Meet Dartmouth Tuck’s MBA Class Of 2019

Mathew O’Sullivan 

Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth  

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: Spent the past five years in frontier markets. Discovered a passion for building better cities.

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Fun Fact About Yourself: I once completed a nine-day motorcycle trip through northern Mongolia, from Ulaanbaatar to Lake Khuvsgul and back.

Undergraduate School and Major: Washington & Lee University, English and Politics (Global Emphasis)

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: I worked my way from Analyst to Senior Associate at CrossBoundary. The firm delivers transaction support to unlock capital in frontier markets and fragile states, both on a private basis and in partnership with international development organizations. CrossBoundary’s adjunct fund, CrossBoundary Energy, finances Commercial & Industrial solar assets in Africa.

Prior to CrossBoundary, I was a Princeton in Asia Fellow at XacBank in Mongolia – working in their Eco Banking Department.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I’ve supported CrossBoundary’s growth from a team of six to over thirty employees across Nairobi, Bamako, Johannesburg, and DC. In the process, we raised Africa’s first dedicated fund for C&I solar, partnered with USAID to facilitate investment into agribusiness and infrastructure in Mali, and led commercial due diligence on one of the largest ever equity investments into off-grid solar. Playing a small part in the company’s success has been the greatest privilege of my career and is the accomplishment I’m most proud of.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants?  Craft your story early. When working on it, I think it’s helpful to answer three questions: What professional aspiration are you most passionate about? What in your life or career led you to that passion? And why is business school an important step towards achieving your goal? The resulting narrative will give you a foundation for the rest of the application process: it will inform what you’re looking for in an MBA program; it will provide a framework for your essays; and it’s helpful to have on hand when you meet admissions representatives and alumni.

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?  I liked the idea of Tuck being “your base camp to the word.” It captures how Tuck’s location creates a tight knit community and facilitates introspection – so that beyond just attending a program and gaining access to a network, students build relationships and are immersed in a curriculum that can take them anywhere they want to go. It also underscores the enduring connection that alumni have with the school. Tuckies around the globe remain tethered to Hanover, drawing on it for support and delivering support in return.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  A year in, I hope to have developed close bonds with my classmates, secured an internship where I can continue to learn about infrastructure finance, and crafted a clear picture for how to achieve my goal of strengthening cities through infrastructure investment.