Meet Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class Of 2019

Megan McGee 

Duke University, Fuqua School of Business 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Always balancing my adventurous and homebody spirits—happy traveling abroad or reading with my cat!

Hometown: Olympia, WA

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am obsessed with the 1960s, and specifically the Beatles. I have every album, and even took a semester of Beatles history in college.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Southern California, BA International Relations

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

US Army—Military Intelligence Officer, Platoon Leader, and Executive Officer. Assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and US Special Operations Command.

Staff Assistant for the US House Armed Services Committee (Washington DC).

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Being a part of the Army’s progress toward finally allowing women to serve this country in every capacity, including combat arms jobs. While working as a civilian staffer for the House Armed Services Committee, the topic was discussed, but it wasn’t a high priority at the time. Then, for my first assignment as an Army intelligence officer, I was the only woman directly assigned to an airborne infantry regiment of over 800 soldiers.

While in Fort Bragg and Afghanistan, I proved that I could analyze intelligence, work in diverse teams, and keep up with the physical rigors of an infantry regiment. Four years later, I took those experiences and helped integrate the first 10 women into the infantry as the Gender Integration Officer-in-Charge for the Army’s Chief of Infantry. I advocated for women in Ranger school and combat arms jobs by providing personal experiences and professional feedback. And honestly, it wasn’t until I started applying to business school that I realized how my experiences came full circle!

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants?  Schedule a multi-day visit to the school’s surrounding city, and talk to as many students as possible. I was lucky enough to visit Durham every weekend since my husband was a first-year student, and I fell in love with the city and the students. It made essays and interviewing that much easier because my positive feelings about the Fuqua community and Durham were genuine — that, and I had plenty of new friends and contacts to vouch for me!

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  Fuqua’s Dean, Bill Boulding. He spoke at Fuqua’s Veterans Symposium about how business can drive social change, and that businesses today need ethical and moral leadership. He emphasized Fuqua’s mission to recruit and develop ethical leaders who can have a positive impact on society. This was important to me because after 10 years of government and military service, I wanted to have a more direct, tangible impact on my local community—and I wanted to continue working with people who value honesty and integrity.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  Working for a tech firm like Google that sticks to its core mission and values despite profit temptations, and constantly strives to make products, and invest in causes, that improve people’s lives.

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