Meet Emory Goizueta’s MBA Class of 2019

Max Hemm 

Emory University, Goizueta Business School 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less:  Dual national German American with passion for progress, travel, and learning. Shameless nerd. Food fanatic.

Hometown: Würzburg, Germany

Fun Fact About Yourself: For my honeymoon my wife and I travelled to the country Sao Tome & Principe in the Gulf of Guinea, totaling 10’000 flight miles.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of St Andrews, Scotland; Major: Neuroscience

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

  • Employer: OmyaInternational AG, Switzerland
  • Job Titles: Sales Management Trainee & Market Development Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My most significant accomplishment so far has been orchestrating a product launch in Ghana, which led to direct high level meetings with industry players and government officials. Together with my local colleague, we organized the entire event within weeks to expedite bringing the product to market and the response couldn’t have been better. To this day I can still feel the buzz and excitement of standing in front of the audience and cameras.

To me, this embodied the excitement of product management in a new market, having the freedom to make decisions quickly and react to the market on the fly. I think it’s critically important to go into countries with a flexible mindset, to learn the dynamics of the local market, and engage in response to the people you meet rather than forcing your way.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? My one tip would be to learn to love the process. I decided to view the application as a learning opportunity that would propel my writing, reasoning, and interview skills to the next level rather than just as a necessary step toward my MBA. As such, the rewards for my efforts were immediate and the work became enjoyable. I think this applies to all aspects of work, but particularly to the MBA application process. Being in flow during the work process allows you to focus on the task at hand rather than the result you’re aiming for. I ended up writing approximately 20-30 different edits and versions for each document, which I was only able to do thanks to enjoying the process of writing and editing itself.

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? At Goizueta, I feel a genuine partnership between the students and the school, focused on how to accomplish common goals. Everyone I spoke with at Goizueta was engaging and interested in what I hoped to accomplish. What truly set the school apart was that this interest was genuine, and was followed up with specific recommendations on additional projects at the school I might be interested in. This individualized attention to students is why I chose Goizueta, because I knew I would be more than just a number.

This notion has been more than confirmed since accepting my offer. Goizueta has incredible directed study programs and excellent entrepreneurship resources. These elements, combined with its prime location in one of the most vibrant business centers in the U.S., make Goizueta the perfect launching pad for a startup or career in business.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  Success to me would be the chance to work in an environment where my ideas can be realized in a concrete way within a team oriented environment. For me personally, nothing is more exciting than developing an idea into a plan and watching it come to life during execution. As such, my ideal role would be in business development, product management, or corporate/internal strategy. I would especially like to work in the technology sector as the fast-paced, idea-based, and execution-dependent nature of the industry hugely appeals to me.

Ultimately, I hope to work with technology to bridge the income gap between developed and emerging markets. During my work, I travelled extensively in Africa and saw the ingenuity with which technology was used to solve pressing daily issues. More than simply inspiring, I think it represents the next big wave in global development, where better access to tech resources will completely change the dynamics of economic progress in emerging markets.

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