Meet Emory Goizueta’s MBA Class of 2023

Two years is a long time to spend in one place. As an MBA student, you want more: bigger networks and better opportunities – and always somewhere to go and something to do. This is why people gravitate to Atlanta. It’s diverse and dynamic, full of opportunities to learn, live, grow and earn. And there is something for everyone here.

Just look at Atlanta’s nicknames: The Melting Pot of the South, Wakanda, Silicon Peach, Hotlanta, and The Hollywood of the South. They convey a tough, fun-loving underdog who has established himself as a major player due to his commitment to inclusion, reinvention, and perseverance. The same could be said for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, an MBA program known for its personal touch as much as its five-star leadership and DEI programming. Yet it’s Goizueta’s digs in Atlanta that take the MBA program to the next level.

“FIND EVERYTHING THAT EXCITES YOU”

“You’ll never run out of local businesses to chat with over coffee, or places to do it,” observes Ivan Guerrero, a freshman who studied chemical engineering as an undergraduate. “Being in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country will allow you to find whatever excites you, even if you can’t find it on campus.”

In total, you’ll find 16 Fortune 500 headquarters in Atlanta, including UPS, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and Delta Air Lines. On top of that, 75% of Fortune 500 companies have a presence in the metro. Timothy Lam, another freshman who earned an economics degree as an Emory undergraduate, likens Atlanta to an “emerging East Coast tech hub.” Last spring, Google announced plans to lease an additional 500,000 square feet of office space in West Peachtree. This follows Airbnb making Atlanta its East Coast office. For Lam, Atlanta has all the resources and expertise he would need to build his career in the tech space.

“Goizueta’s connections to Atlanta’s startup and tech community really appealed to me,” he wrote. “The entrepreneurship and technology scene has gone from strength to strength. In the first half of 2021, Georgian companies raised almost $2 billion in venture capital, more than the total amount raised in 2020. I am delighted to be involved with collaborators and partners in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Atlanta, and I love that Goizueta will provide me with these opportunities.

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY TOO

Business isn’t the only reason to travel to Atlanta. It is one of the greenest cities in the country, with MARTA and Hartsfield making it easy to get to any point in the city or around the world. Here you will find landmarks such as the Georgia Aquarium and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Beyond corporate royalty, Atlanta is home to organizations ranging from the CDE to Habitat For Humanity — not to mention Marvel Studios and Tyler Perry.

It stems from Atlanta’s heritage of being ambitious, tolerant and innovative, adds Saif Nazrul, a senior business consultant who left Bangladesh to join the Class of 2023. “Atlanta also happens to be a melting pot of cultures, with a proud civil rights history, making it an excellent case study for interested leaders. to promote and promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Finally, there is the great weather of the South East – what more could you ask for?”

And let’s not forget the Southern hospitality you’ll find in Atlanta, writes sophomore Kegan Baird. “Some of the greatest examples come from our food. This includes Waffle House, which was founded on the principles of “providing the friendliest service in town while providing the opportunity for rewarding, quality careers,” and Chick- Fil-A, which is known for its amazing service (albeit only 6 days a week). Here’s one more thing to remember about Southern hospitality. When someone says “Bless your heart”, it’s not not him who likes you – this is a very sweet comment expressing contempt or pity.

INSPIRATION AND INNOVATION

You won’t hear this phrase much around Goizueta. After all, the Class of 2023 represents the eclectic and proactive spirit of Atlanta. Siva Prasad Kalimuthu, for its part, has developed a low-cost mobile sludge treatment unit (MTU). Capable of treating waste on site, MTU has facilitated access to water and sanitation for the poor, winning an award from the Government of India. In contrast, Saif Nazrul has marketed a telehealth solution, Shurokkha, which connects veterinarians with rural herders.

“Shurokkha was in its trial phase when I joined its parent company, but after following two rounds of project funding applications from various international financiers, which I led, Shurokkha is now an AI-enabled product with an expanded reach of 25,000 farmers across Bangladesh. . I am particularly proud of this achievement as it was a great example of my drive to achieve technological advancement and social impact through a business model.

This class is also accustomed to leading at the highest level. Stephon Harris, a software engineer by trade, spent three years building an information and discovery platform for the company that sends rovers to Mars. As a clinical researcher, Stephanie Andrews helped get FDA approval for a drug that fights a rare form of leukemia. Sophie Maus championed a social impact program for HBCUs to its CEO. Today, the program supports investment advice and finance courses. At the same time, Ivan Guerrero has developed a risk management model for what he calls “North America’s largest copper mine”. The result: he won his company’s innovation award.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AT COCA-COLA AND E&J GALLO

Unsurprisingly, you’ll also find a Coca-Cola veteran at Goizueta – a school named after legendary Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta. At Coca-Cola FEMSA Colombia, the world’s largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products, Carlos Martinez helped broker a deal that aligned strategy and incentives between the two companies.

“The agreement has evolved in 2021 to be not only for Colombia, but for all FEMSA countries and extends until 2025,” Martinez notes. “My job in this process was to assess and align the finances with KO that resulted from the plans and strategies designed by the sales and marketing teams, ensuring that FEMSA met the economic objectives. My responsibility was also to implement the agreement and to ensure that revenues were properly split between the two companies.These types of agreements are a significant competitive advantage for the Coca-Cola system and will be the future of the bottler’s business model.

Martinez isn’t the only one delivering results. As production manager, JakeSullivan was busy setting his company’s sales and profit records. Timothy Lam led a 30-member, six-part consulting team to “transform the culture of compliance” at a US bank with $2 trillion in assets. Speaking of large-scale projects, Myles T.Henry led a team that rolled out training to 55,000 employees. And few people have experienced such a rapid rise as Dare Ujadughele at the E&J Gallo cellar.

“I came to Gallo as part of their Operations Management Development Program which allowed me to change roles every year for 3 years,” she writes. “A few months into my last rotation, my colleague transitioned to a new role that left the newest team member (ME!) leading a large operation with 65 frontline team members. Before I knew it, the rest of the year had passed and I had become the department’s subject matter expert. It was a pivotal moment in my journey where I realized how much I could do if I stretched.

Far from their career, the class of 2023 is just as unique. Jack Sullivan is a former head brewer, while Sophie Maus played beatbox in her college a cappella band. Cade Ricker is a cyclist who completes 100-mile “of the century” races. If you are visiting Washington DC, you might want to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture: Myles T. Henry is featured there. And you may even think that Siva Prasad Kalimuthu came out of a Marvel movie. Just look at his origin story…

“After my studies, I decided to pursue studies in physics because I thought that one day I would invent the time machine,” he jokes.

ADVANCE SALARY INCREASES

During the 2020-2021 cycle, Emory Goizueta received 915 applications. Ultimately, the program accepted 53% of applicants, enrolling 165 students in the class of 2023 (up 20 students from the previous year). This year’s class brings an average GPA of 692 and an undergraduate GPA of 3.36 to Goizueta. They come from 18 countries, of which 35% come from abroad and 27% are women.

Academically, the largest segment of the class majored in business and commerce as undergraduates. Their 27% share edged out engineering (25%) and economics (16%), with the remaining class also including students who studied social sciences (12%), science (9%), computer science (5%) and humanities. (4%). When it comes to career paths, 15% of the class last worked in financial services, followed by consulting services (14%) and technology (10%). The class also includes students from the fields of consumer products, manufacturing, nonprofits, healthcare, energy, media and entertainment, and real estate.

Looking ahead, the arrow is definitely pointing up for the Class of 2023. Take the starting base salary, which was $134,700. That’s an increase of $4,588 over the previous year (and an increase of $14,000 over the past four years). Likewise, signing bonuses soared by more than $1,000 to $29,151 for spring graduates. Like previous classes, consulting was a priority job target. This year, 37% of the class entered the board, making Goizueta one of the largest feeder schools in the industry. Don’t call Goizueta a school for southerners. Only 53% of Goizueta graduates stayed in the region – and those who stayed had good reason.

“The biggest myth about Goizueta is that you should only come here if you’re from the south,” says 21-year-old graduate Thomas Egge. “People probably have this misconception seeing that most of our graduates take jobs in the Southeast after graduation. As a northerner, I expected to return to Boston after school, and although many of my classmates did, I realized that Atlanta is actually a much more livable city than anywhere else I had been before. When you couple this with the city’s rapid growth, you’ll understand why most graduates choose to stay.

Next page: Interview with Brian Mitchell

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