International MBA (IMBA) Program
Ask Moore ALUMNI
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Phillip
Assistant Vice President
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Brief job history: Sales/Service Manager – U.S. Bank (2.5 yrs); Independent Insurance Agent (1 yr); internships with Skywest Airlines and Moog.
Why I chose IMBA: After living in Europe for two years I knew that International Business was the direction for me. I had learned to speak French and wanted to be able to leverage that with focused business studies. Living in the Western U.S., I had visited Thunderbird multiple times and was headed that direction until a former professor from my Undergraduate experience mentioned the training that he had received as a professor of International Business at the Moore School. After my visit to the Moore School, I was sold. I spent the day visiting classes, talking to students, faculty and staff, and looking around the campus.
I felt that the classes were well taught, that the students were bright and were there for the common purpose of increasing their global opportunity. I was impressed with their varied backgrounds, nationalities, career paths, and future goals. Most of all, I enjoyed the intimate feeling of a smaller program that was able to really focus on each individual student, and tailor the experience to the students needs. Also as a married student with children, I appreciated the low cost of living of Columbia, SC.
Where I interned: Ford Motors – Sao Paolo, Brazil (included travel throughout South America)
What impacted me the most during the IMBA Program: Though so many of my experiences during the IMBA greatly impacted me, the thing that I want to highlight is the career management services of the IMBA program. Beginning the day I walked in the door, the Graduate Career Management staff began holding classes and training to prepare us for our upcoming internship hunt and the following career hunt. I was able to talk to more than 30 alumni at companies that interested me, one of which ended up being the direction that took me to my current employment. After having spoken with several MBA graduates from different programs, I have yet to meet someone who had such an engaged career management staff.
How IMBA has added value to my career: The IMBA program at The Moore School of Business has been an essential piece in my life to get me onto the career path I have chosen to take. From the Alumni network to the courses taught, the overall experience gave me the training I needed to get in the door of a very competitive leadership program at GE. During my time here at GE, the specific understanding of international markets, accounting rules, etc. and their impact on the decisions that we make as Risk Managers has helped me on transactions where I was able to use my language skills and understanding of the cultures we were dealing with to create a seamless, “ boundaryless” team. Thus helping us work efficiently for our client in helping them win the bid for acquisition targets.
Other thoughts: The Moore School was recently ranked as one of the top "Return on Investment" MBA programs by Forbes magazine. When I saw that I decided to calculate what the NPV of my decision was. Using a very conservative approach, I calculated at 25 year NPV of ~$1 million. As my finance professor would say, "That is cold, hard cash!".