, and working with local and multinational clients on M&A transactions.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? Digital Product & Strategy, Bank of America, Charlotte, North Carolina

Where will you be working after graduation? Senior Strategy Consultant, North Highland

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• • • Co-President of the MBA Women in Business Club: Tripled club membership and offered students an enriching line-up of speakers and events, empowering them to be better negotiators, networkers, and professionals.
    • MBA Peer Leadership Committee Chair: Led implementation of peer coaching program for 130+ MBA students, bridging first-year and second-year students; led events featuring executive leaders of Atlanta-based companies; initiated programs that taught second-year coaches how to professionally advance their students.
    • Selected as Georgia Tech Leadership Fellow: Coached six diverse Georgia Tech undergraduate students on developing their leadership skills.
    • Scheller Student Speakers Founder: Partnering with other MBA students, I established a bi-monthly speaker series in which Scheller students share their life stories or a subject they are passionate about in a Ted Talk format.
    • Co-Instructor, GT: 1000 Startups & Entrepreneurship: Served as a Georgia Tech instructor for a semester-long undergraduate seminar course focused on innovation and leadership. The course aims to increase first-year student retention by increasing student engagement in the entrepreneurial environment at Georgia Tech.
    • Volunteer Arbitrator for State Bar of Georgia: Arbitrated fee disputes between attorneys and their clients; evaluated  evidence and question parties to reach a resolution.

  Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I’m so excited to have launched the Scheller Student Speakers program. My classmates have inspiring backgrounds and focuses and this platform gives students a unique opportunity to learn from and connect with each other.

  On a personal level, it has been very fulfilling to coach Georgia Tech undergraduate students on leadership development. They are full of ambition and desire to give back to their communities and I’ve enjoyed serving as a catalyzer for their leadership experiences.

  What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Partnering in the execution of international M&A transactions as the youngest attorney in one of the top law firms in Israel.

  Who was your favorite MBA professor? Hands down, Florin Niculescu. His information technology course explores platform business models, crowdsourcing, and cybersecurity issues, among many other topics! The subject matter inspired compelling dialogue on the future frontiers of technology, business, and lifestyle. Our class voted him MBA Professor of the Year at Scheller.

  What was your favorite MBA Course? The Israel international practicum course, during which I led a team of five students in leveraging the US regulatory landscape to develop go-to-market strategies for an Israeli cybersecurity company. In the international practicum program, Scheller students spend a semester working closely with international companies to solve a business problem. During spring break, students travel to the country where their company is based to present their strategic solutions. For me, the international practicum was a transformative leadership experience, as it involved leading a team of students with a wide-range of backgrounds and bridging between two different business cultures.

  Why did you choose this business school? Scheller MBA career advisers are a part of the interview process, which demonstrates Scheller’s investment in the tailored professional placement and development of its candidates. Moreover, the MBA program office looks for students who possess a rare combination of raw capability and integrity. I wanted to immerse myself in an environment that fostered camaraderie and excellence. Finally, Scheller is a unique program because its MBA Program Office supports and cultivates a wide-range of student initiatives. Students are empowered to improve Scheller and turn their ideas into a reality. This kind of autonomy enables students to thrive and implement initiatives that can better the experiences of their fellow students and the communities they will be a part of in the future.

  What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Visit the school, speak with current students and alumni, and meet professors in order to expose yourself to the myriad of opportunities to network, grow, and learn through this school.

  What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth is that Scheller is for engineers. Scheller seeks students with diverse backgrounds, and this program gives everyone the opportunity to flourish.

  What was your biggest regret in business school? That is has to end! This program is full of professional and educational opportunities. If there’s something that interests you – there is a club, case competition, course, or extra-curricular activity that will enable you to explore that interest further. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to study at Scheller and be a part of this amazing ecosystem.

  Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I have three! Anya Babinets, who is originally from Kazakhstan and Co-President of Women in Business, is a true powerhouse. She embodies one who drives results through excellence. Declan Nishiyama is extremely creative and smart – he resolves ambiguity through creating structure. I love brainstorming ideas with him and together with another impressive student, Chris Bergman, we developed the Scheller Student Speaker series. Sachin Khare is a true giver: he helped countless students prepare for consulting interviews. He is incredibly smart, articulate, and humble.

  Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My husband, Aaron, inspired me to pursue business school. He believed the extracurricular opportunities, diverse academic challenges, and professional development would propel my post-MBA career growth.

  “If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be a…corps member in the Teach for America program. I was accepted to business school and the Teach for America program at the same time. I decided to pursue the MBA at Scheller because of the experiential learning opportunities and business strategy tools that would enable me to have an impact not only on individuals but on organizations and their broader culture.”

  If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would dedicate a day to having the professors and administrators take interested students out for lunch or coffee. I think people work and learn best from those with whom they develop a strong personal connection.

  What are the top two items on your bucket list?

  • Creatively find ways for senior citizens to take a more active role in society. They are projected to rise from 8% to 17% of the world’s population by 2050, and their ability to meaningfully contribute is often overlooked.
  • To take my elderly parents back to the Madeleine Islands, a set of French-speaking Islands near Prince Edward Island. We used to travel there when I was a kid – the cliffs and nature are beautiful.

  In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? To be remembered as someone who enabled my peers to perceive the very best in themselves and act upon it.

  What is your favorite movie about business? The Founder, because it brought home the point that leading a successful professional life isn’t an end in and of itself. Success extends to the quality of products sold to customers and the way one treats the people closest to themselves.

  What would your theme song be? The Sound of Bells, Ozeri & Cohen

  Favorite vacation spot: Israel and Maine – I feel at home with the people and nature of these contrasting worlds.

  Hobbies? Photography, reading, travel.

  What made Reemon such an invaluable addition to the class of 2018?

  “Reemon Silverman is an exceptionally involved student committed to making the experiences of her classmates and future MBA students stellar. She is the Co-Leader of the Women in Business Organization that has increased programming throughout this year, hosting programs in Effective Networking and Negotiations as well as industry and company events and tours. WIB serves a vital role both in skill development for women students and building community among women at Scheller. In addition, Reemon has served as the Peer Leadership Chair, leading the implementation of a peer coaching program for 140+ MBAs. She is an essential part of our community, tirelessly working to help students connect with each other and partnering with the administration to enhance the overall student experience.

  Reemon grew up in Maine but traveled to Israel to pursue her Bachelor and Master of Laws from Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. While there, she competed in the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris and advised over 60 low-income residents through a legal aid clinic. Her professional legal career began in commercial law with ISCHER BEHAR CHEN WELL ORION & CO. in Tel Aviv where she managed due diligence teams involved in transactions with multi-national clients, advised clients on asset acquisition, and analyzed risks inherent in large financial transactions. She also provided legal counsel to Social Finance Israel, a non-profit organization, on issuing social impact bonds in Israel.

  Reemon will join North Highland as a Strategy Consultant after graduating in May 2018. Undoubtedly, her intellectual curiosity, commitment to others and zeal for life will follow her throughout her career.”

  Lauren Porter
  MBA Corporate Relations Manager
  Jones MBA Career Center, Scheller College of Business
  Georgia Institute of Technology

   

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2018 MBAs To Watch: Alex Walsh, Georgia Tech (Scheller) - Poets&Quants

Alex Walsh

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Ebullient, effusive, and expedient. Gets things done fast, and has lots of fun doing them.”

Age: 31

Hometown: Palm Coast, FL

Fun fact about yourself: I sang a cappella in college, including the solo for “Song for the Dumped” by Ben Folds Five. (Many members of our group – The Ransom Notes! — still get together at least once a year, a decade later!)

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Chicago, BA in Economics

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Most recently, I worked as a finance manager for Eckerd Kids, a Florida-based nonprofit that provides career pathways and support to adults, dislocated workers, and workforce-eligible teens. Prior to that, I worked as a journalist, in various roles and in different places all around the eastern United States. I started as the lone reporter for a business weekly in Tampa, Florida, spent some time as a data journalist building visualizations in Tableau, and, at one point, managed a newsroom.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? I spent last summer at The Home Depot, in Atlanta, Georgia, as a member of the Customer Insights team. My project was to conduct analyses on customers’ shopping and spend behavior. I looked at how often customers purchased certain products from us, as well as their reviews and ratings about those products.

Where will you be working after graduation? Back to The Home Depot! I actually started back full-time as of January 2nd. My team is starting to move from descriptive work to predictive analyses, so it’s a very exciting time.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: In 2017, I was part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program for Metro Atlanta, and really enjoyed spending time with my Little, Garrett. I also took Scheller’s Nonprofit Consulting Practicum class, which connects students to a nonprofit company in the Atlanta area to help solve a business problem. My team was focused on optimizing operations for a local farmer’s market organization. I helped them find a less expensive and more effective way to receive payment, while at the same time collecting data about those transactions.

I also served as a co-chair of our MBA program’s Social Committee. We organized something fun every Thursday night, be that a big group outing at a neat venue in Atlanta or a late-night event on campus. I’m really proud of the success of this year’s Geography Bee; we had great turnout, and our champion nailed the last round by naming all the countries in South America AND every country that borders China!

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? My peers voted to name me MBA Student of the Year for 2017, which was such an honor, given that I think so highly of each of my classmates.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? While working as a business journalist in Birmingham, Alabama, I noticed something strange in the transcript of an earnings call for a publicly traded company based in the city. The CEO had been asked whether the company might sell its natural gas utility business to focus more on oil and gas exploration. In the middle of answering the question, the CEO totally switched gears mid-sentence, from “It’s evolving,” to “We are never going to separate,” in a span of a few words. I spoke to some analysts and published a story – almost one year exactly before Energen announced that it had reached a deal to sell its utility to the Laclede Group for $1.6 billion. As someone who typically moves fast and puts the forest ahead of the trees, I’m proud to have picked up on such a small detail and made something of it.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Samuel Bond teaches Consumer Behavior at Scheller. It’s a huge field obviously, and Professor Bond does an incredible job packing a ton of content into a one-semester class, from customer journey and social media marketing to eye-tracking technology. And it doesn’t hurt that, as a self-proclaimed marketing analytics professional, the content is extremely relevant to my day-to-day work! In fact, the final project for that class was a concept for Coca-Cola that I think could make them a lot of money. At any rate, thank you, Prof. Bond!

What was your favorite MBA Course Other than the aforementioned Consumer Behavior course, I really enjoyed our core strategy course. The first half is focused on a textbook, while the second half is all about application. I enjoyed partnering with First Data to help them identify up-and-coming competitors, but even better than that was getting to learn from classmates about their own experiences over the course of two fully-packed presentation days. One thing that will always stick with me was the team that presented to Cox Automotive. The executive from Cox closed thusly: “One last question, when can you start?” A super cool moment to end a great class.

Why did you choose this business school? I think the top flight career services at Scheller and high-upside location of Atlanta are obvious strengths. More personally, the community at Scheller reminded me of my peers at the University of Chicago: intellectually curious people who were motivated by learning and discovery rather than accomplishment alone. To be sure, the folks at Scheller have ambition in spades. But that ambition is paired with a deep caring about the implications of what we learn and discuss – not to mention a caring for the well-being of fellow students, as well as the community and world around them.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? I think the Admissions group at Scheller does an outstanding job of admitting individuals with a high energy level, a willingness to work hard, and a natural inclination to care deeply and sincerely about the people around them, both immediately and in the broader community. If you’re one of those, I don’t think you need any advice at all!

What is the biggest myth about your school? This one’s easy. People assume you have to be a computer scientist to succeed at Tech. Not so! In fact, not even close! We have the faculty and resources to get folks up to speed on technology. Just bring your can-do attitude!

What was your biggest regret in business school? I think I would have approached case competitions differently if I knew at the beginning what I know now. They’re a great opportunity to apply what you learn, especially if you find an event that really keys on business concepts or marketplace applications that interest you.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? All of them! Apologies that I can’t make this a list of one, but as someone who tends to get by on improvisation and energy, I very much admire classmates Anya Babinets, Paige Brown, and Shane Moser for their unfailing polish and poise. They hit their marks every time!

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? From a very young age, my mom encouraged me to always apply critical thinking when possible. I think it’s what directed me to economics as an undergrad, which is definitely what led me to business as a graduate student.

If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…a business journalist in Chicago.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I think we could be more intentional about getting into the broader Atlanta community. Certainly those opportunities exist, and I think Tech is a great civic partner to the city of Atlanta, but for our program I might seek to convert some “optionals” into “mandatories.”

What are the top two items on your bucket list? Now that I’ve witnessed a Cubs World Series win? A week-long bike trip along some sort of beautiful coast line, and catching a Liverpool game at Anfield.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I hope they feel like I really listen to them when they speak – about their feelings, their experiences, their points of view.

What is your favorite movie about business? The Big Short, and it’s actually the very first visual in the film – a quote attributed to Mark Twain (although apparently the validity of this attribution has been challenged by some): “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

What would your theme song be? “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior, guaranteed to make almost any bad day a lot happier for at least a couple of minutes.

Favorite vacation spot: To quote Kanye West, summertime Chi. Ahh!

Hobbies? Road cycling and running, Major League Baseball (Cubs!), English Premier League, and late 19th /early 20th century biographies. Ron Chernow’s writings on John Rockefeller is something like 1,000 pages long, but it’s an incredible perspective into a deeply fascinating person, one who could account for every penny in and out of his pocketbook; one who would crush you in the marketplace and pray with you at church on Sunday; one who had two goals in life, and nearly achieved them both: to live to be 100, and to become the richest man in the world.

What made Alex such an invaluable addition to the class of 2018?

“During the first week of my new position at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, Alex Walsh walked into my office and told me he wanted to partner with me to make Scheller great. As a result of that conversation, Alex helped with a campaign that resulted in generating 125 student and alumni referrals. In addition to this initiative, Alex was a driving force for the creation of our student podcast series. The combination of Alex’s skills and experience as a journalist, his enthusiasm for the MBA program, and his radio-ready voice have created a terrific platform to showcase Scheller distinctions. Alex also lent his analytics skills to projects which helped us analyze peer data, recruiting leads, and the impact of our marketing efforts. Whether serving as a Student Ambassador, pulling together the annual Geography Bee, or working on faculty, staff or student initiatives, Alex has been a vibrant and engaged member of our community. His impact on the program has been significant and I believe it will continue as he transitions to an alumnus.”

Katie Lloyd
Executive Director of MBA Admission
Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology

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2018 MBAs To Watch: Anna Babinets, Georgia Tech (Scheller) - Poets&Quants

Anna Babinets

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Enthusiastic doer and dedicated mentor, with insatiable curiosity for new places and challenges.”

Age: 29

Hometown: Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan

Fun fact about yourself: I’ve explored ship wrecks 100 feet underwater and flew hang-gliders 3000 feet in the sky, yet I still close my eyes and ears during scary moments in the movies.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, BSc Economics & Management, 2009

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? I have seven years of progressive work experience in financial services and consulting. I led teams and managed client relationships for $6-12B companies, KPMG’s largest accounts in Kazakhstan. After moving to Atlanta, I worked as a Senior Associate with KPMG Deal Advisory practice, providing advice on M&A and cross-border transactions to multinational companies in the U.S.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? MBA Finance Intern in Flight Operations Division, Delta Airlines, Atlanta, Georgia.

Where will you be working after graduation? MBA Associate in Finance Leadership Development Program, Delta Airlines, Atlanta, Georgia.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Served as co-president of MBA Women in Business, an MBA club with more than 60 members that offers a variety of workshops, networking, and social events to Scheller community to equip students with the insights and tools for becoming successful leaders in the workplace.

• Mentored first year students for academic and career success as a Peer Coach, a program which pairs incoming students with second-year MBA classmates.
• Served as an MBA ambassador, assisting with admissions events and attracting more women and minority student to our MBA program.
• Volunteered for an annual MBA trip with St. Bernard New Orleans project, a non-profit organization that focuses on re-building houses after Hurricane Katrina.
• Volunteered as a financial instructor for Junior Achievement of Georgia, educating middle-school students on topics of financial and career planning with the goal of improving financial literacy and inspiring interest in pursuing STEM careers.
• Member of Finance, Consulting, and Net Impact MBA Clubs.
• Recipient of merit-based MBA and CFA scholarships.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am proud of the positive impact I’ve made on the student experience through the MBA Women in Business club. Under my leadership, the club has tripled its membership, established a Men as Allies initiative, and offered students an enriching line-up of speakers and events empowering them to be better negotiators, networkers, and leaders. This role has tested and honed my event planning skills, as we hosted at least two events per month – all coming on top of my MBA courses, graduate research work, and CFA and ACCA certification studies. We extended our outreach to the greater Atlanta community, hosting events with local non-profits, the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and corporate sponsors like AT&T, Deloitte, and LexisNexis. It’s been a great ride for the entire leadership team, and our work was recognized with the ‘Club of Semester’ award. Additionally, my peers selected me as “Most likely to become CEO.” Coming from people with great achievements and aspirations, it was the most valid recognition.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am proud of leading some of the most interesting projects with KPMG Kazakhstan and mentoring my team members to achieve their full potential. In my second year with the firm, I was given an opportunity to assist our key banking client with selling a $1.4 billion loan portfolio. It was my first time leading a team. With only a few weeks to perform valuation of 30+ start-up projects, it was definitely a stretch assignment! Our client invested in strategically important industries, so when the deal was closed, it received wide publicity. I remember how proud we felt for our contributions and I was very happy to see my team recognized with excellent performance reviews and several promotions.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? It’s a difficult choice to make because I have had so many great professors at Scheller. Professor Charles Mulford excels at making a usually dry subject – accounting – both hilarious and inspirational, and always keeps the material relevant by discussing recent business events. He received “MBA Professor of the Year” award so many times that it was eventually named after him; students even started a Facebook fan page dedicated to his quotes. I’ve also had a chance to work with Professor Mulford as a Graduate Research Assistant in his Financial Analysis Lab, learning a lot from his insightful guidance and a meaningful assignment. In just one year we’ve published a research paper on selective earnings management in the U.S., which was highlighted in a dedicated article at CFO.com!

What was your favorite MBA Course? The Service Operations class taught by Manpreet Hora. The course provided both relevant frameworks and multiple opportunities to learn outside of classroom, and see how these concepts are applied in the real world. We visited the Amazon fulfilment center and learned about designing successful and responsive operations from the center’s director, met the CEO of Waffle House, and participated in a behind-the-scenes tour of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, followed by a case discussion with one of the case actors! Professor Hora is a great instructor, very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. Having worked for him as a Graduate Research Assistant, I also know him as an excellent mentor and friend.

Why did you choose this business school? Georgia Tech MBA is ranked #1 in career advancement opportunities and return on investment, and both were important to me as I decided to pursue the MBA shortly after moving to the United States. From the moment I met our career services team during the admission interview, I knew that Scheller spares no effort in ensuring only the best outcomes for its MBA students. Even when I was just an applicant, our head of Career Services, Jim Kranzusch, shared his time to give career advice and extend his network to me. My initial assessment was not a mistake; the career services team enabled me to secure my summer internship two months into the program and land a full-time offer by September of my second year.

I also made my choice considering that the relatively small size of the program fosters closer ties between MBAs. I’m deeply honored to know each of my classmates personally and very proud of their character and accomplishments.  There will be more than a few life-long friendships to cherish after graduation.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Meet the Scheller family! Our small program size creates a unique close-knit community that we cherish and love talking about, but a class visit or a weekend spent at the MBA Open House will tell you more than a thousand words. This is a major life and investment decision, so taking time to visit campus and interact with students and alumni is well worth the effort. I knew that Scheller had a strong program and network that would enable me to achieve my career goals, but a warm welcome from friendly, bright, and highly motivated people on campus and at MBA socials really sealed the deal for me.

What is the biggest myth about your school? I am happy to bust the myth that you have to be an engineer or a technology guru to succeed at Scheller. Like many of my classmates, I come from a non-technology background and chose to pursue a general business track for my MBA. While our close proximity to Tech Square and dynamic startups undoubtedly provides unique opportunities to pursue technology and innovation tracks, it’s an added bonus, not a requirement.

What was your biggest regret in business school? I wish I had the foresight to arrange my desired courses and personal commitments to prioritize taking an international practicum. Scheller offers a fantastic opportunity to experience a different country while solving real business problems. My peers worked for a Japanese sake brewery client, helped an Israeli company develop go-to-market strategies for cyber-security products, and dined with the Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. I would recommend this experience even for well-traveled MBAs.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Kristen Whalen. It takes a lot of effort to be a successful full-time MBA student, keeping up with all academic and extracurricular activities. It takes an even greater commitment to be a loving and caring parent. I’ve always admired Kristen for skillfully balancing both of those. Kristen became a mom in the middle of fall semester, but continued to give 100% to all assignments, managed the Women in Business club finances, and overall is a “have it all” wonder-woman whom I look up to.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My family gave me the courage to leave a stable job in consulting and go back to school. My husband is my best friend, who supports my wildest ambitions and empowers me to pursue my dreams. My mom is my role model as a successful professional and a loving parent, who is always there for everyone. She raised me and my sister through the hardship and uncertainty of the post-Soviet Union economic collapse, yet always exudes positive attitude and contagious optimism. I would not be here without their unyielding support.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…having a great time at KPMG, working hard to earn the right to become a partner one day.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? Scheller is located in Technology Square and just a block away from 17 corporate innovation centers and more than 100 start-ups. I’d love to see a practicum class that allows all MBA students to partner with these corporate innovation labs. During MBA orientation, we toured the innovation centers, and everyone was excited to play with the latest technology at Delta, Panasonic, and Emerson. Select students pursuing immersive tracks and members of our TI:GER (The Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program get a chance to partner with start-ups to help solve business problems, but it would be great to scale that up to engage every Scheller MBA.

What are the top two items on your bucket list? Visit all continents and become fluent in Spanish

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? As someone who is willing to step up, truly cares about her team, and tackles obstacles with a smile

What is your favorite movie about business? 12 Angry Men is a great courtroom drama. The biggest lesson I gained from it was understanding how to influence others and build consensus without formal power. The movie illustrates how one can successfully instill changes and resolve conflicts by listening to others and understanding their inner motivations and personality.

What would your theme song be? “I Did It My Way” by Frank Sinatra

Favorite vacation spot: A window seat in an airplane, which will take me on a journey to explore another culture and savor new experiences.

Hobbies? I love to travel and experience outdoors – from endurance-testing 1000-mile U.S. road trips to scuba diving in Egypt and sandboarding in South Africa. When I am in town, there’s nothing better than hosting board game nights and dinners with friends, sharing a tale or two of our adventures.

What made Anna such an invaluable addition to the class of 2018?

“As an MBA student, Anna Babinets is an active member of the Scheller community, serving as the co-leader of our Women in Business (WIB) organization. Due to her efforts, WIB has increased its presence and programming throughout this year hosting programs in Effective Networking and Negotiations as well as company events and tours. These events prove vital in both skill development for women students and building community among women at Scheller.

In addition to WIB, Anna is also a Peer Coach in a program that pairs incoming students with members of the second year class to aid in transition and adjustment. She is also a Scheller MBA Ambassador, making herself available for recruiting prospective students through tours, information sessions and interviews.

When Anna graduates from Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business in May, she will join Delta as a member of their Finance Leadership Development Program. Though she has studied in Atlanta and will remain here after graduating with her MBA, she is Kazakhstani by birth. Anna came to the United States in 2006, transferring in to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and earning her bachelor’s degree in 2009.  Since completing her undergrad, she has worked for GE Transportation in Kazakhstan and KPMG in both Kazakhstan and the United States. At KPMG she led teams of 10+ employees and managed significant client relationships. At Scheller, she is a full merit-based scholarship student and is actively pursuing CFA licensure.

In the Atlanta community, Anna has put her finance skill and ability in practice serving as a Volunteer Financial Instructor with Junior Achievement of Georgia. She has also participated in the St. Bernard Project focused on rebuilding the St. Bernard Parish area of Louisiana.

Anna is a vital part of our community, a leader both inside and outside of the classroom. We’ve been fortunate to have her energy and enthusiasm in our program.”

Lauren Porter
MBA Corporate Relations Manager
Jones MBA Career Center
Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

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2018 Best MBAs: Declan Nishiyama, Georgia Tech (Scheller) - Poets&Quants

Declan Nishiyama

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

“Former Chemical Engineer turned Technical Product Manager for cloud computing at Amazon Web Services.”

Age: 28

Hometown: Ashland, KY

Fun fact about yourself: As a hobby, I make ice cream. Recently, I made one of my classmate’s favorite cereals into a flavor, Captain Crunch ice cream. She liked it so much that she literally cried!

Undergraduate School and Degree: North Carolina State University – Chemical Engineering in Raleigh, NC

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? ExxonMobil – Business Analyst in Beaumont, TX

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? Amazon Web Services in Seattle, WA

Where will you be working after graduation? Amazon – Senior Product Manager, Technical Products in Seattle, WA

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• I was elected by my classmates to be the Class Vice President of Finance. In this position, I implemented several new funding sources for our class organizations, increasing our budget by 20%. I used that funding to facilitate new events and to establish a new committee that helps capture the interesting stories, experiences and activities of our students to share amongst ourselves and with external communities, like prospective students. That committee recently started a podcast series in which students are interviewed about their summer internship experiences. These podcasts help current students evaluate whether the company would be a good fit and help prospective students understand the MBA internship experience. I also digitized our reimbursement system, improving processing times from over two weeks to one day.
• My classmate and I initiated the Scheller Student Speaker program, giving students an opportunity to share their stories and passions with the rest of their classmates in a Ted Talk format.
• I’ve been the captain of our MBA intramural indoor and outdoor soccer team, which is the equivalent of herding cats due to our busy schedule of classes, homework, and other extracurriculars. Luckily, our MBA program is close-knit and has a lot of people like me, who aren’t necessarily gifted athletes, but enjoy being active and being a part of the team. After a harrowing loss in the outdoor playoff finals, we’re still looking for that Grad League championship trophy. The indoor playoff finals are coming up and things are looking pretty good for our team!
• There have been ample opportunities to give back to the Atlanta community while in business school. I volunteered at the Veteran’s hospital and at Open Hand Atlanta, delivering meals and spending time with people in need. In my spare time, I volunteered at the soup kitchen of the nearby United Methodist church, serving meals for the local community. I also enjoyed volunteering at the Fulton County Science Fair, encouraging students to pursue their passions in STEM. There were many outstanding projects and one middle schooler had even built his own robot!

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am part of Scheller College’s Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) program, and I’m most proud of the success my team achieved in the Indus Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition. Through Scheller’s TI:GER program, I’ve teamed with a Georgia Tech PhD student and Emory law students to commercialize the PhD student’s research on autonomous vehicles. This competition was our opportunity to defend the business plan we developed. We placed 1st in the semifinal competition and advanced to the finals. Despite having several members sick with the flu during the competition, we won $1,500 in the finals. The funding was a great reward, but the lessons we learned in feedback from the judges and mentors was more valuable. We took what we learned and applied for a National Science Foundation I-Corps grant to perform customer-discovery interviews to further refine our business plan. We were awarded the grant and given $50k to travel the West Coast conducting 100 interviews. We’ve gained valuable insights into the industry and have pivoted our focus to capitalize on what we learned through these experiences. In addition, we recently received a Georgia Research Alliance grant for another $50k to simulate our technology in new vehicles to further validate its effectiveness.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? At ExxonMobil, I am most proud of the work I did to improve the safety of my coworkers. I worked at a manufacturing plant, which can often be dangerous due to the use of hazardous materials at high temperatures and pressures. Utmost care and attention is needed to ensure that everyone can return home safely to their families every day. I was given the opportunity to lead a team of eight engineers and operators to identify risks related to H2S, a deadly gas. We scoured the facility drawings and diagrams and performed safe, in-person examinations to understand all potential exposure points. We were able to implement several solutions to ensure that exposure to the gas would be impossible. For this initiative, the site leadership selected me for a 212° award, which recognizes employees who go above and beyond the normal call of duty and demonstrate the “extra degree” of effort.

While at ExxonMobil, I also dedicated my time to the community. Each month after work, I would drive two hours to Houston to participate in civic hack-a-thons, during which software developers would team with local government and small businesses to work on projects benefitting the community. For one project I helped a small non-profit, Trees for Houston, manage their enormous database of planted and maintained trees. Although I was a mediocre programmer, I was able to add value to the project. My team and I created a map of all the planted and maintained trees to help their sponsors, clients, and employees visualize their significant impact in Houston and inspire them to continue their commitment to the organization’s mission. The impact I was able to make on that project helped me finalize my decision to change careers and to become a Product Manager.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? That has to be Charles Mulford. It would be hard to pick anyone else, since he’s won the Core Professor of the Year award 11 times and Elective Professor of the Year award five times. He stands out because he is able to do the unthinkable: he makes accounting fun and interesting for everyone. He also shares amazing advice for valuing micro-cap and nano-cap companies, which can be much trickier than valuation of small- and mid-cap companies. These techniques have been helpful for me to develop the business plan of the autonomous-vehicle startup, which is the focus of my TI:GER team.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Scheller because of their unique TI:GER program, which is allowing me to work on commercializing research on autonomous vehicles. There are many amazing companies that have come out of the program. One example is LymphaTech, which recently received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight Lymphatic Filariasis all over the world.

For my TI:GER project, I work with a PhD student from the College of Computing who is focused on autonomous vehicle technology. His research replaces decade-old technology at the core of today’s self-driving cars. This improvement will greatly increase safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles by facilitating faster calculations of cars’ projected trajectories. Through the TI:GER program, I’ve been able to work on developing the business plan to bring this project to fruition. This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience that Scheller is uniquely positioned to provide.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? Get to know us! Talk with current students or come in for a classroom visit. We have a smaller than average class size and that really allows us to build up a strong community that you have to experience.

What was your biggest regret in business school? My first year, I made the rookie mistake of taking a Thursday evening class. That’s the time that our program holds social events, so I ended up missing ice skating, a trip to the aquarium, several bar crawls, and a movie night. Don’t make my mistake.

Aside from that, I wish that I had participated in more business case competitions. Several of my classmates traveled to Colorado to participate in the Race & Case Competition, which is half business case competition and half skiing race. Really.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? My classmates wgi have had babies during the program. I have a hard enough time taking care of my dog and doing the MBA. I couldn’t imagine doing that with a newborn!

Another would be my wife. She’s technically not a student, but she did win the “Honorary MBA” award at last year’s MBA prom. She comes to just about all our school events: socials, tail gates, even our intramural games. The only thing she doesn’t do is come to class with me. Over the summer, she even moved her business to Seattle so that we could be together while I interned with Amazon. I’m grateful for how supportive she’s been over the last two years while I learned and had a blast, but made practically no salary.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? I had a co-worker who left our company to get his MBA a few years before me. Prior to him leaving, I didn’t think it was possible to live without a salary for two years and to actually pay tuition instead. I thought that the process would be too much of a setback financially and career-wise. His departure and post-MBA success (he now runs his own search fund) showed me that it could be done.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…caught up on all the TV shows and movies in my Netflix queue, but working in an industry that didn’t fulfill me.”

What are the top two items on your bucket list? My wife and I want to visit all 50 states. Road tripping to Seattle this summer to start my internship at Amazon helped us approach our goal, but we’re still missing a few in the Northeast and then Hawaii and Alaska. Every state has such a unique personality and it has been amazing seeing all that America has to offer. So that’s really the top 10 items on my bucket list.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I would like to be remembered as the guy who was a good friend and wasn’t afraid to be embarrassed.

What would your theme song be? Eminem–‘Till I Collapse. This is a great motivational piece that explores inner strength and finding inspiration in your work. This was my hype music before our intramural dodgeball games. We ended up winning the dodgeball Grad League championship. Was it because of Eminem? If I weren’t the worst player on the team, I might think so.

Favorite vacation spot: India! My wife and I traveled there during my winter break. We met up with several MBA classmates in their hometowns of Mumbai and Delhi. We are huge fans of Indian food and were not disappointed. The architecture was absolutely stunning. It made it very apparent that the U.S. is only ~250 years old.

Hobbies? My favorite hobby has been working on my app, EtymologyExplorer. While studying for the GRE, I finally grew from hating words to finding them interesting—how they’ve evolved and how similar words are related. I got so invested that I taught myself programming and developed an app to show word etymologies visually. The depiction looks like a tree with word roots and descendants. The Android version recently surpassed 15k installs. Since starting business school, I’ve finished an iPhone version and a webpage. The value from this has been developing new skills, not making any money; I put ads into the app and that led to a whopping $200 in revenue.

What made Nishiyama such an invaluable addition to the class of 2018?

“I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Declan every week for the last year since he served as the Vice President of Finance for the Graduate Business Council (GBC), our MBA Student Government Organization, and I meet weekly with the GBC leaders. Declan is truly a leader among our students. In his role he helps manage more than $50K in funding for student engagement initiatives, fairly distributing this to student committees. He works closely with all the committee to help increase their student activities to improve the student experience. He serves as an advocate for students, representing the student body and sharing their concerns with the administration so we can continue to enhance student programs and support. He really cares about his classmates and his efforts have helped create a close-knit student body.

In addition to serving as a GBC leader, he mentors three first-year MBA students to help them succeed in the program and in the internship search. He also takes initiative to go outside his formal leader role and mentor role to create new opportunities for students. For instance, to help students form closer relationships, he worked with a classmate to launch the Scheller Student Speaker Program in which MBAs give Ted Talk-like presentations about their personal stories and the challenges that have shaped them. He is also a committed member of his TI:GER team, working with a team of students to help commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. Declan is an outstanding member of our students community and a role model for our first-year students who now need to step into leadership roles as our 2nd years prepare for graduation and their full-time positions.”

Nancy Gimbel
Assistant Dean of MBA Student Engagement
Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

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