I went on an adventure in Seattle this summer to a new industry—technology. The title of this article is not a reference to the mostly overcast weather in the Pacific Northwest, but rather to Microsoft’s cloud, Azure. Working in the Cloud Infrastructure COGS Finance team, I sought to build a framework to assess margins of various cloud computing products and to find solutions that enhance efficiency.
As I spent the first few days learning about the cloud from various experts in engineering, program management, demand forecasting, and capacity planning, it became clear that the problem we were tackling was complex, salient, and interdisciplinary; cloud growth and margins are key drivers of valuation. I found the process of understanding various stakeholders’ perspectives thoroughly exciting. Being able to translate the language of engineering or economics research into that of finance and vice-versa was something my liberal arts education at Wellesley College, followed by investment banking for two technical industries—power and renewables, and financial institutions—had prepared me well for.
On September 9 this year, Dean Rajan sent the school an
email saying two of our MBA concentrations, Business Analytics and Analytic
Finance, are STEM-certified. My inbox was immediately flooded with
congratulations from friends who knew I’d been working on this initiative with
Dean Kole for almost a year. But more than the joy of seeing our efforts bear
fruit, I was grateful to be part of a school that truly cares about its
students and is not afraid of change.
Amidst
the many activities competing for Booth students’ time (e.g., recruiting, classwork,
student groups, social events), a full classroom of students made it their
priority during lunchtime to hear Booth alum Andy Schmeltz, ’97, speak about
his career in the pharma space, where he is now the Global President and
General Manager of Pfizer Oncology, which has a portfolio of 22 different
medicines and is responsible for over $7B in annual revenue.
In October, the Kilts Center for Marketing hosted
a talk with Ann Mukherjee, ’94, Global CMO at SC Johnson & Son. As I sat in
a room full of my fellow students, watching Ann, take the stage, I was ready to
hear a story of a career journey, successes in different roles, and marketing
at SC Johnson & Son. What I took away, though, was much more meaningful—the
inspiration to be a strategic storyteller and the courage to be an authentic
leader, unafraid of failure.
Last week, a subset of Booth’s Private Equity Group ventured to the West Coast on the Bay Area Trek, during which the group met with eight firms across a day each in San Francisco and the South Bay (Menlo Park and Palo Alto). The trek culminated in an informal happy hour where our group, host firms, and Bay Area alums in PE were invited to mingle, discuss the industry, reminisce about Booth, and build deeper connections. As the second-year student leader of the trek, I wanted to share my experience and provide some insights into the value of our trip.
