Meet Notre Dame Mendoza’s MBA Class Of 2021

BOTFL DOUBLES AS A CONSULTING PROJECT

You can expect the Class of 2021 to follow in their footsteps with Business on the Frontlines. The program, which started in 2008 and has reached over 20 war-torn and depressed nations, can cover a number of areas. Dean Cremers has clicked off several, including agriculture, infrastructure, and mining, adding that they can extend to “micro-finance, youth unemployment, post-civil war reconciliation, business incubators, health and nutrition, human trafficking, child prostitution, and disaster preparedness.” This year, the school has doubled the number of participants to 50, with the goal of eventually raising it to 100. Make no mistake: BOTFL is are more than a humanitarian feel-good effort.

“It’s a consulting class based on rigorous analysis, analytics, data problem-solving, and it’s also experiential, very team-based, very collaborative, Cremers tells P&Q. “Those teams are five to six students with the faculty and alumni assistance. And it’s about business, of course, for good — actually serving people. It requires decision making in situations that are very ambiguous, complicated, complex. Our students have not been in situations where there’s that level of challenge.”

Yen Le chose Mendoza, she says, because it focused on ethics in decision-making and using business to make communities better. Growing up in Vietnam, Le believes BOTFL touches on something deeply personal and profound.

“I come from a place recovering from the economic devastation of war that is slowly opening to creating business opportunities for its own citizens and for responsible outside investors. One of Mendoza’s course offerings that is directly on point is Business on the Frontlines, where students have a chance to examine the impact of business in regions affected by extreme poverty and conflict. I look forward to solving these problems with my project team and drive positive changes in my home country and other places with similar histories and needs.”

BECOMING BETTER PEOPLE

For students who join the frontlines, they often come away with a defining experience that reverberates across their careers. “BOTFL was the culminating experience of my entire MBA career,” adds Terrell Hunt, a 2019 P&Q MBA To Watch. “BOTFL provided innumerable opportunities to practice my leadership skills and engage the world in a truly impactful way. For me, it really differentiates Mendoza from any other business school. BOTFL’s most critical insight is that business truly can be a force for good in the world – Business can be the mechanism to help alleviate extreme poverty, uplift communities, and deliver opportunities to experience the dignity of a good days work.”

In many ways, Business on the Frontlines exemplifies the Notre Dame philosophy, which elevates commitment, action, and impact – and demands leaders that live their values and ask more from themselves. While the curriculum is designed to make smarter professionals, it places equal emphasis on making them better people.

“I chose Mendoza because of the values the program sets as an example for its students,” asserts Hillary Frazer, a designer from the Bay Area. “There is a heavy emphasis in the program on the importance of business ethics and using business as a force for good. These qualities were incredibly important to me as I believe in making conscious ethical decisions and that leaders in business can make decisions and changes that benefit society.”

ALUMNI ‘PICK UP THE PHONE’

This approach doesn’t just attract students. “There’s really three reasons that I came to Notre Dame,” adds Dean Cremers. “The first reason is, this is a place that is striving to always be excellent. Excellence permeates everything we do. The second reason is, it’s very collegial — it’s a community. And the third reason is the Catholic nature of the university — for business, that’s mostly Catholic with a small ‘c’ and that is integrated with the Catholic faith as well.”

That faith – in Christ, in the mission, in each other – forges a certain solidarity. Not surprisingly the school’s alumni base consistently ranks among the most responsive and helpful in the world according to student and alumni surveys conducted by The Economist.

“One of the things that makes Notre Dame’s network so strong and valued is the willingness of our alumni to answer the phone or respond to an email whenever a student has a question, is looking for a mentor, or wants to have a conversation about a career,” explains Tim Ponisciak, Director of Mendoza Graduate Alumni Relations. “One of our current MBA students reached out to a dozen alums. She was surprised that she heard back from every single one of them. She had a 100% response rate and saw how strong the network was. It was her first opportunity to experience what being a part of the larger Notre Dame community really meant.”

…AND STAY HEAVILY INVOLVED

That said, Mendoza makes certain that alumni stay involved with MBAs. In the fall, Mendoza hosts an Alumni Awards Luncheon that is required attendance for students. In the spring, the school hosts Becoming a Domer, a seminar and cocktail party where alumni share how MBAs can get involved with their local chapter. Throughout the year, Mendoza holds Ask Me Anything, where students sit down with alumni to discuss topics ranging from making career transitions to negotiating starting pay. Of course, alumni connect through the vaunted ND Impact Partners, a pro bono consulting firm comprised exclusively of graduates.

“There is this very strong sense of community, and that’s something that’s fostered by the university and the college as well, Ponisciak adds. “It’s something that students buy into, that everyone is there to help each other out, and that carries over when you become an alum.”

Kevin Trembach, an engineering analyst who earned his degree at Indiana University, has already had a first-hand glimpse at the impact of Notre Dame’s alumni network. “Two of 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.”

FIGHTING ON

In the meantime, the Class of 2021 has been heavily involved in the program this past fall. Ilya Blay, a mechanical engineer who has moved into analytics consulting, has become a venture coach in the IDEA Center, Mendoza’s startup accelerator. “I will be working with student entrepreneurs on various projects and coaching them as they develop their ideas and prepare to pitch them for funding. I am looking forward to this opportunity as a way to learn more about entrepreneurship, help students bring great ideas to life, and immerse myself in these projects.”

In contrast, Hillary Frazer has learned how business really gets done in South Bend – at football tailgates on game day. If you think the Mendoza experience is all somber self-improvement and social justice, just wait until you hear from Christopher Udall…

“Golfing on campus before class is when you know you’re living the dream.”

That’s not the real dream that Udall holds. Looking ahead, he hopes to pursue his mission of peace-through-training and even franchise it across communities. It’s a long path, one that will require him to fight to make it through. Ten years from now, he is confident in where he will be….

“In a small airport waiting for my flight going who knows where to help who knows who innovate social impact initiatives to solve the problems faced by their communities. I might be rich or poor, but I will be grateful for the education and support provided me by Notre Dame.”

What led these professionals to enter business schools? Which programs did they also consider? What strategies did they use to choose their MBA program? What was the major event that defined them? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the in-depth profiles of these incoming MBA candidates.

Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma Mater	Last Employer
Ilya Blay	New York City, NY	Cornell University	Ernst & Young
Hillary Frazer	San Francisco, CA	Parsons, The New School for Design	J. Crew
Sarah Hohenberger	Peachtree City, FL	U.S. Coast Guard Academy	U.S. Coast Guard
Kelly Huapaya	Lima, Peru	Ricardo Palma University	Teva Pharmaceuticals Peru
Anne Kwiatt	Vernon Hills, IL	University of Notre Dame	Lincoln Park Zoo
Yen Le	Da Nang, Vietnam	Monash University	Nordic Coder
Father Arthur Joseph Ssembajja	Kasese, Uganda	Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana	Diocese of Kasese
Kevin Trembach	Dyer, IN	Indiana University	W.W. Grainger, Inc.
Christopher Udall	Mesa, AZ	Brigham Young University	Rebuild for Peace
Amit Pratap Singh	Ballia, IN	SASTRA University	Collins Aerospace
Elena Westbrook	Chicago, IL	Northwestern University	Accenture

DON’T MISS: MEET THE MBA CLASS OF 2021: THE GO-GETTERS