Kate van Keulen

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business

“Team player, goal-oriented, approachable, organized, soccer fan, martini lover, traveler, hiker, runner, and genuine.”

Hometown: Morgan Hill, California

Fun fact about yourself: I have a goal to visit all the modern Seven Wonders of the World. I have visited one already, am traveling to a second this year, and have plans to see a third in 2025. At this pace I hope to finish before 2030!

Undergraduate School and Degree: BS in Finance, Santa Clara University

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? One Medical (Recently acquired by Amazon in 2023)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Cisco Meraki

Where will you be working after graduation? Cisco Meraki

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

• Class President of the Marshall Graduate Student Association
• Marshall Leadership Fellows Program
• Student Ambassador
• AVP of the High-Tech Association
• Participating member of Marshall Gives Back

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am very proud to have been elected as the Class President during my time at Marshall. I ran on a platform of approachable leadership and had the goal of making the student governing body more intertwined with program staff, faculty, and student clubs. My board has accomplished impactful changes for students. This ranges from small initiatives such as reserving additional study rooms for our classmates on rainy days, to bigger wins such as passing Grade Nondisclosure and improving the onboarding experience for newly admitted students. All of these brought Marshall students closer together. In this role, I’ve been able to represent student voices as our program navigates leadership changes. I’m proud to have forged deep connections with all my classmates so I could be their best representative in these conversations.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? In my past work, I have often been the only person without an engineering background on a team or in a meeting. I love working with highly technical people, and I am most proud of the teams I have brought together that bridge gaps between the technical and non-technical backgrounds. At One Medical, I oversaw the annual Security Training program and would bring our medical professionals together with our product and security teams so we could design more secure products, processes, and trainings. My heart lit up knowing that those brainstorms allowed all teams to walk away with new insights and a greater appreciation for the “other side” of the business that they didn’t have before.

Why did you choose this business school? At first, USC Marshall was not on my radar for business school. I am from Northern California and wanted a drastic change of scenery; I had not imagined a life in LA, even after I sent in my application to USC. After I was admitted to Marshall, the Trojan Family came out in full force. I was instantly connected with alumni, and even met a Student Ambassador who was willing to give me a campus tour in the middle of her winter break. The Trojan Network stood out to me more than other options, and I knew it would not only improve my ROI on business school in the short run but would be a lifelong privilege. I’m glad I made this decision because I have Marshall alumni to thank for connecting me to opportunities that led to my summer internship and full-time job offer!

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Introduction to New Ventures taught by Glenn Fox stands out amongst my favorite courses at Marshall. This course is designed to walk students through an expedited process of launching a company – everything from idea generation (“Idea Fest” lives on in our hearts!) to customer discovery to VC pitches. Glenn, a neuroscientist by education and entrepreneur by experience, challenged us to consider the psychological aspects of decision making for customers and investors seeking exciting solutions to important problems. I had so much fun in this class and still apply the concepts in my other coursework. This class is a perfect example of how business school can be a gentler, risk-free environment to flex a wide range of skills and practice taking risks.

What is the biggest myth about your school? Wanting to go back to the tech industry, I had originally been advised to find a more “tech focused” program. There are many schools out there that are known for technology rich curriculum and strong placement at top technology companies. I initially feared LA was too far removed from the “tech scene” and a better fit for entertainment or consultant aspirations, but my time at Marshall has expelled this myth. While Marshall does have deep roots in the entertainment field and strong recruiting for local consulting firms, our top employer has historically been Amazon. Furthermore, I am one of many aspiring product managers in my class and have found a good selection of tech and entrepreneurial focused classes. Additionally, our High-Tech Association is one of the largest student clubs at Marshall and often invites alumni guest speakers from Google, Meta, Amazon, and other companies across the industry.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Even as a Bay Area native, I have found there is a lot to love about Los Angeles. There truly are endless sites to see and restaurants to try here, and then I’ll discover a new neighborhood that feels like entirely new city. This may go without saying, but the icing on the cake here is the weather. There aren’t many things that are better than the LA sunshine in my opinion. One of my favorite things to do while living here has been hiking on the weekends – at the top of on a recent hike in the Palisades, I was able to see from Catalina Island out in the ocean all the way to the snowcapped mountains in the east. It was a spectacular view and helped to cement the place LA has in my heart.

What surprised you the most about business school? One thing I was not anticipating about business school was how impactful learning by the case method would be for me. I was used to lectures and textbook problem sets and was looking forward to learning from stories and discussions about real companies, people, and problems, but I still anticipated most of my learnings to come from the professors. I remember in my first week during our core leadership class having a lightbulb moment when I realized that I would be learning from my classmates as much as my professors – it was unexpected in the best way, and I’m lucky that this showed me the impressive experiences I was surrounded by in my class.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? It’s truly difficult for me to choose only one person because I’m constantly given reasons to admire my peers, but I’d like to give a special shoutout to Jena Brown. I first met Jena at the Forte Conference the summer before we started school, and my first impression was that she gets straight to the point and is never anyone but herself. Getting to know Jena includes getting to know her husband and fellow classmate, Swasey, and their two young children who loved donning USC swag while attending tailgates! At school, Jena is incredibly focused and hardworking and so humble that I know she’ll hate reading this – but it’s all true. I admire her mostly because she doesn’t seem to be caught off guard by anything. Even when she is stressed, she maintains perspective of the bigger picture. Jena is the type of person who gets done what needs to be done and will always execute with high quality. After reading this, you may also be surprised to learn that she runs the Instagram account for the Marshall Wine Club and has become known for posting the best gifs and memes. I strive to be as dedicated and balanced a person as she is!

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? In my next role as a Product Manager, I’ll be very excited to launch my first product! That will be a significant milestone for me because it will validate that I accomplished what came to business school to start doing – building and impacting. Thinking more long term, I dream of being part of a founding team one day. If I find the right opportunity, I’d love to start my own venture, but I have discovered that I am impassioned by people who will do anything to get their idea off the ground At the very least, I’d like to help someone do that.

What made Kate van Keulen such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?

“Kate has served as president of our umbrella student leadership organization, MGSA (Marshall Graduate Student Association) this past year. Her leadership has been truly impactful to the program and its students. Kate has changed the direction of the program by being open, transparent, inclusive, and receptive to the input of all students. She was eager to make changes that would help improve the program, however tough they might have had to be. She has been a true leader who shows commitment and passion for Marshall, the program and all of its students. Kate has brought a new perspective to the position of leadership that she holds. It’s a more inclusive perspective, one that is welcoming and accommodating, rather than restrictive and siloed. For example, Kate has reached out to student leaders of other Marshall MBA programs to partner on initiatives and student activities. Marshall used to operate in a silo, with each program existing on its own and students only networking amongst others in their own program. Kate has welcomed students from other programs in Full Time MBA activities.  Tailgates, mixers, informal get-togethers, these now include all Marshall MBAs, not just full time students. It all started with her willingness to push for change and challenge the status quo once she became president, and her desire to create an inclusive environment that embeds the principle of the One Marshall family.”

Leticia Porter
Assistant Dean & Director, FT MBA Program
USC Marshall School of Business

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