2016 Best MBAs: Angie Peltzer, Wisconsin

Angie Peltzer

 

Wisconsin School of Business

“A dreamer and a doer” known for her passion and her focus on “adding value to people’s lives each and every day.”

Age:  39

Hometown: New Berlin, WI

Education:

Lund University, Masters in South Asian Studies

Gonzaga University, Bachelors – Political Science

Where did you work before enrolling in business school?  Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (Asia, MENA, Europe team) at the U.S. Dept of Labor

Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Neenah, WI

Where will you be working after graduation? I’ll be doing multiple things. I’ll be working full-time as an Associate Brand Manager at the Kimberly-Clark Corporation while continuing to work as CEO & Co-Founder of Admit Sensei. I also work part-time during the football season as a Game Day Operations Specialist for Zebra Technologies at Lambeau Field.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

Co-President, Net Impact

President, Entrepreneurship Association

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school?  I’m proudest of the company I co-founded, Admit Sensei, getting accepted into gBETA a pre-seed accelerator operated by Gener8tor – a top 15 accelerator. I came up with the idea of Admit Sensei a year ago. As a career changer and older MBA applicant with aspirations of starting my own business, I read article after article that I was too old to apply to full-time MBA programs. I would have given anything to have spoken to someone like me currently in business school. Admit Sensei solves this problem by enabling MBA applicants to find a current student MBA student with a similar background who they can relate to. By leveraging the experience of current MBA students, we can provide relatable and personalized admissions advice that everyone can afford. Throughout the MBA program, I’ve been able to build the Admit Sensei team and our business model. I’m excited that gBETA believes in my company and is providing mentorship and resources to help us continue to develop Admit Sensei.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’m most proud of the child labor project that I helped design in Burma / Myanmar. In Burma, we had the unique opportunity to incorporate child labor policies and programs during the early stages of the government reforms and have the chance of preventing problems rather than reacting to problems. The project is collecting data and information that has never been collected in the country while also building local capacity to improve education and prevent child labor at the community level. As the country continues to rapidly change (most notably electing its first civilian president in over 53 years), I believe that this project will have a lasting impact on the lives of millions of children.

Favorite MBA Courses? WAVE – Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship (putting the lean startup principles to work through starting your own venture), Applied Learning (different companies come in each weak to give us a problem to solve), Strategy

Why did you choose this business school? I chose the Wisconsin School of Business for three reasons. First, I chose it because of its specialization model. I believed that my training in Brand Management would provide me with the skills that I would need to run my own business. Second, I chose the program for its involved and esteemed advisory board of 25+ C-Suite Marketing Professionals. Where else would I have the opportunity to run business ideas over dinner with Scott Cook (founder of Intuit) or run through career decisions with Shawn Dennis, the head of brand development at Dream Works. Finally, I chose Wisconsin for its high return on investment. Wisconsin was able to offer me a generous funding package which gave me the freedom to pursue my dreams rather than pursuing what would pay off my debt.

What did you enjoy most about business school? My classmates. I love having classmates with completely different backgrounds than myself. I had been in a bubble during my professional career, where many of my friends had similar careers, similar life experiences, and similar political leanings. I’ve been able to learn tremendously from my classmates varied experiences, their different (and many times) opposing viewpoints, and have always had their continuous support.

What was the most surprising thing about business school? How fast it all goes by. Savor every second of it.

What was the hardest part of business school? Saying ‘No.’ There are so many amazing opportunities and experiences available to you during business school – and you’ll want to do them all. Prioritizing what I wanted to experience and letting other opportunities go was extremely difficult, but is a necessity.

What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Wisconsin has a very unique specialization model and you should be clear about why you want to pursue a particular specialization and what type of company you’d like to work for. We’re a small program (100 students in each class) and you’ll get to know everyone in your class. Make sure to explain what you’ll be able to contribute to that class. Finally, buy a good winter coat.

“I knew I wanted to go to business school when…I continued to see vocational training programs that didn’t lead to gainful employment. I knew the impact that sustainable jobs had in communities and how they enabled families to make their own life decisions. After having worked in the nonprofit and govt. sectors, I wanted to see what impact I could make through business and wanted to challenge myself to create sustainable livelihoods in the future.”

“If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…navigating government bureaucracy and sitting in my former cube researching what types of hazardous work children are currently engaged in throughout Asia.”

What are your long-term professional goals? To start a social enterprise that revolutionizes how migrant laborers find jobs and relocate. My company would assist migrant laborers in finding good, safe jobs in other communities or other countries without paying tens of thousands of dollars to a scrupulous middle man.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents. They’re the hardest working people I know and have always supported me in whatever I’ve done – no matter how much they didn’t understand what I was doing or where I’d be going to next. If I was happy, they were happy. I left a very stable government job at the age of 37 to start something new from scratch. Some may have thought it was crazy but they never once second guessed my decision.

Fun fact about yourself: When I was a little girl, I dreamt of being the first female pitcher in major league baseball. I’ve traveled to 65+ countries and once met Prince Charles. I spent three months living with former child soldiers in Sri Lanka.

Favorite book: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Favorite movie: Hoop Dreams

Favorite musical performer: Stevie Wonder

Favorite television show: House of Cards

Favorite vacation spot: Florence, Italy

Hobbies? Arts Metal, Photography, Cycling, Traveling, Watching the Green Bay Packers

What made Angela Peltzer such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?

“A deep desire to learn, a commitment to innovation and a focus toward making the world a better place drives Angie Peltzer.  Most notably, her leadership at the Wisconsin School of Business in Net Impact, the WSB Entrepreneurship Association and as campus director for the HULT Prize have made Angie an invaluable addition to the Class of 2016.

“The Hult Prize is the largest social innovation competition in the world and brings together the brightest college and university students from around the globe to focus on solving one of the world’s key social challenges and awards US$1,000,000 in start-up capital to winner.” In fall 2015, Angie spearheaded the efforts at UW-Madison, collaborating with many departments and colleges and increased the number of applications for the local competition, coordinated logistics, recruited judges and supported the entire process start to finish. While in her first year, Angie and her team participated in the competition and were regional chapter finalists.  She was captain of the team Shiksha Shakti, which focused on bringing innovative early childhood education to poor rural areas. The team placed in the top 30 of 20,000 entrants.

Angie is co-president of the Wisconsin School of Business Net Impact Board and also serves as the WSB Entrepreneurship Association President. Her desire for continuous improvement and collaboration has led to new events and expanded participation in both groups. While striving to do well academically, she volunteered numerous hours without seeking public recognition.  Beyond the classroom and the traditional internship (which she performed so well at Kimberly Clark that she received an offer), Angie has founded Admit Sensei, an online portal that connects MBA applicants with current MBA students, who have similar backgrounds and already attend the applicants desired school. It offers relatable, affordable, and personalized admissions advice.  Admit Sensei is a part of gBETA.

Angie has been a perfect fit with the culture at the Wisconsin School of Business. She is skilled, hard-working, passionate and focused on adding value to people’s lives each and every day.  She has been willing to go the extra mile when a classmate needs help or a prospective student desires a conversation.  She readily accepted the opportunity to provide an introduction for her former boss, Secretary of Labor, Thomas E. Perez, during his visit to campus and participation in the M. Keith Weikel Leadership Speaker Series and did a fantastic job.

Her fellow classmates rave about her passion, her ability to manage her time and her contributions toward making their experience better. Angie is a dreamer and a doer! For all that she has done, I am grateful.” — Blair Sanford, Assistant Dean Wisconsin MBA, University of Wisconsin-Madison

DON’T MISS: CLASS OF 2016: THE BEST & BRIGHTEST GRADUATING MBAS