Jorge Rould

University of Rochester, Simon Business School

“Committed team player, passion for customers and innovation, hunger for knowledge, specialized in Sales and Finance.”

Hometown: Rochester, New York

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m extremely happily married, we have a 1.5 year-old son and we’re waiting our second son. They are my main motivation.

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Piura, Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: BBVA Banco Continental, Senior Relationship Manager

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I enjoyed a great career in the banking industry before the MBA. I’ve worked with companies from different industries and worked really hard to make a positive impact in every one of them. I’ve accomplished all the goals of each position, and I’m very proud of that. But I would say my biggest accomplishment is to balance my professional life with my personal life.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Humbleness and Collaboration. In Simon, competitiveness is as important as helping each other to succeed.

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? I believe the Simon MBA combines perfectly the most advanced data analytics approach of business and leadership based on humbleness and collaboration.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m a member of the Finance and Investment Club, the Venture Capital Club, Data Analytics Club, Pricing Club, and Vision Consulting. I think the activity that excites me the most is being a project manager at Vision Consulting, because it’s an experience with a real life company that needs to launch a product nationally. I’ll be responsible for building a team compose by consultants from the MBA and MS students.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I love to learn new things and better ways to accomplish my personal and professional goals. An MBA was my best alternative to invest in my professional development for a couple years, where I’ll be able to test all I have learned, enhance the skills I’ve already developed in my career, and learn new skills that will create new opportunities. Furthermore, earning an MBA in another country with different people from different backgrounds and cultures is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Before making a decision like this (especially if you’re moving to another country with your family), it’s necessary to do exhaustive research. I talked to many alumni from different business schools. I also spoke many times with my boss and mentors and calculated the VPN of the investment (there is enough information to do it). Of course, this was also a family decision. I would say my case is specific because I have wife’s support, which motivated me to do my best every day.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied to Ross, IESE, Berkeley and Simon

How did you determine your fit at various schools? As I said, I believe the Simon MBA perfectly combines the most advanced data analytics approach to business with leadership based on humbleness and collaboration. I determined my fit when I discovered that by visiting the school, meeting 1st and 2nd year students and meeting professors and the staff. I believe Simon culture is what made the difference for me: the staff is always working to make things perfect – events, classes, club’s meetings, even parties; they are not only concerned about the event, but also about the students in order to make them comfortable and engaged (this is key specially for international students). Professors are always willing to talk with you, to help you with more material, or just to solve any doubt. That’s a great advantage of small classes.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Professionally, I would say my defining moment was my first experience in the banking industry at BCP. Working with other companies as clients made me realized how big – game changing, even – the impact I could make by doing a well-done job every day. This idea helped me to put it all together in order to create value for my company and for my client: my degree in economics, my interest in learning new things, and my strong skills with numbers and finance.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? Right now, I’m very exciting about discovering that I’m also very good at new skills like marketing and pricing (not only finance), so that’s definitely a path I want to explore. Consulting seems very interesting, because I would still be able to work directly with clients. Plus, I’ll keep learning new things and developing new skills. On the other hand, corporate financial strategy is something that I’ve been doing for a long time and I would like to contribute directly the corporate financial strategy of a tech company. So far, I like both alternatives. I’m working really hard on it.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself in a CFO position, in the path for a general management position.