Meet MIT Sloan’s MBA Class of 2018

Diego Grove

MIT, Sloan School of Management

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Hyperactive, curious, passionate and loyal to the people and institutions I´m involved with.

Hometown: Santiago, Chile.

Fun Fact About Yourself: How passionate and hyperactive I am with the many things I do: at sports, working, with friends, partying, everything. As one of the best men said as he was giving a speech at my wedding: no one even noticed that while I was getting married, sharing the day with my wife, family and friends I was also writing, giving a speech, working and probably even spending time at another wedding.

Undergraduate School and Major:  

• Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, BSc with mention in Business Administration and Economics
• Pontificia Universidad Católica, MSc in Finance

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

• Head of International Equities / Portfolio Manager of Equities @ MGV Investments, a Latin American family office.
• Founder / CoFounder of multiple for profit and nonprofit organizations retail, financial and business services and real estate industries.
• Investment analyst @ Linzor Capital, a Chilean Hedge Fund.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I led Latin American value concentrated equity portfolio, outperforming all relative peers with similar Latin American strategies by more than 600 bps annualized in 1, 3 and 5 years and the benchmark by more than 1000 bps in 1,3 and 5 years with a team of 2 people and 8 years of accumulated experience, whilst industry average has teams of more than 30 years of accumulated experience and at least 4 people. At the same time, I was also leading two other strategies, developing two other startups, advisor of the family business, getting married and applying to an MBA.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? I have to mention three:

• The MBA starts the day you acknowledge that you will pursue an MBA. Therefore, approach it step-by-step, one at a time, in a very professional manner. Every task will leave you with great lessons, even the GMAT, but it is important to focus on your goals and leave some things aside.
• Spend time networking, travelling and researching until you find the University and MBA that best fits with whom you are. Admissions teams are experts and experienced in identifying people who fit with their program. Here, the most important thing is to be yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone you are not.
• Look for support and listen to those who have experience in the process and those who know you well. You´ll have to do an additional effort to your daily activities and everyone around you (employers, colleagues, family and friends) will notice it, so it is important to be honest, to communicate your interest and ask for help.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? MIT´s innovation and sustainability orientation and a learning-by-doing approach (Mens et Manus) perfectly fits with the way I think about life and business. I cannot imagine the world and specially emerging markets development without being disruptive and fostering sustainability. To generate a real impact in the world, you need to innovate. For it to last, you must consider key environmental, social and governance aspects. Those organizations that  approach ESG in a positive way, will be the ones that will mark a cultural difference. Most of MIT alumni, students and faculty I´ve met clearly reflect these values.

Finally, MIT and Sloan offer the perfect combination of my professional interests: a strong finance, entrepreneurial and flexible curriculum.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? Through finance and investments, I want to constructively engage Latin American businesses and entrepreneurs to change the mindset of the way to do business in Latin America and make Latin America a more collaborative, innovative and sustainable society. I want to work in a place where flexibility reigns, in a collaborative and diverse community where ideas flow and where I can share and find knowledge. I love entrepreneurship and I want to work at places that reflect these values and that have the openness to motivate self-starters to engage in projects that can change the world.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program?

• That they realize they can count with me for everything they may need, and I really mean, everything.
• That after all, I´m a good person, simple, humble and collaborative.