Meet The Top First-Year MBAs From China

Shu Shu

INSEAD

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Motivated, enthusiastic and relentless with a mixture of introvert/extrovert and engineering/artistic minds.

Hometown: Chengdu China

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love cooking French and Chinese food and enjoy wine tasting. One of my mid-term goals is to open a fine dining restaurant offering French/Asian fusion cuisine.

Undergraduate School and Major: Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA; B.S. Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Shanghai, China; CFA Charter holder since 2013

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Royal Dutch Shell (8.5 years in USA, the Netherlands, Singapore)

Commercial Manager

Business Development Manager

Corporate Strategy Advisor

Business Analyst

Process Engineer

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was part of a team that helped Shell acquire the entire Liquefied Natural Gas business from Spain’s Repsol worth USD$4.5B. I was responsible for asset valuation and due diligence of the deal, and later I helped implement the acquired assets into Shell’s business portfolio. I worked on this massively intense deal throughout my entire pregnancy and jumped back to it after a 6-week maternity leave.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Do spend some quality time to prepare for GMAT if you’d like to succeed in this exam. No matter how intelligent and confident you think you are, GMAT is a test administered under time pressure. Practice improves the performance significantly. Do not underestimate GMAT nor be threatened by it.

Ask colleagues and leaders who have observed you in a professional environment for a sufficient period of time and who care about your development. They should provide a valid assessment of your capabilities and potential with examples, and of course in a positive way. I turned to my mentor and immediate supervisor both of whom have known me for more than 5 years.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Firstly, I have studied in China and USA so an MBA from a European school would provide me new exposure and diversify my background. Secondly, INSEAD’s 1 year program is a no brainer because the opportunity cost is much less than a 2-year counterpart and the return on investment is significantly higher. Furthermore, I have met several INSEAD graduates at my company, all of whom are top notch professionals who have progressed remarkably well in their respective careers. It affirmed that INSEAD is the No.1 business school that is the cradle of future leaders and game changers. In fact INSEAD is the only school I applied to.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? I am passionate about the energy industry as I believe it is one of the fundamental pillars of human society. I take pride in delivering sustainable energy solutions to the country and people to help propel their economic growth and improve standards of living. Given my multi-disciplinary background in engineering, finance and business, I would like to work in private equity that focuses on investing in energy sector especially in the Asia Pacific region. I would like to leverage my past experience to help finance infrastructure investments in both traditional and renewable energy, and to improve the performance of energy companies. I hope to drive profitable and sustainable growth of the energy landscape in Asia Pacific.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? Shu Shu is one of the most impressive students from the promotion of 17J. She possesses high potential to succeed in the future with her strong intellectual capacity, relentless motivation and leadership characteristics. And she is a kind and fun friend whom I had tons of fun with. Last but not lease, Shu is a mother and wife who is constantly balancing various priorities in her life and she seems to manage it very well!