Kevin Trembach

University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business

“Passionate, self-starter energized by working with people, data, and complex problems.”

Hometown: Dyer, IN

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m an avid Chicago sports fan, who has not missed a Chicago White Sox Home Opener in 15 years.

Undergraduate School and Major: Indiana University with a Major in Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: W.W. Grainger, Inc. – DC Engineering Analyst

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Managing a successful project to convert a legacy warehouse management system in a distribution center responsible for $1M in the daily cost of goods sold without any operational downtime

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Accessibility. Not only is everyone super friendly and welcoming, but everyone is truly willing to help each other reach their goals.

Mendoza is known as a purpose-driven MBA program that asks students to “Ask More of Business.” What is your mission and how will Mendoza help you realize it? My personal mission has always been Doing Well while Doing Good. It’s the idea that success should never come at the expense of being a good person. To be honest, I believe the “Ask More of Business” mission aligns quite nicely with my own mission.

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 key factor that led me to choose Mendoza was access to the network of alumni. Two of my best friends are Notre Dame undergrads and I have seen countless examples in their careers the power of the Notre Dame alumni network. For me, though, the alumni network is not something I just want to leverage, it’s something that I want to contribute to in the future.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to the Consulting Club. I have been impressed by the resources provided to us thus far and really looking forward to their fall events.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? Describe a time when you went above and beyond where you knew it your effort wouldn’t be recognized

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I was blessed with the opportunity to work on some interesting supply chain projects early in my career and acquired a depth of knowledge within supply chain and distribution. With a solid base of practical experience, I felt like it was the right time to further round out my business acumen and discover a whole breadth of new knowledge.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I didn’t formally apply to any other MBA programs. I applied in the Early Round for Notre Dame, so I was working through several other applications including Michigan’s Ross, University of North Carolina’s Keenan-Flager, and University of Texas’s McCombs.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? For me fit was much more of an art than a science. After talking to several alumni from my target schools, it was clear by the level of alumni enthusiasm that Notre Dame just felt right.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Professionally, I view my defining moment as my first project out of undergraduate. I was tasked with mapping the entire process value chain within a flagship distribution center. In order to so, I spent over a month in the process of working each task at the distribution. I gained an incredible sense of empathy for the individuals working in the process. It really helped contextualize that, at the core, people are the most important stakeholders of any recommendations.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? Ultimately, I see myself in a position where I can combine my passion for teamwork, intellectual agility, analytics. In terms of role, I would love to head an internal strategy department within the technology sector.