2018 MBAs To Watch: Vivek Kukkapalli, U.C.-Irvine (Merage) - Poets&Quants

Vivek Kukkapalli         

University of California-Irvine, Merage School of Business

“I am a highly motivated individual with a passion to find innovative solutions to challenges.”

Age: 28

Hometown: Hyderabad, India

Fun fact about yourself: I am an outdoor adventurer and love to hike. I have completed the 14 hours grueling hike through the rainforest in Agumbe Ghats, India. This forest trail pushed me to my physical limits and tested my mental stamina to persevere through exhaustion.

Undergraduate School and Degree: SASTRA University, Bachelor of Technology – Computer Science Engineering

Where did you work before enrolling in business school?

Microsoft – Dynamics CRM Support Engineer, India Escalation Team

I worked with multi-cultural teams across the world to provide consulting and technical solutions in a highly political scenario to large-scale premium enterprises using Dynamics CRM.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017?

Amazon – Senior Product Manager Technical Products Intern

Identified and evaluated new data sources to quickly discover new products in the retail world. This has improved the product discovery by 30%.

Where will you be working after graduation?

Amazon – Senior Product Manager Technical Products

I will work on scaling the new generation of product discovery tools to improve the speed of discovering new products in the retail world.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: During my 2 years in MBA, I have served on boards of the Marketing and Technology clubs, where I was instrumental in improving the digital presence of the clubs and improve the attendance by 15%. I am especially proud to serve as Executive Vice President Business Technology Association, wherein I had the opportunity to lead Product Management Case interview prep session instrumental for interview readiness of first-year MBAs.

During my MBA I was awarded faculty fellowship for my academic excellence and commitment to improving the overall class experience.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am extremely proud of the Product Management Case Interview prep session that was targeted towards first-year MBA students. This acted as the gateway for most of them to learn about the case interviews.

We were able to help first-year MBAs discover their unique style of answering case questions by mentoring them on strategies to obtain relevant information during the interview, make valid assumptions and take charge of the overall interview. As a result, many students were successful in converting interview invitation to internship offers.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I am most proud of my work as a Microsoft Engineer with a government organization in India wherein I persevered through extreme political pressure to avert an international security incident. This technical issue, if not solved quickly, would lead to a complete halt of immigration from some international embassies and thus would be an embarrassment to the government.

I was able to solve this problem quickly by bringing the 10 vendor teams together and discover the root cause of the problem. As all teams worked together, we were able to complement each other’s work and fix the problem before it escalated.

This experience helped me realize the importance of a leader in a crisis. I am very proud of my work in bringing the teams together and pushing on even in the face of extreme political pressure.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite MBA professor is Professor David Gamboa. He was instrumental in teaching us the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. His teaching style of complementing textbook material with his real-life entrepreneurial experiences helped the class internalize the startup thought process.

His class provided us opportunities to explore innovative business ideas and then pitch them to potential investors. This by far is the best in class experience I had during my MBA at The Paul Merage School of Business, UCI.

What was your favorite MBA Course? My favorite MBA course is the Consulting Projects, where my team and I got the opportunity to consult on developing the future strategy for the connected car for Kia America.

Through this course, I understood how to evaluate a new business opportunity by piecing together discrete information from multiple sources. I believe this skill is extremely important for a business leader, who needs to find relevant data to make the right decisions.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose the Paul Merage School of Business for my MBA as this program embodied my passion for solving challenges by leveraging technology.

I had the opportunity to talk with multiple students and every one of them showcased the passion to solve problems and create a positive impact on the world. The program course structure is flexible enough for me to explore new areas of interest and obtain practical knowledge in those fields. To top it all, the school believes strongly in digital transformation and is committed to empowering its student to lead the digital change in organizations.

What is your best piece of advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? The Paul Merage School of Business looks for technical leadership in all its candidates. An ideal candidate would be one who has taken steps to push one’s organization forward digitally.

If you are applying to an MBA at UCI, please showcase your efforts to take your organization or team ahead to a digitally transformed future.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth I had about the b-school was that most of the learning happens inside the classroom. However, after working on multiple projects at school, I have realized that classroom learning is a gateways to knowledge but the true learning occurs in team meetings and competitions.

What was your biggest regret in business school? My biggest regret in the business school is not participating in enough new venture competitions and not pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I believe that these competitions are great forums for the students to test their entrepreneurial ideas. Every new venture competition is different and the opportunity to pitch in front of a varied audience pushes the students to examine an idea from multiple points of views. This in-depth analysis helps streamline the entrepreneurial thought process.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire Arturo San Vicente, my classmate and a good friend. He is gusty and an extremely driven individual who is a two-time entrepreneur. He has an uncanny ability to look through the noise and identify the right data points to locate the root cause of any business problem.

Every time, I interact with him, I learn something new and he inspires me to be a better leader and problem solver.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My parents have inspired me to pursue a business education. As they did not have financial flexibility to pursue their passions, they made sure I had every opportunity to explore my interests and pursue my passions. As time progressed, my interests aligned with entrepreneurship, but they did not have experience in this area thus encouraged me to look for new avenues to gain the skills to excel in entrepreneurship. That search led me to the business school.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…hiking in Himalayan mountain ranges.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would make sure there is free coffee throughout the day.

What are the top two items on your bucket list? The top two items are:

1. Skydiving over Dubai
2. Scuba diving in The Great Barrier Reef.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? As a passionate, fun and trustworthy person who will always be ready to help them.

What is your favorite movie about business? I love The Pursuit of Happyness. The biggest lesson for me is this: however bad the current situation is, there is always a way to persevere and come back to the top.

What would your theme song be? “Highway to the Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins

Favorite vacation spot: Munich, Germany

Hobbies? Hiking, Surfing & Reading

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

“I am an adjunct lecturer of Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Irvine Paul Merage School of Business. I came to know Vivek when I was his Instructor for MBA 214: Entrepreneurship for Management. The course required students to formulate a new business concept, organize into student teams, develop a formal business plan, and present the final plan in a “Shark Tank” type format. Vivek distinguished himself by submitting an exceptionally well researched and interesting Virtual-Reality Travel platform.

Overall, Vivek is highly intelligent and has good analytical skills. His project on VR Travel demonstrated his ability to research new and exciting opportunities in an innovative market. He gave a particularly interesting discussion of the challenges of cloud computing and how it relates to VR travel video content services. His overall intelligence is also reflected in his grades for the course, which were at the top of the class.

On a personal level, Vivek is a disciplined, industrious student with a pleasant and respectful personality. He went well beyond the course requirements in the quantity and quality of his project. Not only was he interested in and motivated to learn the material, but he also put great work into assimilating it to his own experience and into developing his own ideas about starting a new company.

Vivek He has proven himself to have the perseverance, initiative, and intellectual creativity necessary to be included in this elite group of students.”

David J. Gamboa
Lecturer, Entrepreneur
University of California, Irvine
Paul Merage School of Business

 

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2018 MBAs To Watch: Niti Shukla, U.C.-Irvine (Merage) - Poets&Quants

Niti Shukla

University of California-Irvine, Merage School of Business

“A technologist, theatre artist, sports enthusiast, social worker – I am a proficient juggler!”

Age: 28

Hometown: Gujarat, India

Fun fact about yourself: I have binge watched Netflix with no sleep for more than 24 hours! And this has happened more than once!

Undergraduate School and Degree: Sardar Patel University, Bachelors of Computer Engineering

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Technology Consultant

I was a Technology Consultant in TCS. I extensively worked with 4 global clients (Fortune 500 companies) and senior management on high stake projects to analyze and solve problems for SAP and SuccessFactors through Business Process Consulting and end to end implementations. I also gained expertise in Market Research and Product Market releases of Rapid Deployment Systems.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017? Salesforce, San Francisco

During my internship at Salesforce, I worked as a Sales Operations and Planning Associate for Customer Success Group. My projects included working on Business Value and on Competitive analysis. By analyzing 20+ customers and their competitive landscape, I defined the alignment of Salesforce products and services to the customers’ business goals and quantified clients’ investments in Salesforce products and services, thereby providing recommendations on sales strategy development.

Where will you be working after graduation? I am exploring more opportunities on the digital strategy and marketing front.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

1. Recipient of Merage Fellowship Award – It is the highest distinction and scholarship awarded to an incoming student at Merage. Admissions Committee carries out a detailed evaluation based holistically on candidate’s academic performance, business experience and leadership potential.
2. President of Business and Technology Association – Elected by members of the association to lead this premier club of the school that is focused on digital innovation. Through speaker series, interview preparation sessions, and networking events to company site visits, I have led the association to help the students who aspire to be in technology industry or in tech related business roles.
3. Vice President of Global Business Association – With global management as one of the strong pillars of Merage, I was glad to be a part of this association and help it to further the understanding of emerging markets globally, global workplaces and aspects of organizational culture through panel discussions, company site visits, team building and recreational events.
4. Mentor in UCI Rising Leadership Program – Responsible to discuss and guide the mentees to achieve their academic and career goals
5. Served in Seed Consulting Group – Consultant at Seed Consulting OC that provides pro-bono services to Non-Profit Organizations.
6. Community work in Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics Southern California.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Being a Merage fellow, the most esteemed fellowship here, comes with certain responsibilities and expectations. I take complete interest and pride in working towards school and community to give back to my level best. A few ways I have done this are through participating in mentorship programs to mentor undergraduates and 1st year students as well as through holding leadership roles and working relentlessly towards common goals through the most premier club – Business and Technology Association – and most prolific club – Global Business Association – of the school.

Also, I have always been enthusiastic to represent school in events such as Open Houses and Admits Weekends held by Admissions office and school Ambassadors, as well as be a part of the student panels. I was honored to be among the very few selected by Dean’s office to represent UCI Merage School FTMBA student experience for AACSB Peer Review Team (PRT) for the re-accreditation of the School. I am proud of representing the school at various such events and being a part of its growth.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? When I was a technology consultant, I worked on global client solutions that required traveling. On one such urgent project that required a niche skillset of ERP cloud solutions, I needed to travel to client’s location in UAE. Being the youngest in the team of 15 and with least years of experience, it was a challenge for me to establish myself professionally as a consultant with the technology knowhow. In the past, I had partnered with SAP for their Rapid Deployment System releases for Middle Eastern geography and hence was well versed with all policies, statutory requirements, and hybrid solution’s best practices. Traversing through the challenge and successfully implementing modules such as performance management, payroll accruals, and postings for a retail giant, I soon established myself as a trusted consultant and could win the confidence of all counterparts. I received great feedbacks from client’s c-suite, acknowledgement from TCS higher management followed by perfect performance rating and a promotion! It was one of the greatest confidence boost up for me early on in professional life and paved way for many more accomplishments.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Professor Leonard Lane taught Competitive Intelligence. An excellent instructor, Prof. Lane made his class very engaging and created an environment of open class discussion. He regularly sought feedback from students about the curriculum and organized very effective focus groups to revamp the course structure to align it with digitally driven businesses – my area of focus in B school. All the case studies, projects, and definitely the Business War Game were few of the highlights of his course. In spite of being busy shuttling between two countries, The United States and China, he gave time to students and was very responsive.

I have utmost admiration for Prof. Lane for the deep understanding and interest he developed in students for the courses he taught.

What was your favorite MBA Course?

1. Competitive intelligence – A part of Strategic Management, Competitive Intelligence, it taught me some great frameworks and helped me get a strong grasp of structured approach to analyze competitive landscapes.
2. Digital Strategies and Markets – It was the first elective of my B school and such a good choice I made! This course provided phenomenal insights into mobile commerce, platform, data analytics strategies and omni-channel digital targeting.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Merage for its focus on digital transformation, innovation and its community. Being an engineer, having previous experience as a technologist, and now aiming to be in Technology industry, I found that Merage’s focus and curriculum closely aligned with my goals. The school’s efforts to revamp its syllabus for a digitally driven business world have been remarkable and I have gained a lot of value from them.

One of the most striking aspects for me in choosing the school was its community. With a small yet globally and professionally diverse group of students that Merage takes pride in, I was certain that I will get to know my peers closely. Also, I knew that a smaller professor to student ratio will give me personalized attention and more accessibility to professors’ time. Thus, I felt Merage will give me many opportunities to form quality relationships with my peers and staff. And I am not disappointed one bit!

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program?

UCI Merage has a unique culture. It is a very close knit smaller community and collaboration is fostered more than competition here. Also, the school’s location gives a lot of scope to explore and network in the corporate world. My advice to an applicant will be to research about the school and talk to ambassadors, admissions committee, students as well as alums. It is very important for an applicant’s aspirations to align with the focus and culture of the school. School’s curriculum and teaching staff’s profiles are also very important factors to consider. Also, for International students, I will say that Merage is a beautiful home away from home!

What is the biggest myth about your school? My school is situated near the tech coast in Southern California and often there are word going rounds that for internships and jobs, students from this school generally end up only in Southern California, primarily Orange County. I have had a really different experience about the aforementioned. While the focus and strength of presence is SoCal, I have also seen a lot of students moving to the Bay Area, outside the State, as well as to the East Coast to pursue opportunities of their choice.

What was your biggest regret in business school? I was very much looking forward to be a part of The Executive Committee (TEC) on campus program. I had heard amazing things about it. Being an international student and having an urgent need to fly back home, I was going to miss TEC’s first meeting and an absence in any of the meetings was unacceptable. Hence, I had to drop out from applying for TEC on campus and it is by far my biggest regret in the business school.

P.S: The Executive Committee (TEC) is a worldwide organization with over 10,000 CEOs who use TEC as their personal ‘Board of Directors.’ Membership is by invitation only. TEC brings top-level executives together on a monthly basis to help each other solve business challenges through the collective experience of the group. TEC On Campus is an extension of this program which is specifically designed for future leaders

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire my classmate Arturo San Vicente for inspiring me through his failures and successes. From a failed Start-up experience to now being the CEO of HyperSight – a startup transforming the automotive shopping experience through AI and AR – Arturo exemplifies determination and grit. From winning competitions to giving back to students through school’s Center of Innovation and Center for Digital Transformation, Arturo continues to motivate budding entrepreneurs and students. All this success has still kept him very modest and humble. I am privileged to share my learning experience at the Business School with him.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My sister and she is my mentor! I am younger of the two siblings and look up to her for suggestions, help, and everything else! While she attended Business School, I saw her learn and grow personally and professionally. When I was a consultant, I would often reach out to her to understand certain business terms, transactions, and mannerisms. Seeing my interest in the business field and willingness to learn, but also my ignorance to a certain level, she motivated me to pursue Business in College.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…a subject matter expert in my field of Technology Consulting, but lacking an overall development from business standpoint and awareness needed for accelerating my career growth and options.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience?

1. Foster Alumni Relations: Ours is a young school. Hence, ensuring far-reaching alumni engagement programs to further strengthen the alumni network will be one very important aspect that I will work on.
2. Strong Marketing for Digital Studies: The school’s focus is primarily on digitally-driven business world. Our entire course structure has been revamped and large scale events such as Road to Reinvention are held to cater this focus. I would encourage extensive digital marketing of our efforts and events to create a good and positive buzz.

What are the top two items on your bucket list?

1. Visit Stade Roland Garros: I have played tennis since childhood, have laurels in the sport to my name, and have been a huge tennis fanatic – all thanks to my father’s patronage and my devotion for Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis and Steffi Graf. I would love to be at Stade Roland Garros to watch French Open Grand Slam!
2. African Safari: Again, all credit to my father, who ensured that the family traveled far and wide, and the kids learned to appreciate nature. The reverence for diverse experiences and cultures is now a matter of personal intrigue, and a must vacation to Africa!

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? I am a little “Smurfblossom” – spirited, joyful and enthusiastic – from the Smurfs and that is how I would like my peers to remember me!

What is your favorite movie about business? Pirates of the Silicon Valley: Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) in one of his dialogues says that “Success is a menace. It fools smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” At the time when I saw the movie, I could strongly relate to it. Success, bad decisions, and a failure were what I had recently experienced then. Hence, I learnt to be discreet and humble throughout and not let success fool me!

Just to quote one of the many intriguing conversations between Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) and Bill Gates (Anthony Michael Hall) that shows navigating in business standpoint and the brilliance of the movie:

Steve Jobs: We are better than you are. We have better stuff!

Bill Gates: You don’t get it, Steve. That doesn’t matter!

And the argument on which, still goes on!

What would your theme song be? “Happy” by Pharrell Williams: Its infectious optimism and the bouncy melody very much defines how I see life and try to make of it.

Favorite vacation spot: Sun and Sand for me! Mauritius and UAE

Hobbies? Reading is a ritual and playing tennis is love (A big shout-out to Rafael Nadal, “The King of Clay” for being the best on my favorite tennis surface) and performing arts/dramatics is more of a sporadic indulgence!

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

“I had the pleasure of interviewing Niti back in 2016 and I immediately knew if she came to Merage she would be a leader in the community. Her enthusiasm is infectious and she is able to bring people together from different backgrounds. She made the most of her time at UCI Merage and truly embraced the MBA experience.

During her first year in the MBA program, Niti became a regional finalist for the Hult Case Competition; her work focused on building a sustainable, scalable social enterprise that restores the rights and dignity of 10 million refugees by 2022. Additionally, she was voted in as President of the Business and Technology Association, where she led interview prep sessions, technical workshops and company site visits to Microsoft and IBM. Niti is also a student volunteer for our Center of Digital Transformation and supports the annual Road to Reinvention conference. On top of getting her MBA, acting as president for the Business and Technology Associate, being a student volunteer, and successfully competing in the Hult Case Competition, Niti works part-time for a pro bono consulting group called Seed Consulting that focuses on helping non-profits and sustainability initiatives.

Niti is not only a great student and leader in the Merage community, but she’s also going to be incredibly successful in her career. Prior to attending UCI Merage, she worked as a technology consultant with Tata Consultancy Services and for her MBA summer internship, she interned at Salesforce. Most likely she will receive a full-time offer from Salesforce but she’s also exploring opportunities with Microsoft and LinkedIn. Niti’s strong technical background combined with her dynamic communication skills are going to continuously open doors for her. She has the drive and work ethic to make the most of any opportunity. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to accomplish!”

Taylor Martini
Associate Director, Recruitment and Admissions, Full-Time MBA Program
UCI Paul Merage School of Business

 

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2018 Best MBAs: Luana Moro Okumura, U.C.-Irvine (Merage) - Poets&Quants

Luana Moro Okumura

University of California-Irvine, Merage School of Business

“Despite all difficulties, Luana never gives up.”

Age: 30

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Hometown: Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

Fun fact about yourself: I am the epitome of diversity in a person: I was born in Brazil, but I am also Italian, and I have a Japanese last name.

Undergraduate School and Degree:

Bachelor in Law: Curitiba Law Center, Brazil

Master in Corporate Law: Curitiba Law Center, Brazil

Master in Corporate Law: University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain

MBA: University of California, Irvine, USA

Where did you work before enrolling in business school?

Souza, Cescon, Barrieu & Flesch Law Firm, Brazil – Associate Lawyer (2012- 2015)

Casagrande Renewable Energy, Brazil – General Partner (2011 – 2016)

Apahuna Real Estate Development, Brazil – General Partner (2005- 2016)

Britanite Chemical Industry, Brazil – Legal Counsel (2009- 2010)

CR Almeida Real Estate Engineering, Brazil – Paralegal (2008-2009)

Professor Rene Dotti Law Firm, Brazil – Legal Intern (2007-2008)

7th Civil Tribunal Circuit, Law Clerk; Brazil – Legal Intern (2005-2006)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017?

Donahue Schriber Real Estate Private Equity Group, Costa Mesa, California

Technology Startup – Proboknow Digital Platform, Irvine, California

Where will you be working after graduation?

Experian Information Solutions, Inc., MBA Leadership Development Program, Costa Mesa, California

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Merage MBA Student Ambassador: I was one of six people chosen from my class to work at the Merage Full-Time MBA Recruitment and Admissions Office. My roles included reviewing and evaluating MBA applications, conducting information sessions, representing the school at MBA fairs, interviewing candidates, coordinating admission events.
• 1st Place Winner amongst 90 teams of the 2017 New Venture Competition at the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and UCI Applied Innovation. One of the nation’s premier new venture competitions, it offers all UCI students, staff and researchers the opportunity to form a team, create a startup, and potentially fund their idea all within six months.
• Finalist of 2017 UCI’s Tech Surge Competition: Tech Surge is a special track of the UCI New Venture Competition focused on UCI-generated innovations.
• Finalist of 2017 UCI’s School of Medicine Competition
• Recipient of the Merage Faculty Fellowship Award: Merit fellowship based on academic record, GMAT, work experience, and leadership.
• MBA Career Champions Mentor: Career Champions is a peer-to-peer program designed to complement career support provided by Merage’s Career Center. I advise first-year MBA students in internship search, interviews and selection.
• Executive Mentorship Program Mentee: MBA mentorship program thatconnects Orange County’s top professionals with students, allowing mentees to shadow mentors in their day to day activities. My mentor was Lawrence Casey, President and COO of Donahue Schriber Real Estate Private Equity Group, who offered me a summer internship at the PE fund.
• The Executive Committee “TEC” Member: I was one of the 12 UC Irvine’s MBA students selected to participate to the program. TEC is a worldwide business-leadership coaching program started in 1968 and has developed over 20,000 executives since its inception.
• The Merage School Dean’s Leadership Circle Member: DLC members are successful business professionals and executives – a majority of whom are Merage’s alumni – as well as UCI administration, faculty, staff, and students. All share a special interest in supporting business education at our world-class university while building stronger ties in the business community.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The extracurricular achievement I am most proud of during business school is the honor of being the first-place winner of the 2017 New Venture Competition (NVC) at the Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and UCI Applied Innovation, where my team and I competed against 90 other teams on the Life Science Track. Our venture, VENON AID, produces a synthetic broad-spectrum antivenom material that can be applied on snake bites from various snake species through a simple patch.

I’m proud of this project because I undertook it in my second quarter at the business school, when I still had little business academic training (my pre- MBA background is entirely in law). The project was based on a technology developed by a PhD student at UCI’s chemistry department who I met during a networking event. I found the technology truly revolutionary and believed in its business potential. However, I had neither experience in life sciences nor a team to compete.

I was able to recruit a multidisciplinary team composed of a MBA classmate (biology undergrad major), a Medical School student, the PhD student and myself (JD). I learned on the go not only how to prepare my first academic business plan, but also the intricacies of FDA approval processes and clinical trials. Our team worked hard to understand all the milestones, financials, marketing, and competitors, and we convinced the eight judges that VENOM AID could be successful. We won $40,000 in cash, prizes, and in-kind growth awards, and were invited to join UCI’s Wayfinder incubator.

This project was important to me because it stretched my knowledge forcing me to learn by doing, it helped put the university research into a practical application, and has the potential to save many lives.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? (And why?)

One achievement that I am most proud of was to redevelop an abandoned dam into a one-megawatt hydroelectric power plant.

I come from a family of self-made businessmen. My father and uncles were construction workers who went on to build one of the largest real estate conglomerates in the state of Paraná – Brazil. In 20 years, the company developed 98 residential towers and 20 industrial facilities spanning across an area of over 16 million square feet. Despite its great success, in my teenage years I witnessed my father’s company go bankrupt due to overleverage and family in-fighting.

Growing up in such an entrepreneurial and innovative family, I have never strayed too far from innovation and entrepreneurship despite my legal career. While working full-time as an attorney, I always managed a small personal real estate investment company through which I bought, redeveloped, and sold properties.

In 2011, I unexpectedly came across an opportunity to venture into renewable energy that eventually led me to move on from my legal career and to pursue an MBA. Before the investment and the energy venture the city where the dam was located had frequent energy blackouts where up to five thousand people were affected by these disturbances. Thanks to the redevelopment of the hydropower facility, this region can now count on one megawatt of clean energy and the local community is now free of energy blackouts and has reduced their reliance on fossil fuel generators.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? My favorite professor is Devin Shanthikumar, who taught me Driving Profitability through Managerial Accounting. Professor Shanthikumar has earned degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, earned her PhD in Business Administration with a focus in Finance, and wrote cases which are used in accounting courses across the country. Her technology background and extensive experience in creating business cases allows her to bridge theory and practice extremely within the context of digital transformation. Her classes are clearly applicable to real business situations and I will certainly apply the concepts she taught us in my next professional step.

What was your favorite MBA Course My favorite MBA Course was EDGE, which is one of Merage’s feature MBA courses that explores the crucial roles of global, market, and technology forces in the business landscape as disruptive and transformative catalysts for change. EDGE is thought by Professor Vijay Gurbaxani, and has widened my views of how technology is transforming businesses and our world. This course is designed to prepare future business leaders to identify opportunities and challenges by catalysts for change, and have insights to critically evaluate their implications.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Merage for three main reasons.

First, my decision stemmed from the alumni, admissions and career center individuals, I interacted with virtually and in person while visiting the school. Taylor Martini, Associate Director of Admissions, interviewed me and gave me his perspective as both alumnus and as an admissions officer. He was very transparent and objective. After being admitted, I flew to the school and I met Chris Kovitz, Associate Director Career Center, and Christian Hansen, Associate Director of Admissions. Chris Kovitz showed me with enthusiasm the resources available to me as international student and I was impressed by the career center’s systematic approach and commitment to student success. Christian Hansen’s international background (e.g. Korea) was more evidence of the school’s global mindset and openness to diversity. The caliber and diversity of the people I met convinced me Merage was the community I wanted to be part of.

Second, I chose Merage because of the school’s outstanding faculty and curriculum. I was interested getting the Digital Transformation Certificate and in exploring a career in big data and Merage is one the most prominent and innovative schools in this field. Professor Vijay Gurbaxani’s class, EDGE, for example, allows students to explore profoundly into globalization, innovation, and technology, and it is a unique course in the U.S.

Third, I chose Merage because of the school’s location. Orange County is home to some of the most innovative industries, being a growing hub for Medical and Information technology companies. It is also home for Experian Information Services, a big data company that always has been in my radar.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? The best piece of advice to an applicant hoping to get into Merage is to get to know Merage’s students, alumni, admissions staff, and MBA ambassadors. People are the best source of information in figuring out if any school is the right fit for you. Merage has a very collaborative culture and a teamwork spirit is highly appreciated. Admissions wants to know you, and sometimes even the best essay and test scores cannot translate your entire personality, career goals, and aspirations.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth about Merage is that its small and intimate class size does not give students exposure to opportunities a bigger program would. Upon graduation, many of my classmates and I will be joining MBA graduates from much larger programs in the exact same company and position. It’s more a matter of what kind of experience during the MBA students are looking for than necessarily the post MBA opportunities.

What was your biggest regret in business school? My biggest regret was not to join as many student-led international trips as I could. Being an international student myself, my focus was on learning the American way of business and education. Nevertheless, there is always room for expanding my world views a bit further.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? I admire Lisa Mae Dominia because of her commitment to excellence and compassion. Her father, an immigrant from the Philippines, had two open-heart surgeries when she was 13 and she spent a good part of her childhood raising her nephew, preparing for a professional swimming career, and studying. She was admitted to one of most prestigious high schools in California, where she joined the swimming team. Despite having to juggle academics with intense family and varsity commitments, Lisa Mae was admitted to UC Berkeley, where she studied biology and spent two years at the lab bench at the UCSF providing clinicians with data for patients that needed bone implants.

I was paired with Lisa Mae in my core group, and worked with her exhaustively with her during my first year. She was extremely sharp in everything she did while at the same time always willing to give a helping hand to others who needed it.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college? My family history influenced me. My father and uncles were construction workers who went on to build the largest real estate conglomerate in my home state in Brazil. After years of expansion into different lines of businesses, the company experienced financial difficulties and went out of business, causing my family to lose our house. This experience showed me first-hand the importance of a business education and led me to business school.

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…still practicing capital markets law in São Paulo, Brazil, and maybe not as happy and fulfilled as I am right now.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would promote more interdisciplinary integration with graduate students from other university departments. I learned valuable lessons by working with a medical student and a chemistry PhD student during UCI’s New Venture Competition.

What are the top two items on your bucket list?

• Get back to classic ballet. I danced classic ballet for 9 years but was stopped by my doctor because of a knee injury. I hope to get back to the stages soon!
• Write a book. In 2012 I had the opportunity to publish an article about Joint Ventures as Limited Liability Companies at the Corporate Law Journal (Brazil) and at the Brazilian Law Institute Journal (University of Lisbon, Portugal). However, write and publish an entire book is still on my bucket list.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? As a kind good friend they can count on.

What is your favorite movie about business? Forrest Gump. Lesson: life (or business) is like a box of chocolates. You never really know what you will get.

What would your theme song be? “Todo se transforma” by Jorge Drexler

Favorite vacation spot: Beaches in Southern Brazil

Hobbies?I love to travel and to be in the outdoors.

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

“From the moment you meet Luana, you know she is someone special. Her personality is infectious and her desire to help others, usually by going above and beyond, is quickly evident. I had the pleasure of meeting Luana as she came through the admissions process. She was someone we knew would make a great impact on our class as everyone (staff, students and faculty) who met her were impressed by her drive and motivation, and truly enjoyed their interactions with her as an individual.

Since starting the program, Luana has given back to the school and students in many ways. As a student ambassador, Luana has interacted with hundreds of prospective students, speaking with them candidly about her experiences and guiding them through the MBA application process. As a Career Champion, she’s guided the first years through the internship search, serving as another resource for them along the journey. Luana’s hard work, drive and interpersonal skills are going to take her far in life. Her executive mentor saw the same in her and offered her a much-coveted internship at his PE fund, solely due to his interactions with her. These are the “formal” roles she’s taken on, but her normal day to day activities are what will make Luana long remembered here at Merage: her willingness to help others, her hard work demonstrated and her openness with all of her classmates.

On a personal note, relationships are very important to Luana and she builds close connections easily. Luana draws people to her with her kindness and keeps them around with her authenticity and I’m happy to be one of those people whom she’s built a strong relationship with. I look forward to keeping in touch with Luana as she thrives at Experian’s LDP program after graduation, and I’m truly honored to call Luana a fellow Merage alumna.”

Courtney Elmes
Director of Full-Time MBA
Merage Class of 2011

 

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