Fernando Palhares

University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business

“Optimist tree hugger interested in increasing chances of long-term life on Earth through business.”

Hometown: Uberaba, Brazil

Fun Fact About Yourself: During my first vacation from my job, I decided to fly to the Netherlands, buy a bicycle and travel around the country. I ended up cycling around 1000 miles over 14 days, sleeping at random people’s houses (which was fantastic by the way).

Undergraduate School and Major: Polytechnic School of University of São Paulo – Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title:

MercadoLivre, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo

Customer Experience Process Supervisor

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: While in consulting, I had the chance to work for the Saudi Arabian government on actions to reform the labor market and improve employability, especially for Saudi women. Besides working in a context completely different from Brazil and with an international team, my initiatives managed to employ around 60,000 Saudis during the six months I spent there. I felt extremely empowered and that my work really mattered. That was also a tipping point on rethinking what I wanted to do in the long-term.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Humility. I met several people from different schools and the overall feeling I get from Ross is that there is less showing off and more camaraderie. Of course, we know it’s a competitive environment, but I feel people are supportive of each other and want to see each other’s successes rather than simply seeing everyone around you as a roadblock to your own dream job.

Aside from your classmates, 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? The offering of a dual-degree in sustainability. This was one of my guiding factors in choosing schools, and Ross has crafted a well-rounded dual-degree program with the U-M School of Environment and Sustainability, which will help me acquire the technical skills required to succeed in a sustainability job on top of expanding my network of like-minded professionals. This was definitely a factor that put Ross ahead of other B-Schools for me.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m really looking forward joining the Global Investment Committee and the Investment Management Club to get hands-on experience in a career path that I always considered but never explored. Also, keen to join the Ross triathletes so I can finally get ready for an Ironman!

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I felt my career was going sideways – I had a good job at an incredible company but I was not really seeking my passion and achieving the kind of impact I wanted through my work.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? I compared the likelihood of moving to the sustainability sector without an MBA, and realized it was possible but quite difficult. It’s tricky to put a number on your job satisfaction but I felt that if I didn’t take the risk and commit the resources, I would never be entirely satisfied.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Stanford E-IPER dual degree, Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan. I had others lined up for R2, but ended up not applying.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I had the chance to talk with people from many schools at my consulting job, and they also introduced me to people from their schools that were working at entirely different careers, and I always tried to look at these chats from a role model perspective – would I like to have this person as my mentor, as my boss, or even as a friend? A big driving factor was, of course, the strength of the school in the sustainability sector, measured primarily by looking at the alumni network at some of my target companies, Finally, the salary after graduation was another factor.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Must be the volunteering experience I had in a national park in Chile in 2011. I initially signed up to do simple volunteering work as a park ranger, but a fire erupted and grew dramatically, and the volunteers were given the opportunity to work with the Chilean Army as firefighters. I stayed and, after the fire was under control, I realized how fragile the environment is and how small actions can have big consequences, either good or bad. The fire was started by a cigarette butt and burned an area equivalent to the District of Columbia over 5 days. This experience made me rethink how I wanted to contribute to the world.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I hope to answer that during the MBA, but if I had to decide now I would probably think about joining an early-stage company (or even start my own) focused on sustainable solutions to everyday problems. I would also consider boutique consulting.

Where do you see yourself in five years? As a product manager for a sustainability-related tech company on the West Coast. Fingers crossed!