Meet Ivey’s MBA Class of 2020

Fletcher Courage

Ivey Business School at Western University

Gregarious, high energy, sommelier, passionate Raptors fan, head full of trivia, loves politics, and art.”

Hometown: Meaford, Ontario

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have a red-footed tortoise named Harriet.

Undergraduate School and Major: Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Carleton University

Most Recent Employer and Job Title:

Front of House, Restaurant ei18teen, Ottawa

Sommelier, the Rideau Club, Ottawa

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Raising $43,000 for Special Olympics Ottawa as part of the Indulge for Special Olympics Ottawa organizing committee. It’s an incredible feeling to have helped the community through hard work.

Describe your biggest accomplishment at Ivey so far: Using my experience in the hospitality industry to help prepare my classmates for Networking events. Over the course of my career, I have attended and executed many professional events and Ivey’s Get Connected and Emerald Inc. events gave me a chance help coach my classmates on some of the nuances you only see from the outside.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? The Ivey MBA class of 2020 is the most generous collection of humans I have ever met. If you need help with the program, moving, or anything really, someone is always willing to volunteer their time and knowledge to help.

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? Case studies. The Ivey case method is an incredible way to learn. The chance to use the applicable theory in a variety of situations compounds the learning and helps with retention. As most cases are based in real life, they have changed how I shop, listen to the news, and look at advertising. I don’t think I would have received the same learning experience at a lecture-based school.

What club or activity have you enjoyed the most at Ivey so far? In a strange sort of way, it is the 24-hour reports. The professor assigns the learning teams a case or industry and the groups have 24 hours to use everything taught in the course so far to do the Ivey two-step: what’s the problem, and how do I fix it? Non-scholastic related would be the Wine and Culinary Club’s weekly wine night. It’s nice to be able to teach my classmates about wine in a relaxed setting.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? It was the sense of wanting to do something more. Working in Hospitality was enjoyable but repetitive; I wanted a new intellectual challenge. It really came down to going after my Master Sommelier designation or an MBA. I’m sure I made the right choice.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Queen’s Smith School of Business

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I prioritized one-year programs, with a case-based methodology. I learn by drawing together discrete pieces of information into a cohesive picture and that’s really what the case learning methodology is all about. My tool for determining rankings was based mostly on my interactions with alumni in professional settings. If someone raved about the professors and what they learned, it was noted. The politeness of alumni and staff to employees at various establishments was my culture judge. As for career goals I was hoping to participate in a program where I would be exposed to the greatest variety of unique learning situations to get the best idea for which industry I wanted to focus on.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? In my last year of High School, I fractured my collarbone three weeks before the provincial championships in Nordic Skiing. After lobbying my coach, I was granted an organizers exception from regionals and could compete. The next lobbying effort was the radiologist and my doctor. Once I had them on board and was medically cleared it was up to me to race. Racing with one pole, I finished 37th as my school won the Senior Boys and Senior Combined category. This experience taught me to lobby stakeholders and persist with an effort even when things are looking bleak. I also learned to embrace the moment; any little slip can bring your best-laid plans crashing down.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Five years ago, I was working at Raymond’s in St. John’s Newfoundland and had no idea I was going to end up here. I’d like to work in either Capital Markets or Commercial Banking. However, with the dizzying pace of technological change in the financial sector, I hesitate to provide a job title as the job descriptions may have totally changed. What I do know that I will be leveraging the tools I learn at Ivey to lead my team and give back to the community.

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