I received my undergraduate degree in International Business from the University of Texas in 1993. I later augmented my BBA with an MBA in Information Management. The international perspective afforded me through the programs offered by CIBER and my major prepared me for many of the endeavors I have pursued over the course of my career. For example, I was able to leverage my international perspectives in various start-ups that focused on international sales/exporting or had global supply chains. For 10 years at Arrow Electronics, a global Fortune 150 company, I was able to apply my educational background help me successfully drive international relationships with Europe and Asia. My education, coupled with CIBER programs, equipped me for business in a globally interconnected world. I’m now paying it forward by focusing on teaching our future leaders International Business, Exporting for Entrepreneurs and Global Entrepreneurship at the McCombs School of Business. Today’s world is increasingly globally interconnected. International exporting in the SME area represents one of the single most significant business opportunities for the US in decades ahead. The programs and services provided by CIBER are pivotal in supporting learning in this area.
Meeting international students while studying abroad and traveling around Europe has given me an appreciation for so many cultures. Now I have the confidence and am able to easily connect with so many people from around the world. Once I was back at UT, studying abroad led to me becoming involved in organizations that socialize with the international students, strengthening my connection to the UK and Europe. And because of a special study abroad scholarship I received from the US State Department, I had to intern at a company related to international affairs. I ended up interning at an agency in Austin that placed people in volunteering roles or internships abroad and that's when I realized I didn't have to take a traditional job post-graduation. I could just work/travel overseas.
So after graduation in May 2011, I ended up interning in London (my dream city) at an amazing branding agency (my dream job). Afterwards, through the agency I interned for in Austin, I became an au pair in Istanbul. This cemented my self-identity as a global citizen. I then moved to New York in March 2012 and ended up working for the NY office of the company I interned at in London. I now work at a new company, one where I could effortlessly connect with the British CEO while being interviewed because I was so familiar with British culture at that point. As I write this, I am currently interviewing for positions in Singapore because I know I am meant to be a global business leader. And I believe to be a responsible and effective one, I'll need to expand my mind beyond Western viewpoints. I have no doubts that none of this would have happened had I not studied abroad for 4 months in England all those years ago. I think if I never studied abroad, I would never have developed an interest in a career abroad. And to think, it's only 5 years out so far. Imagine the effects on my life 10 years from now!
I graduated with an International Business Major from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 1994. My studies at UT Austin, and in particular the learnings that I got out of the International Business program, acted as the first domino in a long “domino show” that has allowed me to propel an international management consulting career spanning 5 continents. I was encouraged me to apply to the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM); one of Europe’s top MBA Programs. During my year at RSM, I had to carry out an end to end project for a company. I found a position working for an Austin based start-up company that was creating a disruptive new videoconferencing system. I was charged with creating an international marketing plan for what is now known as the Polycom Viewstation. The high caliber of the UT Austin education, my extensive experience analyzing,debating Harvard Business Cases, and the multi-year internship that I did with Merrill Lynch while I was a student at UT Austin, gave me an enviable edge during my MBA studies.
My consulting career began at some of Europe’s largest manufacturing installations, delivering Supply Chain Reengineering solutions for Steel Strip Mills in Europe, Graphite companies in Germany and the USA, etc. I later on move to Telecom, as that provided me with greater opportunity to work all across Europe and the Middle East. Half a decade later, I was pulled back to Texas (Houston) by Schlumberger Business Consulting, where I began providing strategic advice to some of the world’s largest Oil & Gas companies across North America and South East Asia. Fast forward in time, and Ernst & Young Australia pulled me from Houston to Perth, Australia, where I have continued to help Oil & Gas companies to develop and implement strategic initiatives, and I have branched out into the provision of advice to Mining companies and the Government.
I think it is safe to say that without that first domino piece triggered by the International Business Program at UT Austin, the chain reaction that has propelled my international consulting career, and life, would have never developed the way it has. Thank you UT Austin! My only regret is that I am now too darn far away and I miss the state that I consider my adopted ‘home’.
I received my undergraduate degree in International Business from the University of Texas in 1993. I later augmented my BBA with an MBA in Information Management. The international perspective afforded me through the programs offered by CIBER and my major prepared me for many of the endeavors I have pursued over the course of my career. For example, I was able to leverage my international perspectives in various start-ups that focused on international sales/exporting or had global supply chains. For 10 years at Arrow Electronics, a global Fortune 150 company, I was able to apply my educational background help me successfully drive international relationships with Europe and Asia. My education, coupled with CIBER programs, equipped me for business in a globally interconnected world. I’m now paying it forward by focusing on teaching our future leaders International Business, Exporting for Entrepreneurs and Global Entrepreneurship at the McCombs School of Business. Today’s world is increasingly globally interconnected. International exporting in the SME area represents one of the single most significant business opportunities for the US in decades ahead. The programs and services provided by CIBER are pivotal in supporting learning in this area.
Meeting international students while studying abroad and traveling around Europe has given me an appreciation for so many cultures. Now I have the confidence and am able to easily connect with so many people from around the world. Once I was back at UT, studying abroad led to me becoming involved in organizations that socialize with the international students, strengthening my connection to the UK and Europe. And because of a special study abroad scholarship I received from the US State Department, I had to intern at a company related to international affairs. I ended up interning at an agency in Austin that placed people in volunteering roles or internships abroad and that's when I realized I didn't have to take a traditional job post-graduation. I could just work/travel overseas.
So after graduation in May 2011, I ended up interning in London (my dream city) at an amazing branding agency (my dream job). Afterwards, through the agency I interned for in Austin, I became an au pair in Istanbul. This cemented my self-identity as a global citizen. I then moved to New York in March 2012 and ended up working for the NY office of the company I interned at in London. I now work at a new company, one where I could effortlessly connect with the British CEO while being interviewed because I was so familiar with British culture at that point. As I write this, I am currently interviewing for positions in Singapore because I know I am meant to be a global business leader. And I believe to be a responsible and effective one, I'll need to expand my mind beyond Western viewpoints. I have no doubts that none of this would have happened had I not studied abroad for 4 months in England all those years ago. I think if I never studied abroad, I would never have developed an interest in a career abroad. And to think, it's only 5 years out so far. Imagine the effects on my life 10 years from now!
I graduated with an International Business Major from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in 1994. My studies at UT Austin, and in particular the learnings that I got out of the International Business program, acted as the first domino in a long “domino show” that has allowed me to propel an international management consulting career spanning 5 continents. I was encouraged me to apply to the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM); one of Europe’s top MBA Programs. During my year at RSM, I had to carry out an end to end project for a company. I found a position working for an Austin based start-up company that was creating a disruptive new videoconferencing system. I was charged with creating an international marketing plan for what is now known as the Polycom Viewstation. The high caliber of the UT Austin education, my extensive experience analyzing,debating Harvard Business Cases, and the multi-year internship that I did with Merrill Lynch while I was a student at UT Austin, gave me an enviable edge during my MBA studies.
My consulting career began at some of Europe’s largest manufacturing installations, delivering Supply Chain Reengineering solutions for Steel Strip Mills in Europe, Graphite companies in Germany and the USA, etc. I later on move to Telecom, as that provided me with greater opportunity to work all across Europe and the Middle East. Half a decade later, I was pulled back to Texas (Houston) by Schlumberger Business Consulting, where I began providing strategic advice to some of the world’s largest Oil & Gas companies across North America and South East Asia. Fast forward in time, and Ernst & Young Australia pulled me from Houston to Perth, Australia, where I have continued to help Oil & Gas companies to develop and implement strategic initiatives, and I have branched out into the provision of advice to Mining companies and the Government.
I think it is safe to say that without that first domino piece triggered by the International Business Program at UT Austin, the chain reaction that has propelled my international consulting career, and life, would have never developed the way it has. Thank you UT Austin! My only regret is that I am now too darn far away and I miss the state that I consider my adopted ‘home’.