Meet Arizona State’s MBA Class Of 2019

Luke Zoesch 

W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: I never live like today is my last. I live like it will never end.

Hometown: Park Falls, WI

Fun Fact About Yourself: I worked on NBC’s “The Voice,” Season 3.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mass Media Studies

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

NCCU – Process Improvement Consultant

Wings Financial Credit Union – Branch Manager II

University of WI Credit Union – Senior Financial Specialist

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: During my career, the most impactful moment for me was helping to coach and in turn being coached by the senior management team at my most recent job. Seeing their culture and bottom line improve as we worked together was a perfect demonstration of the effectiveness of diversity in collaboration.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? Become very clear about your story and tell it honestly. It’s not necessarily why you want to go into X industry or concentration, but why you have made the decisions you have in your life and your career. Demonstrate through the channels available to you that you have consciously made an effort to be more self-aware. This will help you and the admissions team to recognize how an MBA will benefit you and how your experiences will benefit others.

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? W. P. Carey, more than any top business school, seems to understand the MBA game is changing because the type of MBA graduate employers are looking for has and will continue to evolve. They have responded to that realization just like a top business would…with innovation. The Forward Focus MBA is the most innovative MBA program overhaul in at least 15 years. One of the key ways they have adapted to business needs today is by designing a program that not only gives more access to diversity, but that emphasizes its importance in decision-making. As a member and advocate of the LGBT community, I felt connected to a program whose top priority is investing in a diversity of thought and experience.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  Influence. I believe there is a natural resource the world is always in desperate need of: empathy. The good news is empathy is renewable and limitless. My personal goal is to look at people each day and see someone who is only deserving of compassion and kindness, even if the world tells me to see something different. I am confident an MBA from the W. P. Carey School will help me influence others around me to think similar.