Katherine J. Wynne

Ivey Business School at Western University

“Globally minded, impact-driven, self-starter, piano playing theatre buff who rock climbs.”

Hometown: Calgary, Alberta

Fun Fact About Yourself: I consider witticism a professional sport

Undergraduate School and Major:

The George Washington University

The Elliott School of International Affairs

B.A. International Affairs, magna cum laude

Most Recent Employer and Job Title:

Employer: The Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce

Job Title: Gender Adviser

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: No academic course or extracurricular club teaches someone how to earn respect. In Tanzania, I worked with my team to restructure operational strategy across our regional project offices to maximize impact and achieve our project goals.

When I asked regional managers directly to take on new approaches, I was initially ignored. Unless I earned respect from the regional teams, the badly-needed restructuring would not be implemented and the project would suffer. The process of gaining local Tanzanian respect took months. The key lied not in presenting a business case to the managers or to those higher up the organizational hierarchy, but rather through relationship building. Tanzanian workplace culture is particularly dependent on personal relationships and adherence to complex conversational and cultural etiquette. I began engaging informally in this way, wore local kitenge fabrics, learned Swahili, and gained more ground in this way compared to any other direct tactic. I experienced my first window into the art that is the act balancing politics and culture with business.

Describe your biggest accomplishment at Ivey so far: Becoming a member of the Ivey family. The current cohort of Ivey MBA students has worked since the first day of classes to build a strong, healthy, collaborative, and supportive family. Apart from the academic achievements and personal wins, the dynamic that we have created as a student body is what I am most proud of.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Balanced. The current Ivey MBA class is passionately speeding towards challenging careers. Still, there is a healthy balance between drive and taking the time to build lasting friendships and enjoying the journey.

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? Ivey’s reputation as a top-notch Canadian program initially prompted me to apply, but it was the advice of my personal and professional network that drove me to accept the offer. The case-based nature of the classes integrates the core disciplines in a way that is readily applicable outside of a classroom setting. These cases prompt robust classroom discussions that draw upon everyone’s previous professional experiences and makes for a more holistic learning experience.

What club or activity have you enjoyed the most at Ivey so far? As my classmates are all keen to climb to the top rungs of the corporate ladder, I figured there would be a high likelihood they’d be keen on climbing rock walls too. Hence, I inaugurated the Ivey Climbing Club. Climbing is as cerebral as it is physical, which is why I love the sport. Each climb presents a new problem to navigate through and solve. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping first-time climbers take to the ropes.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I decided to pursue an MBA after solidifying my professional goals. After nearly five years working in the USA and East Africa, I came to understand the immense ability companies have to drive positive global socio-economic change. The fast pace and ethos of the business world fit my outgoing personality, while still providing a window to global engagement. I am actively pursuing a meaningful career at the intersection of strategic innovation and emerging markets. In order to do so, I knew I needed to bridge my background in politics, policy, and economics with finance. This integration suggested that an MBA was the logical graduate route.

What other MBA programs did you apply to?

Saïd Business School at Oxford University

Rotman at the University of Toronto

How did you determine your fit at various schools? In looking for an MBA program, I wanted to maximize my future professional opportunities, hone my quantitative and managerial skills, build my network, and minimize my time outside of the world of work, all while making the smallest possible dent in my wallet.

After seeking advice from my professional mentors and personal network, it quickly became clear that Ivey has long been recognized as one of the top MBA programs in Canada. After comparing the financial and personal opportunity costs of attending a few of the top-ranked programs, Ivey still came out ahead of the rest. Compared to the two-year timeframe offered by most MBA programs, Ivey’s is only one year. Ivey also teaches using the case method, which allows for inter-disciplinary learning and is more applicable to future complex business decision-making.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? When I woke up in the hospital, I was alone. Occasionally nurses came into the room, but they spoke a language I didn’t understand. There was an IV drip hanging from the ceiling plugged into my arm. This latest parasite had finally broken me mentally as well as physically. Two months into my year-long contract in Tanzania and I had already been in the hospital a number of times from various infections. Not only was I physically failing, I felt I was professionally failing as well. Things weren’t clicking at the office, and I doubted whether I was having any impact at all. Why was I failing? Why was I struggling to figure out this new environment? And then I realized what I was missing:

A penguin.

Yes, curious reader, I did say penguin.

Consider culture to be an iceberg. There are certain defining features that can be easily identified above water: the language people speak or the types of clothes people wear. With culture, as with icebergs, there is far more below the surface. Cultural penguins are those individuals who are able to understand what is happening both above and below the surface and translate back to you what is really going on. I was in need of a cultural penguin to help me navigate the waters of my new environment.

After beating that parasite and returning to work, I did find my cultural penguin. She taught me the ins-and-outs of Tanzanian culture and provided me the tools to succeed in my career in East Africa. I came to understand the importance of being adaptive, building relationships, and learning to thrive in any environment.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Leading a dynamic team on projects with a positive global impact