Meet Stanford’s MBA Class of 2018

Josephine Ruiz-Healy 

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: English major turned digital payments professional with a passion for working globally

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

Fun Fact About Yourself: Although I was born and raised in Texas, my parents are from Mexico City. Unfortunately, I did not spend much time there when I was young. However, when I went to college, I decided to get back in touch with my Latin American roots, so I volunteered in Peru and Brazil and studied abroad in Argentina.

Undergraduate School and Major: Columbia University, English Language and Literature

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

Product Manager, Visa Inc.                                                                                                    Dubai, UAE

Product Analyst, Visa Inc.                                                                                                      Dubai, UAE

Senior Business Associate, Visa Inc. *                                                                                 Foster City, CA

Business Associate, Visa Inc. *                                                                                              Foster City, CA

*Joined Visa as part of their New Graduate Development Program, a two year rotational program for 10 recent college graduates

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: When I moved to Visa’s Dubai office for a short-term assignment, I wasn’t planning to stay past six months. However, as I started working on commercializing services to develop the nascent Middle Eastern eCommerce market, I quickly realized the impact I could make by staying longer. For the next two years, I worked on building the payments infrastructure needed to ensure secure and convenient online transactions in the Middle East.

Moreover, I managed the launch of Visa’s first digital payments platform in the CEMEA (Central Europe Middle East Africa) region. This platform will be used to power Visa’s most innovative payment experiences in digital.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? I would recommend that candidates start early and try to take the GMAT at least six months in advance of writing essays. As both aspects of the application are time-consuming, candidates will want to devote their full energy to each.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Stanford GSB’s inclusive environment and small class size encourage transformative personal development in two ways. First, the school’s emphasis on feedback allows students to deeply reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as leaders. Two, the open culture enables students to follow their passions.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? My experience launching Visa’s digital products in the Bay Area and the Middle East have showed me that technology has the power to connect people in different parts of the world. Post Stanford’s GSB, I hope to commercialize products and services that build bridges between countries in either technological, financial, or social ways.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? I would like my peers to recognize that despite my humanities background, I challenged myself with analytical coursework and stayed hungry for new, diverse perspectives. Moreover, I would want my peers to see me as a friend who they can trust long after the GSB.