Leonardo Jaraba Bejarano

Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business

“Passionate, analytical and team player professional with 4+ years of experience in planning and operations and a tremendous drive to master the art of supply chain management.”

Hometown: Cartagena, Colombia

Fun Fact About Yourself: Visited 9 countries and 11 cities in Europe in just 20 days

Undergraduate School and Major: Universidad Tecnologica de Bolivar – Industrial Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Bonduelle Fresh America, Team Lead

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Graduated with a Summa Cum Laude from my undergraduate program

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Adaptable, diverse, and collaborative. They are all individuals capable of handling multiple tasks that require different levels of complexity and adjust accordingly to the circumstances. They bring different skill sets and perspectives (professionally and culturally) that enriches the class exchanges. Above all, I feel we all support each other in our accomplishments and in our struggles.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The W. P. Carey slogan that “Business is personal” is not a mere phrase, it’s a reality. I appreciate the flexibility that the school offers and embraces to allow the students to tailor their own path and curriculum during their MBA journey according to their career choice. Furthermore, the school has a comprehensive set of resources and well-prepared professors that support the pursuit of the aforementioned career choice at a top-level. firm

Arizona State is renowned for its innovation. How have you seen innovation in the philosophy, curriculum, or resources at W. P. Carey? I have seen innovation at W. P. Carey through the continuous integration or offering of courses that suits the current needs of the business world. As an example, we were recently offered a course in Fintech, which blends the use of technology in the world of finance, which is a current trending topic relevant not only to those interested in finance but also to any business professional.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? The most challenging question through the admission process was a case study question that tests our ability to analyze a situation and logically come up with a solution that addresses the problem given at hand. I appreciate this type of question since it resembles a more real-world situation and provides an idea to the interviewer of how an individual can be analytical but creative at the same time.

How did you determine which business schools best fit you?

Decision Factors

A) The prestige of the school as a business school and in supply chain management: Top 30 for MBA schools in the country and top 3 for supply chain programs nationally.

B) Curriculum offering and the flexibility to tailor your own program.

C) Innovative Spirit: #1 school in innovation across the country.

D) Diversity

Evaluation Tools

A) U.S. News business school ranking

B) Campus visit

C) School website

D) MBA career fairs

E) Interaction with recruiters

Research on Culture

A) Phone calls and conversations with current students

B) School visits

Overall, my MBA journey at W. P. Carey business school has been fascinating and it has not only fit my career goals but exceeded my expectations. I know I had made the right choice for the following reasons:

A) The school integrated the admitted students through a Facebook and a WhatsApp group.

B) The respective follow-up the recruiters do throughout the admission process.

C) The support we received by the career coaches even before the program started to have a head start not only on internship hunting but also to develop our ability to better present ourselves.

D) The pre-work that is given to us in the summer to have a refresher before starting classes.