Meet Ohio State’s MBA Class of 2018

Thais Batista Ronconi

 Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business

Hometown: Espirito Santo, Brazil

Education:

Federal University of Espirito Santo, Psychology

University of Sao Paulo, Industrial Administration

Employment:

HSBC Bank – HR Specialist (Compensation Consultant)

Ipsos Marketing Research – HR Manager (Business Partner)

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Energetic. Reliable. Problem solver. The most focused and humorous psychologist you can meet.

Fun fact about yourself: My sense of smell is super sensitive, so I can easily identify and differentiate smells. For example, I can guess what kind of food is being prepared from a long distance and more specifically I can also identify the ingredients that were used. My family and friends got used to this characteristic, but sometimes they are still scared about what they call “my superpower.” They even say I should take advantage of that to study cooking, but ironically I am not interested in cooking at all.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: It was being promoted to a managerial position where I provided support to 300 employees. That was 70% of total payroll in Brazil office, including the core business unit in the company: Marketing (with financial responsibility of 45% of revenues).

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? Make sure you chose the right school by gathering specific information about the course and curriculum, professors and program focus. Visit the school for the admissions interview.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? The curriculum (flexibility to select a major in Strategy and Leadership and Organizational Behavior), the experience I had during admissions process — especially on the interview and the Forte Fellow opportunity combined with a graduate assistant position.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? It would be an employer that gives a lot of autonomy, mobility, and flexibility at work. It is important for me because it shows a relationship based on trust. In regards to the job, it would be a dream to work in a position that allows me to explore my critical thinking and requires me to optimize and find creative solutions, designing processes based on strategic (HR) development. It would be a challenging environment where I can examine problems carefully connecting ideas in order to deliver results in first time situations.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? That I am a very analytical and energetic person, who loves to influence and work with people helping them to exceed their potential in order to reach greater results. I also hope they say I am very good at providing generalist support through consultative partnership.

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.